BEFORE
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| Yes, I did break a lamp shade, thankyouverymuch. |
I started cleaning them November of 2010!!!
I figured I had a month of heavy duty work in front of me and I still had time to beat Travis at finishing the beams first.
This is how far he was in November... almost done with phase 1(approx 100 hours worth?)
More befores from early 2010 when we moved in:
Not too terrible looking, but upon closer inspection there was a lot of cleaning to do.
But Travis beat me by finishing the beam early... and then we moved upstairs the very next day!
Turns out you DO NOT need cupboard doors to survive!
I actually enjoyed having the doors off for the first month, as it allowed me to get a feel of where I wanted dishes/spices/etc to live for the proper flow. It also helped Travis KNOW where dishes went without opening 5 cupboards (like he does now?)
(PS: Go wipe your cupboards down NOW!)
Here is the handles I picked. They matched the unpainted original brass hinges.
We sent the hinges with a friend who gave them a chemical bath and instead of painting them as planned, decided the original clean brass looked great!
Love this rack for hanging our pans. I would have a lot less space in my cupboards if I tried to make these fit!
Many many projects got started and finished during the process of fixing the kitchen and sanding the beam. Just a few...
Rebuilt the front deck
Replaced burst main water line
Installed patio pavers
planted garden
Planted 2nd garden!
Fixed leak behind washing machine
Moved upstairs...Several birthdays, a Christmas....
Here is one one of the yard projects that we had been putting off for a while.
This unknown name pokey plant was overgrowing its bounds.
My solution?
Buy Travis a hedge trimmer for his birthday!!!
It worked quite well... but it still kept growing!
Damn those pesky plants, right?
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| This WAS an improvement! |
Travis' solution?
Cut it back!
I loved how it looked and wish it could stay like this forever! So much more interesting to look at.
Especially now in 2012, it doesn't look so freshly butchered and is starting to bush out a bit more
Oh yes... more before and after....
This is early 2010...
This is early 2012!!!!!!!!
After our fridge died--we had to remove a cabinet(that I couldn't reach without a stool anyway) to fit Travis' dream fridge. After a month, it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb anymore. We have magnets and a calender on the doorway facing side.
But the rest of my appliances do not match :(
So maybe those will come sooner rather than later?
Before Before:
After:
Looks like the stored paint DID match after all those months!
I was a bit sad to see the cupboard go, but after 7 days of no ice, cold water or food, it is amazing what you will be willing to sacrifice!
And just wait--there is MORE to come!!!
Seems like I've been reading forever about your kitchen troubles! I'm glad to see it in all its glory, after all your hard work! That is a beautiful new fridge. Oh, you could do so much more with that space under your window where the privet (I think it's privet) is growing. Pull those ugly things out, they make me sad!
ReplyDeleteOh Alison--I have so much space to fill as it is! I will keep the privet for a while longer. It stands in the space of our Future Green House!!
DeleteThe kitchen looks good. I like some of the cabinets with no doors. You can show off the fancy glasses. Gotta keep up with the cleaning. Yuck! The hardware works well too.
ReplyDeleteLooks good, it must feel nice to have it mostly done. Yeah having your fridge break is no fun... we went through that recently too. I would have had to cut out WAY to many cupboards to make our new one fit in though so we had to rearrange a few things... it works but someday our kitchen will need redone.
ReplyDelete