My 1789 Reno
The Kitchen
I decided early on that the kitchen would have to be one of the first projects. The two most important things a home has to offer is a clean place to prepare and eat food, and a clean, comfortable place to sleep at night. At the time of closing, my fixer upper offered neither of those things.
The kitchen was one of the things I loved most about the house. Well...I should say the potential the kitchen had, because it was a sorry sight when I first moved in. All the cabinets were sticky to the touch, the sink was in the pantry, the walls were all covered in paneling or were painted bright yellow (including the cabinets and ceiling in the pantry), the stove was a fire hazard, the pantry cabinets had clear signs of rodent activity, and the floor was a rust colored linoleum that crackled when you walked on it. It was definitely a scene out of the 70's. Take a look at the gallery to see some pictures of the original kitchen.
The first thing that needed to be done was ensure the kitchen was clean and safe. During the home inspection, it was discovered the gas stove wasn't working properly. Three of the burners would light, but the fourth would hesitate then light all four at the same time. Thinking this wasn't exactly safe, I bought a new oven/stove. I even was able to sell the old one and avoid having to haul it down to the junk yard and pay to dispose of it myself- score!
Through all of the struggles with getting clean water (See my blog post "Wishing I could say #PardonMyDust, but instead let's talk about Egg water." for details on the clean water struggles) the kitchen faucet had gotten completely clogged with sediment to the point of needing to be replaced. While I didn't like the sink in the pantry to begin with, my dream island with plumbing for a sink didn't exist yet. I still needed a functioning sink for the time being. Once old, leaky, clogged faucet was replaced with a simple new one I was able to do the dishes again. At this point, the kitchen was safe and functioning, but still needed some work to be clean.
Next came the dreaded sticky cabinets. My mom did everything in her power to get rid of the stickiness including vinegar, comet bathroom cleaner, window cleaner, goo remover- even tire cleaner. Despite her finest efforts, the stickiness remained. At this point we realized they would just need to be painted. I painted all the cabinets nice slate blue and, decided to go with a comfortable farmhouse theme. One cabinet at a time, I removed the doors and hinges and got to work painting. First came a bonding primer so I didn't have to worry about sanding the stickiness. Next came SEVERAL coats of paint. To keep the paint protected, sealed, and able to be scrubbed without chipping off, I used a clear satin polycrylic sealant (NOTE: Polycrylic sealant is used for covering water-based products while Polyeurethane is used for oil-based products). At this point I was able to drill holes for the new knobs and handles, and re-attach the hardware. Once all the cabinet doors and drawers were put back in place, the kitchen looked like a new room.
Next came the island I'd been longing for. I'm a big believer of repurposing furniture that still has life left in it, and just like my grandma Reet, I love a good sale. I was able to find everything for the island but the counter top supplies and sink base, secondhand. However, I also learned through this process that some things that some deals are too good to be true. After the "like new" dishwasher I got a great deal on was painstakingly wired and plumbed into the island, it stopped cleaning after two wash cycles. Since that's the whole point, I did some research. Come to find out the motor was fried and needed to be replaced. It was an added cost and hassle, but the dishwasher still ended up being significantly less expensive than a new one with a brand new motor and a little sweat equity.
Once some outlets were added to the lower cabinets to plug things like phones and laptops in while sitting at the island, the dream was coming together. Next the PEX pipe for the sink faucet as well as the PVC for the drain were installed.
I had a vision with the counter top for the island. I wanted something that had a farmhouse feel, but didn't have the upkeep of a butcher block counter top. I also was looking for something that wouldn't be easily stained with Cool-Aid or require a special cleaning routine. Coming up empty on anything in my price range, I decided to make a counter top myself. I purchased Eastern Pine boards with a bunch of beautiful knots and character, and got to work turning them into an island countertop. Several months later with more help from friends, I was able to install the epoxy-sealed counter-top on to the island base.
Once the counter-top was secured, I was finally able to install the cast iron double sink I had found secondhand and get the sink out of the pantry. What a difference!
Next came the flooring and trim. The existing floor was a rust colored textured linoleum that crinkled whenever you walked on in. Also, it was heavy-duty GLUED to the sub-floor. Unless I wanted to spend weeks chipping away at tiny slivers of linoleum to get to the sub-floor, it wasn't going anywhere. Since it was already level and in good condition, I decided to put the new underlayment and flooring over top of the existing flooring. I was able to score an awesome deal on 1,700 sqft of stranded bamboo flooring online from a dance studio that was closing down. With that much flooring, continuous flooring could be installed throughout the whole first floor as well as the bedrooms upstairs that didn't have proper flooring.
With the help of family and friends (again), the underlayment went down pretty quickly in an afternoon. The stranded bamboo is a floating floor, so no glue or nails are used except to secure the edges. When installing snap together flooring like this, you also need to keep in mind that the sides as well as edges fit together line by line. For me this meant each line of flooring needed to go from the front door, down the hallway, and into the kitchen to the back wall before the next line could be started.
Therefore, the sub-floor and underlayment also needed to be installed in the hallway to be able to complete the kitchen. Needless to say, this turned into a much bigger project than I had originally thought. After a long couple of weeks of laying flooring after work and on the weekends, the kitchen and hallway floor were finally done. After attaching some trim, wainscoting, and painting on a few coats of paint, the island was just about done! Around this time I also found a beautiful farmhouse style chandelier to replace the dirty, outdated ceiling fan with.
