It's Like Magic

Every once in a while renovation projects take a giant leap forward, completely transforming in a single day. The kitchen project made a leap last week, and then made another one yesterday. They’re exciting – really exciting – because they are obvious progress, and because they look so good. But let me back up a little bit. The team had been methodically working to get the space put back together for a while. Plumbing, electrical,

Recycling Building Materials

The first step of a renovation project is to get rid of all the junk that you don’t want anymore. Maybe it’s a bathroom vanity and toilet, or some windows and doors. For us it was cabinets, counters and appliances. Our old kitchen wasn’t actually junk, since it was in good condition, it just did not fit into our plans for the new space. Although some homeowners make the effort to sell their stuff via

The Home Depot Run

Every project that I do requires a Home Depot run. From people I talk with about their DIY efforts, it seems as though I am not the only one consistently caught without the right tool, or missing a piece for a project. I guess that’s why the pros are the pros, and I’m just me. Taking apart the cabinetry in our kitchen was pretty straightforward. There were lots of screws to take out in order

Designing a Kitchen

We thought that designing a new kitchen would be relatively straightforward. Really, how hard could it be? Pick a cabinet design, choose the appliances, then the finish details, and away we’d go. We already had a good idea of what we wanted in a kitchen, so we thought the design part would be easy. As it turned out, there were a number of challenges that we did not foresee. The shape of the room was