Hello Friends! Let me just say I am thrilled to be out from the dust and the paint fumes from a 5 week long full kitchen remodel. What we thought was going to last about 3 quick weeks slowly turned into 5 with a lot of waiting in the middle. In the end though, it was totally worth it and I am LOVING the new kitchen. Little nervous I’m going to break something, but I’m sure I’ll get back into my groove soon. I still need to put the finishing touches on it, but when I’ll do I’ll share all the details. But for now, let me share with you how we survived with no kitchen for 5 weeks!
The crazy part of our remodel is that our contractors were done in about a week, and we waited for our granite to be templated and fabricated, so we were without water and counter tops for 4 weeks! We were able to use a piece of plywood and make a teeny tiny counter top, but basically we had to operate without for an entire month!
Let me show you the before. Can we say YIKES! We moved into our house about 10 years ago, so the colors and the soffits were just how it was back in the late 90’s. Originally our kitchen was full on wallpaper, and we took that down and went green. I think all of our friends at one point had a green kitchen. We loved the layout of our kitchen, so we opted to knock the bar height down to counter height and kept the layout the same.
So that is the before – here is how we survived –
- Stock Up on Paper Products – Confession – I collect paper products like they are going out of style. I have a napkin for every season and a plate for every holiday. We took the opportunity to clear out a lot of my stash and I can start fresh. We may have had 4th of July napkins with an Easter plate. For real, I have a paper product hording problem. Anyone else? I would also suggest stocking up on cutlery. I would suggest stocking up on a big box from Costco or another big box store. We also picked up some from the Dollar Store, but they were much more flimsy than the other brands. Either way, great opportunity to declutter!
- Find Easy Throw Away Meal Options – At some point you get sick of eating out. Yes hard to believe, right? And no one wants to eat out everyday with a 3 year old – that can be torture. Breakfast we made super easy with the convenient Mini Muffins, Oatmeal and Cereal cups so you don’t have to wash a dish. We tried to keep dishes to a minimum because we didn’t want to have to clean! Lunches we did quick and easy sandwiches and Lunchables. Dinner we did a combo of freezer options like lasagna or one pot options like tacos – things that are easy since we had the oven.
- Become BFF with your Crock Pot – If you’re a planner, make a few meals ahead of time and store them in the freezer and pull them out and pop them in the crock pot. We would make a big batch of shredded chicken and use it for multiple recipes. Make it easy and non-stressful. One of our favorites is chicken, salsa and taco seasoning. Perfect for so many meal options. Can you tell we love Mexican food around here?
- Set Up A Mock Kitchen Sink – If you have an opportunity to set up a mock kitchen sink, I would HIGHLY suggest this as a survival tip for a remodel. We have a big utility sink in our laundry room and we were able to use this on a regular basis, but still difficult with no disposal. If not, set up a station in a bathroom and keep your dishes to a minimum.
- Vacuum Daily – Our house was insanely dusty from the drywall sanding and saw dust. I made it a point to vacuum daily and when we’re all done, we’ll be getting our vents professionally cleaned and the carpets cleaned to insure we have everything cleaned up and cleared out. We have some major allergies in our house, so we don’t want to add anymore mess than we need to.
So that’s how we survived and here is a sneak peek of the after. Little different, right? I just love how it turned out!
Our next project we’ll be tackling is a playroom upstairs for Miss H. We just need to get paint, but my sweet husband said he needed a breather for a couple of weeks before we do a new project. That to do list just keeps getting longer!
Have you ever done a home remodel project before? How did it turn out?
Kitchen and bathroom remodeling are the most common projects that we do for our house. These renovations are good ways to increase the value of your property. That’s why it’s really good that you get some tips and guides before you start with your home improvement project.
Basically a kitchen remodeling process is carried out by spending a lot of money. Though one is going to invest a lot of money initially still there is no need to worry about just because it has a very higher return on investment. Well, remodeling process can not be done within a day. So, one should have to plan everything especially for the way to survive when the remodel process is under the way. As kitchen is the epic-center of home, so over the time it should be remodeled to make it modern and aesthetically pleasing. So, I think living in dust for a while is worth the reward of a new kitchen and it will be possible if one will follow all the tips that has already described in the blog. Thus, on a final note I can say that it will be better to create a temporary substitute kitchen unless until the process of remodeling is over.