Kitchen Progress - A Long Overdue Update

This past year I switched my attention from house stuff to backpacking.  Beginning in January 2014, I started planning and training for a backpacking trip across Oregon on the Pacific Crest Trail.  It took a ton of my time and energy to put the trip together, so I'm afraid I've let my house projects go a bit. If you're interested in reading about my backpacking trip, I created another blog to share my experience.  In the end, I only made it 210 miles across Oregon before spraining my ankle (twice) and having to quit half way.  Ah well, I plan to reattempt the trip in 2016.

Last fall, I hired a contractor to do a bunch of work on the house.  Bob Hammon, a long time Fallon contractor, did all the work on my house - inside and out.  He became a wonderful ally and quickly grasped that I wanted to keep my house authentically "1962."  We started with exterior work because it was the most needed - new siding, windows,gutters, and two exterior doors.  I wrote a previous post about that work.  Bob also helped with my minor kitchen remodel - or perhaps, "retro refresh" is a better way to put it.

In my kitchen refresh, I only tackled the stuff that needed work.  My kitchen is actually in great condition owing to the original owner's loving maintenance.  The original birch cabinets just glow and I love them to bits.  But the kitchen did have a few issues, owing mainly to age but also to some somewhat questionable interior design choices.  The backsplash had been covered in brick veneer and the floor was covered in indoor/outdoor carpet.  Both of those things had to go.  Neither one was easy to clean and both made the kitchen a little dreary.  The countertops were probably original to the kitchen considering that the design came out in the late 50s.  I absolutely adored my countertops with their darling "falling leaf" pattern but they were in pretty rough shape - faded and worn with 52 years of wear.

So my kitchen refresh included:

• Laminate countertops
• Linoleum flooring
• White porcelain sink with hudee ring and new faucet
• Range hood
• Tile backsplash
• New window

I spent a lot of time agonizing over the color scheme, especially considering that I was going to replace the floor and the countertops - two big areas of color.  What ended up dictating my color choices was the floor.  I bought probably the last remnant of Marmoleum's "Pool Party" in existence.  It came straight from Marmoleum and they gave me a heck of a deal on it.  I love the streaky, turquoise color and I new it would look fabulous against my birch cabinets.  After that, it was a challenge to find the right countertop.  I would have loved to find something with a little pattern to it but instead I settled on a solid color - Nevamar's "California."  From the small sample Nevamar sent me, I thought the color would be a nice buttery yellow but it's actually a lovely harvest gold.

Bob removed the old countertops and floors and installed the new stuff.  I was very sad to see my old countertops go but they went to a good home.  Bob's wife loved the pattern so much, she's having Bob install them in their 1958 travel trailer.  I also had Bob save me a 7 inch round of the counters so I can make a kitchen clock with it.

Here are some photos from the refresh:

The first step was removing the brick backsplash.  

My husband did this before Bob and his helpers showed up.

Here's another shot showing the indoor/outdoor carpet.

Bob's son, Brodie, working on removing the old counters.  

Very nice young man but installing the new hudee ring nearly confounded him!

Bob (center) works with his helpers to get the counters removed.

My kitchen probably hasn't look like this since 1962.

New counters on the sink side.

New counter on the stove side before they made a cut-out for the stove.

Everything newly installed on the sink side.

All fresh and new on the stove side.

The flooring guys remove the old floor - there were three layers of flooring in all.

Laying out the floor pattern in the carport.

Newly installed linoleum.

New floor and a peek at the new range hood too!

After Bob and his helpers were done, Jeff and I tackled the backsplash.  I bought some white subway tile at Home Depot and I think it looks pretty good - much better than the dark brick had looked!

Work in progress.  you can see the new sink and window in this shot.

Behind the stove.

Just needs to be grouted.

Still needs grout but lookin' good!

I think we did a pretty good job.

As of today we still haven't grouted the backsplash.  My backpacking trip got in the way and Jeff and I can't seem find time together to work on it.  Excuses, excuses . . .