Swingin' Seventies Kitchen Reno, Part 1

I have a blisters on my fingers.  And not in a cool Ringo Starr way.

It was an EPIC weekend of demo, sheetrock and wallpaper guts. I absolutely hate change, especially where my childhood home is concerned.  But no amount of mushy nostalgia for that dark, dreary hot mess of a kitchen/dining room could overcome the fact that it was Ugly and Dated.  And since my parents WILL sell that house someday, I assume they won't want buyers running screaming from the faux butcherblock/brick/tile/harvest gold crazy.

So.  Here's where we begin.  My dad had already started demo by the time I got there, and after I lost my shit and hissed "But I need before pictures!  This is going to be such a TRANSFORMATION! what do you MEAN you already tore the dishwasher out?!", I shoved the thing back in there and snapped away.

Here she is, in all her glory. 

 

 A nice look at the "brick" and the "butcherblock".  The cabinets are okay, and in decent shape for 30 years old.  

 

 The doors came off pretty easily, and thankfully, the metal straps on the front were not attached to the hinges, so we could recycle instead of buying new.  Hinges are SUPER pricey! 

Cabinets out and the wall is coming down.  What in God's name is that glow through the doorway, you ask?

Why it's the dining room wallpaper!

 

Let 's take a closer look, shall we? Bet you had no idea grapevines also grew kumquats and strange orange buttercups, did ya?  Ha!  Live and learn...

The wall is down, and instantly, the room looks AMAZINGLY huge.

Next morning...time to wash some cabinets.

And sand some cabinets.  (After half an hour with my trusty new-to-me vintage sander, I felt as though I had gone 12 rounds with one of those as-seen-on-tv shake weights.  Must have been good for at LEAST 200 calories, am I right?)

Then some oil-based Kilz we had left over from the house remodel.  The cabinets soaked it up almost instantly.

 

 Meanwhile, back inside...the wallpaper is coming down.  This job was the most ridiculous, giant pain in the ass ever.  Wallpaper is a b-word.  My mom spent a good 16 hours peeling that shit off the walls. 

 

And this is what the walls looked like afterwards.  Not great, but not anything a little joint compound won't fix.

 

 And the AMAZING dishwasher? 

 Probably still by the side of the road. 




all photos, ours