Kitchen Renovation - Construction Phase
It's been quite a week in my house. Our kitchen renovation is in the construction phase so things have been pretty dusty.
Organized Chaos
As you all know, I'm an organized person so it didn't surprise my family that I had organized our living during our reno. When I packed up my kitchen I decided to make the food bins easy for my family. We've got one box for breakfast, one for lunch and snacks, and two for cooking and dinner.
This little bit of organizing has been great. When we need to find something for breakfast, we just go to the breakfast box.I have a hard time starting the day without my cup of coffee, so I've set up this little station in our kitchen (just like I used to when we camped). And yes, one perk of a kitchen renovation is eating off paper plates which really equates to no dishes. Total plus in my books!
We also have a box for tools. So at the end of the night, all the tools should be going back into the box. Notice how I say, 'should'. I won't name names, but there was someone in my house who wasn't on the same program, so when that someone needed a particular tool the next day and couldn't find it, I have to admit, there was a little part of me that wanted to say, "If you would put your things away where they belong...." However, I knew better not say one word so I just continued on working with a great grin on my face :) Needless to say, that particular someone now helps with the end of the day clean up and puts his tools away.
Construction Phase - The Not So Pretty
I'm not going to lie. As I sit here and type out this blog, I am sitting in my kitchen looking at this:
As excited as I was to start this project, I'm exhausted this morning. Normally, when I work with clients, I am not involved in the actual labour of the doing the work. I get to pick out all the fixed elements, bring everything together, and then watch the magic take place.In my own reno, as you know, my hubby and I wanted to put some sweat equity into our home and do as much as we felt comfortable. My arms hurt, my legs hurt and my hands hurt. I certainly won't be changing my job description any time soon. Out of all the demolition that was done, we hit the wall on Friday with our floors. I give all the props to workers who rip out carpet and lino! You have one hell of a job!
Taking Out Lino
I am not going to color-coat this one bit: taking out lino is a bitch. You see, the lino was installed on a subfloor that was stapled down to the floor. We had to rip up the subfloor, which came out in chunks, and then we had to deal with this: 
We have a little tool to get the staples out of the floor but let me just say this, "If I see one more friggin staple I am going to scream." Do you see how long each staple is? Holy crap! As I pulled out each staple one by one I heard the voice of my very dear friend, Elizabeth Critchley, remind me about perspective. As I've said before, I'm choosing to take the perspective of Positive Polly instead of Negative Nancy reminding myself, "You're getting your quartz counters by doing this work Sheri." Nothing like a little bit of self-talk to get me through a crappy job! I did want to thank my brother -in-law Doug for helping us with the last bit of the flooring. Without his help, I think we'd still be trying to pry off the subfloor! I'm not sure he knew what he was getting himself into, but boy did we appreciate his help late Friday night!
Kitchen Renovation - Moving Forward
We've got a big two days ahead of us as we prep our doors to be sprayed by our wonderful painter, get our kitchen walls back to having drywall, and putting our kitchen cabinets together and installing them. Here's our kitchen cabinets just waiting to be put together! 
Our plumber comes on Tuesday to install new toilets (hallelujah) and get our plumbing ready for our new kitchen, counters will be templated on Wednesday and everything is still on time. Now that gets me excited!We've had so many friends and co-workers surprised to find out we were living through our renovation. While the intent was to do this renovation and stay at my parents home while they winter down south, it just didn't work out that way. So...here we are!
When it comes to renovations and work done in your home, you just can not afford to make a mistake! Send me an email to discuss your home.
One of the biggest investments one can make is the investment of a home and I believe you should LOVE coming home.
Related Posts
Getting Ready for a Renovation
The Renovation Journey We're About To Embark On
Organizing and Design Go Hand In Hand