Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Kichen Transformation Part 1

The kitchen has been completely transformed in the last 2 years. Looking at the before pictures makes me appreciate all the work that went into it so much more. If I had to live with that kitchen, I would cry... real tears.
Here is the before:
what a beautiful range hood.

stunning light fixtures.

little cat hole.

So first step was to remove all the cupboards. My brother, Marc, is meticulous about these things. I would have just taken a sledgehammer and sent it all to the dump. He, however,  he removed all the doors, screws and hardware and disposed of things properly. I was a tad impatient, but I learned to just go along with it. After all, he was building me a new kitchen at the little sister rate!
Once they were out, we started on the floor. The plan was to put down tile. I really liked slate. I was told that the existing flooring need to be removed regardless of what I decided to do.
So, we removed the old cushion floor and plywood that had been nailed to the floor using shovels and crowbars. I say we, but Stephane did most of the work. Underneath, we discovered this:


Checkerboard tiles. We started removing these by chiseling away each tile. The tiles were made of tar and were a nightmare to lift. For some reason the black ones were a lot easier to remove than the white.


Bless his heart.

I was having the hardwood floors in the rest of the house refinished and the man came by to give me an estimate. He handed me the quote and it included the kitchen. I told him there must be a mistake. He couldn't possibly think that my kitchen floor could be salvaged?
Seriously, lets look at it again:


He said he could refinish it no problem. Provided, I punch all the broken nails from the subfloor back into the floor. Otherwise, they would destroy his sanding paper.
Sure! That doesn't sound so difficult! Tell that to my Dad. I punched nails for what seemed like days. Then he came and claims to have found at least 600-700 more. Our knees were shot.
But in the end it was worth it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my new kitchen floor for the first time. Isn't it great?


Stay tuned for the rest of the kitchen makeover!

11 comments:

  1. Holy cow! Those are the original floors-beautiful! You guys worked hard- I can't wait to see the rest:)

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  2. What an amazing find!!
    My mom discovered hardwood floors when she had her 70's linoleum ripped up. They told the guys not to put the new linoleum down, to just leave the hardwoods. The workmen, get this, said "lady, you're crazy. No one wants hardwoods in the kitchen. Linoleum is better."

    Fortunately she went with her gut, and the results were almost as stunning as yours!

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  3. so wonderful! absolutely gorgeous floors!

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  4. Beautiful floors! That was some serious elbow grease that went into that job! Congrats :)

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  5. Wow, you found a gem underneath all the other stuff on top. I wish I cound find some in my kitchen. I'm starting to redo my kitchen and I'm scared...

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  6. Amazing! They look fabulous! Wow, what a lot of hard work on those nails.

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  7. What a wonderful discovery! Those hardwood floors are absolutely beautiful. You're lucky that the floor was even and you could use them. What a gorgeous beginning to your new kitchen.

    Kudos to you and your family for all the hard work. It really paid off!

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  8. Wow! Your kitchen turned out beautiful! I'm sure it was so much work but so worth it in the end. I noticed that in the before pictures you had wood trim and in the after they are white. Did you just sand and repaint? I'm curious because I want to do that in my new house. Thanks.
    servingpinklemonade@gmail.com

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  9. Wow, this definitely gives me hope about my floors! Your wood turned out fabulous, can't believe it's original!

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Love hearing from you! Thanks so much :)