Kitchen Renovation: Labor Day Weekend (literally)

We decided Labor Day weekend was a great time to get started on the kitchen. There were tons of sales going on, and we had an extra day to work.

The beginning was FUN!

Bringing the vision to fruition was exciting. While most things worked out that we had in mind, we had to tweak a few things, and we ended up having to run all over Sedalia to get our corrugated metal. When we picked a paint color, we quickly agreed on a shade, and later noticed the color name was "Farmhouse Red." It must have been a sign.

My favorite purchase was our flooring. We decided to go with a vinyl plank. I could bore you with all the advantages to using it, but I'll just leave it at this: cheap, easy, functional, nice-looking. If we were building a new home, maybe we'd splurge for fabulous floors, but the truth is, we're working on a 60 year old home and re-doing old cabinets, so we're looking for FUNCTIONAL and kid-friendly. This floor was perfect, and I absolutely LOVE how it looks.

When we finally got home, we were so excited to start working. We removed cabinet doors and hardware, and started sanding. We painted well into the wee hours of the morning. We were having a great time, and things were running really smoothly. We were excited to start again the next day.

 The next day we decided we'd really need to get the walls started and re-do the counter tops. We didn't have a sink or a counter top. so another trip to Sedalia was necessary.

We found what we needed, and it was time to start demolition. That's when things became UN-fun really fast.

Those cabinets were made solid and sturdy, we THINK by someone with a new nail gun and nothing but roofing nails. It was a nightmare. Hubby finally had to bring out the Handy Man to get the job done!

I guess this was the point where it started to get real. We were able to see exactly how much work was ahead of us, and if we hadn't already destroyed the counter top, I think we might have just forgot the whole thing.

Instead, we charged through, and my amazing husband installed his first sink and counter top all by himself, and actually did a fantastic job. With the cabinets basically done, it was time to start on the walls and floors. We laid the floor in no time, and it was so easy we thought we pretty much had things made. We started cutting boards and tin and began covering the walls.

Things moved along well, but before we knew it the weekend was over and we had forgotten to get trim, door hinges, and some other things, and we decided with all the money we saved (and with our pretty new kitchen) we wanted new appliances. So, we did what we could and put it away for another day.