Our kitchen is next on my project list. My budget, though, is tight. I need to spend less than $1000.
The floors are in good shape. They are an attractive ceramic tile, which is nice. I don't think I want to do anything to/with those. Also, the appliances are updated. We bought a stainless stove and dishwasher in 2009.
The cabinets, on the other hand, are in need of help. They are decent quality and in good shape for the most part. They are not, however, attractive. They have oddly shaped inset panels. The pulls are in the center of the doors, which I understand is standard for fine cabinetry, but they are hard to use. The kids generally just grab the corner, which is wearing away the paint. (I'll post pictures later, but I have to clean off the cabinets first. Right now, I wouldn't let anyone see my kitchen in the state its in.)
At the moment, my plan is this:
- Paint the cabinets. I think an antique glaze might be a nice finish.
- New hardware. I've picked out some iron hardware that looks nice.
- Tear out the soffits and build shelves near the ceiling.
- Add crown molding.
- Replace the countertops. I would love a granite tile, but ceramic is certainly an option.
- Tile the backsplash.
- Possibly replace the sink.
- Paint the dining nook, which means that I need to do something with the wall and the wainscot.
- Replace the range hood.
- Build in the microwave, somewhere.
- Revamp storage for my pans and lids.
- Update the lighting.
(The following are from Emily Smith's Faux Painting site)
These are white with antique glaze...
I can't say that I am a fan of the wallpaper, though.
The picture below is from Apartment Therapy. I love the fact that the cabinets are painted, but are a light colored neutral rather than white. And, of course, I love the green walls.
We finally hired someone to help us work on one of our projects. He was an acquaintance of ours, as he used to be our neighbor and his wife works where I work, but in another department. They seemed like nice people and he had been in business a long time, so we hired him to do some drywall work for us and help us round up other trades people to do a bit of wiring and plumbing.
The trades people were fine. We were able to move our washer and dryer out to what was before an unusable sun room. We removed all but three windows, and replaced those. We also put in a new door that actually seals.
Our first indication of a problem was when we came home one day and realized that he had drywalled over a board that had a rotted place in it.
Then, another day, we smelled cigarette smoke in the house, and none of us smoke.
He wanted paid in advance for the work, and, stupidly, I did. There was no final walk through, so that we could complain about the lousy job he did on the drywall. There is tape pulling up. He made joints by the windows. The corners have odd patchy bits. In short, it looks like I did it myself. Actually, my drywall is better than that, and I do not consider myself competent to do drywall.
We've spent most of the month of September cleaning up his mess and trying to patch up the work to make it look right. I am not happy.
People have asked us time and again why we've done all our renovation work ourselves, with the help of my dad and kids. With the exception of skilled trades, every time we've hired someone to do carpentry work, we have been disappointed to the point of feeling cheated.
I.Hate.Math. Especially when a checkbook is involved. On the bright side, I have Moneydance, which does everything that Quicken does, except expire. (If I am content to use an old version of a piece of software, the company should not determine for me that it is too old, and disable downloads from my bank.) I fed in all my expenses (except February from US Bank, because they only keep 90 days of record online) into Moneydance and found out where my money went. This is what I found:
I spend more in clothes that I believed that I did.
Our grocery bill is out of control.
And we eat out too much.
We need a lot of entertaining.
We need to use the library more.
It is all very horrifying really. Essentially I have nice sum each month that I really have no idea where goes. Well, I know *where* it goes: Wal-Mart, Taget, Walgreens, the Dollar Store, Freds... So I *know* some of it is cleaning supplies. And some is clothing. And some is groceries. But what is what? I am clueless.
Then, I started poking around and found the USDA's estimated costs to feed a family. Turns out the federal government figures that we should be expected to spend $983 a month to feed our family of five. Now, all we need to do is cut down what we spend eating out...
