Kitchen Renovations: Part IV

When last we left, I revealed our upper kitchen cabinets with fully painted doors and a new dishwasher...and promised big changes were coming. Then life (and the holidays) happened. There have, in fact been some big changes (and still more to come). 

The walls have a new color that meshes well with the new white cabinets. You can still see bits of the previous green walls. Those areas will be closed off, one day. 

The previous half wall/bar has been demolished and is now an extended countertop! Part of the really labor intensive piece of this project was Nicholas building the support for that extended countertop. He started with some pieces of wood he scavenged year from a heavy duty pallet. He stripped and shaped the wood to be a nice focal point of the kitchen. There is also now beadboard on the wall under the extended countertop.

On New Year's Day, the old kitchen sink finally came out. Here are Lil' D and Nicholas making some final adjustments to the hole for the sink.

And here are the plywood countertops with the concrete board mortared down and the backer board on the wall for the backsplash.

In the next kitchen renovations installment get ready for the tiled countertops, a new sink and possibly a backsplash!

2013 Pursuits Review

Here's a recap of how well we did on our 2013 pursuits. The original post is here.

1. Kitchen Renovations--The plan was to put into action our goal of renovating the kitchen. Verdict: Success. We officially started our kitchen renovations in August, however, they are taking much longer than we had hoped. I suppose that is what happens when both renovators work full-time! However, we have made ENORMOUS progress, and are well on our way to not living in a construction zone 24x7. Stay tuned for a much needed kitchen update.

2. Live in Less Clutter-- Verdict: What a silly pursuit with a toddler! We will never live in less clutter while small children are running around, but I am determined to have fewer messes in the house...once we are no longer living in a construction zone! However, getting a new dishwasher has definitely set us up for success in the kitchen!

3. Eat Out Less--Verdict: Mild success. This pursuit was probably achievable before I went back to working in the office, and Nicholas started working full-time. In order to achieve this pursuit, we will have to start making some concessions, like making simple meals, taking turns grocery shopping and me un-committing myself from so many evenings at church.

All in all not bad for new goals for a year that completely changed for us mid-way through!