Kitchen remodel progress: evolution of the sink wall.
Paul was on vacation a few weeks ago… a time of dirt, noise, kitchen progress, and me deciding that now would be the best time to try to convince him that we should drive to Arkansas to spend a shockingly-unholy amount of money on something utterly un-kitchen related… on Craigslist.
He said no… but what I heard was: sell everything we own.
I cannot show you what it is, because one of you probably has $8,000 that you do not need, and I cannot be the the one to facilitate your owning of what is rightfully mine.
So, instead of a trip to Arkansas, we have been working on multiple kitchen and addition projects… In an attempt to make the progress coherent, I am focusing on the sink wall.
What we started with in the kitchen/more before pictures.
Above is what we started with.
I have zero idea of what I am doing upside-down, but it is one of only two photos I have from before we removed the weirdly-low peninsula and jacked it up into an island… before you are a blogger, you do not know that one random photo will not suffice to tell an entire story.
Below, you can see that we moved the kitchen down to the addition for a makeshift workspace. Then, for fun, we moved it back.
The white space-pod looking thing is a reverse osmosis water filtration system… it tops any list I would make for kitchen “must-haves.” And in the new kitchen we are going to combine it with instant-hot water. I cannot overstate how excited I am for this… I drink a lot of tea during the winter, and the idea of not waiting for water to boil seems like an unimaginable luxury.
I’m so easy to please!
We already took out the strange half bath… and we put up more plastic to form an L-shape around the perimeter of the room so that we could gut the sink wall.
We gutted the sink wall for a couple of reasons:
– on part of the wall, the previous owner had sheetrocked over plaster.
– there was no backsplash behind the sink/water had gotten the plaster mungy over time.
– throughly insulate the exterior wall.
– there was some plumbing that was lazy-boxed rather than recessed into the wall at the corner.
So we gutted, recessed the plumbing, insulated, sheetrocked, and painted.
This is a brief summation of a big project… But I don’t have anything interesting to say about it and I think the photos are pretty much self-explanatory.
I missed getting pictures of some of the steps because Paul wasn’t about to wait for me to get home to document whatever was happening.
A few more things:
1. The piano island is NOT going to go sideways like it is above.
The island will be lengthwise in the other direction, but we had a dinner party, AND are having Thanksgiving, so I don’t want to move the TV into the living room until we are done having company.
2. The wall color is just a primer… we’ll use the same paint colors that we’ve used through the rest of the house.
3. We solved a dilemma that’s been holding the kitchen design hostage and I am so excited.
Ellen
November 17, 2015 @ 10:04 am
Does Paul do a lot of construction work shirtless? Lucky you!
Jenny
November 17, 2015 @ 10:51 am
I was thinking how to politely say “Paul has got some guns!” without sounding like I was coveting VEB’s husband. You managed it nicely.
Erin
November 17, 2015 @ 12:32 pm
Hahaha… thanks ladies. I almost missed that until you pointed it out.
becky up a hill
November 17, 2015 @ 10:07 am
I can’t get past the $8,000 Craigslist in Arkansas. I hope you can at least tell me, as one of my great Aunts was named Arkansas. I am not kidding. Boom. I will tell you her sister’s state names another day. Suffice to say, I think my great granny Alabama got the pick of the litter, so to speak. p.s. I don’t live in Arkansas.
Leslie
November 17, 2015 @ 10:09 am
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! So excited to see more!! 😀 I’m living vicariously through your remodel, as my husband said, “Oh HELL no” to remodeling ours.
Judy
November 17, 2015 @ 10:12 am
You are having Thanksgiving? Without a working kitchen? I bow to you. When I redid mine I had no one come near my house for the entire 5 weeks, never mind holding Thanksgiving.
It’s looking great! Smooth walls with insulation? I swoon (from my 225 year-old house while wearing fingerless gloves to type).
Diana
November 17, 2015 @ 11:32 am
I had the same thought! Elizabeth is brave to have Thanksgiving with no working kitchen. I would be TERRIFIED!
Patricia
November 17, 2015 @ 10:12 am
I’ll bet boosting extremely large giant fancy things upstairs or onto the roof is what gives Paul his biceps. In other words, he OWES you. Keep the construction photos coming … the ones in his T shirt.
Go team Giant Fancy Things!
Dodie
November 17, 2015 @ 10:13 am
So exciting!
Christina in FL
November 17, 2015 @ 10:13 am
Oh my stars!!! You go!!! I imagine you and Paul dressing up opera full regalia and toasting each other when this is done! :)))
tammigirl
November 17, 2015 @ 10:15 am
It seems like you gave up way too easy on the GFT in Arkansas.
Are you sure it’s just a reverse osmosis system and Paul isn’t drugging you somehow?
You should probably see a doctor. You know, just in case.
Darling Lily
November 17, 2015 @ 10:27 am
I live in Arkansas and am stunned that you found any sort of GFT here. I love my state, but GFTs are generally rather thin on the ground here.
If I assure you that 8k is just outside my budget, can you somehow secretly tel me what it is?!
So very excited to see this progress!!!
Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
November 17, 2015 @ 11:04 am
Tell me, is this NOT THE GFTest of all GFT’s?
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575067879&toolid=10001&campid=5337778272&customid=&icep_item=281837071965&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg
Amber
November 17, 2015 @ 11:19 am
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWO! I live near West Fork AR! HOLY MOLY!!!!! I do not have an extra $9,000.00 laying around, though. This piece screams you! AMAZING! If I sell a kidney and get this, I will gift it to you someday!
Darling Lily
November 17, 2015 @ 11:31 am
My God.
Of all the GFTs in the world, that is the GFTest.
It is the actual Bomb Diggety of GFTs.
In Arkansas,no less.
And you MUST have it!
patra
November 17, 2015 @ 12:18 pm
Where are you going to put this GFT???? It’s OMGmazing… but seriously, where’s it going????
patra
November 17, 2015 @ 12:20 pm
Oh – I see THIS was the relenting… too bad!!!
Rose
November 17, 2015 @ 12:22 pm
But wait! not so hasty, check out the sellers other items. If you go there do not, I repeat DO NOT take your van, but you must rent a 24 foot moving van. The good news is that you will no longer have to agonize over your kitchen reno because you are going to have to sell the house first to pay for ALL of the GFT’s that you will be needing to purchase there.
On second thought I think you had better stay home….sorry the realist took over.
Linda
November 17, 2015 @ 12:55 pm
That GFT belongs in your kitchen. It is no ordinary GFT, it is an MFT — monumental. And will solve all your storage needs while guaranteeing eternal happiness and daily bliss as you dispense hot water from the hot water thing. Love the progress!
jamie
November 17, 2015 @ 3:33 pm
but will that thing even fit in your kitchen? and if it won’t be the only storage solution in the kitchen (and it seems doubtful it could be), how will you choose additional storage that will complement this but not clash or compete with it while not looking boring and underwhelming? it seems a difficult piece to try to make work. plus with that huge decorative thing at the top of it, there’s all kinds of wasted space above it, as opposed to a large bookcase thingy where the shelves stop shy of the ceiling only by the height of the upper molding. i wouldn’t raise these concerns if you were getting this as a free or inexpensive score that you could re-sell later at your leisure if you decide it doesn’t work, but this piece isn’t a bargain, it’s selling for full retail price. if you buy it, you’ll be stuck with it, because you’re always stuck with anything you spend $8000 on. and then you’ve just spent the entirety of a budget you could have used to build full-kitchen, from-scratch, solid hardwood, antique-joinery, high-end cabinetry with huge moldings and deep inset panels and all the detailing you want, even animal-head carvings, a matched set of antique locks with keys (they’re actually pretty easy to find if you just want about 6 of them) and then you can add tassels to said keys if you want. if you can at all justify spending $8000, you should consider using it to spend the money on real cabinetry built in the old style, which no one does anymore because it’s so expensive. they’d rather only spend $3000 on their cabinetry than have mortise & tenon joinery and coped molding corners, custom-cut molding profiles, solid wood shelves and solid wood custom-milled beadboard backing (of the same wood as the shelving, not some crappy cheap soft pine), elements a really skilled finish carpenter can make happen for you, and the same elements you really love about old furniture. then the whole kitchen will be as good as antique (especially if you super nerd out like i do and source reclaimed wood for its superior, dense grain), all of it, not just one single over-the-top thing (that’s going to steal the sunshine from the piano island anyway). okay, that’s my practical advice. i figure since paul is not on board, you could probably benefit more from practical advice that will make you okay with not getting it, so i figured i’d chime in to that effect.
Lena Campbell
November 17, 2015 @ 11:22 pm
See I imagined a GFT costing $8K being a mirrored utility van to haul other GFTs.
CS
April 13, 2016 @ 3:15 pm
Just FYI, the biggest and best antique mall I have ever found is in Botkinburg, AR. Admittedly, they do also sell reproductions (good quality ones, too), but most of what they sell is genuinely antique. And also FYI, they have wardrobes and Art Deco cocktail cabinets TO DIE FOR!!!!! Book-matched veneer, fantastic condition — they have it all. Totally worth a trip to the middle-of-nowhere, to a barely-qualifies-as-a-miniscule-dot-on-a-map “town” (to tiny they don’t even have a stoplight or a gas station).
savannah
November 17, 2015 @ 10:30 am
HUZZAH!! For you and also for me BECAUSE after 8 years in this house (which I have grown to love) the Husband said “Sweetheart, 2016 is going to be our year of the great remodel!” I have learned much from you and your invaluable lessons on remodeling and other fancy things! 😉
Carole @ Emu Bliss
November 17, 2015 @ 10:32 am
Wait, what’s the dilemma that you solved that was holding the kitchen hostage???
Jamie
November 17, 2015 @ 10:36 am
Thanks for the progress report! You know, whatever you’ve come up with, its something you’ve thought about and planned forever, and I have no doubt that it will be gorgeous.
SilvanaJoanne
November 17, 2015 @ 10:37 am
Looks like you’re making great progress! I can already see it looking fantastic 🙂
Linda D.
November 17, 2015 @ 10:40 am
I’m sitting here like that statue from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil looking at my hands. Left hand: “They’ve torn out the kitchen.” Right hand: “They’re hosting Thanksgiving.” Back to left hand: “BUT THEY’VE TORN OUT THE KITCHEN!!!!”
I’m shaking my head, grinning ear to ear KNOWING you guys are gonna rock an awesome kitchen!
Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
November 17, 2015 @ 11:07 am
Well, technically we have a sink. And a stove. And a place to chop stuff… so there should be no barrier to me proving my theory that if you have those things, you have no need of a new kitchen.
Beubook
November 17, 2015 @ 11:19 am
Yeah…it’s kind of true. I was the cook on the Gazela (Philadelphia’s tall ship) you’d be amazed what one can pull of with clean water and a heat source. YOU’VE GOT THIS.
Darling Lily
November 17, 2015 @ 11:38 am
Frankly, I’d be more nervous about someone denting the door to Narnia or scratching one of the other Preciousii than merely cooking an entire Thanksgiving meal in campground conditions.
Victoria is clearly a Goddess.
nemo
November 17, 2015 @ 10:41 am
I think you could write (and illustrate) a modern Jane Austen style novel where Mr. Darcy remodels the kitchen and we all swoon. I did not marry this man. I do all remodeling myself, while DH curses me for blocking access to the back door (while I point out there are actually two doors to the house).
Beubook
November 17, 2015 @ 11:21 am
My husband likes to say his strength is “strength,” mine is everything else. He is excellent at carrying heavy things, I’ll give him that.
Gaylin
November 17, 2015 @ 10:44 am
Goodness your just teasing us along! Ugh your killing me girlie! Lol
But I am on the edge of my seat reading every post! I am utterly impressed and in awe your cooking thanksgiving dinner!?
Your humble servant of patience (NOT!)
Joanna
November 17, 2015 @ 10:45 am
Go, Team Giant Fancy Things, go! As soon as you finish the kitchen you will have a lot of time, energy and money available for more critical GFT acquisitions.
Shelley Zurek
November 17, 2015 @ 11:01 am
Coming to Philly this weekend maybe I will bring Walt and we can help? Because I can’t get past your remark: “AND are having Thanksgiving, so I don’t want to move the TV into the living room until we are done having company.” HOW THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THAT? Please take photos.
Elizabeth Speicher
November 17, 2015 @ 11:05 am
Your progress is thrilling! All this and hosting Thanksgiving too? You never cease to amaze.
Wait, did Narnia move into the family room?
Jenny
November 17, 2015 @ 11:05 am
Tease!
“There’s GFT in Arkansas but I won’t tell you what it is.”
“Here’s Paul in a tee shirt flexing his arms.”
“We solved a major dilemma. But I won’t tell you what it is.”
We ALREADY check the mail several times a day looking for the next update, and yet you treat us as if we are not loyal and faithful stalkers-I-mean-Fans.
Have mercy on us, we beg you!
(Seriously, you are the bravest woman I know at this moment, hosting Thanksgiving without a kitchen.)
Victoria Elizabeth Barnes
November 17, 2015 @ 11:09 am
lol… I relented on the GFT and posted a photo above in the comments.
dilemma solution is next week’s post and I’m not about to steal my OWN thunder.
xoxo