Our timeframe for moving has shifted slightly from this summer to some time in the future. That potential delay is as a result of “common sense” which I hate. Common sense in my case goes like this:
Husband: Sofia’s going to college this summer, remember?
Me: Yes, and…
Husband: Do you seriously think that this summer is the best time to move?
Me: Yeah, why not?
Husband: Well, since she’s our first, we don’t really have a good handle on all of the unexpected costs associated with the whole sending her off to college thing.
Me: What?! We can juggle that, and selling our house, and moving into a new one, and our vacation, and by the way, I also want to buy another rental this summer and have you thought about us adopting an older child, wait, just hear me out…
Husband: *Head Explodes*
So, long story short, common sense won out and unless we find our dream house that we absolutely cannot live without (which trust me, I’m on the hunt for), we’re staying put this summer.
With our last house, we renovated the kitchen about 2 days prior to moving and renting it out. It sucked to finally get a new kitchen and to not be able to use it. We’re not doing that this time. This time, we’re renovating the kitchen now and if we move this summer, then we would’ve enjoyed it for a few months. If we move next summer, then that’s even more kitchen enjoyment. 🙂
So, we are at the beginning stages of the renovating and in a month or so, when we’re in the middle of trying to cook a grilled cheese on a camp stove, I feel like this period will be the “honeymoon” stage of the renovation. And how could it not be with the joy of getting to pick our new flooring, cabinets, countertops, and backsplash? I love that stuff!
We slightly improved our kitchen over the years by taking down the overhanging cabinets, installing recessed lights, and replacing failed appliances, but other than that, this kitchen hasn’t been touched since we moved in.
This is an old photo with the overhead cabinets
Some people say that their delay in not renovating their kitchen is due to wanting to “live with the current layout for a while to really know what I want.” Good for them. My delay was the dread of the the anticipated work and headache that I knew I’d have to deal with. Other than that, I wanted this kitchen renovated a long ass time ago!
Because we’re looking to move, I don’t want to spend a ton on a custom kitchen so IKEA cabinets are what we’re using. I really like a nice white kitchen with a marble-like backsplash and countertop especially since we only have one window in the kitchen and our house is oriented to where we don’t get a lot of light in the house. White always makes a small space look bigger and brighter. Besides, white kitchens are the best for resale in my area so that’s a bonus.
We had the IKEA designer come today and he was very professional and had tons of ideas for how to layout the kitchen most efficiently. I was impressed by his knowledge and the turnaround time for him to get the plans to me (about 4 hours). He also had a good idea of my end goal: a beautiful, white kitchen that won’t bust my budget.
My other goals include:
- Getting rid of the bulkhead/soffit that dates the kitchen
- Widening the space between the peninsula and the wall because currently it’s a “choke point”
- Getting rid of a closet that breaks the flow of the space, which is too bad because I recently installed new, custom shelving in that closet
- Widening a doorway from the foyer to further open up the space
- Extending the existing flooring on the rest of the main floor to the kitchen (right now we have 3 different types of flooring on our main level, 4 if you count the carpet on the stairs)
So, to end this post, I’ll leave you with some ideas of what I want the kitchen to look like and soon I’ll post a mood board with the final-ish, always subject to change, choices.
