Day 123

 I love working outside and if I had my choice, I would be outside all the time. But purchasing an old property, even if clean and taken care of, requires updating. Before we took a hiatus to focus on the outdoor projects, we had already put in new following in half the first floor, updated the bathroom and living room, cleared out tye room that would become the new kitchen, transform a  small hallway into a mudroom, and utilize an used corner room into a spacious laundry room. 

Months earlier, we had worked with a contractor to think outside the box and move the kitchen rather than renovate it. He put us on the schedule and sure enough, as soon as the outdoor projects were wrapped up, his schedule allowed this new project to begin.

There goes the long awaited renovation nap we were waiting to enjoy.

While we worked on the outdoor projects, my project manager wife continued indoor transformation planning and ordering. Though our contractor wasn’t able to start working until the fall, our garage had slowly built up a  stockpile of resources for the new kitchen. We played a game of Tetris trying to get the new cabinets, sinks, and other materials to be accessible while still holding on to pieces of the old kitchen and family room we deemed worth saving. 

Eventually, the time came to start taking stuff out of the garage and install it into the brand new kitchen location. 

The contractor and my wife had already gone over the design and a tentative game plan for making it a reality. We knew installing the luxury vinyl plank flooring would essentially be the last major step. Installing the lower and upper cabinets was a great starting point. Seeing them installed really helped this empty room take shape. Most of the installation went smoothly, but as always,a  few surprises showed up along the way. A few pieces were missing from the delivery, but nothing our contractor needed to proceed. A few measurements from the diagram needed tweaking. Once the cabinets were in, we could focus on beautiful, granite countertops.

And these countertops were certainly an adventure of their own.