Curb Appeal - Yellooooowwwww is Gone!

With the drive way re-paved and a brand new garage door on the old 60's bungalow, it was time to work on the overall curb appeal to this house. Poor Barry across the street has been looking at this bright yellow disaster for years.

Here's the before shot - front of the house. If I can find an old picture of the yellow garage days, I'll upload it here later.....

I had to get rid of this rotting porch sliding doorway which housed a primary nest of carpenter ants.

The view from inside with all the lovely golden plastic....yuk.

This is the front picture window - 3 panes, no venting window. This was installed in 1987. I wanted this window to be vented so I can feel a breeze through my house. I had not planned on replacing this window but your ideas always change during renovations. It was worth replacing the 29 year old window.

The side door had one of those original aluminum doors - the knob fell off last summer to which I responded to with laughter. Then I punched a hole in the screen to open the door. Jay found the vintage 1961 English newspapers stuffed in the wall of the door frame....Just a little bit of peeling paint here.

I hadn't originally planned to replace this kitchen window but it warped from not closing it properly. When I designed the kitchen, I didn't consider how the window swings inwards for cleaning and the new valence blocked the window from opening. My design flaw. Also, I need a stool to reach these window locks. A pain in the ass. The window had become warped and wouldn't close properly.  I felt cold air coming in this winter. Karl suggested the window was  good enough to keep but I wanted to get rid of it.
 

Here's Jay of Superior Home Improvements working hard. Highly skilled, professional, friendly and hard working. Awesome guy.  He has ripped off the old ugly aluminum siding to reveal the same ugly red colour in wood. And look: there's a vent to the attic which has been covered up all these years. I guess this explains why additional vents were required when I had the roof replaced a decade ago.

That ugly porch sliding door and frame is gone!! Voila.

And here's the transformation - The NEW

Kitchen window.



I LOVE this window, even though it is a view remains that of my neighbours kitchen window. It's so bright and I love the single pane glass view and wide expansive breeze that comes through this window.  I'll be able to keep it open during rainfalls.


 

The new side door is vented of course. I added an electronic lock (not pictured here) so you won't need keys anymore.

(Ahem. Note the original Peter Cannon style decorative wall paper, red vinyl floor and dark panelling going down into the basement. The walls are a scratching post for Oliver and Homer......The 'Next' inside job. Does anyone have scaffolding they can lend to me?)

Do you recognize this house, folks? I'm telling you, don't drive by next time you come to visit......

It's the new #52.

Any suggestions to cover or improve that red brick inside the porch? Not crazy about that but it could be worse. Some further improvements needed here including painting the porch floor, new railings and something to improve that red brick. Suggestions will be appreciated.

The side door now has a lever instead of that old useless knob. Much easier for bringing wine and beer into the backyard patio (wink wink). Easier to open.

View of the hallway and new double doors from living room vantage. Yup, I have a tiny hall entrance.

The windows are tinted so during the day no one can see in. Perhaps I'll hold off on getting those window coverings! (kidding)

Exterior view of the big-ass kitchen window.

Living room view from new bow window.

The boys are starting to sit on the window ledge but they're still out of sorts caused by renovation and disruption to their environment. But they love the morning sun. This is the evening and with flash view. You should see how BRIGHT this is on a sunny morning!

I have to paint and finish this myself. Guess I'll get to that eventually......

I'm incredibly pleased and thoroughly impressed with Superior Home Improvements in every single way. Highly recommended.

Planning, Revising and Reality Check Computes

Oliver is holding out - he doesn't like change and  he can sense there is change on the horizon.....(sorry, but I couldn't resist). 

By this point, I had met Cathy, Kitchen Specialist at the Lowes Pickering store. Cathy worked with me for hours over several evening and eventually provided me with the reality check:  Give up on the old cabinets. It's impossible to reconfigure my old cabinets into a new kitchen design. Rob assured me it was feasible to remove the wall and reinforce the structure with an engineered beam. I now had a visual in my head of  the transformation to an open space but I had no idea how many decisions still lay ahead of me: Space design, cabinetry, styles, wood type and finish, hardware, flooring, lighting, electrical, and The Unexpected.
I packed up the old kitchen,  and prepared myself for living in a "temporary kitchen" in the living room/dining area and Rob diligently minimized the inconvenience of it all by ensuring I had a temporary space with the working basics of a kitchen. He always ensured I had a working stove and fridge and running water whenever possible.

A final look at my old wall, soon to be HISTORY!

One last look at the old kitchen.....

Old cabinetry gone! In one day, Rob and Adrian had removed the old cabinets. 

Later on, I lost lots of sleep over my decision not to have Rob remove these bulkheads.....but in the end I like having them remain behind.

Here is the ugly box everybody loves to hate. It is a common feature of the bungalows in this neighbourhood.

The hole where the The Old Ugly Bulkhead and valence used to be. I was pleased to see those eye-sores out of my kitchen.

                                                                     

Oliver

Homer

This was one of the memorable moments to me - the evening I returned home to find the central interior wall separating the kitchen from the living/dining rooms was GONE. The acoustics, the open space felt amazing! I cracked open a bottle of wine to celebrate.

 The view from kitchen into dining/living room - the engineered beam.

Reality Check - The Kitchen Before Pictures

Do you ever ask yourself the question: Why did I wait so long to do this? How long ago did Gordon and his friend strip that kitchen wallpaper? Six years ago?

Love my large bright windows, hate the groovy Tiffany lamps (and a matching pair at that!). Okay, I take full responsibility for the garbage on the refrigerator door but the decor was in serious need of refreshment and I'd still rather look at pictures of my cats.

Note the weird square box between the stove and fridge. That is the head space allowance for the stairs going down into the basement, a common feature of  the bungalows in this subdivision.  Some homeowners have created a false wall to bring this wall forward but sacrifice the total area footage in the kitchen  to remove this annoying design flaw.

How could the previous owner replace kitchen cabinets but NOT build in a dishwasher? He didn't own a dishwasher and had not configured it into the kitchen plan. My cat Oliver loved this dishwasher. It was his Special Spot. He is holding vigil here....he knows something is up since mummy emptied the cupboards and there was so much activity with the move.....

Oliver

Another problem identified was my need to keep these kitchen drawers. I wanted to have some drawers but also wanted to try to reuse the cabinets to save money. I thought seriously about trying to use my current cabinetry but purchase additional complementary cabinetry to create a new kitchen design.  

What do you think of the groovy bulk head? And valence. This bulk head was my Pet Peeve. I really hated this bulk head. The original 1960's kitchen cabinets hung from this bulk head; the old vinyl floor had yellow marks to to highlight their departure from decades ago. Don't even get me started on the vinyl floor......

'

View from the kitchen into the dining room. How do you like that industrial track lighting? Don't worry, Bro, you can have it back real soon!

Eventually the doorway (below) will be moved over to accommodate new cabinetry ....nice floor, huh?

The hallway will not be changed much in the new design....

The day I met my contractor "Reno Rob", we discussed my desire to blow out this wall to open this space. And he graciously indulged this discussion for 3 hours! He deserves a Sainthood or something for smiling and not flat out telling me I was delusional. Removal of the wall between my kitchen and dining and living room would open up my bungalow and encourage me to start living in the remainder of my home. I spent lots of my the kitchen cooking and dreamed of being able to use the entire space, entertain friends and look out the large living room window.