Remodel: fin de Week One

That's French for "I made a mess and cleaned it up by the end of week one."  Sort of.
I've been promising photos and updates on my kitchen odyssey, so here we are.

I'm going to spice this post up with a list of "things I've discovered" from this project (and perhaps life in general.)


To the right here, you can see that we took off the cabinets.  See the brown dripping things in the photo?  Discovery #1: The backs of the cabinets were actually painted sheet rock.  I had no idea.  I hope the new ones I ordered don't have this fancy tromp d'oeil. I want real cabinet backs.

I decided to pull the appliances to the center of the kitchen so they can have cozy conversations while staying out of my way.  It's not every day that appliances can have tête à têtes.  I hope they enjoy this special occasion.

 <-- The left cabinets came down yesterday evening.  We had an interesting time with that oven vent, which was non-functioning.  Discovery #2: we had a ventless hood.  It was rather disgusting, full of grease, and probably a fire hazard.  I'm glad the previous owners kept the vent and just stuffed it with insulation because it will make installing the new hood immensely easier.  When we buy the new hood, that is...

Call me weird, but I kept sweeping the floor, even though it will be ripped up imminently.  I even mopped it this morning.  The dust was killing me.


The next two pics are what I accomplished today, exactly one week after the remodel began.  I got rid of the refrigerator cabinet and the oven cabinet (the last one!).  I texturized the walls and began to imagine the color splashed on it: Patina.

 The jury is still out on the soffits.  My remodel calendar says that I was supposed to texturize on Wednesday and take down the soffits today.  But I'll see tomorrow if I have the energy and will power to tackle that chore.  I need cheerleaders.

Discovery #3: Like old people, old letters seek warm climates to spend their years in retirement.  When Trevor and I pulled out the stove cabinet, we found two letters.  One, dated September 3, 1989, was a packet of three offering envelopes for weekly tithing.  They were all empty, and I'm kind of glad they were, or I'd have a real ethical quandary on my hands.  It would be too tempting to keep money at this stage of remodeling--even somebody's wayward tithes.

 Discovery #4: Stamps cost a quarter in 1990.  I'd forgotten that they were ever this low, and I was probably griping about how high stamps were that Christmas.  Do you like the little USPS stamp that kindly asks the postal worker to "please mail early for Christmas"?  Makes me smile.

Discovery #5:  I'm not superwoman.  Or, I'm only superwoman until 6 PM.  After that, I'm tired and start fantasizing about hiring workers to pull up the vinyl flooring.  We'll see how those fantasies play out tomorrow...  I also need to make friends fast with someone who knows how to wire recessed lighting in the soffit against the windowed wall.

That's it for tonight.
I'll sleep well tonight.  I hope you do, too.