The Biggest Project to Date - The Kitchen (Part One)

In this post we will be looking at the first part of the remodel of my kitchen. This was by far the biggest project that my brother and I have completed at my house. Unfortunately I decided that I wanted to do a HUGE remodel to the kitchen, so it took almost 7 months because I only could work on it on the weekends. First of all, Let's look at what the kitchen looked like before. The cabinets were original to the home when it was built in 1978 but had been painted white.  The vinyl floor was also about 20 years old and was cracking.

The below picture shows some of the walls that I have started to remove but pay special attention to the ceiling of the kitchen.  The kitchen had a lower ceiling then any other room in the house.  

This picture was taken from the family room.  The kitchen was then in the middle and the dining room was at the end of the house that led into the living room.  Since I knew this project would take a long time, I tried to minimize the impact of me not having an operable kitchen.  

Before I really did any tearing out of the kitchen, I created a 3D drawing of the area so I could layout what I wanted the new space to look like. I really wanted a larger kitchen, so to do this I decided to push the kitchen down to where the dining room was as well as take about two feet from the living room that never gets used to make the kitchen wider.  Below are the drawings I created in sketch up much like I did for my outside fireplace.  

Part of this plan also included removing one large window in the old dining room and adding five new windows to the new kitchen.  The pass through from the dining room into the living room would also be closed off.

The first step was to remove the dividing wall between the old kitchen and dining room as well as all drywall from the ceiling.  This wall was not load bearing so it was very easy to remove.   

 In the above picture you can see the main joists on the ceiling as well as the second lower ceiling.  This lower ceiling was to be removed because not only did I need access to install new plumbing for the upstairs master bath but I also wanted the higher ceiling throughout the entire first floor.  When the house was built the electrician just ran the wires across the top of the lower ceiling and didn't even staple them to the wood.  This can be seen below.  All of the sewer lines would also be relocated up into the joists.   

I also removed the drywall and refrigerator to open up this area.  In the below picture you can see how the old dining room flowed into the living room. 

There is also a structural beam that ran across this area that could not be moved.  You will see how we accommodated for this in a bit but we also added additional support even though what was there was fine. You will also see that all my new appliances are in the living room.  I bought them about 4 months early because they are always cheaper to buy in December than the rest of the year.  I saved over $2500 by just buying the appliances early.  Here is a picture looking from the dining room down to the family room.

 After the rest of the drywall was removed and a few studs removed, it was time to build the new wall that would close off the living room.  Below are pictures of the new wall.  Take note of the old beam running below the ceiling.  

The new wall was dry-walled on the living room side and in another post I will show the wall treatment we did to it.  The side facing the new kitchen was left unfinished for wiring.  

After the new wall was up, I took final measurements and then went to ordering cabinets and windows.  The windows I ordered from a guy I found on Craigslist and he was very cheap for really nice vinyl windows that were special order.  I spent around $500 for all five new windows since I can install them myself.   

The cabinets I ordered online from a company called Lily Ann Cabinets.  Here is their link http://www.lilyanncabinets.com/  They are a semi-custom cabinet company but the quality is very good and much less expensive than if I was to buy them at home depot or through a cabinet shop.  Most new homes have contractor grade cabinets which means they are made with MDF and may have a vinyl laminate for the sides.  These cabinets are okay but do not hold up as well.  The cabinets from this company are all made of plywood and have real wood veneers on the sides. It only took two weeks to get the cabinets too.  I sent them my 3D drawings, an overview of what I wanted and where I wanted it, and all my appliance dimensions and then they sent me back some options.  If you remember that beam that runs below the ceiling, I had given the cabinet company special instructions on how I wanted the cabinets because I wanted to hide this beam.  Below is what they sent back.

While the cabinets were shipped my brother and I went about installing the new windows.  One old window was removed and re-framed for a different sized window and then two new windows were added at the end of the house.  These windows also had new casings added so they match the other windows we added that were seen in a prior post.

I also installed all the can lights throughout the new kitchen and finished wiring new outlets.  You can also see the new pantry on the right that was added when the wall was pushed back in the living room.  There was not a pantry before but I wanted one for storage as well as to hold all the audio and video equipment for the first floor.

Since the cabinets were not far from being delivered, it was time to move the sink and finish tearing out the cabinets.  I waited until the last minute to do this so I would not be without a kitchen for long.  Below is after the sink was moved.  We had to run all new water and sewer lines for this to happen. If you look at the old vinyl floor you can see where the old kitchen used to be. 

Before the ceiling could be put back up all electrical had to be completed.  At the same time I ran all my audio cables for my surround sound, home audio system cabling, and internet cable throughout the first floor.  Below is once the ceiling was put back up and re-textured to match the rest of the house as well as painting completed.  Once the cabinets arrived I did not want to have to do any drywall in this area.  I also prepped for a tile floor so cement board is laid over the sub-floor.

  
There were three large pallets of cabinets including extra plywood and many trim pieces delivered to my house.  All cabinets are shipped in pieces so you just assemble them when they arrive. My entire driveway was filled and the neighbors were all trying to figure out what was going on.  

It took about a day for my brother and I to assemble all the cabinets but this also included cabinets for the master bathroom.  We got really good at assembling the cabinets and we could do a full cabinet in under 15 minutes.  Below are all the cabinets assembled. We taped the model number to each completed cabinet so we knew which one went where on the blueprint for the kitchen.    

My brother and I then started installing the new cabinets.  Below is the first part installed.

Now came the fun part of hiding that beam on the right hand side.  You can already see where I have notched out the side of the tall cabinet to put around the beam and also added ceiling drywall on each side. Even thought these cabinets were semi-custom, I did need to modify one cabinet.  This was the wall oven cabinet.  I wanted a microwave above my oven so it was all in one location.  I hated that wall microwaves were smaller so I wanted to modify the cabinet to fit an over the range microwave that is not only over-sized but was also a combo that also lets you bake with it effectively giving me two ovens.  I cut apart the front of the cabinet and re-built it to fit what I needed.  Below is the completed modification; it turned out really well.  There originally was three drawers at the bottom and the oven was in the middle. 

Here is another picture of that beam getting hidden inside the cabinets. You can also see that I ordered trim to wrap the support beam to the right of the fridge to hide it.  

The next step was to add the molding.  All this molding was stained wood so I had to be very accurate with the cuts.

 If I had not told you there was a support beam in that cabinet you probably would never know.  It was a ton of planning but it worked out just how I hoped. Below is a picture of the other side with molding.  I had never mitered a 45 degree crown molding angle before for the end cabinet and this turned out to be quite tricky.  

The kitchen is currently completed but since this post is already so long we will just end part one for now.  Part two will come soon showing the granite installation as well as tile and the last of the molding. The kitchen has turned out better than I had ever expected and I cannot wait to show you the rest of the project.  Until then here is a sneak peak at the finished product.

Summer Backyard Renovation - Outdoor Kitchen, New Fence, Patio Columns, Extended Patio

This summer has been very busy with many projects in the back yard.  The largest project was the replacement of the entire fence around my home.  Since I owned all the fence and none of it belonged to the neighbors, there was over 350 feet of fence that needed replaced.  The fence that I had was over 30 years old so it was definitely time to replace it.  Since there was so much fence that needed replaced, I decided to have a company come and replace it for me even though it ended up being very expensive. I figure it will be the only time I will ever have to replace the fence since I probably wont have this house in 20 years, so I might as well have a nice fence.  It took the fence builders a couple of days but it turned out great.  Below are pictures of the fence once it was installed. 

Around the same time I also had concrete edging installed around my house so you will see this in the pictures as well.  By adding the edging, it really helps in keeping the mulch out of my yard.  

Once the fence was installed I waited a couple of weeks for all the wood to dry out.  I then went and stained the fence so it would match my house better as well as help keep the fence from aging as quickly.  I used an electric paint sprayer and to do the entire fence it took almost 14 gallons of stain.  Below are pictures of the finished product.  

The next project was creating new columns for my patio.  When I rebuilt the patio awning (seen in a previous blog) I used 4x4 posts and I never really liked the way it looked.  This is what the column looked like before:

This summer I decided to make the columns a little larger.  I did this by using exterior wood sheeting cut to make a box around each of the three columns.  To make the project easier on me, I had Home Depot cut the wood for me while I was at the store since they have the large saw that can cut 4'x8' sheets of wood.  I then assembled the columns around the existing post and glued and nailed the pieces together.  

Once that was complete, I filled all the nail holes and did a rough sanding.  To coat the columns I decided to use the Deck Over 10x product again that I had used for the ceiling.  This material is made to coat old decks but has many other uses. The product is very thick and appears to almost have sand in it.  When you use the special roller that comes with the product, the product almost looks like stucco.  That is why I use it for flat surfaces as well since it is much easier than using actual stucco.  Once I coated the columns in the product, I then painted it with two coats of exterior paint and added PVC molding to the bottom of the columns so it cannot rot.  Below is the finished project.  It only took about four hours from start to finish but it made a huge difference to my patio!

The next project was to extend my patio and create an outdoor kitchen.  I did this because I really wanted a nice grilling area as well as create some privacy from my neighbors patio.  Previously the area had a couple plants but really just looked unfinished.  The first step was for me to build the two main structure posts to help with the addition of the privacy wall and awning extension.  These posts were 12 feet long and were buried over three feet in the ground and then cemented in place.  Below is a picture of the posts installed.  Note how you can see my neighbors patio since their house sits higher than mine.  

Once the posts were installed I started on building the privacy wall.  Since this wall will be in the open weather and I really did not want it to warp and degrade over time, I used cement siding.  Although the siding comes with a wood texture, I wanted a more modern look so I used the back side of the boards that are smooth.  I also used two different widths of siding so that it had a little bit of an architectural look. In the below picture you can also see the start of the awning extension. 

Once the privacy wall was installed it was time to extend the patio. I started by removing the plants, pots, and sprinkler system.  I then went in and removed almost eight inches of soil.  I then replaced the soil with roadbed (gravel/sand mix) and tamped it down so it made a very solid base.  I then filled in the area with the same pavers as the rest of the patio. Below it the rest of the patio installed.  

The next step was to install the outdoor kitchen.  I started by making a wood frame for the area.  Any wood that touches the ground was pressure treated so that it will not rot with the snow and rain. Also I lined any area that surrounds the grill with cement board just in the rare case that the area gets very hot and could catch fire. 

 The grill I used was my freestanding grill.  My parents bought it for me and is really nice so there was no reason to get a new one.  I removed the base and then just modified the counter to fit it.  

The next step was to cover the frame with additional cement board.  Since this is open to the elements, I will not have to worry about any of the structure rotting.  After the cement board was installed I then added additional molding to make the kitchen area look like it had raised paneling.  

I also added some PVC trim to the base of the kitchen area.  Once all the trim was complete, I then painted everything with three coats of paint as well as added a tile top to the grilling area.  One of the last steps I completed was the addition of the awning.  I left this part open so that smoke can exit from the grill.  Lastly, I decided that I wanted to add some pendant lights.  I found some metal cube lights on eBay for $11 each.  I wanted to have the lighting in this area attached to my landscape lights so that the lights would come on every night.  I found some LED Edison bulbs that are for RVs that run on 12 volt current but still use a standard bulb base.  I then added a dimmer to them.  Below is the finished project.  It took about 4 weekends but it really turned out well.