Hey y’all. I figured you might want an update from “The Handy Home.”  There have been so many changes, you won’t believe it! I have some amazing Before and After pictures for you. (Because I know how much everyone loves to see drastic changes.)

Kitchen Before:

Monotone cabinets and appliances. No visual interest.

Kitchen After:

  Ahhh, much better! Many different colors and textures. Polka dot pattern on the wall and stripes on the floor! TRENDY. This picture is so Pinterest-worthy I can’t wait to see those repins. 

Breakfast Nook Before:

Peninsula, trash can, and table blocking traffic flow and the view.

Breakfast Nook After:

Clear line of site, no tables or counters to block your sight line.  I love the open feel, don’t you?

Kitchen Sink Before:

Cluttered appliances on countertop. Tile backspash, very booorrrriinnngg. Tiles and the mat are a bit busy. My eyes don’t know where to rest.

Kitchen Sink After:

  Ahhhhhh, minimalist design at its finest. The eye focuses right on that beautiful window — or maybe not.

Don’t you like my minimalist design decisions? The kids are loving their scooter rink. But, I’m ready for change. Progress has pretty much reached a standstill. Last week we failed our post-mold remediation test. 🙁  I was not very happy to see our previous house guests return:

If you’ve never had the pleasure of having your head 10 feet from a jet engine, you can’t fully appreciate the mind numbing qualities that this beast can exert on your brain! We have four of these air scrubbers running in our home right now.

Honestly, after Sandy’s devastation, I am incredibly thankful for what we have.We have power, we have running water and although we can’t run our heat, those annoying air scrubbers put off enough heat to keep us warm. (We can’t turn on our heat until we pass the mold test?)

While we’ve been living in purgatory, we’ve made some life altering decisions:

I’m going back to work…

…on the kitchen that is! I was having a hard time relinquishing power to the contractors who are lined up to restore our kitchen and laundry room back to it’s previous state. I need to have control and get my hands on the process of rebuilding our kitchen. And, we’ve decided to make lemonade out of lemons by renovating our kitchen.

I also realized that one of my dreams of buying a fixer upper just came out of left field and blind-sided me. I have the opportunity to truly rebuild a gutted kitchen.

After the mold discovery and going through several stages of grief:

• Shock
• Denial
• Anger
• Acceptance

I’ve now arrived to the next stage: SHOPPING

A recap of this past week:

I escaped the whine of the HEPA filter fans to my favorite haunt and started exercising my creative muscles. I bought a kitchen desk and slab of glacier white granite from the Habitat ReStore for…wait for it…are you ready…$55!!! I have big plans for them in the new kitchen plan.

The boys and I suited up in safety goggles, gloves and ear muffs to rip out the existing backsplash. We had a lot of fun prying out the old tiles.

Handsome Guy and I spent a romantic Halloween afternoon in the crawlspace jacking up the house. We have one low spot (thanks to a previous leak) that we needed to push back up into some semblance of level before the flooring can go back in. There is nothing quite like the rush of “jacking up your house” and hearing wood creak and groan. I felt a little bit like Mike Holmes. Hoo Rah!

I spent half a day learning about tile. Floor tile, back splash tile, marble, glass, penny and even copper tile! The choices are endless and I’m not sure how I will ever choose. I might have to ask y’all to weigh in.

Using the iPad camera, within 10 minutes I had accurate plans drawn up of our kitchen and have been playing with layouts.

I think the final plan may be a Frankenstein type fusion using bits and pieces from each.

I’ve created a Pinterest board with my kitchen ideas and several things are a definite (in my mind at least).

Butcher block countertops. Farmhouse sink. Light blue cabinets. Glass cabinets. With 148 pins, you’d think I’d be able to make a decision. Sadly I’m feeling overwhelmed.

Do you have any kitchen ideas for me? A bigger window? Open shelves? OR windowed upper cabinet doors? Granite, quartz, butcher block or marble – oh my! I need some advice. Have you renovated your kitchen or mudroom recently? Any regrets? Any must have features? I’m in serious need of a speedy kitchen renovation course because I know next to nothing about renovating a kitchen. Gulp.

You can read more about our kitchen disaster and renovation in these updates:

• Polybutylene Pipe Leak turns into Moldy Mess
• My World Upended ,  Asbestos Discovery and Removal  -All You Ever Wanted to Know About Asbestos
• Planning Colors and Materials for the New Kitchen
• Let the Demolition Begin
• How to Remove Soffits
• Move Back in the Kitchen Temporarily and Throw a New Year’s Party
• Termite Damage and Kitchen Update
• How and When You Should File for a Permit during a Kitchen Renovation  – Your Questions Answered
• Everything You Should Know about Termites and Termite Damage
• Structural Engineer Plans and another Kitchen Update
• How to Survive without a Kitchen During Renovation