Everything plus the kitchen sink: Lessons in remodeling
At this very moment, pots, pans, dishes and silverware litter the floor of my home office.
The refrigerator is in the dining room.
The kitchen floor is a mottled mess of dusty cement.
And to think; all this chaos is self-inflicted.
The Great Kitchen Remodel of 2017 seemed like a good idea when we were still in the talking stages, crunching numbers, getting estimates, drawing up plans.
We’d been saving for 10 years, and it was time. Our builder-grade cabinets were clean and sturdy, but so dated, even a certain charity that accepts donations of such things took one look and said a polite, but firm, “no thanks.”
The blue laminate countertops were scratched and marred and, well, they were blue.
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The floor was white. It looked nice when the tile was clean. But between the dog, the husband, the dad and the fact that I actually cook in our kitchen, it was clean for about five minutes twice a month.
So we took the plunge, putting down the deposit and placing an order for new shaker-style cabinets and granite counter tops.
While we were at it, it made sense to take down the partial wall dividing the kitchen and the dining room, open the whole thing up, give the illusion of space.
As our project reaches the halfway point, I thought I’d share a few lessons learned for anyone else considering a similar undertaking.
•The decisions are endless. Just for the sink: undermount or overmount? Finish? Size? One bowl or two? Two equal bowls or one bigger? Which side for the bigger one? We haven’t even gotten to the faucet selection.
•When removing a wall, make sure it’s not load-bearing. After demolition has begun is a bad time to discover that one section of said wall is the only thing keeping the roof from caving in. What started as a wide, open peninsula of countertop now has an 18-inch plank growing out of it. We’ve decided to call it an architectural feature instead of an oopsie. And on the positive side, we now have a place for the light switch and an outlet, not to mention my collection of clever signs that say things like “Bless your heart.”
•Everyone has an opinion. The contractor, friends, the guy at the tile store, random strangers browsing the paint aisle. When you’re in the midst of a project that’s not your forte, those opinions can become overwhelming. Sometimes you have to step back, breathe and go with your first instincts.
•It feels good to support small, local businesses, but do some research first. After two missed delivery dates and five promises of “he’ll call you back today” (he didn’t), the husband finally went to pick up our paid-in-advance tile himself, only to find the store closed for Memorial Day weekend. I avoided the temptation to start a #freesuzystile campaign.
“Oh, if we’d known you needed it Monday, we would have made arrangements,” the lady said when she finally called back Tuesday. Ahem, if you’d called back Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, we’d have told you that.
The tile arrived just before 7 p.m. Tuesday. Next time we’ll read the online reviews before ordering.
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•The husband may say, “It’s you’re kitchen. Whatever you want.” He doesn’t mean it. Make sure he’s OK with your decorating decisions. There’s a fine line between the kitchen of your dreams and the kitchen of your divorce.
•Hang onto the sink for as long as possible. When the contractor wants to remove all the cabinets and the sink four weeks before the new ones go in, and six weeks before the counter tops — and therefore the new sink — will go in, there’s no shame in begging, cajoling and even whimpering a little to get him to leave it alone for a couple of weeks longer.
Everyone tells me this will be great when it’s over, and I don’t doubt it — most of the time. Plus, I know this is a minor inconvenience compared to what my friends in New Orleans went through after Katrina. They lived in a FEMA trailer in their driveway for more than a year while their kitchen and the rest of her house was rebuilt.
On Friday, we’d put it off as long as possible. They took everything, plus the kitchen sink, basically turning our home into a big hotel room. The coffee pot is plugged in by the TV and washed in the bathroom.
At least the pizza place around the corner provides excellent room service.
Email Leonard at sleonard@floridatoday. com. Follow her on Facebook at /SuzyFlemingLeonard and on Instagram @SuzyLeonard.