The Plumbing Rough In [Where Dreams Go to Die]

I woke up bright and early yesterday morning, all set to meet with the plumber and discuss our grand plans for the kitchen, but most importantly, the pantry. It was like the boring adult equivalent of Santa coming. I’ll be getting a working pantry! Oh happy day!

The beauty of an old house is it is old. By which I mean, it has a certain character that some homes lack. The downside to an older home? It has outdated….everything. If you want to do something simple like replace a sink, you are talking major work. It seems everything costs a lot more than you expect. And even what your contractor expects.

You see, our sink in the butler’s pantry didn’t vent. Hence, it wasn’t to code. This is plumbing speak for “expensive to fix” and “in some cases, like yours, impossible”. Nowadays, indoor plumbing requires venting- this helps to rid your pipes of sewer gas, essentially. So far as I understood the plumber, anyway.  Basically, it’s a health issue. This is how I got Kase to agree to demolish the pantry.  Safety issues trump all else in our house.

Our contractor gave us an estimate for this work, and it was pricey, but the pantry was a must for us, so we scrimped in other areas and made room in the budget.

And then? With a simple shake of his head, the plumber basically killed all of my dreams of double dishwashers and farmhouse sinks and most importantly- the wine fridge. Well, technically, we talked it up, down and all around, we walked the perimeter of the property, we spelunked into the scary basement,  but the bottom line was the same. If money were no object, my dream pantry was completely feasible. Unfortunately, we are made of …..not money. It was like a bad episode of “Love It or List It” and I was Hilary, learning from that awful contractor Eddie that my plan was too expensive and too much work. Stupid dream killer Eddie.

I had demolished a perfectly charming, albeit dysfunctional, pantry. Now, I had this:

No bueno. This is the moment in the renovation when you ask yourself “Hmmm, have we made a mistake?” And Kase responds, “What are you talking about, “we?””

So with that, I rebooted the old computer (who am I kidding, it’s always on), contacted our kitchen designer who just happened to come by the day before to finalize our plans, and explained that I would be reworking the plan. Again. And he didn’t have to worry about those pesky 24 inch deep cabinets anymore.

I’ve planned out the stupid kitchen in so many configurations I can’t see straight anymore. I just hope it looks semi-decent by the time it actually goes in.  Honestly, it’s like “Cabinets? Do we need those? Are you sure? What about the refrigerator?”

In the end, I realize that this is a total first world problem. And it’s not even a problem. It’s a setback. On a lifelong monthslong dream, but still. Just a setback.  I have to look at the silver lining. It’s not a total wash. I am getting back all that cabinet storage I was sacrificing. And I’ll be gaining more counter space since we’ll no longer have a sink eating up the dedicated space. All that electrical that went in already will actually accommodate some appliances which we can hide in the cabinetry. And I didn’t have to get rid of my wine fridge, which may be the only thing pulling me through this. But, still.

I’ll be mourning my second dishwasher for a little while longer.  Your condolences are appreciated. 😉

Dexter? Is that you?

Here is the current state of our kitchen renovation:

It’s like a scene out of Dexter. Plastic sheeting everywhere.

It also seems as if the scope of the project keeps growing and growing. When we thought about how the floors in the butler’s pantry would be replaced, we questioned whether or not we should tackle the pantry at the same time. We have some cabinets in there, but the base cabinets were basically mice condos before we moved in. They have a ton of pipes running through them, so the shelving that is available isn’t really useful. We did take advantage of the counter space as well as the upper cabinets. However, the upper glass cabinets were like most of the shelving in this house- very short and very shallow. Again, not as useful as it could be, but charming as all get out.

When the kitchen was demolished, we started using the sink in the pantry for doing dishes. We quickly realized its non-vented plumbing was a problem.

I mean, doesn’t your sink look like this when it’s supposed to be draining? And this was after an entire bottle of Drano.

Sorry about that. Should have warned you. It’s not so bad. Mostly just formula diluted in water. But still. I finally got it down- I could wash about 6 bottles before overflowing the sink.

We had discussed replacing the old sink with a plumber when we had moved in, but he had told us it was a big job, and unless we were planning on doing a major reno, we might want to forget it for the time being, and just use the sink as little as possible. Well, here we are, doing a major reno. If we could find extra money in the budget, we agreed perhaps we should just tackle it all at once and be done with it.

And so, I worked my horrible math skills with the help of Excel and found some money to add to the scope of work. Goodbye charm……

Hello…disastrous.

Also? That water pipe just meandering along the floor there?  That stupid pipe was the entire reason I decided to tackle the pantry. And I thought that would be the biggest hiccup. Ha. Gotta love old houses.

The plan is to get that plumbing up to code and rebuild cabinetry in here that can house more than just teacups. We’ve decided to replace our current (almost brand new) dishwasher with an integrated paneled dishwasher in the kitchen to better match our new cabinetry, so we’ll be using our extra dishwasher in here. We got this idea from our neighbors- it seems like a luxury, but really, if you can do it, it almost becomes a necessity. If you’re lazy. Like me. For instance, it will be awesome after having dinner parties. Rather than having a whole stack of dirty dishes that don’t make the first round, we can just load em up in the pantry and wake up to clean dishes. This also appeals to the inherent lazy slob in me who hates unloading the dishwasher. It’s just like putting away laundry. Why can’t it just get done by itself? I did everything else!

In the meantime, I’ll be here, enjoying my antique clawfoot tub.

What a cliche. Let me tell you: Doing dishes  hunched over this tub is not making me want that extra dishwasher any less.

PS- I contacted a few architectural salvage shops about coming to remove and take away the old cabinets rather than having our GC take a sledgehammer to them. The cabinets were super charming and constructed really well. They couldn’t get to us in time, but recommended we have our GC take them out and they would swing by in the following week to pick them up. Well, the cabinets didn’t make it. They were installed so well they basically had to be ripped out piece by piece. However, if you’ve got an old house and special pieces you no longer have a use for, I totally suggest calling up a salvage shop.

What I Want For The New Kitchen

Guys, just go on ahead and get in line behind Kase. He’s the first one who is over hearing me blab on and on about the kitchen. Besides, no one cares about subfloor and insulation and drywall. Let’s just get to the good stuff already.

I’ve got a pretty moodboard. And everyone loves a moodboard. Well, maybe not my husband. Or my contractor. Both of whom roll their eyes a little too much for my liking. I just wish renovations were as simple as making up a moodboard.

So here it is, “My One Day Hopefully Soon (and please Jesus before Colin’s birthday party) Dream Kitchen”

I’m still hemming and hawing over pretty much every aspect of this plan- the appliances, the hardware, the drawer fronts, etc. So really, this moodboard is more for me to visualize what I *think* I want, and seeing that *yes* this is pretty much what I envision. We don’t want too modern, or too country.  We’ve got an old house- I want to respect that and work it in but not get too carried away.

So we’re doing cabinets with a simple shaker frame. We’ll top it off with a nice marble countertop. And yes, I KNOW ALL ABOUT HOW SCARY MARBLE IS. I’M STILL DOING IT. Sorry. Too many contractors. Too many opinions.  Subway tile was my only choice for a backsplash and I love it paired with an oyster gray grout, which skews warmer with its taupey undertones. And if you know me, you know I love me some taupe and gray, so all bets are off when you combine the two. I’ve already bought the faucet and have an option for the sink, but may use the sink in the butler’s pantry instead. I need to find some hardware for the drawers, something similar to the pull above, but obviously larger.  I love the crystal knob and see that on the upper cabinets along the back wall.  The “wood” floor is actually a porcelain tile. I was set on matching our existing hardwood in the family room until we started using our pool and tracking water all over the exposed subfloor. Then I realized our contractor was on to something when he suggested tile. We’ll need some new dining chairs (though I have plans to do a built in bench for one side of the table) and I found these “Colin” chairs on Ballard Designs. Kismet. The pendant light is the light we currently have in the kitchen, and I think in this scenario it really works.

Mixing the old with the new, the classic with the contemporary. And by god, I think it might just work.

What do you think?

Let the Renovations Begin!

You’ll recall on the 1st of May, our upstairs and main bathroom flooded our kitchen.

Here we are, July 10th, and I can finally say that the renovation will begin on Monday.

Too bad the demo happened two weeks ago. D’oh.

Here are some “befores”. Sadly, we never got a chance to take a real photo of the kitchen before it was ruined. It was one of the only rooms that didn’t require a before and after. I actually liked it well enough. Essentially we had a galley/ L- shape kitchen.

After we realized we would be demolishing the kitchen and rebuilding back from the studs, we started to think about moving things around. For one, I realized that the former owner must have been a lefty. Dishwasher to the left of the sink, prep space to the left of the stove- you get the idea. Another thing that got on my nerves was the placement of the (not counter-depth) fridge.  It jutted out and was very visible from the family room.  Colin repeatedly ran into it. (I realize that’s not saying much- he pretty much runs into everything.) You also couldn’t pass through if the fridge was opened. It pretty much acted as a gateway to the rest of the kitchen from the family room.  Lastly, and in my opinion, the worst feature: it fell right underneath where the lower ceiling and vaulted ceiling meet. That pinged my OCD bad. Again, had our bathroom not flooded, Kase and I would have just continued on our merry way, purchasing new appliances as they conked out, bumping into the fridge, not being able to pass through the kitchen if said fridge was being opened, etc. You know, just kept everything as is. Considering it was remodeled in the 90’s, the owner had chosen traditional and classic features. I’ve definitely seen worse!

Early on,I decided on a couple of things that put into motion my grand plan: Considering the amount of pasta we boil, I really need an induction stove (boils water in less than 90 seconds! The cooktop stays almost completely cool to the touch! No toddler burn victims!) and I really need to recess my fridge (No more toddler concussions!)

Voila. An idea was born.

You don’t need gas for induction cooking. Therefore, I was no longer married to the previous location of our cooktop since I didn’t need a gas line. Switching the locations of the stove and fridge solves all the problems. I could move the the new stove to the exterior wall where the fridge previously was, taking advantage of the (slightly) vaulted ceiling for a range hood. Along the other wall, we could build a false frame for the cabinets 6″ from the existing framing, which would allow for the fridge to recess the 6 inches required to achieve the counter depth appearance. I’m no good at the maths, so this was quite the triumph for me. I shall credit hours of watching HGTV for this feat. Just switching those two things would make a huge difference. So I got to floorplanning.

But first, they demo’d:

I texted Kase this photo and was all, “Huh. Look how much more open it looks without upper cabinets. The ceiling doesn’t look as menacingly decapitating. Maybe we should lose those.” He actually agreed. Good man.

And then they continued the demo:

And I texted Kase and was all, “Oh! Look at how wide the kitchen is without those side cabinets! Let’s lose those. Oh, and maybe let’s knock down that wall a little so you can see the bottom of the stairs! It will open up the space so much!!!” And he was all ”             ”  because he was at his job, doing, you know, work, and isn’t attached to his iPhone just waiting for his wife to text him incessantly about the stupid kitchen he doesn’t want to talk about anymore. Even though it hasn’t even started. Also: my texts sometimes cause budgetary concerns.

And then it looked like this. And I actually thought, “Wow. Our kitchen isn’t as small as I thought!” And then “MOLD!”

And then. It looked like this. For the last two weeks. Sadsies. And tetanus.

And just to remind you:

Whoa. Yeah, totally losing those side cabs. 🙂

Before and After [The Playroom]

As I was going through my phone for my photo dump post, I realized that I was showing the playroom, which is one of my favorite rooms in the house, and just one of the many that underwent a makeover. Or make under, as the case may be for this house. And as I await the “After” of my kitchen “Before” I realized I have quite a few befores and afters already in my phone. Just never got around to sharing.

Originally, this room was a point of contention between me and Kase. I wanted a cozy den and he wanted the entire children’s section of Ikea. I am not joking. We met somewhere in the middle.

The previous owner of our home really worked hard to restore a lot of the finishes and furnishings to what might have originally been in the house. She even removed the drywall ceiling and exposed the original hand cut beams of the house- on one of the beams, there is a signature and the date 1830. Very cool, and it’s one of my favorite features of the house.  Along with this attention to historical rehabilitation, she filled her home with carefully chosen antiques and historical pieces.

To her, I send my deepest apologies. We have two young kids. Ain’t nobody got time for the Brimfield Antique show (though I won’t lie- I wish I did. Anyone care to babysit?). All I have time for these days is IKEA, and I can’t even handle that anymore with two kids in tow. The thing of it is- kids are kids. They mess stuff up. Like, they draw on your newly painted walls. What are you gonna do?  So for now, we jammed it full of IKEA shelves, a train table, and lots and lots and lots of toys and called it a day.

That being said, I do see this room as a nice den or office once the kids are older- especially because this room is off to the front of the house, so I can be watching my HGTV shows (“Dude, does your mom ever stop watching that channel?”) in the family room at the back of the house while the boys play violent video games away from any adult supervision. Oh man. I can’t wait for that day.

For now? We need a playroom. (“Does anyone really need a playroom??” said the person with (obviously) no kids. To which I answer, “Would you want to live in the middle of  a Toys R Us forever and ever? Didn’t think so.”) I, the OCD neat freak I can be, need a room where my kids can play and when they are done, I can shove all the ugly craps away and pretend they don’t exist. The toys, that is. Not my kids. I like them. And they are the most adorable and special humans on earth. Obviously.

The beauty of this room is it is off at the front of the house and has two doors that close it off- one from the front hall and one from the dining room. And just like that- voila! Crap is gone!  It also works well for when we have dinner parties- we can easily supervise (or listen for, generally, while we drink) the kids in the adjoining room. There is a door that leads to an outside patio as well, so once we get our little yard on that side of the house fenced off, we can install a playset and use that door for direct access. The ultimate plan will be to screen in and cover the patio and then, once again, we adults can drink in peace while the children tackle each other in the yard. Always thinking, I am!

So here it is, in all it’s glory- the former-finest-antiques-money-can-buy-formal sitting room- turned- the-IKEA-threw-up-and-and-had-babies- playroom:

Before:

When we moved in, we got to work. We removed the window treatments, turned off the gas fireplace and painted.

After:

Finally found a spot for my ruler growth chart. Only took me a year…

We’ve got a tv set up across from the couch here, for when the kids want to watch TV or movies- it works really well for us. The TV sits on top of a (shocker!) Expedit bookcase which holds, wait for it, MORE TOYS! Can you believe it!  Naturally, Colin and I spend most of our time on the tiny 3X5 Urban Outfitters rug, squeezed in between the couch and bookcase, all cramped like, building blocks in that tiny space because it’s not like he has a entire playroom in which to play. Oh wait.

So there you have it. A How To on turning your expensively and finely furnished formal sitting room into a crap hole. Feel free to pin that. Still my favorite room in the house, though.