This Post is Almost a Year Overdue

When we bought our house it wasn't because we thought the house itself was wonderful. It was a good house, for sure, but the reason we wanted it was because we loved where it was. Plus it was crazy cheap. One of the problems in it has always been the kitchen. It was tiny. The working side is fine, but the eating side was super small. We had a small four person table that barely fit in there. We couldn't ever have anyone over because there was nowhere to sit. And since our back door swung in we had to leave a few feet between the door and the table. So last spring Tucker was still in the high chair b/c we didn't have a real seat for him, and Ellie didn't have anywhere to go even though she should have been eating baby food at dinner with us. So when we were suddenly able to do something big, it took Jeff and I about two seconds to decide what we wanted to do. Expand the kitchen! It took a long time from deciding to do it to actually get started. We had to get different bids (at one point we considered making it a sunroom), have plans drawn up, get the plans approved by an engineer, and get a permit from the city. I think we started talking about it in January or February and it was the end of March before we got started. This is the kitchen before. Not really big enough for a family of six. The family who built this house had four teenagers at the time. I'm not quite sure what they were thinking.

From day one the boys loved watching the workers. I hope they didn't mind being stared at like fish in a fishbowl.

They started by digging a giant hole right in back of the kitchen. There used to be a brick patio and a few stairs going out from the back door. Not anymore.

This was our backyard for awhile. Amazingly, all of the grass grew back.

I think the coolest thing was how they got cement to the back of the house. They had to pour cement walls down below the grass line for a foundation and the cement truck was too big to get back there so this giant crane went over the top of our house.

Here's the foundation below. This actually lines up next to our unfinished basement and they had to cut a hold into that for ventilation issues so now in the basement we have an extra little storage spot. This was the longest part of the whole thing. It took a long time to get to this point, and after this everything went so fast.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of just the subfloor done outside, but the way they did it was they put floor joists across the foundation, then laid a subfloor on top. Then they framed in the walls. After they had all of that outside work done they knocked out the inside wall. They did it first thing in the morning and by that afternoon it was all closed in. I was amazed at how fast that part was. All the white fluff on the floor is insulation that came out when they knocked out the wall. Tucker and I had a great time watching them do everything. I actually really loved how it looked all open on top and sort of wished that it would stay that way.

This is what it looked like later on in the day. It was the first time that we could really see what our new kitchen would look like. We told my parents and brother and sister-in-law to come see it and we all just sort of stared at it, amazed at what a difference it made.

See how much light comes in? When we were making up the plans I said I wanted as many windows as possible. Jeff nicely didn't put up a fight (he hates light). Next up was putting in the insulation - it is totally cool how that is done too. They just staple the plastic sheets all over the beams and then cut a small slit and stick a hose in it and the insulation come out super fast. Then sheetrock. Then the plaster coating. Then sanding. Then another coat of plaster. Then more sanding. Honestly, the sanding was the only part of this whole process that completely drove me nuts. I didn't mind the constant noise, or the workers who were always around, but the dust from the sanding was horrible. There was a coating of super fine white dust EVERYWHERE. Not just in the kitchen. The whole house was covered in it for days.

Ta Da! The finished product. One of the best parts about the whole thing was getting a new floor. We had an oak colored laminate before that was fine, but we couldn't find anything to match it for the addition. I really didn't want two different colored floors. When the flooring guy was here he noticed that there was some slight water damage on our old laminate near the fridge. A few years ago our water line in the fridge broke and we didn't know until it had warped some of the laminate. The floor guy suggested that we ask our insurance about it, and miraculously they said they would still cover it. We pulled the old floor out ourselves instead of having the floor people do it, so we were able to save a little money there. I picked a really pretty maple color for the new laminate and it looks so great. We also added a bar height counter! I hated that no one could sit at the counter before b/c it didn't stick out at all. So now the kids have a place to do homework and hang out while I make dinner. And I LOVE our new kitchen table - it seats eight! The new back door swings out too, so that problem is gone. It is gorgeous. We could not be more thrilled with our new(ish) kitchen.

I have to say, if I wasn't a mom I would love to build houses. I found every single part of this fascinating to watch. And our contractor was absolutely wonderful. He could not have been better, seriously. If you live in Utah and need anything big done ask me for his name. He was awesome.