Starting in the Kitchen

Well, close to the beginning... The first thing we tackled with our new house is the kitchen. Talk about diving into DIY.
It is closed off from the rest of the house and very inefficiently laid out. I was a tiny little room and a corner had been left open for an eat in table. Maybe you had to be there, but that boggled my mind. The dining room was two steps away. Maybe just a half step, depending on where you were standing. I'm not sure what value was added by eating right in the kitchen... maybe it would be helpful when you are sooooo tired that can't imagine both cooking dinner and carrying it to the dining room! Maybe I'll regret not keeping that space when the day comes, but I doubt it. Also, there was no dishwasher. Bummer.
 At the inspection, the kitchen looked like this. (the computer is the property of the home inspector and it didn't come with the house... shucks).

 Thank you to my father who modeled the room's functionality (or lack thereof). I guess the coat must be the inspector's as well. Our refridgerator/coat rack. :-)

That fridge was pretty icky. Thanks to those who cleaned it out, move it out, borrow it out, and sent it to its death in return for an energy efficient rebate. :-)
The door behind my father leads to a set of stairs to the basement (remember, its a ranch ;-)) and a door to the side yard. Note the beautiful bathroom tile that came halfway up the wall all the way around the room. yuck.
Finally, the wall that was destined to be removed, which would open the kitchen up to the dining room and make for the much more open floor plan that we craved!

 I could show you more, but those are the best of the kitchen "befores". By the way, check out that gorgeous wall paper! Mmmm! One piece had started to peel and I starting pulling on it even before we closed (which earned me a prompt slap on the wrist from my loving husband), but believe me, it was the first thing I pulled down when we walked in officially with the keys!