The Pool Part 3

On Saturday after a long Friday night of partying we woke up around 9 and tore down our side wall. We had to take this down so we could get access to the backyard. It didn't take long to get this down. At first we thought it was going to be a cinder block wall that was stuccoed but it ended up being a wood wall that was stuccoed so it came down in one piece.

After we took that down we went and grabbed some food. They dropped off the first load of dirt around 12:30 which Geoff ended up moving by himself. Slowly all of our friends started showing up. Within a few hours we had it almost done. Here is where we left Saturday, so much progress!

We also had a bunch of dirt left in our driveway to finish moving. We took 4 days to move the rest of the dirt.

I can say we are officially done filling in the pool! Thanks to our friends and our brothers we got it all done! Woohoo! now that is progress!

Now we need to remove all the cinder block and concrete. We also need to figure out what we are going to do with all of this space!

The Pool Part 2

Monday came around and it was time to remove the cinder block walls. My brother got started right away.

Using a sledge hammer he broke out all of the cinder block and I stacked it into piles.

My mom and I also started stacking the concrete pieces in the back left corner of the yard. We plan to reuse some of the broken concrete to create a few paths and maybe even line the flower beds but we haven't decided anything just yet. It looks like a bomb went off in our yard. Okay maybe a very organized bomb. 

The Pool Part 1

I said I would not take on any more projects until I finished the kitchen... I was wrong. We started taking out the pool this last weekend.

On Friday my brother informed me that we needed to have the pool ready for fill dirt at the end of next week. My parents are redoing their backyard and have tons of dirt they need to get rid of. Instead of us buying dirt to fill in our pool we are going to use their extra dirt from their yard. They get a bobcat in a week so we have to be ready to take all of that dirt. That means have the pool ready to fill. We started on Friday by poking holes in the pool liner and draining the half foot of water that had accumulated. Also cutting down the liner from the walls.

Saturday we decided that the concrete needed to start being cracked up so we could get to the cinder block walls easier. We had a few friends come over to help us and we started right away.

 

We made great progress.

Within 2 hours we had the whole concrete pool surround broken up and stacked into piles.

Next step will be to clean up the piles and get ready for Monday when we start removing cinder block.

Kitchen Pantry

The pantry in the kitchen took up more space than it gave for storage. It was built with 2x4's and sheet rock which took up about 5 inches on each side that was not usable space.  

It also went all the way to the way to the ceiling which really cut up the room. It made the room darker in there than it should have been. Remedy? Remove it! 

We got all of the sheet rock removed then Garrett had a heck of a time removing the studs.

 After he got all of the structure removed I cracked out the tile from the area. It came up so easy.

We bought some sheet rock and repaired the wall. We bought a pantry cabinet for storage and we love it.  A lot of light is able to pass over the cabinets. We are actually able to fit that pantry cabinet and an 18 inch base cabinet in that space now.

 

Yay for more storage and more counter space! Now I just need to get moving on refinishing those cabinets so we can be done.

Cabinets

Our cabinets have gone through quite a journey. When we bought the house they were white and had seen better days. There were drips in the paint and it was super grimy. 

We really wanted dark cabinets so we decided to paint them dark brown.

After a while we decided we hated the brown paint, we badly wanted wood cabinets. So what did I decide to do? O you know strip off the paint and start over. So I borrowed some leftover paint stripper from Geoff's uncle mike. It was a clear gel with strong fumes. Lucky me, guess what I found? another layer of paint under the white layer.... Yes.. 3 total layers of paint and yes that is pink. Pepto-Pink, White and the dark brown we had painted. This first stripper was crappy and I really gave up the idea of wood cabinets.


This first stripper was crappy and I really gave up the idea of wood cabinets. Then a friend of mine, Angela, from Love can make any house a HOME told me about Citristrip. I bought a big bottle for $20 and its amazing stuff. I have been able to strip 8 doors, 7 drawer fronts and 5 cabinets so far and still have a lot left.

After a few things had been stripped I thought I would just strip them down and paint them a better color, but after all of that work to get the paint off I could not just paint them again!  I was able to get all of the paint out of the grain using a wire brush and some paint stripper. After a lot of work I finally had these two cabinets perfect and ready to stain.

I chose to use Minwax stain in Red Mahogany. I really wanted to try to match our dining table because I love the way that wood looks. I applied 3 coats of stain and 2 coats of satin Polyurethane also from Minwax. Over the weekend I started the staining process and today just applied the second coat of poly. I am going to give them a few more days to completely dry and then start hanging them. 

I am so excited! It is always really fantastic to see all your hard work paying off.

Easter Weekend

This last weekend was anything but boring. I started staining cabinets, they look amazing. I love the red tones and all the dark grain. I put two coats of stain on and contemplated a third but I think this is the perfect balance of dark color and wood grain showing through.

Later that day I went over to my parents house and helped them with a major backyard remodel. To kicked off the big project we started taking the wood fence down that separates the two yards. Then we really got moving by taking out the retaining wall. We had put this railroad tie retaining wall in a few years ago but now we need to take it down and move it back 7 feet to create more space. They are planning to put a car port in the yard for their trucks. We had a lot to do but both the wood fence and the railroad tie retaining wall came down pretty fast. 

My brother had a good time kicking the wall over after we took out the supports.

We got a lot done! Actually there was a lot more done but I left early to get ready for Easter dinner.

It was a very busy weekend. I got a total of 5 cabinets stained and 5 drawer fronts stained. I have not started on any doors yet and I still need to apply my polyurethane to the finished pieces. I feel very good with what I accomplished this weekend. I have 8 cabinets left, 5 of which have not even been stripped yet. I still have a LONG way to go. Definitely no more projects until I finish this kitchen. :)

Kitchen Plans

After our last update you now know that we are working on the kitchen. This is a huge project to tackle, so having a plan is really important. We finally made a few important decisions and came up with this plan.

To save money we have decided to use the existing cabinets and rearrange a few to better fit our needs. I have been slowly stripping off layers of paint from all doors, drawers and cabinets.

To add more storage and counter space we found unfinished oak cabinets (which match our cabinets) at home depot for next to nothing. We bought a pantry cabinet, a base cabinet and an upper cabinet to add to the mix.

After a lot of thought and a lot of changes we came up with is kitchen configuration:

Removing the built-in pantry and replacing it with the three new cabinets will add storage, counter space and really open up the kitchen.

Removing the upper cabinets and the over the range microwave will make this space feel more open while maintaining its functionality.

Adding cabinets and counter space to this area will finally bring functionality to a space that currently has none.

 Here is the whole kitchen layout put together, which really makes me want to get this project finished ASAP.