Project Fast Food

 (Before)

Tonight we decided to remove our range. I assured Lauren that although we do not have a new range to replace it with, the move will act as a catalyst that will propel us to kitchen nirvana or I will be purchasing many Shamrock shakes that will hopefully make Lauren forget that we don't have a range.

 

 

(After)

Just in case I don't follow through on my commitment to get new appliances by March 5th, I am hiding the range here. Shhh...

Sand City

The cabinet door sanding has begun! ALL the cabinets needed to be scrubbed down with a special cleaning solution since our sellers liked to cook and prepare food ON their cabinets doors, but that didn't really do much. We setup shop in the basement and created an assembly line of two sanding stations. He sanded with a more coarse paper and I followed with my less coarse sander. I finished them off with the fine detailing of the seams. Aka, Quality Control.

 

I need to pick up the pace however, Tommy made it through his line of doors and I've only finished a whoppin' three. Whoopee! This is gonna be a looooong two weeks. (That's what we're planning on atleast, so as always please standby)

(I'm actually smiling out of habit)

Now you see it. Now you don't

  

Here is the cabinet that hung over the left side of what I like to call our horseshoe kitchen. Because we want to order new appliances and the fridge will be taller than ol Yellar here, we decided to pull the entire cabinet down and shift it down to the right.

And here are the proud Greenberg brothers after taking the cabinet down ever so carefully, not to damage it since we may want to keep it as I have mentioned above OR possibly take it down permanently since it really brightened up the room once removed. We do realize that we have a fair amount of cabinet space without it and we might put up a display shelf of some sort instead OR fun pendant lights over the counter, OR....we just can't make up our minds so if you have any ideas, share 'em!

Bringin' down the house

Here we are pulling all the kitchen cabinets down so that they can be scrubbed clean, sanded and eventually painted a nice clean white. We have yet to decide on the new hardware that will top it all off.

We really liked the simple bevel detail that they have. We didn't want to completely tear the cabinets down because with the thought that they won't look as outdated as they do right now once we paint them.

We filled a freezer bag of all the hardware after removing all 19 cabinet and pantry doors. It was definitely a LOT of hardware once it all came down, but we're happy to see it go. I think we will continue to use that phrase as there is plenty of this house "to go" to make it our own. Ah, we couldn't be happier!

We still have the drawers to remove, but we'll keep that until the last minute. We have more than enough to work with for now. Man our tile floor is so very....uh, vintage.

Concuring the beast... our lovely exsisting wallpaper

 Here's what we're dealing with folks.

 Mission: rip and shred the peach wallpaper in the front foyer,
the upstairs walkway and the entire upstairs hallway.

So I have no experience in pulling this stuff down, but I had a number of secrets and suggestions revealed to me: "warm water and fabric softener in a spray bottle," a steamer, a number of household products, scrapers, scoring tools and the list goes on, but the final outcome was, drum roll please: The Wagner Power Steamer. I only wish that that it had a fancy name like The Excalibur 500 or Nimbus 2000. No matter, it did the job and I discovered my secret addiction to pulling down wall paper.

Starting off, I was ever so nicely provided with a magical box-o-tools to cover the job from my Aunt and Uncle, including the steamer. As directed I scored the walls with something that is called a Tiger Paw to create tiny holes or pockets for the moisture to sneak in and bubble the paper away from the walls. I went ahead and tried the fabric softener and water spray, but the steamer alone really did all the work. After one full episode of background noise of American Idol and some other show I'm not familiar with, I found myself past the front foyer and to the upstairs landing. I couldn't stop myself and surprised Tommy with my accomplishments once he walked through the door about 2 hours later. Two days after, I finished the entire hallway after work. Piece of cake. Messy, but cake.

My advice to you, get a steamer or make friends with someone that has one of their own.

One last walk through before we sign the papers

Welcome to our new home! We are so excited to share with you our first pictures taken of our house during our walk-through. It was still in the sellers possession at the time, so you may see some unfamiliar pieces throughout the photos, but since the big move-in day we have continued to make it out own. Come on in!

As you enter the house on your immediate right you'll see the Living Room. The sellers were still celebrating Christmas as you can see.

It is equipped with fireplace number one and surrounded by two windowpane doors that take you out to the three-season porch and a walk-out patio door to the backyard. We're really looking forward to putting this space to good use once it warms up just a bit more.

(Back to the foyer) Straight ahead is the stairway. 

(Note: Tommy's already gettin' down to business with measurements)

 Upstairs hall: top of the stairs, first right: office & craft room, second right is the BLUE room (guest room) following the bathroom and then (not pictured) the master bedroom. 

Office & Craft Room

 The BLUE room (Guest Room)

 The sellers painted the entire house (wood trim and all) in the same color except the guest bedroom, along with the baseboards... needless to say, we have some painting to do.

Upstairs bathroom, peach sea shells and all.

 

View 1 of the Master Bedroom

View 2 of the Master Bedroom with the walkout porch off the bedroom. 

(This is above the three-season porch off the living room)

Back to the main level, to the immediate left from the front foyer is the Formal Dining Room. On the far right wall you'll see our pass through window. Since our kitchen is not an eat-in-kitchen, we will be using the dining room more than your typical parents' dining room that is untouched until holidays and parties. But we do plan on bringing in some bar stools to go under the pass through window on the kitchen side to have a quick bite, hang out while we're cooking or maybe to use as a casual workspace.

Here is another view of the pass through window from the Dining Room to the Kitchen.

Are you feeling groovy in our sunny-seventies yellow kitchen? It includes, exhibit A: an abundance of bright yellow counter tops and more yellow back splash, yellow fridge and dishwasher, (until I remembered you can change the faceplate to its reverse side so its black for now) black range and don't forget the wonderfully patterned linoleum tile floor beneath it all. The sink overlooks the backyard and the back door is located at the top of the basement stairs off the kitchen. We have big DIY plans for this kitchen, just you wait!

(Back door to the yard as well as to the basement)

This is what we like to call our 'Family Room' in the basement just as you head downstairs from the kitchen. Equipped with fireplace number two! The tile that you see is a brick-red (sometimes peach) and navy with a wonderful faux marble detail and to top it off... ladies a gentlemen aqua baseboards. We really hope to warm this area up with carpet and new paint to create a nice little lounge area to hang out in.

This is the powder room that is located right outside the Family Room in the basement.

Take a mental note of that yellow toilet. You might just seen more lovely yellow soon. And did we somehow revert back to the seventies with that flooring?

I'm sure you were all aching to see the utility, laundry and storage room, so here you go.

We love our new backyard, but we can't wait to see what comes up this spring. The seller showed us her binder of garden images when everything was in bloom and we were told there is a cherry and plum tree somewhere under all that white stuff. A nice little paved patio area and walkway to the garage is hidden under there somewhere.