The Snowball in Our Kitchen

Welcome back!

It wasn't really a series of unfortunate events, but more so a series of unfortunate realizations that led us to a kitchen redo a littler earlier than we had planned.  Do you remember me telling you about how our seller was kindof a jerk about having the house cleaned before we moved in?  Well, my dear friend Katharine and my Super Mother-in-law, Linda, helped us move in those first few days.  And the first task us ladies started on was cleaning the kitchen.  The greasy, grimy, sticky kitchen. It took us a few hours just to clean out the cabinets, drawers, and countertops.  (Thank you ladies!!!)

We had planned ahead knowing that we would need to buy a fridge, and unfortunately for our wallets, we knew it was going to have to be stainless steel to match the other appliances. (Fortunately, that exactly what I wanted!!!! woo-hooo!)

While I loved the open space and ample cabinet space, there were some things about the kitchen that I did not like.  For example, the microwave was SOOOO close to the range top.  The Gas Range Top.  I could have just barely gotten my stock pot under there and tried to stir, but it would not have been successful.  I can't figure out what in the world the people were thinking when they installed this microwave. 

PLUS, the air return from the (non-vented) fan built into the microwave was melted off.  Ummmm. 

Clue #1 Sherlock.

 

Well since I had a fantabulous microwave from my sister, we really didn't need this one anyway. 

So the microwave came out.
And we were left with this horrible piece of backsplash made from the same material as the countertop that I should have gotten a picture of but I thought it would have broken the camera.  They had DRILLED HOLES into it in order to mount the microwave.  Oh, it was bad. So we went to Lowe's and bought a hood.

Before we could install it though, we used the oven when we had some friends over.  Now, I've never had a gas oven before, so I found it odd and somewhat scary that every 2 or 3 minutes, the gas in the oven was reigniting. After some research, we decided we needed to just go ahead and get a new oven/range.

So, off to Lowe's again!  And this, my friends, is where the snowball began. 

Here's the short version:
I had originally wanted a double oven. The only double oven available had a backsplash. Our counter tops were made for no backsplash.  Fine.  We'll buy the backsplash range with the double oven.  ((YAAAAAAY!!!))
A few days later, in anticipation of our new oven coming soon;  the current backsplash needed to come down.  And attached to it?  You guessed it.  The sheetrock.

So my sweet husband, trying to figure out how perfect of a sheetrock repair job he will need to do, asks "weren't you planning on tiling the backsplash?"  Well, before I tile, I want to paint the wall under the cabinets.  And while we are painting, the new hood won't cover all this where the microwave was:

Apparently the cabinets were a dark reddish brown at one point. Which meant we had to get primer and white paint to cover up all of that mess.  Are you keeping track? Lowe's owes me, for real. Here is the chaos that was our kitchen before we really got started.

 

 

So we went to install the hood and realized that it was meant to be hard wired into the house.  Our house was not made to hard wire in the hood.  So we stole the plug off the microwave and yours truly wired the hood to plug in!  It was entertaining. 

 

The new stove came in!!

It's so shiny!!  But we couldn't back it up all the way just yet, we still had to finish the wall.

 

The next week was filled with sheetrock mudding, sanding, priming, and painting.  But we did find something incredibly awesome at Lowe's.  Check out the peel and stick "Instant Mosaic" tiles!  It went up in MINUTES and we didn't need cement or grout!

AND I LOVE IT!!!!!!

 

And we had a few extra that we stuck above the sink under the window!!

 

So FINALLY, after three coats of green paint (Valspar Bathroom and Kitchen paint, from Lowe's, of course) and some cleaning and reorganizing, here is part #1 of the kitchen redo!

 

To save you from scrolling, here is the before

and the after (including our new bar stools!!!).

 

 



And that is how the Snowball in our Kitchen ends.  

Paint & Supplies: $35

Tile: $50  (and I have a few left over for any quick fixes)

 

Plus appliances, barstools, and lightbulbs ... but if we hadn't have needed any of that, this would have been a great easy fix under $100!

 

But, to my husband's dismay, I have several more thoughts about how to improve the kitchen even more .... but for now ... I'll just keep PINing my ideas here.

 

Thanks for reading!!!

First things First

I'm counting backwards on this post for you.  Technically, we've been in the house just over 3 weeks, so let's skip back to right before we closed  ::imagine wavy vision and throwback sound effects::

Since the house had been rented out for much of the 5 years it had been on and off the market, I wanted to make sure the house was well cleaned before we moved in.  We were at the top of our price range, so I really didn't want to replace the carpet yet, but a good professional cleaning of the house and the carpet would be a great temporary fix! 

Yeah.  Our seller was kind of a jerk.  We put in the contract that the house had to be professionally cleaned with special attention in the kitchen and cabinets and that the carpets have to be professionally cleaned as well.

Here is what the kitchen looked like during our walk through:

It seemed pretty clean right? WRONG.  Grimy, dirty, greasy, nastiness is what you are looking at here folks.  The gas stove was not my favorite .. and I felt like the vent under the microwave was way too close to do any big pot cooking like I do (Mom's Brunswick Stew!); however, the plan was: have the kitchen cleaned, keep the kitchen as is for a few years, and then we can replace the stove/hood and possible paint the "I'm-not-sure-if-they-are-dirty-or-painted-that-way" cabinets.   
Oh, I digress. 
The day before the closing, we went to check in on the house to make sure that everything had already been done.

The carpets were still full of nastiful nastiness.  There were stains all over the place and you could tell that absolutely no attention had been paid to spots.  I was so disappointed.  Michael and I threatened to walk away from the deal, but the seller basically was "here you go, take it or leave it and I'll be taking your earnest money with me."  Already packed and ready to move, we went ahead and closed anyway, accepting the carpets and the not so clean house.

Now, let me tell you.  I have the most awesome In-Laws.  I hear so many horror stories of in-laws, and I've seen it first hand with many people I know.  It's a struggle to get along, no one really likes anyone, and every get together is filled with tension, side comments, and rude looks.  But not my in-laws, no sir.  They have been lovingly accepting of me from the beginning and it's evident everyday that they care dearly for their sons and both of their daughters-in-law.  That being said, my mother-in-law, aka SuperWoman: Savior of Worlds, decided to stop by after we closed.  She was also disappointed in the carpet and decided that for our birthdays (in 3 months) she'd go ahead and replace the carpet in the bedrooms for us!!!

I know I know ... you hate me for having awesome in-laws.  Well, hate on haters!  She even went to the carpet store, brought us samples to choose from. Which I'm sure she agonized over which colors, which styles, which texture, etc for too long and we chose our favorite in less than 2 minutes.  She was even here for the install so we didn't have to leave work.  I didn't take any photos of the old carpets, but here is the new beautiful carpet!

 

 

 Faith and Hope also say "HI!"

So the carpet was step #1.  We did have to move several things twice, but no worries, it was well worth it.  My toes are happy on the new carpet and you can just about hear them "squeee!!" when I walk around barefoot.

It Starts ...

Welcome!

This is where we all start together so I figure I better be up front from the beginning. Hi.  My name is Mary Catherine, and I'm a Pin-aholic.  I love love love Pinterest.  I look at it every day.  I look for recipes, decorating ideas, home remedies, dream home floor plans, things that make me laugh, awesome things to teach and do for my future but not currently existent children, and of course, I check out all the wonderful ideas bride-to-be's are making and disappoint myself over how not-very-clever I was with so many things at my wedding 3 years ago. 

But up until now ... I couldn't do much with all those awesome Pins!  The house has a lot of potential to be my dream home, but we have a little bit of a road to travel to get there.  And as of May 2013, now I can start fresh with just about a clean slate!  This is our house in the city of Macon.

It's a few acres, including a stocked pond with a fountain, a little pavilion and dock, a creek in the back yard, and a man's cave/shed/building/thing my husband adores and smells like my memories of my grandfather's basement that flooded all the time.  It is everything my husband could want.  Fishing anytime, water, privacy, a place to sleep, and his own shed.  In that order.  Oh, and me of course!  I'm somewhere in that list, right?! haha  I'm sure he'd say I'm most important.  That's just kinda how awesome he is.  For those of you squinting, here's a close up shot of the house!



I am so excited for the journey we are about to embark on together.  4 bedrooms, 3 baths, a crazy round room in the front, and of course my Pinterest-filled dreams of entertaining in the pavilion, on the back porch, in the dining room and let's not forget setting up (and using, for crying out loud) my craft room!  So here we go, "Macon" a house into our home.  Thanks for reading!