Thursday, May 27, 2010

K R Saga Pt.3 Construction, Paint and Flooring

So now the fun starts. Let's start out with a happy picture. Em being cute.


Now for the not so cute...


Taking down more drywall and prepping for the new kitchen exhaust fan.



A nice view of new drywall.


L's face says it all here. This is our dining room.
Fun right.


And this is our Living room. Nice and Cozy.
We basically lived in the basement for about a month and a half.
We had a little kitchen set up down there with pretty much everything except an oven.
We were sure glad when we could get out of there.




E was constantly climbing ladders.
Even the 6 foot ladders, she loves climbing.
She also loves tools. We were often looking for tools that had been rearranged by her.


New subfloor installed


Mudding and painting done. What a mess that mudding is.
So glad to have it done.




No the pictures are not in the wrong order.
When Nath rechecked the box of tiles we were going to lay, he noted a small warning on the box:
DO NOT USE MDF SUBFLOOR
Guess what we put down. Yup. So about 10 hours later of pulling up and chipping away, we were ready to install a second subfloor.


Moving the plumbing for the sink from below the window, to overlooking the dining room.



New subfloor in, and putting down the first tile.
They are a solid vinyl peel and stick tile we found at Home Depot.
They were super easy to install and we were really pleased with the outcome.



Have I mentioned how fun it is to renovate with a 1 year old around.
These tiles also worked like fly paper for toddlers.



Installing the first cabinet for the sink.
This one caused us a fair bit of grief.
Here's a tip: Don't choose a 30 inch sink cabinet if you have a choice.
I didn't realize it wasn't a standard size and it is really hard to find a sink to fit in it.


Rolling the floor. Very important to keep the tiles stuck down and in place.



Finished floor. I love it. It has a bit of a sheen to it to, and really hides dirt nicely.
I'm just so happy to get rid of my hunter green floor. The kitchen feels so much brighter now.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Kitchen Renovation Saga Pt.2 (The Demolition)

Why can`t it be just as easy to put something back together as it is to take it apart
March 2nd we started by pulling off a few of the cabinets ourselves.




Note the original peachy colored paint inside the cabinets.
That`s vintage!


Then we called in the professionals to make a real mess of things!





And a what a mess they made.


But by the end of the day I had a couple of lovely new cut outs in my walls!

Kitchen Renovation Saga Pt.1

When we starting looking at houses for the first time, we had a pretty short wish list: an attached garage, a good kitchen and a big yard. And when we decided on our house somehow we only ended up with the big yard.

So for the last 10 years we have been dreaming of renovating the kitchen in this house. We have gone through many different scenarios, and layouts and were never quite sure what would be the best plan. And I don't know if we ever will have the perfect plan but we finally just went for it, prodded on by the promise of the renovation tax credit.

So at the eleventh hour I made the final call to IKEA and put in the order for our cabinets. And two weeks later they were delivered to our door, and seeing as they were from IKEA, there was "some assembly required".... and so began our DIY kitchen reno.

Feb 9th, 2010
This was my birthday present this year
all 109 boxes of it



Here are some "before" shots
taken from the LR


March 1st, 2010
It was only fitting that the boys got to put the first holes in the walls


Of course the girl was not to be left out.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

L's High 5 Hockey Party



Due to the lack of kitchen (note the LR in the background) L got a store bought cake
he didn't seem to mind


craft/snack table


daddy and lil' sis in party attire



Birthday boy's special chair



Hockey Ice cream cake



Happy Birthday Big Guy!
I can't believe you're 5!

N's Big 6 Lego Party




The invitations


The cake for the party
(ran out of time and the fondant got a little sloppy)


The other cake I made for his actual birthday day



The decorations...