Christian and I have remodeled every home we have owned. A couple months before our wedding, we purchased a small house that had a fire in it and was condemned. We lived the first 6 weeks of our marriage in Christian’s parents basement while we got the house fixed up enough to move in. The day we were allowed to scrape the “condemned” sticker off the window and move in was a day of rejoicing for me! Three years later, we had started the business and had our first child, Anna Grace. Space was becoming a problem, so we moved to a larger house in Bel Aire and completely remodeled it.
When we moved into our most recent fixer upper, I was 29 weeks pregnant with our fourth child. Our kids were 8, 4, and 16 months old. We fell in love with the house because of the yard and neighborhood. The house had some great remodeling potential, but it was very dated! We decided to “quickly” gut the kitchen in hopes to have it completed before the baby arrived. So, we used our resources and recruited Jessica to help us with the design even before we moved into the house. Christian ordered cabinets soon after we moved in, and he began gutting the old kitchen the day after we closed!
Our Kitchen Remodel Rendering:
The Process:
The most challenging part of the remodel was the popcorn removal phase – what a mess! We were so thankful when that was over!
As time went on, we continued to make progress with updating trim and painting the walls. However, in early October, I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. Fortunately, I was able to wait a week and a half and be induced at 37 weeks, which is much safer for the baby. The day before my scheduled induction, our cabinets were delivered. Christian worked that evening and installed several. The next day, I got a call early that they didn’t have room for me to come to be induced that morning, and I had to wait until afternoon. That gave Christian time to hook up the oven!
We are so thankful that our baby arrived safely and after a few months I fully recovered from pre-eclampsia. After getting back home, we continued to install the rest of the cabinets and flooring. On my due date, about three weeks later, the countertops were installed! It was a big day for us when the dishwasher was hooked up!
Our Newly Remodeled Kitchen:
Stay tuned for our next article on how we survived our time without a kitchen! (kitchen-less dinner ideas included!)