Oak Flooring in the Kitchen

After we demoed the existing cabinetry and the pantry framing in a weekend, we turned to the floor. The stuff put down by the previous owners was a laminate tile in a faux stone pattern. It was ugly and laid about 1/4" higher than the flooring in the dining room and hallway. So there was a tiny "step down" anytime you entered or left the kitchen.  NBD but one of the little things that starts to bug.  However, what I will say, is that shiz is tough!! We demoed out the entire kitchen, dragged items and tools and scraps containing nails across the floor and it took it all. Had we swept + mopped, I'm sure it would have cleaned up just fine.  Here's a shot of what they looked like under construction dust:

To replace the tuscan nightmare, I elected to use red oak hardwoods to match to the existing flooring in the adjacent dining room. The entire upstairs is red oak so I hoped this would improve the "flow" of the upstairs, which is a little choppy.

We hired out this work, no way could we DIY. The fellas arrived and promptly went to work weaving in the new floor boards into the old to create a seamless transition.

After the raw wood was laid, it's time for poly, baby! They did three coats in a satin finish. It turned out really pretty. Too pretty and now our old floors look pretty worse for the wear next to the new stuff!

Next up! Electrical, drywall patching and CABINETS!!!

Tear it Down (Kitchen Demo Details)

We started by removing the cabinet doors, relocating the fridge to the kitchen and figuring how to shut off the water.  The plumbing under the sink was a bit of a disaster so through trial and error we managed to unhook the water sources for the fridge, dishwasher, faucet and disposal. Jake hates plumbing and he grumbled through the whole thing while I played Cindy Cheerleader.

As we pulled wall cabinets down, we discovered the original pink laminate back splash. I think the entire thing was PINK! Wowzers.

 

Then we turned to removing the wall over and cabinetry surrounding it. It came out pretty easily and I was happy to discover drywall behind the cabinets, I was half-expecting to see open studs. 

The VIT (very important tools) for this project can be seen here: our reciprocating saw and "wonderbar", AKA pry bar. Those things, plus a sledgehammer, made this shebang pretty simple. 


 
On day 2, we turned to removing the drywall and framing around the pantry. This looked a little daunting, as it was built solid as a rock. We used the reciprocating saw and sledgehammer to remove the framing; with a few whacks and cuts, it went more smoothly than expected.
By the end of the day Sunday, we had the room totally cleared and ready for the flooring dudes to come first thing Monday morning!

Next up: laying new hardwoods and refinishing the adjoining dining room.

Kitchen, Way Before

As we embark on a full reno/refresh of the kitchen in our 1965 split level home, I was inpsired to look back and see how far we've come. 

When we purchased the house in January of 2009, things were in a sad state of affairs. The original owners did some "refreshes" (some good, some bad) before selling to the family before us and he bad was bad. 

 Paint solid wood cabs with latex brushes right over the hinges and magnets? Bright blue walls? Faux tile laminateflooring over 2 layers of vinyl? Check, check and check. It was like a bad episode of Design Star. I took a short video to show my mom the layout and I thought I'd share as it shows what we were working with from day 1:

Progress photos of the work we've done to come!

Progress in the kitchen

This evening, 9 bundles of red oak flooring was delivered! Goodbye faux tile flooring and hello hardwoods!

 I spent some time this weekend prepping the kitchen for demo by removing the door fronts from the cabinets and packing away most cooking implements + stuff:

I can't wait to add a bunch more counter space where the storage rack is! It's going to be so nice to have more workspace: I wish I could have seen this kitchen when it was new in the mid 60s. The wall oven was PINK! How awesome was that!?