kitchen update

The other big event in our lives (thought not nearly as important as the health of our niece) - the kitchen.  Well folks, we're still working on it.

The cabinets are painted and the new hardware has been installed.

The walls are in progress.  We have one coat applied, all we need to to is some trim work on the tallest part of our wall (vaulted ceiling) and touch ups in a few spots.  You can't really tell from this photo, but the color is great.  It seems so springy in here now.

Next up are the counter tops and floors.  Oh, those pain in the ass floors!

So long nasty, cracked tile.  Too bad you don't want to come up.  See that?  That's hard wood flooring.  The previous owners installed the tile over the wood flooring.  Unfortunately, they screwed the hardy board into the floors every. 4. inches.  We were hoping to salvage the wood, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.  I wanted to paint them.  Our current plan is to get up a big enough area of tile (if we can - that stuff doesn't want to budge!) so that we can get a good idea on how the wood looks.  If it's too damaged we'll replace the tile then install some type of floating flooring on top of the tile.  Yes, that would make three layers of flooring in our kitchen.  Yay us.  Things never go as planned, so they?

I've created a flickr set of our progress if you want to see how the kitchen looked before.

Comments

[Sarah Jackson]

Beki! It looks gorgeous! I love the brightness of the green and white.

I so feel your pain on that floor. Our old house had linoleum GLUED to the hardwood floor in the kitchen/dining room. I peeled it all up to get to the floor. Ugh. Worth it if you can make it work, though.

[Lesley]

We had a three layer floor in our first bathroom. By the time we'd taken all three very smelly and rotten floors up we were able to actually stand up straight in there with headroom to spare!!
The kitchen looks gorgeous and the colours look beautiful. Good luck with those tiles.
You just have to ask yourself what possesses some people when they 'improve' a good wooden floor, don't you?
Lesley xx

[Autum]

Wow, your cabinets look so good! Kitchen remodel is not a quick and painless undertaking is it? I can assure you, it's kind of like childbirth, a great big pain in the behind while it's going on, but once you see the results you love it so, that the pain is hard to remember.

[Beth H]

I'm jealous for sure!! Good luck on the back breaker tile work. Earlier this year we removed linoleum which was under carpet and it WAS NOT fun.
It sure is looking great so far.

[kat]

congrats on your progress so far. Your kitchen looks fabulous. Just the inspiration I need to get us going on all our projects :)

[Carrie S.]

Oh my, I remember trying to get tile up in our kitchen when we remodeled. What a PITA! There's this jackhammer thingy we borrowed from our floor guy that did the trick - it's got like a giant screwdriver at the end and it totally uproots those pesky tiles. But you've got that wood under, so I don't know if that would damage it. Maybe ask though, because that's a hard job! Good luck! The cabinets look beautiful!

[Mary Sarah]

Your cabinets look fantastic! I love them and the wall color, countertops and window treatment are great! I'd love to get new countertops. Hang in there! It's looking great so far and when it's all done, it will be worth it!

[carrie]

keep going! ted and i knocked down a wall in our apartment last year and kept running into issue after issue (gas line in the middle of the wall, plaster problems etc.) it will all be worth it! i can't wait to see the finished product.

[heidi]

i think our kitchen is nearly done. sigh. good luck on the floors!

[Tara]

I'm trying to convince my mom to have the tile replaced in her kitchen when they remodel this summer. I think if they're taking the time to get a new cooktop and granite countertops, she ought to get new floors too. Hers look just like yours and while they're hell on your back cooking they're also bad for dropping things.

[erin]

oh i hope you can save that wood floor!

the cabinets look great. really great.

[lla]

Your cabinets look amazing - it's so pretty looking in there... And the floor? It'll come along - and I know that whatever you decide to do will be gorgeous!

[erin s]

How bright and cheery the kitchen looks. The white cabinets really brighten it all up. Oh don't you just hate those tiles. We have similar ones in our kitchen (white tiles) and they drive me nuts. They are cracked chipped and ugly! Good luck with all the renos. YOu are very brave!

[jona]

Those cabinets look so fresh and amazing! I can't wait to see the finished paint, I really love the new color you chose.

Hang in there on the floor! Our first house had indoor/outdoor carpet glued to linoleum which was glued to the wood floor. The previous owner had let her cats do their business on it but once we pulled everything up and sanded the floor the smell went away. The joys of home improvement.

[capello]

wow. when i paint our kitchen i think i'm gonna put some molding on top of our kitchen cabinets. that looks NICE.

and urgh. floors. girl, have i told you about how our peel and stick tiles are peeling directly under where my fat ass sits? it's SO FREAKING LOVELY.

[melissa@yummygoods]

looks great! That is a lot of work. We are in the process of a DIY kitchen redo and it is never ending!

[Claire (not Bahrain)]

The kitchen looks great Beki. I hope you can save that wood flooring. A bit of a sand down and some paint it will look great. Good luck with the floor.
How is your niece doing? I hope that she is doing better...

[amy]

We need to replace the tile on our really tiny floor in the kitchen. The construction nearby cracked it and I still need to file a claim they said won't be paid probably. Ahhh. It seems fun to sledge hammer the heck out of the tile but what a mess! Looking good at your place though. :)

[Laylabean]

That is looking beautiful - and like a lot of work. I'm very impressed in both cases!

[Marianne]

Wow Beki! Your kitchen is gorgeous! Congrats!

[Rachel]

Way to go! We are planning a kitchen redo, but haven't just started. You totaly make me want to start. Just yesterday we pulled up the lino in the kitchen closet to see what was underneath...hardwood floors that have been painted poorly twice. We are hoping to sand down and refinish. I wanted to paint them, but I think it will look choppy between the living room and kitchen. Oh, remodeling...how I love thee!

[Marcia]

Wow! The whole effect is wonderful! Lucky you to have a hubby who is interested in doing that sort of thing.

How is your niece?

[Karen H]

Beki, your kitchen is looking fabulous! I hope your niece is doing better and I will keep her in our prayers.

[lera]

It looks great, Beki! I know you can't wait until it's finished. [So you can start your next project :-)]

When we were remodeling our kitchen (before we even moved in), there was old linoleum down, several layers. It was stapled every few inches. It was terrible trying to remove all of those things. I think Joe's grandmother finished the job for me. I was too pregnant and wobbly to be down on the floor for that. Under all of our floos is original hardwood. It's all in bad shape. We installed new over some of it and hope to restore some later.

[Missy]

Wow - what a project!! Good luck!
Happy New Year!
Missy

[gkgirl]

your kitchen looks fantastic!
and i so hear you about the woes of the
flooring...we just recently got rid of
what we lovingly referred to as our
"vintage" linoleum flooring, circa 1970.
gah.

and our whole house was originally
hardwood also, under layers and layers
of "stuff"...sadly we have not
been able to salvage it yet in any room.

renovations.
so much fun.
bah.
:)

[katie]

your kitchen looks so great! i love white cabinets! i hope the floors turn out okay and you are able to salvage the wood. sometimes i wonder what the heck people are thinking! i love painted wood floors! beautiful! great progress. it must be nice to see it coming together!

[Janey]

Looking good, and I love the hardware on the cabinets. Hopefully you're hardwood can be saved. I cringe at what some homeowners do. The previous owner of our house did some horrible things too so I can relate. Hope you're niece is doing better.

[Lori K]

So glad to see Berkley is improving. Sepsis is very scary.

The remodel looks great! The floors, too. Wood is wood, holes or not. I like it.

[amandajean]

your cabinets look gorgeous! I don't envy your floor dilemma, though. ugh. that's got to be a ton of work.

[Chara Michele]

Your kitchen is looking quite lovely! (And I agree, why would anyone tile over hardwood floors?) :)

[tamara]

Oh wow, you guys have come along way! That tile shot looks really scary. We have to replace some ceramic tile in our back hall and know I'm dreading it.

[claire]

wow that is EXACTLY the nasty tile we had in our kitchen. We weren't so lucky with what was underneath, though.

[Melanie]

Not sure if you need any suggestions, if you do laminate, but we put in Armstrong flooring when we redid our kitchen. It has a much thicker surface layer than the general laminate flooring avail. at Home depot, etc. We have a dog, so we thought it might be very practical. Anywhoo it was available at a discount flooring place, and was very competitive in price to the thinner stuff. The boards themselves are the same, it's just the wear layer. Check out their website if you go that route. Best of luck, it's looking great.