Renovate, Remodel, Revamp

Last November, I woke to a puddle on my kitchen counter and when I wiped it up, I got dripped on. Days later, I noticed bubbles on the ceiling about five feet away, and months later, a new puddle formed on the floor between the two previous trouble spots. Once May arrived and the weather (almost) dried up, the work to fix it all began. A flurry of activity and noise ensued and now two months later, we've got what feels like a brand new house. I should mention, however, that the kitchen and all the work inside the house only took four weeks. The roofs took all of four days, but the weather was so bad it took three weeks of waiting for the rain to stop between the one day on the garage and the three days for the house.

The roof is new, including most of the plywood beneath the shingles, and the garage roof and plywood base is new. The kitchen was completely gutted down to the plaster walls and subfloor, and new laminate flooring, paint, cabinets, countertop, backsplash, fixtures, and appliances now fill the beautiful space. The laminate floor was laid throughout our upstairs entry and hallway. Our front room, bedroom, hallway, closets, doors, and downstairs hallway were painted. The two upstairs bedrooms got new wood window casings instead of the ugly original tile, then new blinds. The built-in hall closet got new hardware, and my bathroom is getting new grout (it cracked during the kitchen demo (perhaps a testament to my poor DIY skills?)) and finally, over a year after my dad and I "finished" the bathroom, we're getting the shower trimmed out with accent tile to really finish it. Finally. But perhaps the best part of the whole deal is that we never really felt too displaced despite the chaos. Everyone we talked to said a kitchen remodel is the worst type of remodel. We went into it expecting the absolute worst and we were very pleasantly surprised. It wasn't bad at all. We grilled a lot, made pasta and pancakes on our camp stove, ate a lot of toast, and went out the rest of the time. It felt like we were camping in our own house.

Last Wednesday night I broke in the stove and cooked our first dinner in the new kitchen and veggie rice bowls were on the menu. I made them with a bottled pineapple teriyaki sauce we love, brown rice, broccoli, carrots, red pepper, red onion, and bok choy. So good and fresh, and even better when eaten outside (isn't everything?). On Friday, I broke in the oven with a delicious lemon basil bundt cake. I'll post the recipe soon on my other blog, Budding Foodie. This next week, I see a lot of fresh veggies in our future. Vegetables and fruit are all either of us want these days. I think a solid month of really random food did us in. I'm looking forward to a grilled veggie pizza, roasted asparagus, grilled fruit with vanilla ice cream and granola (a favorite new summer treat), and fresh berries right out of the garden.

No remodel mention would be complete without before and after pics, so here they are. It's an incredible difference and I can't believe it's MINE. My amazing contractor, Dan Schmeling of Arete based in Northern Utah, did an out-of-this-world job. I'm thrilled with his work and am over the moon for my new space. Thanks Dan!