Kitchen Reno - Part I

Last weekend we started ripping up our old linoleum on what must have been a subconcious whim borne of deep-rooted hatred for the heinous blue and what-used-to-be-white-but-then-turned-tan-ish linoleum that we've put up with for the past year. It must have been there since the '80's when a former owner 're-did' the kitchen in blue and white. Blue and white linoleum (so classy), blue and white wide-striped wall paper and sort-of-matching border along the top of the walls. Oh, and the blue 'granite' laminate desk-height shelf along one of the walls; I'm not sure of its original purpose - for us it was just a catch all and I really don't need more of those (I'm a 'stacker', according to Kevin).

So ... yeah; I'm not sure how it happened but before I really knew it I was dripping in sweat, tearing ravenously into the sticky tiles with a nail bar and pulling and ripping - something primal about it, almost, and very exhilerating. Weird how the renovation bug bites and doesn't let go until all you see on your debit card statement is Lowe's Home Improvement and all your weekends are consumed comparing trim or deciding between gloss or eggshell.

At this point I honestly don't know what direction our kitchen will go. I'm just going with the flow, whatever that is, and doing things that I think will work. We start working on one thing and then 3 other things are directly affected by it and if we don't fix them, too, then there is no point in even doing the first thing we set out to do. So we might as well get it all done now (either that or we don't do ANY of it) but that means it's turning into a bigger project than anticipated (moral of the story: always anticipate MORE work and MORe stress when you are updating your home). I feel like I'll be working on my kitchen for the rest of the year.

Also, we've had a few Boozy Susie moments (via) with the trim and the switch boxes for the electrical plugs (I know that is not their technical term). It looks like they put the dry wall up and then realized they had covered a switchbox and just hack-sawed the drywall away from the box. Also, the trim is, well trimmed, very haphazardly and uneven. We might as well just redo everything.

Here is what it looks like now. Crap, basically. (Actually we just threw a smattering of rugs all over - the patch of new concrete by the sink is very dusty and my cats like to roll around on it, so ... now it looks like we live in a tent)

Just getting started. The linoleum by the dishwasher (where the patch is) was obviously already pulled up so we started there.

 The ugly patch of concrete. Apparently we won't be able to match it to the rest of the concrete if we sanded and stained. That's what we wanted to do but with this patch, there will be a big discolored spot ...

Freshly spackled (but still ugly and discolored from the wallpaper), ready for Kilz (which nearly kilz'ed me, by the way - oil based paint is AWFUL and fumey!)

New color for the walls once all the Kilz is up; it's called 'Clear Horizon' by Valspar. It's actually lighter and less periwinkly than it looks in the photo.

Here's hoping we haven't opened an awful (read: expensive) can of worms.