Browse Category: projects

Kitchen is done!!

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After two long months, our kitchen is finally finished! Here are the Before and After photos.

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It was so nice to be able to peel off the protective blue covering to reveal the white cabinets. We spent the weekend before Hong Kong cleaning and moving things back into the kitchen and dining room. It was a lot of work but felt so good to be able to set things up and get the house back to normal again.

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The fridge arrived early Saturday morning (12/9/18) and it made everything feel more complete. It’s also nice to have a the bigger opening into the rest of the house.

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Here is the backsplash that we added. I wanted something neutral and all one color. We also had them use a dark grout to help it blend in with the tile.

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Jesse chose a new faucet for us and has a touchless feature that takes some getting used to.

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What I really like most is how much more open and functional our counter is now without the wall and cabinets.

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We also extended the counter out a bit, which makes is a good place for someone to hangout on the opposite side of the sink. We celebrated with waffles and Peanut’s ice soup. I can safely say the whole family is loving the new kitchen!

Cabinets

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This is what our kitchen looked like before we demolished it.

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We got cabinets installed this week and so happy with how much more open it looks already. We also had the doorway from the hallway to the kitchen widened.

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Here is the inside of the kitchen before and after. They tore down the wall to the left of the sink and there are no more cabinets overhead.

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Our sink, stovetop, and dishwasher have also arrived this week. Can’t wait for it all to be done…for so many reasons.  Living the camping hotel life is rough with two kids.

Work in Progress

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We are into Week 3 of the kitchen remodel and we’re seeing changes everyday. By the first week, we had all the cabinets and appliances removed, the random wall blocking the entrance to the kitchen counter was also removed. By the second week, the contractors started rewiring electrical and rerouting pipes.

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In the meantime, Jes installed a sink out in the patio, which has made washing dishes a lot easier than doing it all in the downstairs bathroom sink.

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New canister lights were installed, the counter height was lowered, and the wall was opened up (on the right).

This week, we will have the floors completed along with installation of the new cabinets.

Kitchen Remodel

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We are finally starting the kitchen remodel. It’s been about 6 months since we moved in and we were still using the original cabinets and some really old appliances. It was time to get this project going.

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Over the weekend (while Brother and family were in town), we had to clear out the kitchen and dining room.  We moved all the toys and KK’s desk upstairs and set-up a temporary dining/meal prep/pantry area. This will be where all the action will take place and it’ll be like living in a hotel for the next 5-6 weeks.

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On the morning of 10/9, I took a photo of the original kitchen before the crew arrived to tear everything out. Goodbye old kitchen!

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I turned 42 on Thursday and it was a nice coincidence that it landed on my usual day off of the week. Jesse took the day off too. The day started with breakfast at a cafe in Emeryville followed by some browsing and shopping for kitchen countertops, applicances, and cabinets. We are planning to remodel the kitchen soon and needed to get some stuff picked out. For lunch, we went to Trabocco and shared a burrata platter and prosecco. After the main entrees, we ordered a small affogatto and the owner/chef came out with a special “Happy Birthday” platter and sang to me.

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That was very sweet in so many ways.

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On Friday evening, the family sang to me and helped me blow out candles.

SOLD

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I took this photo on 2/10/17, the day after our offer on the Alameda house was accepted. It looks like a mess but we made it work.

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Once we moved everything out, I cried.  Then it was time to have the condo cleaned, painted, and staged. We listed on 4/6/17 and we sold it on 4/13/17 – exactly one month after we moved out. Crazy fast.

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They did a nice job. I’d live here. I’m happy that others wanted to as well. We got 4 offers with one guy making a counter to match the highest offer ($86,000 over asking!!!). We are so happy and relieved that it all worked out well so far. Hopefully escrow will close smoothly and we’ll be able to move forward with our new life in suburbia.