Shadel House: Kitchen Reno

Shadel House: before picture (after pictures of exterior to come)

We finally finished the interior renovation of our 16th street rental house.  We call it the Shadel House because that's what is stamped in the concrete under the front gate. It is a Craftsman Bungalow and was built in 1914.  Our new renter is already planning on throwing it a 100th birthday party in two years!

This house is my favorite, and I think it turned out so cute.  Of course I took a bajillion pictures, so I am going to start with one of the rooms that saw the biggest change (though frankly, the whole house looks entirely different!)

Before:

I thought the original cabinets were cute and originally wanted to try and save them, but not only were they not making the kitchen function well, they had been sorely compromised when a previous owner hacked a hole in them to add the dishwasher.  Also, the cabinet doors were all missing.

During:

All walls were opened up to accommodate new electrical and relocate the plumbing. Lovely lathe and plaster disaster! We found some fun artifacts though: a 1937 cream separator in the original box, 1950's entire newspapers, a few dozen tupperware lids, a very old yard stick. . .

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Aaaannd a few more after shots for your viewing pleasure :)

More room reno pictures to come!

General info:

Wall color - Sherwin Williams Sedate Gray

Door color - Sherwin Williams Unusual Gray

Trim Color - Sherwin Williams Alabaster

Green Glass Subway Tile - Waterworks "Harvest Gold"

Lights from Lowes

A Splash of Pink

One of the things I love about doing my kitchen all white is that I can add little splashes of color now and then for variety.  I love fresh flowers and I tend to get white flowers more than anything (Really, are you surprised?).  But now that my kitchen is all white, adding hot pink peonies, for instance, has a really lovely affect.

And to think I was disappointed when I learned my nine peony plants were various shades of pink instead of white.

And Again with the Kitchen. . .

We finally got our tile installed this weekend--and I LOVE it.  It is really amazing what a little tile will do for a kitchen.  

Maybe I should have put the outlet covers back on before I took these pictures!

I ended up using a light grey grout instead of white--the white was whiter than my tile and made it look kind of tan.  

 My dad came up for the weekend with all his tools to help us.  (Thanks Dad!)

The grout was different than any I had used.  It was colored with glass rather than dye, so the grout does not need to be sealed and never stains.  

I still need to caulk and paint the window and door trim, but I see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

The Tile is Here

My subway tile for the kitchen backsplash has finally arrived.  Now we just need my parents to get here with the tile saw so we can install these lovely tiles.

The tile is from S'tile (but made by Gainey Tile in California).  It is 3X6 handmade tile in cotton white.  It has kind of a matte finish that I think will go nicely with my simple white kitchen.  

Closure. . .Literally

My missing cabinet doors have finally arrived. . .and only. . .26 days past the original finish date! 

Plus the painter came and fixed the gap around my farm sink--LOVE it!

Now if only our backsplash tile would get here. . . 

Hardware Is In

The cabinets are almost entirely done now.  The hardware went in and most of the finishing touches are complete.  I still need three of my glass doors to come back from the cabinet shop and a couple touch ups still need addressed, but the rest is up to us to do ourselves (moulding, tile, etc.).  Here are a couple pictures:

Down To The Details. . .

. . . in other words: "Alright already!  I want my kitchen back."

Now that we have been on this month long journey to a new and fabulous kitchen it seems to have slowed to a snail's pace.    This week we. . . put up the second part of the crown!   And that is about it--oh, and they took three doors away to fix that had issues. . . and they are looking for the glass doors that go on the cabinets by the fridge--they never made it back when that cabinet got rebuilt.  This may sound like they aren't doing a great job when in fact they are.  Our installer has taken an inordinate amount of time adjusting each cabinet to make sure it is flush and level. . .I am just ready to put my dishes in my cupboards and reclaim my space.

Oh, I actually started to do that anyway--regardless of the missing doors and hardware (The missing doors are glass anyway so they will look a lot like this).  Here are the most recent pictures:

I am stilling working on the arrangement of these glass hutch cupboards.

A look at my ceiling - it is a little rough since it is painted pine, (and we didn't sand it much) but I've decided I like it that way.

Still to do:

1.   Door adjustments

2.   Bring back missing doors

3.   Hardware installation

4.   Sink fix (there is a gap around the sink due to a misunderstanding that will be getting fixed)

5.   Moulding around window and door to formal dining room (otherwise known as the piano           room since no dining occurs there)

6.   Backsplash tile installation

7.   Hardwood floor fixes (it needs to be stained in areas where the cabinet footprint changed           slightly--then a final topcoat put on)

8.  Final touch ups

So you see it's not as close as it looks. And now that I just catalogued what still needs to get done it seems less close than it did a minute ago.  Maybe I will go put more dishes away--that seems to help.

What do you think so far?  How would you go about arranging the hutch cupboards? Should I put cafe curtains on my kitchen windows (I never meant to but they suddenly look like cafe curtain windows!)?

Oh So Close

I may have spoken a little too soon.  My kitchen cabinets are not quite done. . .yet still, I love them.  Perhaps I should make you wait for the final reveal to make a bigger impact--but no.  Here is what we got done today: uppers in, first step of two part crown in, cook top and downdraft in, sink in, facet in.  (And by "we" I really mean the cabinet installer and Rob--with a smidge of help from me.)

Ode to Soapstone

Oh inky soapstone, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways:

I love the depth and richness of thy color. . .

and the wispy veins that flow upon thee.  

I love thy texture and thy shape,

thy silky smoothness and thy soapy talciness.

I love they way you set off my cabinets and make my appliances shimmer.

I love thee with smiles and tears, with sighs and long glances.

I shall love thee here. . .and I shall love thee elsewhere--

should we ever move and have to install thee all over again.

And I love that my cabinets will be all in by the end of the day. Yeah!

Kitchen Update

Since we went backwards on Wednesday, it may look like we didn't make much progress (especially since an upper that was up is now down--it wasn't square and got rebuilt), but here is where we stand at the end of the week. 

The counters have been templated--and will go in next Tuesday. The sink is in place. . . finally (it was a lot of work because it was a little TOO irregular!). 

 Plus Rob and I installed our convection microwave and our oven.  I have to say I used to be stronger!  I will have to work on that.  But at any rate, it looks great!

Oh, and my bar legs went in. . . lovely!

Install Day One

Here are the pictures for the day.  The installers will be back bright and early to finish up.  And the counter top fabricator will be here shortly after.  And the HVAC guy will come somewhere in between.  It is a regular zoo around here.   

This morning the excavating guy showed up right before the cabinet installers at 7:30 (We had a grade issue on our side yard that was causing water to pool under our house) and between his dump truck, regular truck and trailer with bobcat plus the cabinet people's two vans, truck and trailer and car we had a regular traffic jam.  Hannah was worried the bus wouldn't get through.  It almost didn't!  Luckily we had alerted the neighbors about their pending arrival so everything went smoothly.

See you tomorrow. . .same time, same place!