The Insanity Called Life or Another Remodel

This summer was so nice. I had little work, so I got to garden, enjoy the yard and recuperate (still) from my broken ankle. Doesn't hurt all the time, but it does have it's moments.

I got a car near the end of the summer which was very nice. Then in the last few day of summer Bam! Sales increase, I start school with both of my daughters boys, and after she finally got moved into her new place, I have to help her remodel. My life is insane right now.

Here is a picture of how the kitchen looked when she moved in. Yes, the in-laws didn't even take all their hoarded garbage with them. She is still pulling out boxes and boxes of garbage and they don't even recognize it as theirs. They ask her if it's garbage and she says "I don't know, it's your stuff."

The refrigerator in this picture is hers, all the rest was theirs. The pipes under the sink were totally broken and they had a bucket under the sink to catch water that they then took to the bathroom to dump. They eat a lot of oily food, so now the bathroom sink is blocked.

We found later that the reason (possibly) the sink broke, was that the entire sink base was not attached to the wall. We guessed that the pipes might break if the sink is able to move around the kitchen,

None of the cupboard doors closed and all were hanging crooked. The rest of the house is vile too.

My daughter's best friend and I have come over a few times to help clean and renovate.

Cleaning was pretty rough, not sure what the brown drops were on the stairwell walls, but I suspect it was coffee spills from carrying full cups up and down the stairs. The walls were covered in brown drips from handrail height to stairs.  All that is cleaned and painted now. Magic erasers REALLY are magic.

There is still a LOT of work to do on the house, but we did manage to rip out a lot of those kitchen cabinets and my daughter found some nice replacements at the Habitat for Humanity restore. They are pretty cool places. People donate to them and the money from the resale is put into new housing builds.

Here is a picture of cupboards on one wall. Still needs paint and a counter top, but that will come soon. The kitchen sink will be a lot of work, but she also found a lightly used dishwasher and the sink base to match isn't too expensive, even new.

We will put uppers and shelves over the old sink next week. We are being creative with the cupboards she purchased at restore. They are not a perfect fit, but we are adding shelving to make them adorable. She also bought new drawer pulls from China on ebay at a fantastic price.

The reason she is doing this is that the house is really big, and the rent she is paying is worth fixing up the place. This part of the kitchen looks so much better, I can't wait to see the whole place finished.

This is just fantastic therapy for me too. My ankle has been greatly improved since I have to climb up and down to install the cupboards. I'm the one who knows how to do the work, the rest of the family rips, lifts and moves the heavy things. Although I did the base cabinets myself, not so hard to slide into place and screw them to the wall. Yes, that IS how you install cabinets. You check for level and attach them to the wall, AND you attach them to each other. How about that?

It's kind of tiring with my injury, and my weight, and my age, but remodeling is the thing I enjoy doing more than anything else. When I see these pictures side by side, it puts a big cheesy smile on my face, and the sore muscles, aren't quite so bad.

Didn't remember what she paid for these. For this and a few more uppers, slightly used and in pretty decent condition. $180. Check out your local Habitat restore.

I had to update this with the painted walls and counter. Now it looks like a kitchen.