Daily Home Renovation Tips

Back in the spring of 2007, we had been looking for numerous years for a home which could accommodate all of our family members as equals, including one who is physically challenged.

For us, this meant we needed a bungalow with the following all on the main floor:

• two master bedrooms,
  • with at least one containing a large en suite to accommodate a walker, 
• kitchen,
• eating area,
• dining room,
• family room,
• laundry room,  and
• a second 4 piece bathroom 
• powder room (2-piece bathroom) 

Additionally, we needed a second bedroom, another 4-piece bathroom and an office on the same or a different floor.

Did we mention that we needed all of this in a price range that we could afford?

Now you see why it took us numerous years of looking. We never found it.

But we did find at long last a 20 year old home that we could work with in a town 20 minutes from where we had lived the past 17 years.

Regarding the kitchen, below is a picture of the kitchen in the house before any renovations. Aside from the dated colour scheme, cabinetry, etc., notice the part of the two level counter top on the right, particularly the placement of the dishwasher (seen in the lower center area of the picture below).

While it is hard to tell from this angle, the counter top and dishwasher had to be changed as the current placement prohibited our family member from navigating through the kitchen.

Knowing that we needed to do something with this part of the kitchen, we then looked at the overall kitchen layout, the nicotine which permeated the cupboards, walls (yes, even through the wall paper) and ceiling, the aging materials and knew that we had to prepare ourselves for a full scale renovation project in the kitchen.

Here’s an after picture from somewhat the same view so you can get an idea of the massive amount of change that occurred from the remodeling effort:

So, how did we get from the before picture to the after picture above? 

First, as part of our offer to purchase the house, we had not only a house inspection but also a contractor inspection.

The purpose for the latter was to have the individual / company who we would be using as the principle contractor go through the house and advise if the many changes we wanted to have accomplished in our renovation were:

• possible based on the house structure, and
• possible based on the estimated costs to complete the changes

If the contractor had come back with a thumbs down on either of the above two points, we were going to walk away from the house. He didn’t.

Next, we went with the contractor to the local home show in the major city near where we live to become educated on the many, many different designs, counter tops, cabinetry, options, sinks, faucets……….it seemed endless.

After a full day at the home show, our brains hurt. They remained in that state for some time after the show.

But we had to move on.

Tomorrow, we will discuss the process of selecting our kitchen designer.

To continue with the next article in our 12 part series on our kitchen renovation experiences, simply select the following link to Part 2.