After five years of living in our home, P and I have finally started the renovation on our first floor! This is the longest we have lived at the same address and think that it is about time to change out the flooring, tackle the kitchen, and create a new entrance to our family room. I am taking advantage of P's mad home improvement skills, and the contractors I work with. It has been chaotic because year end is very busy for both of us, but we just crave chaos!! Here is the progress so far since Thanksgiving:
P tore out the carpet quickly. Then the hallway wood floor.
Princess of Darkness napped during the hauling out process and when she woke up she was confused about where the carpet went. Don't worry cat, flooring came back, but in the form of beautiful five inch plank hand scraped engineered birch with a warm chestnut stain.
Next, we tackled the kitchen. This is what it looked like. We are saying 'adios' to the linoleum flooring, cabinet finish and hardware, black appliances, and this small island 'situation'.
We are also giving a big farewell kiss to the long pony wall (aka 'the balance beam' because my daughter would walk across it all the time) separating our family room from the kitchen.
We had our long pony wall removed, and created a smaller version on the left side of the room. This will open up our kitchen access, and allow more light in because our furniture will be moved away from the window in the family room. Thanks Trevor!
We moved the island and appliances out of the way to make room for the new flooring. 'Push P, push!'
Next came more of the new wood flooring.
A quick sketch from me for the new columns and Steve, the wood master, built them.
'Ok, who put the frig doors in the family room?' Ha ha...not funny.
We are working on painting the columns now, and I need to get moving on the wall paint palette.
New appliances came in and this past weekend we had our cabinets painted a soft tan gray (Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore). Thanks Jim! It is super important to let the cabinets breathe for as long as possible so the doors will be off for a week.
Next up is to get the doors back, add our new hardware, and work on the island -add more storage, seating, a new counter top and moldings. I still have to figure out wall paint colors, and furniture placement, but that will be after the new year.
Stay tuned!!!
P.S. The Designs By Shoshana Studio will be closed December 21 thru January 4, 2012.
Happy Holidays and A Healthy New Year Friends!!!
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