Kitchen Reno: One and a half years and counting...

I know what you're thinking. And honestly, I don't know how you've lasted this long without one of our awesome and extremely informative house blogs. Well, no worries, cause here it is. The continuation of our seemingly never-ending kitchen reno has really earned a special place in our hearts. Seriously. There's nothing better than having a half-finished, half-functioning, highly utilized space. Awesome.


So let's see. Where were we? Oh yes. Culinary awesomeness. Melting faces. The concrete! So we closed up the wall on the exterior, through up some ick-ea (Ikea) cabinet frames and poured our own concrete countertops. Not as easy as you may think. Thankfully, we had the Yoda of concrete helping us for our first time. Oh, and when I say "us", I mean Kenny. Although we had several pictures of this process, someone skeeved my computer, and alas, I have lost the physical memory. But let us try and recreate the process. There was Nate (concrete Yoda) and Kenny in rural, humid, Florida pouring 100 pound per linear foot slabs of quickcrete. What might that have looked like?

I guess we'll never know. Anyway, the concrete turned out great. Kenny and Yoda hauled it all the way up from Florida on a trailor (busted three tires under the weight, I believe). Then we hoisted them up on top of the cabinets, sealed them with epoxy and added in some kickin florida cypress detailing. I admit, Kenny had to sell me on it, but I really love it. Who knew two architects could come up with a design for their kitchen without killing each other?

Next step was to build and install the florida cypress plank doors, Ick-ea glass doors and handles, and all of our new appliances. Needless to say, the kitchen has come a long way since the old yeti-infested gnome cave it was a year back. We still have a way to go, but it should be pretty freakin awesome when we finish up.

Now, back to you. How can you melt your friends' faces via an awesome reno? Well, get yourself a concrete yoda. Concrete not your thing? K. Perhaps a marble buddha, or a granite dalai lama. Regardless, it's good to have some reliable guidance in areas of construction when you may not know what the bleep you're doing. Got a tight budget? We do too. We saved money by using Ick-ea where you don't see it and spending on nice wood that was visible. We bought 12 x 12 tile for $5/sf and cut it down to 2 x 12 rather than spend $26/sf on the same style tile that was already cut down to the trendy 2 x 12. Looking for other ways? How about saving on the appliances. I have found that if you go far out enough from the perimeter of Atlanta, you can easily find low priced appliances in the yards of trailor parks, farm houses, and other delightful country dwellings. You may even get a tireless Chevelle out of the deal!









Come for the appliances.... ...leave with a hot rod!

Happy building! Until next time...

When we first moved in, as previously stated, there was virtually no kitchen. This was a situation in need of remedy. Unfortunately, we're poor, so bringing in Candice Olsen was not an option. Fortunately, Kenny can bust a chop saw in the shop, and I can mud, sand, and epoxy concrete like a crazy mofo.

Thinking of remodeling your kitchen? Well do we have the thing for you! Follow these simple step-by-step instructions and you too can create a fierce culinary explosion of awesomeness that will melt your friends faces off from the sheer heat of its design spectacularity!!!!! (or at least you can tell everyone that it does and get a lot of cool points)

Step 1: Take a good look at what you've got and decide if it's in your best interest to start from scratch. We decided it was for us because of a couple of reasons...

Exhibit A: The existing space was infested with evil, miniature yetis. Cute and ferocious as they may be, these little guys just aren't very sanitary. They shed.

Also, you may notice that the cabinets were installed upside down. That's right...upside down.

And of course we've discussed the sink in the middle of the floor thing.



Exhibit B: The evil gnome door had us a bit concerned. Although we never actually saw any gnomes emerge from this door, we really didn't want to chance it. So we sealed it up.








Step 2: Okay, so you've decided to destroy your existing kitchen. Congratulations! So did we. The next step is to demolish as many exterior walls as possible. We did this at first because we thought it would be fun. It ended up being a good thing because we got to switch our exterior door to the other side of the wall for better traffic flow, and we got to insulate the wall (something you old house dwellers all covet). We also discovered that the studs in the existing wall were literally hanging from the roof. There was no sill plate. The wall was literally swinging in the breeze. Again, a special thanks goes out to the previous contractors' work. Bravissimi.



Note to homeowner: If you live in a "transitional" neighborhood, for security sakes, you might wanna make sure that this part of the demo/rebuild is completed within 24 to 48 hours. Securing the house with one wall missing has its obstacles. If you can't do this, try to collect as many random dogs as possible and line them up in front of the open space to deter any opportunistic punk who wants a taste of that culinary explosion of awesomeness we discussed (see above).

This sad pair of pups, who look like they came straight out of a Sarah McLachlan SPCA ad, are Gus the boxer and Tailspin the doberman. Don't they just reek of ferocity?

After we sealed the wall back up, things warmed up a lot. Then we were ready to start pouring our concrete counter tops. How did we accomplish such a feat you ask? Perhaps you should wait on the edge of your seat for the next awesome installment of kickass kitchen reno, also known as Step 3 (insert hard core fade out music).

Very, very, very fine house...

In October 2007 Kenny and I moved into our new house in Westview. In the words of an early 90's upstate New York youth: it was wicked cool. Not only does it have around 1600 SF of 90 year-old craftsmen bungalow awesomeness downstairs, but 1000SF of potentially habitable space upstairs.



As you see from the original pictures here, there is little to no kitchen, save a sink in the middle of the floor. Thank you idiot flippers who don't know what they're doing. Besides that, the house remained relatively untouched whereas many houses in the area have been broken up and turned into multi-family units over the decades.

Although we got a great deal on the house and it's extremely close to the beltline, it's still what the cobbers would refer to as a "transitional neighborhood". In other words, it's up and coming. I'm not so worried about someone busting a cap in my ass as much as I am concerned about the gang problems. That's right, we've got chipmunk gang issues. We got rid of a tree in the backyard which ended up being the 'munk mecca, and now I think they've got it in for us. More to come on that...

Anyway, take a look at the pictures of where we started and I'll follow up with some pictures showing the progress of our new kitchen!

I think our kitchen would have made Rachel Ray slit her wrists.

Our bathroom. Sleek, huh?

Extremely scary half bath that I have entered twice in the
year and a half we've lived here.

Dining Room
Living RoomMaster bedroom...aka attic
This is the extra lot on the east side of the house that we purchased.
Gus approves of this investment.