Who knocked the wall down? Who! Who! Who!

We finally are getting around to doing our Kitchen Demo. We've made lots of compromises as to what we want but ultimately my main goal was to get that damn wall DOWN! I want to be able to see my children at the table if I'm still busy in the kitchen.

Our original plans were to put in granite counter tops. We browsed Menards to check prices and their Quartz was priced at $60 per unit. Now... laminate is quoted per linear foot. I was estimating the same for Granite/Quartz. So, in my budget I only allowed for a price to accommodate linear feet of Granite. I didn't think the cost was too high and wondered why more people don't put granite in their kitchens! However... we had a cabinet/counter guy come over and then I was awakened to the fact that it was quoted per square foot... which almost tripled the cost of the counters. EEEK! We were looking at $4500 just for counter-tops. Another decision breaker was that we aren't replacing our cabinets. Eventually I think we will, but for now they're good cabinets (just not the color/finish I'd choose). If we put in granite, there is a big chance the counters will be destroyed if we try to pull them up to replace the cabinets. So... we have decided to go with a high definition laminate with a granite-look pattern. It looks really nice and is about 1/4 the cost of granite. And I can swallow that price when/if we ever decide to replace the cabinets... we can do a full kitchen overhaul and get granite in the future.

Another compromise was our island. We had decided on this fabulous island piece through our cabinet guy. It came at a hefty price of $1200 WITHOUT the countertop. We both loved it, though, and figured we'd splurge for a nice piece. However, when some other financial issues came up we had to relook at some of our budget. Ryan was putting the axe on the entire project altogether so I frantically started looking at other options. Since we were wanting a black island (to contrast the maple cabinets in the rest of the kitchen) I figured there was no harm in getting unfinished base cabinets and painting them black... trimming 3 sides out with beadboard and adding corbels underneath the bar side of the island. It will look like THIS in the end. The price for my "budget" island.... under $200. Isn't that sweet!?! We have the cabinets and all the materials... just need to get around to painting it. Not sure when the best time to do that is with two little boys running around.

And then the floor.... I had found an awesome price on laminate wood floors online. $1.19/sq ft for this beautiful chocolate wood with beveled edges. Looked just like hardwood. We decided we'd put it in the whole 1st floor and avoid having to remove all our furniture (eventually) to sand, stain, poly... poly... poly... the real hardwood. However.... the bargain price wood floors are no longer available!! So... for the time being we're going to live with our mismatched floors. And soon we'll probably just put new tile in the kitchen and eventually put laminate in the hall, living room, foyer and dining room- to give a little cohesive look to the first floor.

WHEW! That's a lot of adjustments. For now... we have the drywall down and I can see my dining room table from the kitchen. That's about it. The wall is a support wall so Ryan and his dad are going to have to build a temporary wall frame, take down the existing wall and put up a header to support the 2nd floor, and then take down the temporary wall. Not sure when this is going to get done b/c Ryan has class on Saturdays this semester. The baseboard heating that is along the kitchen wall (that is now just 2x4 studs) is going to need to be moved too.

My kitchen/dining room look like a mess. Its kind of driving me batty but I'm not going to complain. I know it will be worth it in the end.