Day 5

On Saturday, Reuben and his dad made the pass-through opening in our kitchen. They also widened the doorway into the diningroom. There is so much more light that gets let into the livingroom now. There are windows in the diningroom and livingroom but there is a big maple tree that blocks a lot of the light so it can be quite dark in there.

Tonight, our friend, Carl, is coming over to help Reuben redo some of the plumbing in the kitchen. Apparently, the venting for the sink was done wrong, originally. Did you know that it is critically important for your drains to be vented to the outside so that none of the smells come into your house? Something about a build up of gases...blah, blah, blah. You learn a lot when you own your own home. At least I have been. Reuben knows all this stuff already.

Day 4

Reuben's dad came yesterday around noon. When I got home from work, this is what our kitchen looked like!


The beginning of the pass-through opening.

Day 3

Last night, I made fish sticks and bruschetta in the toaster oven. We still have a counter and a sink and it was still frustrating just to make that small dinner. I don't think we'll be having many more dinners here for awhile.
While I went to a baby shower, Reuben ripped out the upper cabinets by himself. I didn't get to take any pictures, though.
Today, Reuben's dad is driving down and will be helping Reuben get the rest of the floor off and the dishwasher and sink cabinet out. We will be widening the doorway into the dining room and putting a pass-through in.
They will also be running the electrical for the new pot lights and repositioning of the stove.
Thanks in advance, Dad!

Day 2

Last night our good friend, Andrew, came over to help Reuben continue the demolition.


While trying to find the appropriate tool to take up a layer of plywood, they tried out my hammer. Consequently, it broke in half. My sister, Diana, bought me this hammer as part of a toolkit when I moved out on my own.
Behind the cabinet, Reuben found this doggy kibble. Gross.
And I thought our dining room/living room was crowded yesterday.
This is what it looks like this morning.

They brought the one set of lower cabinets down to the basement to use for storage.

Kitchen Renos

Things are under way in our kitchen. Reuben has faithfully been removing 10-20 tiles every week so that he can put them out in the regular trash. We're trying to avoid getting a construction bin. Last week, he decided to see what was under the plywood that was under the tile and found a perfectly good layer of linoleum. We have to remove that now too. I picked up our new flooring last week and our sink, tap, countertop, cabinets and window have been ordered.


I took some pictures last night after I did the dishes for the last time in our sink and before I cleared out the cupboards. So these are the official before pictures of our kitchen.

Notice the lovely wallpaper border and beautiful pink paint color to match the tiles. Very fiesta-y! I'm really into fiesta style (NOT).




This is a picture of the floor vent that I kept stepping on every time I did dishes.





This is the gross mold that has been surrounding our tap since the day we moved in 2 years ago. Also, notice that I can't swivel the tap to direct the water, I can only move the nozzle. I can't wait for my new tap and sink!

Lilies in our Garden