| Before | The floor is in! |
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| The downstairs kitchen, like the upstairs kitchen, was in bad shape. The walls were yellow and white with touches of orange flower wallpaper and caulk patches when we moved in. The cabinets were in bad shape and did not make the best use of space. The floor was the same vinyl tile as upstairs, and the ceiling was covered in gritty plaster. There was also some dodgy wiring in the kitchen. (Note the cable for the sink light - it went through the cabinets, but was not in a casing.) | |
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The layout of the kitchen was also strange. The door to the bathroom was in the middle of the kitchen, and despite the space, we couldn't fit in a table larger than our two person table. The wiring was also terrible with reverse polarized outlets (that were also on top of the counter - see photo above, by paper towels), ungrounded outlets, and exterior dodgy wiring. |
| We ripped out all the cabinets and reinstalled the sink in the upstairs kitchen. We also swapped stoves, bring the one with the timer upstairs. Dad used some of the cabinets upstairs too (Alyssa calls them the origami cabinets). Colin scraped up the vinyl tiles and the composite tiles underneath (with Andrew's help). The wall for the bathroom is complete, and already we feel that we have more space. |
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Colin insulated the bathroom wall and is now working on wiring the kitchen. When Dad was out in May, he installed the new ceiling - pine car siding. Alyssa primed it. In October, Dad came back out to install the floor. (The green blocks of paint are Alyssa testing colors again...) Colin also installed all the recessed lighting and wired up the speakers. Alyssa repaired part of the partition wall, which was rotted. |
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We finished dry walling the bathroom wall. After Dad mudded it, Alyssa painted it and the rest of the kitchen walls, which weren't in too bad of shape (just filthy and a strange combination of latex and oil based paint). After Dad installed slate tile by the back door, he went to town nailing the oak floor. Because we have three layers of plywood plus a plank sub floor, we were able to use thinner hardwood. |
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| The new floor and lights looked great. But Alyssa wasn't happy with the color. So she covered up the new floor and painted primed and painted the kitchen again. She also painted the back door white. Unfortunately the new paint doesn't help it's difficulty in closing and locking. (That's the new fridge under the plastic wrap.) | |
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| When Dad was here, he fixed the holes we made in the ceiling and floor when we moved the little stud wall back. He also installed the bead board wainscoting down the hall and around the booth. | |
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Just behind the pile of cabinets, you can see our new window. We had an interesting time getting the corner base cabinets in the house. The back door was too small, so Dad and Colin had to take them out of the box and squeeze them in through the front door and down the hallway, with only a quarter of an inch total to spare. |
