The Kitchen Remodel (before & after)

As I am sure you have surmised already I have fallen out of the routine of blogging.  Maybe I'll get back into it, maybe I won't?  But as we are completing projects around the house I decided I wanted to at least post some before and after pictures --after the 100 million hours we spent on the project I figure one hour of blogging is a small price to pay to have a record of it.  Ironically I did not take enough before pictures of our house, I think once we finally closed I was so antsy to get started that I wasn't thoroughly taking pictures, but here are two that show how it looked on the day we closed (my brother and sister-in-law are obviously enthused with the state of it in the picture):

Hotness right?

And here is how the kitchen looks today:

Here is a brief rundown of all the phases of this on-going 18 month project:

• The day after we closed I got to work painting the cabinets before we moved in.  I did two coats of a primer/surfacer and two coats of paint before we gave them a light sanding and sealed them.  This whole process was pretty lengthly but since the cabinets were actually only  a few years old and in excellent shape I think it was definitely the way to go rather than replacing them.
• We found the hardware online for a great deal and installed this and replaced the fridge (the old one, along with not fitting well had a problem with the door not latching), the first couple months we lived there.
• After that the kitchen was at a standstill for about a year until this summer when we ripped up the floor and put wood there as well.  This ended up being quite the demo project because we found underneath the tile two different layers of linoleum with plywood in between, but as our entire main level is in the same wood now I think it made the whole space look more cohesive (not to mention the aesthetic benefits).  It took us a good ten days (since we were mostly working in the evening and on the weekend) to demo the floor lay it and get the new baseboards up but it really got us excited to keep working on the kitchen.
• A couple months later we decided we wanted to raise the ceiling, for some reason it was cool to drop your ceiling height in the kitchen in the late seventies (my parents actually had the exact same thing in their home which was built the same year as our house).  In order to raise the ceiling we had to take down all the upper cabinets and then replumb some of the lines that were running through the dropped ceiling (we took our the cooper lines and put in plex up in the joists).  
• Then our friend Ben came and helped us frame out the coffered ceiling box and wire for the new canned lights and for under-cabinet lighting.  Our dining room right off the kitchen also has a coffered ceiling so we thought it made sense and we had an HVAC duct we needed to keep framed in anyway.  Even with building out the box it is still six inches higher at the box level and about 16 inches higher in the center from where we started.
• Once we got the drywall back up we installed the canned lights and the pendants above the bar.  We also decided we wanted to put bead-board on the ceiling -- we knew we wanted to put this around our bar and also on the outside of the cabinets.  This ended being trickier than we originally planned cutting the panel to fit, but in the end we got it done with a jigsaw and I love it. 
• Before we rehung the cabinets I decided to do some open shelving and reconfigure the cabinets we actually used our old existing cabinets but hung them up in different places and actually left half of them down (we gained 8 inches in space around the window) and we built out the open shelves on the north wall and the curved shelves on the East wall.
• Once we rehung the cabinets we installed the under-cabinet lighting, (the cabinets are about three inches higher than they were before which makes it feel more roomy working on the counter).
• Next we framed out the window in mdf (which makes it feel so much bigger?) and started laying the backsplash.  Initially we were just going to do under the cabinets but then we decided to do all of the walls in the kitchen (behind the open shelving and the entire wall on the West side).  We chose white subway tile because I love it, I hope its timeless, and extra bonus it is very very inexpensive and we grouted it white.
• After the backsplash was installed we put up the crown molding above the cabinets, and put the bead-board around the cabinets/bar/etc. and finish painting things.

The kitchen is still not 100% done (I would love to get a new double oven, preferably to match our fridge and eventually replace the dishwasher), also new countertops are on the "someday" list.  But to say that I am thrilled with how its come together would be an understatement.  Overall from start to finish we spend just under $2500 on this remodel -- this includes everything but the fridge.  The most expensive parts were definitely the flooring, the drywall/framing expenses, and the lighting but I think those two things perhaps make the biggest difference.....however we have definitely put in the man hours so if you look at it that way it has been a very very expensive project in time.  We have a fair amount of experience with renovating (after redoing our old house), but in my experience everything takes longer than you estimate in the beginning, but it is usually worth it in the end.  And since I am married to the most careful perfectionist I know its going to be anything but sloppy in the end.  

Hopefully I will sit down long enough to document some of our other rooms in the house, which we feel very fortunate to be able to work on making our own.

did you give up on me?

I have largely disappeared from blogging & well most online life the past couple of months.  There have been lots of varied reason, but I'm feeling like its time to get back into the swing of it.  I have lots of things to update, but for practicality reasons I decided to start with a simple before & after.

We have been working away on our remodel.  It will undoubtedly be a long process.  A large chunk of the house we hope to finish this year but other things will probably take several years for us to get them exactly as we'd like, but its kind of nice to have the perspective that we plan to be in this home for a long long time and its okay if things  don't happen overnight.

Moving to a new house has made me look at the things I already own in a new light -- things have been repurposed, sold and acquired to better suit our new space many things have been given new life. Going into this house I knew that I wanted to be really purposeful in the things I brought into the house rather than just haphazardly throwing things together.

Before we bought our last house my mother-in-law gave us this secretary that has the most charming size & shape & all together bones, but was looking definitely worn and tired.  I had always intended to paint it red or perhaps white, but never got around to it in our old house, but when we moved I knew if I brought it into the house it would stay thus and so the rule I made for the move, was that items stayed in the garage until they were ready for the house (meaning refinished, etc.)

This proved to be quite motivating because I wanted to use my garage and so I got around to refinishing this one a few weeks after we moved in.  After stewing about it I decided to restain it and be true to the piece itself.  I still may or may not change the hardware, I go back and forth, but I love how she turned out with the stain -- lately I've been painting furniture lots of colors and my mom for one (who does not like painted wood) was pleased to see this beauty just brought back to her former glory and in this case mom I think you may be right.

before: 

 

after: 

  
(yes these are just poor iphone photos, but you get the idea right?)

christmasing around here

Things about this holiday season are different. All of my regular decorations are boxed away and in storage & I'm happily using my mom's. I definitely miss some of my Christmas books that are boxed up, but its surprising to me how much I am loving this moment. right now. Its funny how as I put up my Mom's decorations so many memories came rushing back, but also now I can look at the decorations more objectively and wonder about them:

My mom has a whole collection of these little houses we put above the fireplace. I still remember helping her paste on the mossy roof while she painted each one. She must have about twenty of them, they are all tiny and unique and I still love them.


This Santa used to hang on my Nana's door before she passed away. Now she hangs on my Mom's back door. I always liked this Santa.....but now as an adult I think he seems oddly discombobulated. There is something a bit weird about a floating head hanging on the door. I almost expect him to start talking like Jacob Marley. But since he also conjures up my Nana, I mostly think of christmas visits to her house when I see his long curly beard.


On the "kids" tree, my Mom has several clown ornaments. Every year as a child I LOVED hanging the clown ornaments and remember spending particular attention to making sure they were evenly distributed around the tree. As I got them out this year all I could think about was how weird it is that we have clowns on our tree. I don't even like clowns, they're somewhat creepy? And what do they have to do with Christmas? I put them all on the back of the tree, but then I ended up moving a couple back to the front just because they are so gosh darn hilarious. Maybe thats why she bought them in the first place? Knowing my Mom, she probably made them, though I can't remember.


Almost every ornament on the tree has been made. Yes my Mom has a perfectly coiffed tree upstairs in the formal living room, but this tree is the one we end up gathering around. Its a good reminder to me to branch out and add some more "fun" ornaments to my own tree next year. I still remember the year we put together a whole bunch of vintage Christmas puzzles and then my mom made those into ornaments. I think they may be my favorite on the tree.


One of my favorite daily routines right now is spent when Gavin goes down for a nap & Ike is at school and I sit on my "christmasfied" bed and read books, address Christmas cards, read my scriptures (still hoping to finish again by Christmas), and of course thumb through Christmas catalogs.

the porch

We are avid porch sitters. One of the main reasons why we bought this house is because we fell in love with the porch. We found some old rocking chairs on KSL two days before we moved in and during the past four years have spent countless nights rocking on the porch: reading, holding babies, visiting with neighbors, and of course solving all the world's problems. So why in the world didn't we get our act together and paint the porch until a couple weeks before we move? It was on the list from the get-go, but for some reason just kept getting put off. Well better late than never right?

Before:


After:

answers

(this image is circa 2003 with a crappy camera, but I am always telling people how when my parents get their baby chicks they are dyed multi-colored for Easter and I just wanted to post a picture of it as proof.....colored chicks are my favorite).

Since so many inquiring minds want to know, the answer is that we are moving about thirty minutes up the road to the family farm for a short time (an odd number of months) and then onto bigger and hopefully better things? There are all sorts of strategic reasons for doing this but lets be honest the biggest reason for Ike is probably that he will transcend into little boy heaven when he can go outside and visit his best friend Kevin (who is a baby pig that my brother has tamed -- which is actually totally remarkable and deserving of its very own post if I can ever muster the time/energy to write one), whenever he feels like it -- or whenever his mother has reached the frazzling point and is in need of a fail proof diversion.

I am extra sad to leave the home that we have literally sweat buckets into and the area where we have so many dear friends, but luckily we are not moving too far away and I'm positive this will not be the last home we will sweat buckets into and adore. Get ready for lots of farm pictures on the blog because we are moving just before the harvest/canning frenzy season. Perhaps I should temporarily re-title my blog (since I do that about every four months just for fun anyway) the Temporary Farm Wife since I'm pretty positive that I'll be basically living in my wellies as I chase little boys through irrigation ditches/garden plots and fields once we move.

In the meantime we are doing all sorts of last ditch projects to make the house perfect for our future tenants before we leave (funny how we've lived here four years and are just now crossing off some nagging tiny to-do's, just in time for someone else to enjoy). Its been fun for us to wrap up small projects though and hopefully I'll find some time to share some, as I've been really pleased with how they've turned out.

I've also started boxing up all of my beloved books. My house is sort of like a mini library with stacks of books in every odd corner and on every shelf and even odd places like under lamps and on cake plates. And I'm sure it drives people crazy. But the truth is that I love it, and am actually feeling completely unrepentant about my book addiction as I pack them up to move. (I've started now even though we are not moving for almost two months because I anticipate it taking a while).

Pretty much since I got married and started really growing my book collection people have been telling me that "I'll hate myself when its time to move," but I'm here to say that actually I find books to be one of the best things to move. They are generally somewhat uniform and easy to stack into boxes neatly. You don't have to do anything special to protect them and generally when you are unpacking them they all go in one location so you are not running back and forth all over the house trying to put away one block. Yes they are heavy, but luckily a caveman invented the wheel some odd thousands of years ago and I'm smart enough to borrow a dolly. So here is where I subliminally channel that T Mobile commercial that seems to pop up every other second on TV and shout out "in your face," to all the haters who have been mocking my "book problem." Because I still love them. And even though its just for a few short months, I'm sort of going through mini-withdrawals to pack them all up. Good thing it summertime and I pretty much live outside....speaking of farm things you should see the farmer's tan I am already sporting.

BIG Things are afoot......or rent our house!

Update:***House has been rented!*****

Its true. We are moving. And so we are looking for someone to rent our house. Here are the basics:

Rent: $975 per month (plus utilities)
3 Bedrooms/ 1 Bath (about 1300 square feet)
Nice Kitchen with granite countertops & stainless steel appliances (gas range)
All hardwood floors/travertine tile throughout house.
Laundry room WITH washer & dryer included.
High Speed internet & cable included.
Lots & Lots & lots of awesome windows.
Nice backyard with fire pit, large entertaining deck & BBQ included.
Garden (already planted and thriving).
A rockin' front porch equipped with two rocking chairs.
Storage Shed (out-building)
Available in August.

Interested? Email me at jandeemjones@gmail.com.

Here are some pictures:

cats and rabbits would reside in fancy little houses....

....if you can sing the rest of the song your coolness factor just went up 100 points in my book. Its my favorite song from Alice in Wonderful

It seems to pop into my head whenever I leave the house right now because my daffodils are in full bloom. And daffodils and Alice just go together. Do you want to know what doesn't go together -- me white capris and pink underwear -- for the love people, I know its springtime, but at least look in the mirror before you leave the house.

'tis the season

(when you don't feel good, just one blanket simply won't suffice)

The radio silence for a couple weeks was in part due to the entire family coming down with the stomach flu. ick. I guess 'tis the season right? Ike had it especially bad and was pretty much a couch potato for one week, which is a far cry from my bustling little boy he usually is. However, at least we had put all of our Christmas decorations up before the flu hit and so while we were lounging about all week we were able to admire the tree and enjoy reading lots and lots of Christmas books -- which I like to put up all over the house in lieu of other decorations. Hopefully since we had it early this year we are now free and clear from having the flu again for the rest of the season right? fingers crossed.


In unrelated news, my baby is six months old this week. AND sitting up on his own, mostly. Seems like the last six months were on warp speed! Here is the evidence, obviously I couldn't pick just one....or three.

Finally finished.

Do you ever work on a project until it is 98% completed and then stow it away in some cupboard for long periods of time before finishing the last 2%. That is often the story of every project I undertake, and I'm not quite sure why, perhaps its because I am easily distracted with new projects before I have one completely done, but I am turning over a new leaf and am working on finishing up all of my "in progress" stuff before starting new projects. It is really really hard, because I keep coming up with ideas of things I want to make, but there are also great benefits -- for example, three years ago I made this advent calendar inspired by one I had seen in a Pottery Barn catalogue (although my version looks quite different and is twice the size--big is better right?). The only thing I needed to do was to sew on a rod pocket across the top and buy a wooden dowel to hang it, however, I didn't take the time to do that when I finished it and so I folded it up and put in the "to do" pile. It got buried. Really buried. Until this year when I finally dug it out, and spent all of 20 minutes finishing it up, and viola (you can click to enlarge this image):

Now that it is done I can't believe I didn't finish it up earlier. This calendar has so much hand-stiching, applique, and even some needle-punch that it probably took me forty hours to make originally and I didn't even use it the last two years because I didn't take the twenty minutes to finish it. Perhaps I have some sort of impairment?

But it is now up and I have been loving it this November. I have all sorts of ideas about starting some sort of family tradition with this calendar. One idea I had was to come up with mini-gratitude games or activities for every day until Thanksgiving, but we'll see.....chocolate for everyday works in my book too.

I love September.

Really really I do. In September the weather is warm in the days, but with a refreshing chill in the mornings and evenings, you can get away with wearing summer apparel or start breaking out a few warm weather pieces and the harvest is coming in which besides meaning lots of canning, also means that we eat really really yummy fresh vegetables and fruit for every meal. This weekend we:

-Had delicious Pumpkin Waffles. David & Ellie gave us a new waffle iron over the weekend (thank you thank you thank you D&E) and I decided to try it out making this recipe. It was quite possibly the best thing I've ever put in my mouth, or at least it felt like it in the morning. Jordan said it was like eating pumpkin pie for breakfast. Ike is off all dairy so I had to substitute canola oil for the butter and almond milk for the whole milk, but they were still fabulous and I can't wait to make them again. Am going to try using applesauce instead of butter tomorrow. They are amazing. They make your whole house smell amazing. Bless the soul that figured out this recipe (it was totally worth whipping the egg whites and dirtying three bowls BTW). Make them, love them.

-Went on a horse ride with my parents. It had been much too long since I had gone on an extended ride and Jordan was nice enough to play super dad all Saturday morning so I could enjoy a relaxing ride up in the mountains. Just call me cowgirl Jones:


and here is my dad, horse-master, Al.


you can watch this brief video, but it may make you dizzy -- not so easy to ride and film:


-we put up all of our fall decorations. This year I am in love with shimmery pumpkins.





-I bought Ike his Halloween costume. Scratch that I bought Ike TWO Halloween costumes because I couldn't decide which one I liked better this one or this one and with two boys I figured they would both get used eventually. I had thought about making his costume, but that idea lasted about one millisecond when I found out the costumes were only $17.00.

-And of course Jordan and his brothers spent copious amounts of time watching football, while we had roast beef, pastrami and avocado panini.

So generally it was a very good weekend, although due to a lot of night waking by BOTH of our children, we didn't get much of this:

Maybe next weekend.