2.18.16

When we bought our house (15 years ago), we had a list of things that just had to go.  Most of these things happened to be pink.  The people who lived in this house two owners ago remodeled almost everything in 1986, and they put in a LOT of pink.  Pink carpet. Pink linoleum. Pink drapes (not curtains--brocade drapes).  Pink flowered wall paper.  Pink painted siding.  

We’ve done a lot of update work ourselves, and we did put on an addition nine years ago (which was a nightmare, to be honest—we went with the cheapest contractor and you should never do that…). 

Because of the addition fiasco, we were a little spooked by the thought of another remodeling project, and we knew we didn’t want to be as "frugal" (cheap), and didn’t have the finances to pay someone, and didn’t have the expertise to do any of the additional stuff ourselves.  So we've been living in *that* house for awhile.  You know that one house on the block that's just kind of let itself go?  Peeling paint, overrun landscape, mismatched doors and windows.  We had gotten to a point where we couldn't do much more that the house needed ourselves, and with both of us working full-time now (hooray!), we don't really have the time.  Of course, we're a bit older now, too, and physical labor makes us hurt quite a bit more than it did fifteen years ago.

We started talking about finally re-doing the kitchen and when we checked, we were pretty psyched to see that mortgage rates are insanely low (seriously—we got 2.719%).  Then we thought that maybe we could also do some of the exterior stuff we'd been talking about for years, and apparently February is a good time to do exterior home improvements, as the bids came in with discounts if we let them start this month.

And so it starts tomorrow!

We’ll be doing some exterior and some interior stuff.  Most of it centers around the kitchen.  We’re closing off a door and a window, changing another window to a patio door, getting new cabinets and countertops, and new flooring (into the living room and hallway).  We’ll then get rid of the old cement step and sidewalk on the North side of the house (it was angled toward the house and flooded our basement).

Guess I should start with the before photos:

Window on north side of house that will go away to make room for more cabinets

Ugh.  Pink linoleum.

Pink linoleum and pink (cherry) cabinets

Door on North side that will disappear.  Also (not seen) pocket door will be removed and doorway widened.

Will finally replace Sauder pre-fab cabinets with REAL cabinets.  And that peninsula on the left will be gone.

Better picture of the peninsula that will not be in the new kitchen design

Lannon stone stays; vinyl siding does not--nor do gutters and downspouts and soffits

South side of house; vinyl siding will go and windows will get a facelift

North side of house with ugly, peel paint and chipped step and door that will go bye-bye

North side of house and window that will be gone

Lovely pink carpet in living room and hall (to left)

Window (East side) that will become a patio door

 You're welcome to follow along as we un-pinken our home.  :)