Who knew that standing in an empty room, staring at freshly painted walls could feel SO satisfying? In case you’ve missed it, I’ve been doing a little series about our condo renovation. It’s an old unit that had been uninhabited for years, and needed a lot of TLC. Joe and I are first time home owners and have no clue about this stuff. So it’s been challenging to learn about what goes into a renovation project (on a budget), while simultaneously producing “Bits & Pieces,” our online cooking show. It’s as if we suddenly gave birth to two babies. Both needed our full time attention and consumed our lives.
We hired a general contractor for the job, but only had 30 days to complete our ENTIRE renovation project before our final inspection from the HOA. So we had to make quick decisions, purchase almost all the supplies ourselves, and be hands on with the details. We selected the paint for all the rooms within two days so the job could get started.
Anybody who’s ever painted their place knows that this is a hard decision to make, especially when you’re staring at a little paint chip sample. But I’m happy with the results. My cute office is the only room with a cheerful lavender color. Everywhere else, we chose a gray or blue theme.
We had to make sure to stay within a lot of guidelines given to us by management, so there was only so much we could do… well, that and the fact that we didn’t have a ton of money to burn. But even the slightest tweaks made all the difference in the world, like replacing our doors and painting the trim. You can check out our “BEFORE” PICS HERE.
One thing we weren’t aware of was that we weren’t allowed to have hard wood floors in any room other than the kitchen! Isn’t that weird? But it’s because of a noise issue. This is an older building and you can hear all the squeaking and creaking. Carpet helps insulate that problem, so they make you cover up about 75% of your place in carpet, for the sake of the unit below you.
So we ripped up the old stuff and put in the new one. The color is almost a light chocolate gray. I wanted something that wouldn’t get dirty easily. I was mad at first that we had to get carpet, because I LOVE HARDWOOD FLOORS! But I’ll be the first to secretly admit that this soft plushy carpet feels mighty nice and cozy under my feet, especially during this cold winter, so I’m actually fine with it now.
When the old carpet and trash was dumped onto our snow-kissed balcony, this sight was oddly refreshing to me! It symbolized a new beginning. This was the only trash left from the demolition process, which definitely meant we were making progress! Check out our DEMOLITION PICS HERE.
This was our first peek of one of our newly finished bathrooms! The toilets and vanities were finally in place, but the bedroom and closet doors had to be stored in here while the carpet was being installed. By the way, Joe and I had to run back and forth buying and returning different vanities because of the way the pipes were routed. This part wasn’t fun, but we’re glad about the way it looks now.
And then the carpet was finished! Goodbye clutter! Goodbye old musty smell! Check out how this space looked like in our CONSTRUCTION PICS HERE.
The kitchen was the last room to be finished, and with every new addition, I got more and more excited. This is the day when our first assembled glass cabinet from Ikea was hung. I felt like a proud parent watching my kid up on stage at their first ballet concert.
And this is the day when our new appliances arrived! I’ve NEVER had stainless steel appliances in my own kitchen. We just hadn’t lived in nice enough apartments where they came standard with the place. The nice kitchen set you see in our videos is from my in law’s home. That’s the closest I ever got to cooking continuously on stainless steel. But we went to an LG warehouse where they sell refurbished (not brand new) appliances, and we got a good deal for everything.
The kitchen has a skinny little mouse hole as a entrance, which I don’t like. But we weren’t allowed to knock down any walls. There is important wiring behind them. And wouldn’t you know… it was EXACTLY the right amount of space we needed to barely squeeze through our new fridge! God was watching over us!
And once we got it in, we realized it was a hair fatter than we accounted for, so all the cabinetry had to be adjusted and moved over a bit too!
But my GAS STOVE came and nestled in nicely right in place like it owned this town! Do you see it now? Can you imagine it all coming together and what it will look like when it’s done? Can you tell I’m excited?
And then of course I had to pretend that I was cooking in my own kitchen…wouldn’t you? Everyday I walk into my kitchen, I don’t ever take things for granted. It’s been six fast paced months since we’ve moved to Chicago, and I can finally say we’re making progress, not just in our home, but in our lives here. We’re starting to feel normal, and getting into the swing of things with our blog and online cooking show. Thank you if you’ve been following us on our journey. We are pumped to continue to bring more great things for you from our new “set” soon.
