Kitchen Reno: The Final Product!

Before we get to the 'unveiling' of our final kitchen renovation, I realize that my 'sneak peek' left you at day four, with the fact that we had running water.  So, here are the subsequent days of installation at the end of August...

 

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 20

{Day 20} Drawer Organization

Alas, we have finally hit {Day 20} of Summer Happiness...which means (a) summer is over and also (b) that I have ended just in time (school starts Wednesday!).  It has been fun getting little things done in our house along with other larger "to-dos" (finished kitchen reno pics *hopefully* coming soon).

My final task, that has been bothering me for quite some time, has to do with the drawer on the right side of the following picture... 

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 19

{Day 19} "Hemming" Curtains

In our living room, we have three good-sized windows with curtains that have been way too long for quite some time.  Although, where they fall is usually behind couches, so it's not too noticeable.  Still, I haven't liked the fact that the rest of the curtains are just laying on the ground collecting dust and, most of all, Amos hair.

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 18

{Day 18} "Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing"

All of the spaces in our house are quite small and that holds true for our bedroom.  A couple of years ago, we figured-out a way to be more creative with the layout of our room and so far it has worked-out just fine.  Our bedroom is one room that we really haven't altered much.  The one addition would be the chandelier and ceiling medallion.  Other than that, it has stayed pretty simple....

Sneak Peek At Our Kitchen Reno...

So, after painting the cabinets, adding knobs, taking-out the previous tiles/plaster, and adding cement boards, the time has finally arrived for us to start installing (and demolishing) the kitchen for official renovation.  We started on Saturday, and here are the successes of the last four days in picture format.  You will notice that we had the most time on 'day 1' and then on the following days we came to some wonderful detours that slowed-down our progress.  I thought I would give you a 'sneak peek' at what has been taking place.  

This is what our kitchen looked like when we started on Saturday morning... 

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 17

{Day 17} Covering the Details

As stated previously, our laundry room has walls thanks to Captain America...well, it actually only has two walls; the other two walls are cement combined with many ducts and vents hanging from the "ceiling" in weird places.  I'm not really sure what options we have of ever making the walls, ceiling and ducts like that of a regular room.  It is quite the conundrum!

Anyways, I became inspired to make it look a little bit "cleaner" in there, when I found old curtains in our storage area.  I was even able to use a curtain rod from one beam to the other for one section!  For the other section (that has many low ducts), I had to be a bit more creative.  In the end, I'm quite 'happy' with it...even Captain America said it looks much cleaner in there because of the curtains.   

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 16

{Day 16} A Place For Everything & Everything In Its Place

So, honesty time, I MAY get just a little bit OCD about things, at times all the time, in our house.  As in, I don't enjoy it when things are just "hanging-out" without a place to belong...hence the reason that I categorized and labeled many areas/closets in our house this summer.  Well, one particular area that had been bothering me for a while was all of our internet apparatuses that have just been hanging-out for quite some time.  And although this may seem like a basic action that had no impact on anyone else, I finally found a 'home' for these items in a wooden tray...  

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 15

{Day 15} House Guests

This summer, we have enjoyed having a variety of house guests.  Although our house isn't large, it has been fun sharing a bit of our life and hearts with our guests.  This last week, we had a family visiting from Captain America's days in England.  I decided to add a bit of 'happy' in their rooms for them to enjoy.  Once I had the trays, it was easy to fill them with items we have in our house (mugs, bottles with water, glass jars, flowers, vases, soaps, make-up remover) and inexpensive items from the grocery store (snacks for late-night cravings).

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 14

{Day 14} Unique Mantel Display

I had been waiting for the perfect time to be inspired for re-decorating our fireplace mantel...it was just one of those places that I had been musing about for a little too long.  A couple of days before leaving for Québec, I became inspired...at 6 AM!  Needless to say the item combinations are quite unique but fun...why not pair books with a cake dome? Or playing cards in a trifle glass bowl? Or cribbage sets in a galvanized silver trough? Or matches in a glass Ball jar?  So, here is a bit of uniqueness for you, with a unique "sketch" filter (don't adjust your screen)...

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 13

....and we are back from beautiful Québec!!  This entry was actually written the day we left, so these were my thoughts right before I boarded my plane...

{Day 13} Small Changes
 
Once upon a time, our spare room (upstairs) was pink, covered in flowers, and had colorful beads hanging in a make-shift closet...then Captain America annihilated the "closet", we repainted the walls red, installed white bead board, and placed our own advanced closet organizer in the room.  When I think back to what it used to be, I laugh. How far that room has come! Well for a quick bit of happiness, I rearranged the shelf, added some items that I had elsewhere, and took away some items...so it just added a newer feeling to the room again...

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 11 & 12

{Day 11 & 12} Double Trouble

Two areas of our house that has caused us the most grief would be our full and half bath.  The "full" bath has minimal space and the half bath has no space whatsoever.  Both have "lovely" floors that start with a "L" and end with "leum."  Yes, we would love to replace both of them but, unfortunately, that task hasn't made it to the top of the list quite yet...

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 10

{Day 10} Simplicity

I find simple wreathes beautiful.  I'm not exactly sure why but there is something about their shape and uniformity that is striking....I found this wreath a bit ago and I just hadn't had the chance to put it up anywhere.  So, for a very easy piece of newness in our house, I tied a string to the back of it and placed it on a door that already had a nail in it.

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 9

{Day 9} Quirkiness & Cleanliness

Living in a home that was built in the 1920s has its own fair share of, let's say, "quirks"....one example would be that our only hallway comes together at the end...making the door frames touch each other!

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 8

{Day 8} Family Picture Time

In the Spring, before my brothers left for Hungary, my mom was able to get us all together for our last family pictures for a while.  Although it ended up being such a windy day, we now have memories to last a life time.  I love how pictures make time stop...I will always remember what was going on in each of our lives at this time and what brought us to that point in time. This 'lens' will always be associated with these pictures and make them beautiful to me. 

I finally had the many fun snapshots developed and have been working my way towards finding cheap inexpensive frames...I have found four frames to date.  Here are some places where I have placed the photos around our house, for a little bit of happiness...

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 7

{Day 7} Mineral Oil Strikes Again!

So what-do-you-know, that handy-dandy mineral oil that I used for the butcher block has many uses...today, I found out (thank you Pinterist) that it can also be used to eliminate grime and grease on stainless steel appliances.  Ever since following SCD, I have had to cook A LOT.  Therefore, grease builds up and there are finger prints on our appliances. 

To see if this new 'wonder' oil would do the trick, I tried it on the hood of our gas stove.  Here, you can see the ugly grease...how embarrassing!

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 6

{Day 6} Notre corde à linge...

There is nothing quite as fresh as hanging linens out on a clothes-line (corde à linge) to sun dry!  Most people in Québec do this all year around.  Yep, even in the snow!  I think it's beautiful with all of the clothes lines from one apartment to the next in Montréal...So, today, instead of drying our comforters and sheets with the machine, I let the sun work its magic.  Now, when we go to bed, I will for sure have a smile on my face from this little piece of sunny happiness....

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 5

{Day 5} Maintaining Butcher Block

Our laundry room (in our basement) has had a huge face-lift from how it was when we first bought our house...I don't even want to think about the (non-existent) 'floor' and 'walls' at that time.  Anyways, Captain America put in floor tile, actual walls, cabinets, and we worked together to install the butcher block on the cabinets and over the laundry machines.  I'm sad to say that I haven't maintained the butcher blocks since installing them, well, a couple of year ago...so here is my piece of happiness: a quick re-oiling of the wood! 

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 4

{Day 4} A Splash of Color!

We have beautiful hydrangeas on the side of our house...not that we should get any credit for having them.  The previous owner was a "Master Gardener" and so our yard has a wide variety of plants and flowers.  We knew we would never be able to keep it to the same level that she did, so we call it "survival of the fittest" as far as the plants go....the hydrangeas have shown to be one of the fittest.

So, today's 'happy' came from simply cutting some of the hydrangeas and putting it in an old Kerr glass jar.  I placed it by our bed...I think Captain America will definitely notice this touch.

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 3

{Day 3} A Good Reminder

In the midst of this kitchen reno, I took a few minutes to change my chalkboard's quote.  Quick and easy, eh? It has had the same quote for way too long, so here is a little bit of 'happy' after a hard (soul-wise) weekend.

This is definitely a good reminder: I can be well in my soul, regardless of what's going on in this world.  Everyday is a new day to check my heart on this and then 'recalibrate' accordingly.

  ~Andréa

What do you need to be reminded of today? This week?

20 Days of {Summer} Happiness!...Day 2

{Day 2} Quick Organization!
So our eating nook has a lovely built-in, where I display white china...