Kitchen Renovation {part I}

So, not only am I growing a child, keeping up with a 4 year old, writing an ecookbook and still posting recipes on my blog, but I’m doing all of this through a kitchen renovation. This isn’t a huge overhaul we’re doing, but it’s definitely enough to make me slightly crazy. Luckily, I’m getting used to messes, so hopefully by the time the baby comes EVERYTHING in the kitchen will be done. A tall order, but I think we can get it done.

When we first moved in, we had a plan on what we had to do when. The very first thing we had to do was move our fridge {which was in that little space beside the door to the garage, beside the pantry {see photo above} over to the other side of the room next to the end of the cabinets to create more of a work triangle {photo below}. Problem was there were old glass sliding doors there. So, we knocked those out, built up the wall and put in a single french door.

We did this in January a few weeks after we moved in. And by we I mean my father in law and my husband. I watched and fed them when hungry–an important job.

Fast forward to last weekend when we started on phase two: expand the pantry thus creating a room for our washer and dryer {so we could move them into the house and not have them in the garage} and then create another spot for a new pantry. So, the room with the door {above} was the pantry.

And here is the spot where the new pantry will go.

There was a small pocket in the garage we could build into to create a small, but still useful new pantry, so that’s what’s going on here. My husband and father in law are knocking down the walls to build them up again differently.

Hello new pantry! Umm….not quite….

There goes another wall….

and everything else. Thankfully, Saturday morning was bright and pretty warm in Portland, so the work didn’t seem so bad…said the pregnant lady who was watching and baking.

My husband put some wall frames together in our garage. I liked this part in particular.

Oh, hello new wall!

Finally, they closed off that back wall! The framing all got done last weekend and then this week my father in law has come by a few times to get the drywall in.

Voila! Things are coming together! This is the new pantry.

And this is the new laundry room.

And just so you can see a different angle of the work going on– This was taken from the dining area {that is being used as my office}.

We have to texture, paint and get the plumbing turned around, but I think this phase is coming to a close….hopefully sooner than later! I’ll post more pics once it’s all done.

Then, we’ll be adding a built in desk, new cabinets, appliances, an island, new counters and more!

I need a nap.

Stay tuned.