I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
As the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”
And I tho’t to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?
(source)
Our very outdated house has just been updated. Here is our journey:
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| The wall we tried to remove had a vent hidden inside. Yikes. So my awesome husband just moved it to the other side of the kitchen and closer to it's final destination. Yeah, he rocks.... |
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| The western cabinets are gone! |
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| The ugly vent cover is gone! This was so therapeutic for me to throw away. |
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| The mister connecting the new HVAC vent on the other side of the kitchen. Did I mention he rocks my socks? |
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| Chaos. Ugliness. The picture of progress. |
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| The wall (and vent) are gone!!! |
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| Thank you, Electrician. I always wanted my basement to look like Swiss cheese. |
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| Installation begins.... THANK YOU to our friends at BC Builder's Supply Inc. !! |
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| This GIANT fridge was always in the way of someone, something for weeks. And all the moving it around scraped up the floor. :( But it is awesome to have a GIANT fridge for our food. |
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| On the other side of our new BFF Tom is our added floor to ceiling pantry that took the place of the wall we removed. What an improvement! We have so much new storage space in the kitchen that entire shelves are empty right now. |
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| Removal of old counter tops. |
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| Out with the old.... I am bursting with excitement! |
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| Instead of this ugly glued-on 80's panel of particleboard, we put cabinets on this side of the sink and extended the counter top.... |
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| ... but we had to keep this weird wall dividing the cabinets because of this pipe wiring. |
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| The patched wall and new vent in the proper place. |
I am hesitant to post pictures of the new cabinets and counter tops because it is not quite done. The back splash tile is not installed yet. We're looking for the right person with the right price to do it. Any suggestions? Despite my hesitations, here is the most recent and updated kitchen:
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| Thank you to my Uncle Bill for installing the under-counter lighting!! This was a bonus for us; something we were not planning on doing but came together nicely. He even added a third switch on the wall so it is all in the wall. |
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| I love our new faucet and sink! Deeper sink, higher faucet, pull down sprayer head, and it even came with a soap dispenser pump, which I love! Simple pleasures... |
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| You can just ignore the patchy, holey red wall in the background. That will be covered with the tile below. |
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| Our new light fixture. Ug, the old one was cracked, disgustingly grimy, and SO 80's. |
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| This kitchen always was lacking a pantry, but not anymore! This was the designer's idea to maximize storage without crowding out the dining room too much. |
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| This is the view from the living room. These cabinets are where I had been sitting and removing the painted panel in the previous picture. |
Although it is not completely finished, we are extremely pleased with the outcomes and updates. This house never had better owners than us; we are so good to her. ;)
What what do you think of the improvements!?
