#AJoyfulReno: Our Kitchen Renovation Pt. 1

It’s time for an update! The kitchen is getting perhaps the biggest overhaul of any room in the house. Not only are we gutting it completely, we are also removing a wall. Here are some photos of the original kitchen in all its 1970’s glory! The mustard yellow countertops against the pink walls made for a very interesting colour palette 🙂

It’s hard to see in these photos but the countertops were all chipped along the edges. So dangerous! And that carpet? No thank you ma’am. We were concerned the previous owners may have laid down the carpet to hide some weird floor issue but thankfully after hiring Carpet Cleaning Knoxville we figured out that was not the case. The cleaners check it out and it was just old tile which was a relief!

In the photo below you can see that the left side of the kitchen actually had a good amount of storage (this is the wall we removed). We considered trying to salvage the cabinets but once we took a closer look we realized they were too far gone. The window above the stove has been removed, but once the wall was taken down it brought in a ton of light from the dining room.

This galley kitchen was completely closed off from the living room/dining room area. That was a big no-no for me as I want to be able to see Piper from every room on the main floor. Not being able to see her from the kitchen was a deal breaker for me, so we had an engineer come in and take a look. Sure enough it was a load bearing wall, so we had to install a wood beam to make sure everything was supported properly.

Below is what the kitchen looks like right now. Eeek! It’s kind of scary! I apologize for the grainy photos, the lighting is so tricky on the main floor right now. We installed a new window above the sink and boarded up the window above the stove. Eventually we will have cabinets running all along both walls you see here, plus an island. It’s so hard to picture right now but in a few weeks it’ll be a lot closer to a real kitchen instead of a complete construction zone 🙂

Not much has been happening in this room the past few weeks since we are still waiting for the cabinets to arrive and the floors to be put down. The drywall is being installed this week so I will post an update once it’s done! One thing we have realized is that it can be so hard to know what the timeline of each project will be. We are a few weeks behind schedule because we underestimated how long certain things would take to do or how long things would take to arrive like floors, windows and doors. These are all great lessons learned but it can be frustrating when you are on a tight schedule! This is is one of the main reason we contacted expert kitchen remodeling in Syracuse NY to help us figure out our kitchen. They gave us a full understanding of our kitchen and prepared a plan for the next course of action to complete the renovations in a few days time.

James and I have been using the Houzz app a ton during this renovation and I wanted to share a few of our inspiration photos. Our style is very minimal and modern, with a few rustic elements thrown in. We really like the combination of white and wood cabinets in these photos, it’s such a great look that I think will continue look fresh and current for many years to come!

If you are doing a home reno I would highly recommend this app. I’m not affiliated with them, I just genuinely think it’s a great tool for people in need of home decor inspiration! Click any of these photos to see a larger size image plus all the details.

*Don’t forget to follow the #AJoyfulReno hashtag on Instagram and Twitter for more updates in real time!