As is the case for many of you, my vacation plans basically got trashed because of the current virus situation.  I will not lie, I was so very disappointed since I haven't had a vacation since May 2019.   Montanans that don't "go south" for the winter tend to spend their winter-time snowed in dreaming and planning fair weather travel.  My beach vacation - toast, my RV get together to learn new stuff - toast, my dog shows - all toast.  

Now I'm not one to sit on my whiny laurels and upon discovering that I had a suspicious soft spot in my floor in front of my kitchen sink, my vacation refunds was destined for a home project.  

A little background.....I have been thinking about redoing my kitchen for probably 10 years but other priorities (as all homes can throw at you) kept that from happening.   A soft spot in the floor yelled at me "LEAK"!    As I dug deeper I discovered the leak was BEFORE the shut offs for the sink.   Dang.   In my house all the plumbing is run under the house and up through the floor so I knew it was not good and I also knew that meant ripping up floor which meant removing cabinets (mine were really not REAL cabinets so the whole wall of them had to come out).  So just as well push up the plans for the remodel.   Fair enough - my house is 26 years old and since it is a manufactured home, not the highest quality materials in certain areas (cabinets for example).   These are the general "before" pictures.    The trick is that I have a very limited budget (read what can I put on the credit card) so research research research and lots of pricing things out.

Planning was started and I knew this entire project would be DIY.  Yup I am learning a lot!   I initially figured I'd be ordering cabinets online, unfinished and have to paint them on my own.  I just figured that would be the cheapest way to go.    I knew I wanted maple and white.  Easy.   What the online place I landed in did provide me was some ideas on what I could get for sizes and options.   Okay honestly, I wasn't planning anything fancy anyway.  What I did know, I wasn't replacing the upper cabinets and all the base cabinets would be drawers.  I am old and tired of crawling into cabinets to try to find the stuff that gets shoved in the back.    My advice - spend the time tweeking and talking and thinking about plans, draw them out and tweek some more.  I had thought I'd have a cabinet for my trash can slider....didn't till right before ordering remember that the cabinet size - while that would fit it -- with the door face frame the slider wouldn't fit.   Little stuff that will trip you up.   Ultimately I did decide to go see if anyplace locally could come in under my budget with the items I picked.  They did and I don't have to paint the buggers!  Bonus.   The cost of paint (have you seen THAT lately?) and time, they came in at about the same price and I was able to find a marvelous gal that helped me with the planning and who computerized my design for me.  BONUS!

As of this blog MUCH progress has been made and I'm pretty proud of that.  I have a few very lovely friends that have helped with some items I just couldn't (or wouldn't) tackle on my own.   But give a girl some tools and see what happens.  This reciprocating saw has been a life saver!   I've pretty much used every power tool in my garage including some I've never used yet.

Demolition is done, the leak has been fixed, all sticky tile and linoleum is removed, the subfloor replaced, cabinets gone, a closet and cabinets that were in the laundry room are gone and the walls are primed.   While that doesn't sound like much - the place is GUTTED!   Both the kitchen and the utility room.   Demo filled a 12 yard rolloff trash container (which they have now picked up) and only two tools (and no dogs thank goodness) were lost down the hole in the floor.    The broken dishwasher is gone as well.   5 gallon buckets are also a girls best friend in demo as is the shop vac!

My cabinets are ordered and should be here in July and my new floor (which I'll install) arrived.   I still am working on picking countertops and paint colors for the walls.   The current washer, fridge and stove luckily are staying!
 

I've learned a TON about my home doing the demo on my own.  I continue to learn a ton about tools, options and how-tos as I go along.   Does it suck having to do dishes in the bathtub and having all my kitchen/laundry contents in 5 rooms in my house?  Oh yeah but it isn't THAT horrible.  It is just me and the dogs, I don't  have a family to cook for so there is minimal cooking (paper plates, lots of pasta, microwave popcorn and cheese and crackers) and therefore minimal dish washing.

As of this writing we are about at this state (one coat of primer in this pic) and honestly I'm just enjoying a few days this week of pause to let my sore body heal and rest, see my chiropractor and have some quiet from all the fans, vacs and crazy.   A friend and I spent much time working on the walls after I spent a week of evenings carefully removing wallpaper, paint, and more wallpaper borders.   BAD ON ME.  Not to self, don't be lazy and paint over and wall paper over wall paper you already have up.  As my Mom would say "Take the time and do it right".  So that's what I'm doing this round.   Isn't that new floor and plumbing BEAUTIFUL (thanks Dennis and Terri).