How I Spent My Summer Vacation 2012

So I finally looked at my blog today and found a post that never posted.  So we'll call this an update and show you what we were doing a year and a half ago.  That counts, right?

Last summer was a busy one at the Miller's.  When we moved into this house five years ago, we knew the kitchen was going to be a future project that we'd have to take on eventually.  So after talking about it for almost four years, I finally decided we had saved enough money to do the kitchen.

This is what it was like when we moved in:

Not bad, right?  But far from good.  What you can't see is that the cabinet doors over the stove were different sizes, the countertop was joined right in front of the sink, and the floor was hard to walk on because there was a hump by the counter and a dip by the table.  Don't forget to check out that awesome wall paper border that went all the way around the kitchen (you won't want to miss it; it's baskets of fruit!).  See the pantry with the awesome closet doors?  And see how it comes out into the room in a triangle for no reason because there are only shelves on the back wall and not where it is taking up all the space in my kitchen?  It won't be there for long.

After our conversation about finally being able to do the kitchen, I think Mike was expecting that we'd give it a few weeks to decide what we really wanted to do maybe browse some stores.  I don't think he expected to come home from work the next day to this:

Okay, maybe that was like a week later, but I spent the first day (and many days after that) tearing out the old wood floor.  And this was not easy work, people.  It was stapled (yes, stapled!) every six inches.  And it was oak, so it was not the lightest and easiest floor to remove.  My sweet husband got me a four foot crowbar for Mother's Day and it was much appreciated.

Please be aware that Mike went to Australia on a business trip during this project.  I ripped out every board except for the few I left him under the cabinets that he pulled out when he got home.

We took out cabinets on our ninth anniversary.  I know, romantic, huh?  We also had the door guys come that day.  We got a new front door, French doors upstairs and downstairs, and replaced a window in the living room.

Wow.  Those are bad cabinets.  They now live in my mom's sewing room.  I don't know why.  Oh, and the best part:  they hung the cabinets with nails!  Yes, nails!  So every cabinet left a gaping hole in the wall!  Thanks, original owners!

Remember that old pantry that took up a ton of space and was shaped like a triangle?  Say goodbye.

I was so tired of it I took out the wall before taking the food out.

After FINALLY painting the walls (we lived in a bucket of vanilla ice cream for years), it was time to get a new floor.  My fantastic uncle spent a few days on his knees putting this down for me.

Isn't that so much better?  And it's level.  And it's easy to clean.  And it's not even wood.  It's tile.  And I love it!

Next up:  cabinets, the counter, and a tile backsplash.

Isn't that better?  Yes.  Yes it is.  And remember that pantry that I just can't seem to get over?  Here's its replacement:

Its a set of cabinets that only takes up as much space as a cabinet should.  The shelves are actually deeper and we can fit more in them while taking up three feet less space.  Brilliant!

I've got to give some credit to my mom and dad.  They came down and helped out TONS with the demo.  Oh!  And we also we did the hall bathroom while we were at it.  No wonder I didn't have any time to update my blog!

So that's how I spent my summer vacation last year.  It drove the kids nuts, but it finally got done.  The kitchen in the basement finally got some use for the month we couldn't use the one upstairs.