More work in the Basement Kitchen

I am sorry these are sideways - but it is so cute. Roran helping Grandpa build the pantry!!! Thank you Grandma for the new Drill!!

Almost done Grandpa!

Look Grandpa - I did it!! A new pantry - Uncle Pete and Aunt Britney will be so happy!

And yes - Cache is still in the middle of everything!

Basement Kitchen in process

The kitchen wall after the electrician and plumber have been here - or a gopher, can't really which. Cache in the middle of everything as usual -

Clay preping for the tile - Clayton tiling. I am too helping - I am taking pictures and handing him tiles!

We opened the entry into the apartment at the base of the stairs - so much better!

Basement Kitchen transformation has begun!

The basement kitchen remodel is one of the first projects we are undertaking. Clayton and I - okay, mostly Clayton, will tile the kitchen floor using two tiles (Clayton's idea which I love!) different color and different size to add a design feel with little extra effort! We are also building a pantry and will be using the range and the dishwasher that are currently in the main kitchen upstairs. And yes, Cache is in the center of everything - even the remodel!

Demo Week

We have demo'd walls, pulled out tile floors, carpet and old wood floors. No one who has been in the home in the past will recognize it now! We have also added a sidewalk up to the front door and planting beds. We have moved our lanterns to the corner of hte new house and wow - we are clipping right along!

Sorry it is sideways - but this is Roran helping grandpa build the new pantry in the basement kitchen! Love the new Fischer Price drill!!

Master/Guest Room Wallpaper

I am going to wallpaper the wall the bed is on in the wallpaper below. It is a pretty red with a bit of a texture to it.
The rug below the bed has this same color red stripe in it.

8 Feet More in the Kitchen!!

I have decided to put the upstairs laundry room into the master bedroom bathroom area and take out the laundry room on the main floor all together. We are adding a laundry room in a large utility room in the basement for Brigham and gusts to use. The great thing about this change is not only having the washer and dryer in my room - which I am going to love - but I can now add 8 feet to my Kitchen!!! I was also able to add a large corner pantry like the one I have in my existing Kitchen. I will upload the Kitchen design as soon as I can turn the pictures into a tif file instead of the current pdf.

New Master Bedroom Closet

What a great idea - stack-able laundry in the closet. I wonder what would happen if I take out the upstairs laundry and gain about 8 more feet in the kitchen. Then since Dan and I are the only ones on the main level, put the stack-able laundry in our closet and we will still have the nice size laundry downstairs for Brigham and guests. I am going to graph this and see what it will be like. A huge kitchen and laundry in our room - sounds perfect!!!

Basement Bathroom

Love this idea - under mount sinks and glass tile back splash. Home Depot has the best selection of glass tile at really reason able prices. The only challenge is choosing which one to use!

Downstairs Bathroom

Pretty basic - double vanity. Just have to decide on the wood.

New Kitchen - Exhisting Cabinet wall

The far bank of cabinets are about the only cabinets in the kitchen that will be remaining and staying in their original layout. The only change I might make is replacing the cabinet above the range to just a formal hood or a cocoa stained cabinet to compliment the new cabinets.

Laundry Room - Upstairs

I am taking a bank of cabinets from the existing kitchen and moving them to the laundry room - both uppers and lowers. The cabinets are an ivory color with a black glaze. I just purchased a red front loader washer and dryer pair and will be pitting a black and white floral damask wallpaper on the main wall. I will upload a copy of the wallpaper when I can find it on line. I will be running a counter over the washer and dryer, that will then turn and continue over the base cabinets to the far wall. I will also be adding a coat area made with the cocoa stain cabinets. Color theme - cream, white and red accent.

New Kitchen - 2 islands

While helping with Margaret Eastman's wedding and being so grateful for the 2 sinks and 2 islands to work on, Kristi Reeves who was also there helping said that the only thing her builder talked her into was having 2 islands and 2 sinks in her kitchen. She fought him a bit - but then agreed. She said that the thing she loved the most about her kitchen was the 2 islands and the 2 sinks! So I re-did the design a bit and was able to add a 2nd bar and a 2nd sink. Check this out.

New Kitchen - back wall view

Dan and I went through so many homes in the Utah County parade of Homes and in several of the homes we loved the long wall of cabinets, so we are trying to add that to our kitchen. The nice thing is that the back wall of our kitchen is 21 feet long and we are taking 19 feet of it to re-create this look. I am centering curio type cabinets on this wall since I am loosing my formal dining room and my curio cabinet. These cabinets will be done in a cocoa stain with a sand through - so it looks like a black stain.

Master-bathroom Shower

We are not doing a big bathtub in the new master bathroom because I don't like them and never use them and I have had one in my bathroom for the last 10 years. Instead we are going to have a GREAT shower with a bench. Found this picture on HGTV - love this!

Family Room

The family room has vaulted ceilings and has really great large windows. The corner of the room is at a 45 degree angle for some reason. We will be moving the fireplace to the center of the wall just to the left of the fireplaces current location. We will also be bashing out the corner of the room and making the room a rectangle again. We will then be adding book shelves on either side of the fireplace. I will upload the pictures of the idea I have for the fireplace wall soon.

Basement Bedroom

The basement has 3 small bedrooms. We are going to use one for the bunk bed/crib room for the grand-babies. We are then going to remove the closets between the 2 bedrooms at the end of the hall way to make one large room. Once the addition is completed, we will have a new bedroom and bathroom for Brigham and a Theater room and the 2 bedrooms will become a large toy room for the grand-babies and the entrances to both the Theater room and Brigham's bedroom. This is going to be my favorite part of the remodel - I can not wait to create all the ideas I have in my head in the toy room, Theater room an Brigham's room!!

Basement Bathroom

Wow - this bathroom could not have been created any cheaper or designed any worse. It is hard to tell from this photo angle, but the bathroom is about 12 feet long and there is so much wasted space between the toilet and the vanity! The tub surround is only about an 1/8 inch thick and the fixtures are super cheap. We are going to remove the tub surround and tile the walls, then add a wall and door so the tub and toilet are in a separate room from the vanity. We will then add a double vanity, new mirrors, light fixtures and faucets.

Basement - Apartment

If we did not need an apartment for the married kids that seem to move home to save money or for Brigham who will use it eventually, we could create our own bowling alley! This room is about 40 feet long and will have a kitchen, a family room, a nursey and a nice size bedroom with a double closet once we have finished.

Guest Bedroom

The Guest Bedroom is currently the Master Bedroom. As we will be doing an addition in the next couple of months and adding on a master bedroom suite, this room will become the Guest Bedroom. This room will have very few changes to it - but in keeping with this remodel - it will indeed have changes. I am going to actaully add wallpaper to the back wall as wallpapers are back in style again. Paint the room, add a window seat under the big window and add crown molding and trim around the window. The carpet is new so I will leave the carpet and use a rug in this room that I bought on clearance from a designer showroom and one that our daughter Heather tells me is the "in" designer in casual rugs! Who would have known??!!The bathroom is not my favorite, however it has new tile and is good for a guest bathroom. If I have time and money left at the end of this project, or later after everything has been completed, I hope to replace the vanity and sink as they are not my favorite! I will paint and change the mirror during this stage of the remodel.

Kitchen

The kitchen has had the cabinets refaced and the painter actually did a really good job on the cabinets. The counters a currently a black granite. We will keep some of the cabinets - move others into the laundry room and create a new center bar by moving others. We will also be using some of the black granite and on the new center bar and on a new bank of cabinets along the back wall of the kitchen - which you can not see in this photo - I am hoping to use a white or grey granite or marble! Watch for further postings and I will go into details about the changes and upload the kitchen design as I have two ideas in mind. I would love all the in-put i can get!!

WHY???HOW???WHEN???

Dan and I were home on Sunday, July 17th and were bored as our church had gotten out early and Brigham was out of town. To cure our boredom, we decided to go on a drive since it was such a beautiful day. We grabbed our real estate key just in case we saw an empty house we wanted to go into and left for a "drive."

We drove around Lehi and Highland and then decided to go to our new favorite park - the Alpine Splash Park. This park is located in a beautiful bowl of mountains and is green and peaceful. We began driving down the streets looking at people's homes and their landscaping - I know - weird huh, but we like to do this! We see an empty house on a BEAUTIFUL street and decide to go in.

First we walk around the yard and it is HUGE, needs a lot of work, but huge none the less. Dan and i begin talking about how we would love a yard this size and what we would do to the yard to improve it. We then go inside the house and although we can see that it has been painted and new carpet has been installed, we walk through and discuss what "improvements" it really needs to be great. We do both agree however that with some work and with some work on the yard - this home would be great, because of where it is located.

We actually stayed a few hours and once it got dark, decided it was really time to go home. On the drive home we talked about how great that house would be and how we would love to have a yard that size and to be so close to the Splash Park would be amazing! Then before you know it - we had both agreed that if that is what we would like -then let's make an offer and see if the seller bites!

So Monday morning first thing we write an offer and by Monday night we have received a counter offer and counter offered back and before you know it, we and the seller come to an agreement and are under contract! It is now Thursday morning and we have already re-designed the entire house, met with contractors and subs, painters and landscapers and plan on closing in two weeks. The beauty of all of this is that we will not list our home for a couple of months, since homes sell so quickly in Highland, in order to stay somewhere peaceful and nice while we are in the middle of a remodel!

Moral of this story - when you are bored on a Sunday - take a NAP!