Inspired by my friend Jenny who took some adorable pictures of her daughter today, I thought, “Why in the world don’t I get the camera out more often and get my child outside and just start taking pictures?” Well, for one thing, it’s been insanely hot, and another, we’ve been insanely busy… but today worked out well on both accounts. Here’s my cutie:
It has been a loud, messy week so far at our house, but stuff is happening! The wall separating the kitchen and dining room is knocked out, the soffits are removed and the ceiling replaced after it fell down (yes, really), the electrical and plumbing is done, and the new doorway is opened up ready for a pocket door to be installed next week.
Before:
All opened up:
I’m really excited about this part. No longer will you have to walk through the laundry room to get from the kitchen to the family room. It will make a bigger dining area and a nicer laundry room as well. (The family room was the original garage, in case you were wondering why it was laid out that way.)
If you’re going to be without a kitchen for any length of time, you need to set up a temporary spot with some basic stuff so you can get by for a while. As I mentioned before in my cookathon post, I cooked and froze a lot of stuff that we can reheat in the microwave or toaster oven. It has been nice to have home-cooked meals even with the kitchen being in the state it’s in!
We moved the kitchen table into the family room to serve as a “prep” area, and set up the smaller card table to eat on. The prep area consists of the microwave, toaster oven, knives and cutting boards, paper goods like zip-locks and foil, and a few other things. Under the table I’ve stored things that I shouldn’t need to get to very often but still wanted to have available. (The rest of the kitchen stuff is packed up in David’s office.) Next to the table, we put the pantry with all our food, and next to it a small china cabinet to hold a few dishes, utensils, etc. The fridge is in the laundry room, where it’s been since we moved in. The dishwashing station is in the nearby guest bathroom.
Ok, I just thought we were committed when I posted the last post. I suppose, if something had happened, we could have just replaced the floor and still had a kitchen. But now we’re really committed! We donated the cabinets, countertops, and appliances to Habitat for Humanity, and they sent someone out to pull it all for us! Yea! Free demo, and the stuff will end up in their “Re-Store” and get reused instead of going in the landfill.
Construction should start first thing Monday morning. We are hiring a contractor do to stuff like knock out the wall, remove the soffits, move the doorway, and do the electrical/plumbing. Then the same guys who textured the ceilings before we moved in will come back, so the kitchen will match the rest of the house. Then the kitchen should be ready to fill with cabinets, countertops, appliances, flooring, and whatever else we haven’t thought of yet.
I guess you can say we’ve started the renovation! David spent the evening taking up the lovely 80s tile floor, revealing an even lovelier 70s vinyl underneath. Man, what a mess! We are grateful to our neighbor Isaac for loaning us the proper power tool for the job.
I’ve been wondering if we would just be going without oatmeal during the kitchen remodel, while we don’t have a stove. What? They make packets of instant oatmeal that you can just add water to and nuke in the microwave? Yes, I know, and they don’t taste very good. I think it’s because they have salt in them. And way too much sugar. But, just in time, Money Saving Mom ran a post about making homemade instant oatmeal packets. I tweaked the recipe a bit to our taste, and here’s what I came up with.
Here’s what you need:
In food processor, grind 1 cup quick oats and 1 cup rolled oats to a powder. Set up an assembly line with all your ingredients.
In each baggie (makes 16):
To make oatmeal, mix packet with 1/2 to 3/4 cup boiling water and let stand 2-3 minutes.
If you want, you could add other things like dried fruit, nuts, etc.
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