Decompartmentalization Implementation (Kitchen Renovation)

Our 1963 Walk-out Rambler was designed during a period of American history which celebrated simplicity and function with little excess. We originally fell in love with our house 4 years ago the moment we stepped into the back yard. Every day, every season, we never get tired of looking out our windows to this...

The back yard is a peaceful respite and reminder of God's creation among the city/suburban structures. We renovated our basement shortly after moving in to create a home theatre experience. And we painted nearly every square foot of walls in our home. This brings us to our kitchen.

The kitchen is the heartbeat, central hub, gathering space, and main cooking ground for our home (and most others as well). As such, our kitchen was a functional space within our compartmentalized '60's rambler, but didn't live up to our vision of what a kitchen should be. Our kitchen was a disjointed room separating the rest of our upstairs space (dining room, living room, family room and entry foyer). There was no space to gather, the cupboards were poorly layed out, small and tired after 49 years of faithful use. 

We had this project on our back burner (pun sort of intended) since we moved in and couldn't pull the trigger as we weighed how long we plan to stay in this house vs. the cost of a major remodel. We would occasionally discuss our separate dreams of our kitchen, playfully describing how much better a certain layout would accomodate guests or how advantageous it would be to have larger and more efficient cabinet layout. Eme and I have such a fun and natural way of communicating our similar visions we found it quite simple once our desires started becoming reality earlier this spring. 

We decided to make the plunge in May and started our design and construction strategy. Again, this was a fairly natural process as Eme is trained in Interior Design and my role at Mortenson is to manage the Design Phase of our construction projects. This was directly within our wheelhouse! How exciting to begin the design process with a blank design slate with nothing in our way! Of course, we had a budget...dreams don't begin with a budget, but they need to end up within budget. We were excited to implement our design dream into reality! 

Just like any construction project, the person paying the bills usually has sleepless nights and constantly worries about details. That was no different for our project, but probably amplified a bit as I acted as co-designer, structural engineer, superintendent, project manager, estimator, owner, and customer. What a list of responsibilities! With that in mind, my more than 40 hour work week schedule, spending time with B & C and Eme superseded us actually performing the work. So we decided to hand the demolition (minus floor), carpentry, drywall, and electrical reigns over to my Brother and his summer construction partner, Bryan. This was truly a wise decision as I have heard numerous kitchen/bath remodel projects severely straining marriages when one or both decide to tackle most of the work themselves. Eme and I could have performed about half of the project ourselves, but decided we trusted Jeff more and wanted to protect our relationship and time. Jeff and Bryan did an outstanding job!!

So, where does this leave us in terms of pictures and progress you ask?? 

• May - Design began (in our heads)
• June - Structural investigation/design
• July - Began demolition for 2 days at the end of July
• August - Kitchen torn up (no sink, stove, dishwasher, cabinets or floor)
• September - Sink (last major milestone) was plumbed the 3rd week of Sept.
• October - Finalize details (wood trim, final electrical connections, etc.), Final inspections

The total "intense" construction phase of the project was basically August 13 - September 24 (7 weeks). Not bad for managing a major kitchen remodel ourselves!

We are substantially complete, passed the final electrical inspection and await final inspection next Wednesday! Enjoy the photo progress of our dream come to life and stop on by...we would love to show you our new gathering space and central hub...and experience for yourself what makes our hearts beat when it comes to a vision of the kitchen remodel to our home on Rice Creek!

Prior to Redesign...

View from Family Room to the Kitchen/Downstairs

View inside the kitchen looking towards the family room

View from dining room into kitchen. There were 2 narrow entrances into our kitchen before. You can see our structural investigation spot above the built in cabinet

View from the dining room into the kitchen

View from the entry foyer into the dining towards the kitchen

I won't lie, during the month of August and early September we were getting to a dark place being without a kitchen sink for almost 5 weeks! But we made it through to the other side and absolutely love our new space!!

Stay tuned for progress photos. You didn't think you'd get to see the final product yet did you?

Headwaters

My sister Betsy and my nephew Justin were in Minnesota for almost the whole month of July. It was a flurry of activity which included a mid-week camping trip to Itasca State Park...headwaters of the Mississippi River.

Kaitlyn!

Priceless!

The 'Cuz Crew

Our little water baby girl

The entire Crew (minus Dave who was at CHIC and CA during this 2012 MN trip)

Had to show one more birthday photo. Apparently he wants to be a doctor! Happy Birthday Carl!

The Duck Race then Birthday Party

July 14: This was it, the big day after the big day arrived - Carl's Birthday Party! I had been planning and planning and planning this event (you might remember the invite) and I was glad the day finally arrived. There was a little sleep depravation that was going on that week leading up to the race, but I wouldn't change it for the world.  I was excited first and foremost to celebrate with family and friends Carl's 1st birthday, secondly, for our first ever Rubber Duck Race down the creek in our backyard. Personally, I think it went rather smoothly. My volunteers did an exceptional job and the birthday boy even woke up from nap in time to catch a glimpse at the races.

I believe my final tally was just over 50 people, a little more than half of them being kids. It turned out to be a gorgeous morning, perfect for having some fun, food, and fellowship. I'd like to think I started a new family tradition and maybe next year it will be even bigger...

Even made some shirts for the occasion.

We dropped the ducks in at the start of the race with two buckets and let the current do the rest. As a fun side note - our nephew, Justin, just a few days prior had given Carl a small gift he brought back with him from a trip he had just taken. Turns out it was perfect for race day, it was a little duck caller! Carl let me borrow it to signal the start of each race.

Not all ducks stayed up-right, but that didn't stop them from making the finish line! 

There was quite the competition brewing in the adult category. There were enough kids around to keep everyone civil ; )   

Our judges at the finishing line hard at work, trying hard to save every duck from passing our net. We did have one duck slip through the very first race but it was quickly recovered. The duck belonged to a little girl, who her mom just asked me that morning about whether or not they would get their ducks back after the race - the girl was very concerned she would lose her duck. I assured them we would do everything in our power to save the ducks, we even put up a net to make it a little easier. When we realized it was this little girl's duck, I got nervous and was hoping it wouldn't slip away. She was so worried! Thankfully, we managed to bring it back safely. Not a true event without a little drama!

Oh yes, we had medals and prizes! I may have gone over the top on that one, but it was sure fun to see all the smiles that day. At the very end, there was a call for a champions run to see who really was the fastest duck. Turns out this little angle won every race!

A big thank you to my sister for helping take photos, capturing the ducky moments! More on the Birthday Party to come...

Carl's Birthday Adventures

July 12: A one year old has little requests for activities, but I thought we had better make it special. It just so happened that we had a lot of things lining up on his special day!

It started with a trip to the Como Zoo with cousins and a ride on the carousel.

Brianna really wasn't sure about the carousel and didn't want to go on, but I already bought tickets and just went for it! Turned out to be ok, she was just getting hungry.

Next we had plans to go see 2nd cousin Ashley while she was in town. We had packed a lunch and headed to Harriet Island Park to play some more. It was pretty hot out that afternoon and the heat and tiredness started to set in. We played for a little bit, then headed for home. Before too long, they were both sleeping in the car. One transfered to bed the other didn't. I'll leave that up to your imagination as to who.

 What a fun day! 

We pray a full year of new adventures and a ton of fun on your next year of life! 

We love you Carl!

Laying in Comfort

July 10: Our dog has always had an affinity to soft things. Even as a puppy he would find a pillow or soft blanket to curl up on. On most days this is how we find him. You'd never know a dog needed the extra head support!

Getting My Nails Done Mom

July 5: We were so thankful to have Betsy and Justin (Jon's sister and her son) in MN for almost the entire month of July. We had so much fun running here and there and playing, playing, playing! While hanging out at the cabin over the 4th weekend, Aunt Shelley offered to give manicures, to all the cousins (boys included). Brianna was really excited and sat SO still waiting for the paint to dry. It was her first time getting her nails done, and she couldn't have been happier. Thank you Shelley, she went hysterical when I finally tried to get what was left of the paint off. She thought it was gone forever... I had to reassure her we had to take this paint off in order to put new paint on. That made it a little better!

Brianna being pampered! I promise she was happy, she was just focused on staying still.

Carl's 1st 4th

July 4th: Fireworks!

Brianna just chillin' with her cousins!

 The happy cozy crew.

The other happy, not as cozy crew!

Oh, ahh! Carl was pointing really well by the 4th and kept pointing at each new explosion. When we first sat down, I thought he might keep sleeping, but he heard activity and wanted to be involved. Sounds like Carl!

In the Dog Dish

June 29: Why not? Carl decided he loves to get into Eko's food and water dishes. 

And not just in to them (like I'm going to get wet and grab a bunch of food!) but physically into and on top of the dish (it's a lot faster to make a mess that way mom!). 

Courtesy of Gammie and Gampie

June 30th Weekend: Brianna loves to hang out with Gammie and Gampie. She also loves playing with her cousin Casen. And, she loves being at my parents weekend getaway, the trailer. So when those three things combined the last weekend in June, she was one happy little girl! I can't speak to all the fun times they had, but I can say that she frequently asks to go to Gammie and Gampie's trailer!

Enjoy some photos my parents took!

She knows how to relax and kick her feet up!

You Mean I can Paint on my Face!?!

June 24: A Fun-Filled Birthday Party for Cousins

Brianna was excited to go celebrate her cousin's birthdays and was really excited to bring them their gift! But as part of the party, she realized she could color on her face! Can you say triple the excitement.  She sat so still, while the art was drawn on her face. I'm not sure how it went down, but after a while, we saw Brianna sitting again at the face-painting table and a little girl (older than B) was painting B's face... her arms... her legs... it was very cute! They were having a lot of fun.

She was not very happy with me when we had to take it all off before bedtime.

Commissioner and the Parade

June 21: Parade fun

Michelle and I ventured out for our second year in a row to our community parade! This year we had more kids and, I'd say, more fun. I loaded down our burley with chairs and blankets, and headed over to Auntie Micks house to have dinner. A family member of theirs dropped off their two kids, bringing the total to five kids. Once we finished dinner, we headed off to find a place to sit. We all got settled and thankfully it wasn't long before the first police car drove by, signaling the start of the parade. It's amazing to me that so many floats drive by and throw out candy. Why do we need so much candy? It's helpful to keep kiddos entertained, going and gathering whatever they can find, but who wants to give kids that much sugar that close to bedtime. I know, I know... you don't do it all the time, but still. I was thankful to the eye place for handing out fresh carrots. What a welcome treat!

Thanks Mick for the fun and company.

Oh, and Commissioner Bonkoski was on hand for his part in the parade. 

They handed out chip clips, very useful.