All right, on with it. I spent some time effing around with Word Press yesterday, trying to get “cool kid” personalized photos up for commenters, but alas, my computer hacking skills aren’t quite up to par. I’m lucky that I’m even able to maintain this stupid site without it exploding all over my face. Anyways, maybe I’ll give that another shot when I have more time.
Check it – this is what been happening.

Pretty rugged. This floor was a shit show.

Boo Yah!

Well, I let my nicolemagne.com domain expire and I didn’t realize. So I guess this site was non-functioning for a few days. I just thought I was unpopular. Speaking of which, does anyone have a good, free web stat counter they can recommend? The one I use is bunk.
We are getting all of our hardwood floors re-finished tomorrow. Its a good thing I guess, but I’d like to refer back to a previous post for a moment:
“The best part is the discovery of hardwood floors underneath the kitchen floor. So basically we’re already saving money, because now we don’t have to replace the floor. We’ll just refinish it.”
Umm yeah, good one Nicole. Maybe you should have looked into that a bit before you did this:

I like how happy I look, I’m so pleased with myself.

So today I’ll be moving everything I own out of the Main floor into the basement or spare room, couches in the garage and preparing to live in either my basement or my mom’s house for 4 days. Sweet.
I should have looked into tiles.

nicole

kitchen March 2006

Originally uploaded by nicemag.

Finally got the counter – tops. Turns out the matte finish may be slightly susceptible to scratching. Flo-Form actually scuffed the bar top, so it looks like we’ll be getting a pretty major discount. Its not that bad of a scuff, it just looks like a wet spot under certain lighting, plus we’ll be covering it with a cutting board. So the counter will be ringing in a $550. Can’t really complain. We can use that money to do something about he floor which is EFFED!
SO by this flick, you can tell that paint will be a pretty major improvement. I think the colour will look dope, right now its so white and blah. We have to finish the back of the bar top, prob just drywall, and painted to match the wall. We’re also talking about our plans for a tile back-splash, but we do to some wiring first. That back wall needs a couple of outlets and some under-counter lights.
The window is a bit of an issue also. The frame was destroyed, so it need to be built back, and that god-awful venetian blind needs to hit the bin. The empty area to the left of the oven is where a dishwasher will go. We’re also trying to decide what to do with the empty wall space over the oven. I was talking about getting a hanging pot-rack, but open shelving would be awesome too.
Its definitely come a long way. Still aiming to have it done for my b-day April 29th.
More updates to come.
n

It’s been about a month and a half since we took down that wall in our kitchen, ripped out the cupboards and tore out the floor. I suppose a regular person would have ordered replacements for these items before destroying them. But not me. It took the destruction to get the ball rolling, so what if I’m using a plastic bin for my dishes? I’m rugged. Anyways. today our new cupboards come from home depot (minus the glass doors that have to be special ordered and won’t be here for 2 weeks) as well as some drywall. I wasn’t to impressed with the selection at home depot at first glance, but after checking out the other options (Ikea – i love you but why can’t you be in winnipeg?) and dealing with the “kitchen designer” I found something thats cheap and decent looking. I’ll post some pics of the progress soon. Still have no idea what to do about a counter, might have to use plywood for the meantime.
Cost tally:
New cupboards and doors from Home Depot = $2000
Random supplies i.e.. drywall, plumbing stuff = $200
Total = $2200

Still need:
countertop : estimated $600
floors refinished: est $500
paint: est $100
electrical: est $100

Estimated total : $3500

I really took a wild guess on the counter, it might be a lot less, I just hope to god it wont be a lot more.

So far so good. I’m heading out to Minneapolis this weekend with my good friend Alexis for some shopping. I’ll fill you in on the project before I take a break for a few days.
Our wall is now completely removed, its really great. The best part is the discovery of hardwood floors underneath the kitchen floor. So basically we’re already saving money, because now we don’t have to replace the floor. We’ll just refinish it. The house already feels better, it’s also perfectly set up for parties now. ‘think I’ll have to have another party to celebrate when its done. Possibly around Christmas?
See you later
n

The demolition has begun. Andy decided it was time to start swinging the crowbar. When we decided to buy our house, we knew that removing the wall between the kitchen and the living room would be amazing. Having one gigantic open room is exactly what we wanted. The existing kitchen is a piece of junk, the cupboard are retarded sizes, there’s only *1* drawer, and its all shitty and old. This was the plan, smash it and replace it with a better, more functional kitchen. THats the plan.
I can tell you right now, this is going to be an insane project. I might as well just stock up on pizza pops right now because thats all I’m going to be eating for about 2 months. Its kinda fun though, scary, but fun.

BEFORE: This is the kitchen as we saw it at the open house. The cupboards are finished in spray-on rock finish.

Andy in the demo zone

As it is this morning. Looking good!

I’ll get around to posting an image of the “planned kitchen”. Right now these photos only allow you to see 1/2 the kitchen. We’ll be relocating most of the storage to the back wall, and leaving a countertop (sans sink) as a pass-over. The floor is going to have to go as well.
It might be interesting to tabulate a total cost of this project. I will update costs along with progress for study.
Cost so far = $Nothing$ (minor injury to Andy’s finger)