Countertops, begone!

Our next step in the demolition phase of the kitchen facelift was to get rid of the lovely counter-tops, which meant removing all the appliances first. The stove top is the only thing we're going to be replacing, and only because we found a pretty nice flat-top one for a song at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore (seen on the left in the photo below).

Remember kids, always make sure the power is off before messing with electricity (the more you know!). Eastwood isn't taking any chances though, as is apparent by his safe distance and wise stare.

This looks like as good a place as any for the oven to go.

Big. Microwave.

Christina was really itching to get at that backsplash. Patience! The counter must go first.

Dishwasher, disconnected! You can also see the first section of counter top (and backsplash) was removed where the stove goes.

The sink was holding on for dear life, so we had to prop up the counter in order to get at the stupid connectors holding it in place.

Formica backsplash, covered with wallpaper (now on the garbage pile, woo!) 

The kitchen demo is pretty much done now (depending on whether or not we decide tear up the two layers of floor that are below the current underlayment), you can see the progress overall below. Now it's on to repairing and refinishing!

Kitchen before.

Progress so far, with demolition phase (pretty much) done. A blank slate!

Stay tuned...

Getting started

So here's our new blog, maybe we can keep up with it...although we've never been good about it before. We'll mostly be using it to document the adventures of being first-time home owners.

We finally got some time to start making changes to the inside of the new house this weekend, here's a play-by-play:

The house! It even comes equipped with a stubborn independent-minded dog in the yard.

We are starting with the kitchen to make sure it's done before we move in. As you can see, it's a bit dated - not horrible, but bad enough that we really want to give it a face lift. The plan is to paint the cabinets and give them new hardware, replace the counters, floor, and light fixtures, and paint the walls and trim. The appliances are all in good shape so they will stay.

The kitchen before super happy demolition time.

The first order of business was to take off the wretched paneled trim at the top and remove all the doors and hardware.

It wasn't going without a fight!

Found a dead vine that had grown up inside above the light fixture, must have been a house plant as we did not find evidence of an outside intrusion.

Christina got the easy job :)

Next to go was the horrible vinyl flooring that was bubbling and peeling and just begging to be ripped up.

Ahhhh, so satisfying...like peeling a giant piece of sun-burnt skin.

Rip and tear!

Where's Tina?!

Cabinet hardware and trim removed, and floor stripped!

Eastwood, all tuckered out from helping all day.

Stay tuned, lots more (hopefully) fun updates to come!