welcome!!! I am so glad you stopped by today… and even more glad that I can see you stopping!!! I finally am able to be online again!!! The service guy that originally installed my internet, just happened to have a light schedule today, and thought he’d stop by and see if mine was working yet. I wasn’t supposed to get another service call until the 22nd of Feb.!!! Needless to say I was very happy to see him at my door!!!
Today I will begin the sharing of Tootsie’s new start! The first of many posts to come that will share the renovation and making of my new house into a home!
This is a long LONG post…so grab a coffee and maybe a cookie or two and settle in for an adventure in home renovation. I have never attempted a project of this magnitude before…and have learned a lot!
***REMEMBER*** The new house is not NEW new…but its new to me. The house itself is about 1970 or so…it is as old (ahem) young as me! ha –ha!!! ***
Take a look:
This is a photo of the kitchen in my new location. It isn’t as bad as it could be…but it isn’t ‘good’ either. Right???
The stove is pushed against the drywall and there is nothing there to protect the wall from the heat of the burners…the dishwasher is ACROSS the kitchen from the sink…right beside the stove…and because of the cabinet wall being so snug against the fridge…it not only is hard to open…but it is next to impossible to pull it out to clean under it!
The cabinets themselves are in rough shape.
My original plan for this kitchen was to update it just a little…I was going to take the doors off…and change the hardware…and give them a good sanding and refinish them….
I was going to remove the cabinetry above the cupboards…as it was a waste of valuable display space…and paint the ceiling and walls.
WELL…when I went to simply remove the doors…I discovered that they were disgusting! I had to use a razor blade to get the gunk out of the screws just to get the screwdriver in there to get them off!!! I was grossed out when I disturbed the gunk and it smelled bad…and that is where the clean and paint plan fell apart!
Grammie and I made the executive decision to gut and renovate this kitchen!!!
Bye Bye ugly!!! You have to admit…it is VERY dated…look at the phone cubby in the wall!!! ha-ha!
…And so the renovation begins!..
This is not going to be a tidy project…and it is going to take a LOT of elbow grease.
Grammie did some measuring and I did some imagining…and we came up with a plan…Then Grammie did some more measuring…and the deal was done!!! We are going on a home renovation adventure!
There’s that phone cubby again! The wall that it is on…is about to disappear and re-appear about 18 inches further back. There was a little ledge on the other side of that wall…that was used for junk in the back entrance. I didn’t need that space for the back door…so we decided to move the wall back.
Everything was removed from the existing cabinet design. I may keep the upper cabinets to use in the garage we are putting in this spring…but the bottom ones are garbage!
The beginning of the new wall being put in. My Dad…Grampie…sure did a good job building that for us. During this little wall building…
I was building the new cabinets…
…and building….
…and building…when I would be getting sick of the cabinet construction, I would paint different rooms in the house, and help with the demolition of the kitchen.
I built every cabinet all by myself!
This is such a messy job…there is dust and drywall, and wood saw dust everywhere!!! Not a fun time for a clean- aholic!!!
We took out the old flooring as it was damaged…and we managed to save just enough to re-tile the back entrance!
Next…we put in the new floor covering!
(not the best photo of the new floor…but you get the idea. )
I was so tired when we finished this that I nearly fell asleep right there on the floor…lucky for me the ‘gang’ and Grampie was there to keep me awake!
Grampie is just buzzing around all over…look at him…he’s going so fast he’s just a blur!!! ha-ha
Grammie and Grampie were around after work each day to see how much progress I was making. The helped me bring in the lower cabinets…and Grampie put in a few plug ins for me…(this house has very few plug ins) …and then it happened…
…Grampie hurt his back. We are not sure if it happened at work…or at this house, but none the less…he was out of commission.!!! (except to inspect and/or supervise of course!)
What the heck will we do now??? How will we get this done? Not to worry…
That was the night that I decided that this was going to be MY project…was the night I decided that I would do it myself!!!!…and that is just what I did!
Lookin’ like a kitchen a little bit more every day!!!
…Got the doors on!!! The stove moved away from the wall…dishwasher re-located…now…the walls…they need “HELP”
The new wall that Grampie built was given a quick and easy fix. I installed pine paneling. It clicks together and all you need to do is nail and glue it into place! Easy…Peezy!!! The only part I hated was cutting out the shapes for the switches and plug ins, and the end pieces that were narrower than one panel piece…what a pain!!!
I painted it the same creamy color that I did the rest of the house in, and voila! one wall done! I didn’t like it in the unpainted color…it reminded me of someone I once knew…and of a very ugly bathroom we once had that looked like an outhouse with all the cedar paneling!
The painted panels look just like I wanted them to…now to finish the rest!
All the way around the room I go…
Paneling the whole thing.
I decided to do the entire room with the panel board because of the damage that the walls suffered when we removed the cabinets and did the alterations. The ceilings also took a bit of a beating…those old cabinets did not want to come out!
The paneling all in…and painted to specifications…it was time to try to hide that ceiling!
Unfortunately…in the process of mounting the upper cabinets and installing the paneling all by my little self…(all of which happened in three or four days)…I managed to sustain a very painful shoulder injury…my rotator cuff is damaged on the right side and all kinds of muscles are pulled on the left side. Needless to say…this Toots was out of commission for a bit!
Construction stopped at this point for a few days…(what? You didn’t think I was going to let someone else finish my kitchen project did you??? You also didn’t think I would listen to the doc. and stop using my arms…right???) …I had to stop working long enough for the pain to be manageable…and had to take it slow from that point…doctors orders.
I think the kitchen looks pretty good so far…I am proud to say that most of this renovation was done by me!!! Lil ‘Ol Tootsie…I do have to give Grammie and Grampie the credit they are due…without them I would not be as far along as I am…Grampie did a lot of work to get the bones of the kitchen ready…and helped with the flooring…Grammie…she planned the cabinets, took the measurements, chose the style, and placed the order for them…
…and she also kept a very close eye on us all for most of the process so far! (I have the photos to prove it! ha-ha!!!)
This is where I will end the first part of the kitchen transformation…Just wait till you see the second part!!! I am nearly finished this project…the next post will share progress with the ceiling…and a few other little things…and finally, I hope to have a countertop to share with you soon!
See you again on Thursday for Fertilizer Friday!!! I can’t wait to sit down and go from garden to garden and see what you have to share this week…and weeks past. I haven’t had internet access for so long I don’t even know where to start to catch up with you all!!! That could be a project all in itself just getting around to say hello to every one!
Until Next Time…Happy Decorating!
*)*)*) To my very special little fan club! A wise old man once told me: A woman with real beauty; smiles through her troubles, becomes brave with disillusionment, develops courage with failure, and gathers strength through pain. I'm not where I want to be but, thank GOD, I'm not where I used to be. I'm OK, and I'm on my way. Karma has a way of lending a helping hand when you least expect it, and determination knows no boundaries! *)
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`*.¸.*´Glenda/Tootsie
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www.tootsietime.com
