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.

Small update. Big Project.

Here is what I have been working on for a few months now. Just a little preview of what I have been slaving over since July or August of last year.

I have been slowly stripping all the cabinets of three layers of paint. Brown, white and hot pink paint to be exact, Yes the former owner actually had their cabinets painted hot pink at one point..... I don't really know what to say about that...  It has been a tedious task but it seems to be paying off. We plan on staining them a dark red-brown to match the color of our dining table.

We also decided on a new plan to put up floating selves and a range hood. So we took the microwave down with all the cabinets on that wall.

The cabinets look great and I can hardly wait to start staining them, but I think I might get them all stripped and sanded before staining any of them. We will see though I'm already getting anxious to see how they look. These two cabinets might get stained sooner than later so I can get them re-hung. I also think I am going to paint the interior of the cabinets. These two specific cabinets will have glass fronts for our "bar area". I am also thinking of putting a mirror in the back of each one with glass shelves. I think that the mirror would really help brighten the kitchen by reflecting the light from the window.

New Fence

Last October we decided it was finally time to increase security and curb appeal to our front walk way. To do this we decided to build a section of fence that would do both. It would block access to our backyard as well as hide our pool equipment.

Since we had finally removed all of the Ivy there was plenty of room for our new fence section. First, we dug two holes for the fence posts and secured them with Quick-crete.

Next, we secured two 2x4s to the top and bottom making sure they were level . These were going to be used to secure all the fence slats.

We started securing the slats from right to left using screws as spacers. It made it very easy to get every board equally spaced from one another.

And there you have our new fence section! We have talked about staining the whole fence so everything looks cohesive but we haven't really had the time to work on that yet.

We finished this project right before Halloween which was really nice since we had so many kids come by. We didn't have to worry about them wandering into our backyard.

Just a bonus that we cant see the pool equipment anymore! 

Next up on the list for the courtyard improvements is digging out all of that rock and planting lots of flowers!  Maybe I will even stain the fence while I am at it. I can not wait for spring! Yay flowers!