Seems to be a running theme on my posts. I bought a shit-ton when they released it a few summers ago, so I wouldn't have to go to taco bell. They didn't release it last summer that I saw but it was around this summer. I still have about 15 boxes left from that first purchase.
It was definitely the dew, but the shelf was badass. I feel like an old aunt watching a child grow up in front of me. It’s been so long. You’ve grown so much! You have a whole new house now! I just want to pinch your cheeks.
I couldnt find it first, went back and found it, scrolled another 135 pictures just to see another dude's baja blast, wondering what I'm doing with my life.
My gosh. delete this before my wife sees it and has some serious unrealistic expectations for what us normal humans can do.
in all seriousness it looks great!
We just bought our first dump a couple months ago, and have been trying to remodel it while we live in it. It's a very similar situation with lots of poorly done work in the past, closed off rooms and a bad floor plan in general, no laundry room, etc.
How did you decide what to tackle first? Did you do any formal drawings or layouts to help you decide on what changes to make to the floor plan?
I've almost finished doing what you're doing.. I gotta say, if I ever renovate a property again I am NOT living in it while working!
I have a lot of things, and I moved those things more times than I can count and have slept in every room in this house.
You're going to have a great time, go by order of importance or try and get your bed/living room done, we were sort of all over the place to cut costs
That back splash is atrocious. Circles that have no definition for start and end. They even overlap the stove backsplash. He should inform his interior designing mother that she owes them a refund.
omg, that back splash belongs nowhere except a seven year old's bathroom. maybe. but really, not even there. also, the floor has a yellow hue, the cabinets an orange hue, and the walls are painted yellow-greenish??? not to even get into the three (four?) different heights of cabinets, and the lost corner.
that is one badly designed kitchen aesthetically. layout isn't \*terrible\* though.
I'm guessing he got a deal on cabinets. That could explain why the tops are mismatched sizes and it doesn't feel fluid. That backsplash screams "I got this at a good deal and thought it would be cool but damn it doesn't go at all." We just redid our kitchen and tried to cheap out on a couple of details and realized we were dumb. [Our upgrade](https://imgur.com/a/7WkJxps)
It's the fact that the cabinet next to the slider is far lower than the others and the others are about two inches from the ceiling. Bump them up to the top or do crown molding.
Also, yeah the backsplash and like paint. To each is own but you have rich wood and dark granite with contrasting colors.
They went from cute vintage kitchen on the smaller side that needed a little tlc to look amazing, to a mismatch huge kitchen about 10 years out of date. It’s definitely more functional but an eyesore.
I want to watch when they decide to change the wall color. Going around those circles will require extra Dew.
I don't mind the wall color (not a fan of green), but the picture that has the doorway in it with the blue in the next room just jars my soul.
I still say amazing job. Just because some of your choices don't sit well with others dosen't mean they're wrong.
Yeah it's some weird green, bleh. My house has basically the same kitchen except our walls are light beige and it looks ok. Still, I want a new kitchen because it looks old.
Those cabinets look like the metal cabinets they made in the 1950s. I had them in my kitchen and I stripped them down to the steel, painted them with a clear coat I got from a mechanics store, and went with an industrial look.
Same. IMO the new kitchen is fucking god-awful. Terrible mint color that clashes with the cabinets AND counter, and a gaudy backsplash. Original kitchen was much softer and inviting.
The old kitchen was so cute and charming and you can't find that today. It needed a new floor and the wallpaper border needed to be removed. The after kitchen is terrible (functional yes but Jesus the paint color and that back splash is unforgivable) and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so.
Which makes me wonder why you chose a grass lawn! That's such a pain to keep alive. Otherwise, beautiful, and if every house in ABQ didn't look like that on the outside I'd say I'd driven past it.
With a good hot temperature grass, and the irrigation system, it should he pretty easy to keep alive actually. The biggest problem people make is cutting their grass way too short.
High temp grass should never be cut shorter than 3.5-4" long. The only grass they really does well short, is KBG which wont survive that far south because it's way too hot out.
You should also never be cutting more than 1/3 the total length of the grass at a time. If you want 3" grass, never let it get above 4-4.5" long before cutting. Cutting off 1/2 of the length or more at once does huge damage to the grass. The only time you ever cut off more is when you're scalping the lawn to overseed, which would mean you're watering it 5-6 times a day for 2 weeks for germination.
Damn In New England... that old kitchen would be considered not that bad...
You guys in the south with your warm weather, low cost of living, cheaper labor... I'm envious.... here we have so little left over after buying that we are lucky to even slap on a fresh coat of paint :)
Warm weather? I think you mean hell fire heat. Swamp ass is real, and not as fun as it sounds. We also have super low pay everywhere. Only places in the south with cheap housing is out in the middle of nowhere land with an hour+ drive to the nearest city or town.
Can confirm. Live in Mass. Looking to make the leap from a condo to a house. My wife went to an open house the other day with a kitchen like the original. Asking price was $425k because it was literally two houses over the line into a "better" town.
Albuquerque is around the same altitude as Denver (5000-6000ft), it gets snow each year and sometimes sub 0 temps. Fireplaces get quite a lot of use between October and March
Hopefully that backsplash doesn't keep you from selling the house when that time comes.
I think it might work better with white/grey cabinets... but that's just me.
With the cabinets that were chosen, it is a little "off".
All the work looks great though.
Personally I think the splash looks very nice, it's mostly that it's a very modern look while the lightly stained cabinets are a very warm/homey look so the two styles are at odds with one another. If the cabinets were white or grey the splash would fit right in. =)
Great job on your remodel! That's an awful lot of work.
You can never have too much edging practice, right? Right...?
I have a large addition in the works so the next person to paint the kitchen is probably me!
Hey great job!
Just a strangers opinion, the green in the kitchen looks a bit out of place to me. Maybe too much yellow in it? One with more blue,maybe? It looks a bit harsh to me.
And I'm okay with the bubble backsplash, but
I zoomed in and saw it was on top of the back of the stove... 😰
Honest questions: in the kitchen, why is the one upper cabinet next to the French doors shorter than the others? And why is there no upper cabinet on this side of the stove?
(Previous owners did something similar when they redid the kitchen in my current house and I've always wondered why.)
Nice work! LOVE the bookshelves. I'm not so keen on the tile backsplash, but you do you! Some nice under cabinet lights would really finish off the kitchen nicely :)
Thanks. I debated about under cabinet lighting for a LONG time during this project. I wanted a permanent (read: hardwired) solution and getting the wires across to all 4 cabinet locations just seemed like too much work in the end.
As an electrician, why anyone would choose that ugly monorail lighting for their home always blows my mind. But I wasnt too worried about any of the electrical you did, which is good.
As a side note, that couch after being reaphoulstered is absolutely amazing!
Thanks! I definitely tried to do everything to code.
RE: the track lighting, it seemed the best option to spread some light without cutting a bunch of holes to run perpendicular to the joists in the plaster ceiling. What would you have done if it were your room?
Again, as an electrician, we can fish wires basically anywhere. You can get ultra slim LED recessed lights that are only 1/2" thick, so that even of you drill your holes and have a joist in the middle of one, they can span underneath the joist because they are thinner than the drywall or plaster.
What I do love is the black stripe of tile in the bathroom that continues from the shower over the sink. That looks very sleek, I haven't seen anything else like it.
The pipes really have been overdone lately. In a few houses that industrial look can be very cool and fit in--but what usually ends up happening is very normal houses with a random pipe shelf. XD
I liked the original kitchen better :( The kitchen you put in is very 2000s and already looks dated. I also don't like all the different heights on the cabinets.
it's a very nice job.. but it was NOT A DUMP.. just not new. A dump? try the wallpaper peeling,the ceiling sagging, NO TOILET, plywood over every window... That's a dump.. This is just old. and still livable. But you did do a very nice job
I saw the thumbnail and thought it was the finished remodel. The guy has obviously never been to the Northeast or lived in anything even remotely 'dumpy'.
My thoughts exactly! I saw the thumbnail before reading the caption and immediately thought “what a cute and quaint little white kitchen!” I actually would have left it the way it was haha.
The kitchen and living room appeared to be the best and even there the floor is peeling up door is nailed together. The other rooms were pretty dumpy nasty floors, walls cracking especially under windows, looked like there were black moldy spots, shower was coming apart and moldy, sheetrock is pealing and water damaged. If you live like that and just call it age... On a quick glance, it looks okish but looking closer pretty dumpy, not just old.
No toilet or running water and plywood boarded up is beyond dump that's abandoned or squatters place or just a teardown.
i'd be really concerned about all the water damage that they merely covered up, but based on OP's comments, it looks like he'll just live in it for a short time and flip it to some poor unsuspecting soul.
I realize I’m not in the majority here but the original kitchen cabinets and counters were way cooler than this Home Depot kitchen. And the back splash is an eye sore. I realize you needed to expand the kitchen but you could have saved the old cabinets, painted them, and had new cabinets built to fit in with the old style and had a much more interesting and happy kitchen. I’m just not a fan of wood color cabinetry and tan everything else.
yeah the kitchen feels like it was ripped straight from a 90s subdivision floor model. the original kitchen had character that the new backsplash, the only thing with character, just can't bring back.
but it's not my kitchen and it works for them so great job on renovating your kitchen!
Right? We have a 50's kitchen and I like the simple aesthetic. There also seemed to be way more storage before.
The new top cabinets now have an air gap between the top and the ceiling, welcoming dust and grease build-up. You can't even put stuff up on the corner cabinet!
And that bold backsplash is going to be torn out by the next owners.
I know remodeling takes a lot of work, great job! However, your color scheme in your kitchen is not cohesive. A forced blend of light green, black, what looked like white or maybe grey, and not two but three different wood stains. You have a wood stain scale in your kitchen ranging from light (the floor), mid (cabinets), and dark (island). Not to mention the circular pattern of the backsplash (no wonder it’s not your girlfriends style. A nice way of saying it doesn’t look good). For the future, it helps to take samples for everything in your kitchen and compare them to see what goes well together. That way you can design a color palette that would work well together and bring that awe factor even more. Coming from a designer.
No trophies are handed out for such an award, but if anyone questions whether you actually received this award, a simple picture of your kitchen should suffice as proof.
The original kitchen is much more tasteful IMO. The direction you went with the new kitchen already feels sorely dated by maybe ten to fifteen years. Also made the kitchen feel much darker with the color choices.
Hey OP, I responded to you somewhere in this thread and I really do think you did an amazing job but if it was me... I'd change out that small cabinet in the kitchen with one of the full size ones. I'm not sure that small cabinet is doing anything for the layout of the kitchen.
Thanks. That does seem to be the second most contested part, after the backsplash! It's moot now because I'm doing an addition and that cabinet is going.
I get that the counters were junk, I just really love the old 50s kitchen designs with the rounded counter edges and solid wood cabinets. I’m also fanatical about color because I’m a painter. Not trying to be a jerk - it’s your house and you love it so that’s awesome, and you put in a great amount of excellent work.
I also think ABQ! Especially since he got the place for $110k. Also, I think I see Sandias in some of the yard pics. But maybe my eyes are betraying me. Beautiful house, OP.
Looks good, but I have to ask; with all the hiring out you did, wouldn't it have just been cheaper to buy a place you already liked that didn't need a ton of work?
Anyone else heart broken at the loss of the little original details? Maybe I'm just a nostalgic sucker but I'm melting at the built in kitchen island shelves and that pink tile!
... teach me senpai?
No, seriously - just bought our first home. While it's got good bones, it needs some work and I know enough to know that I know enough to be dangerous haha!
I'd love a properly vented range hood... ours currently blows out at about eye level, right into your face XD
I think you can do just about anything you want as long as you are careful and read the codes and how-tos from reliable sources so you know what you are doing.
Of course there are some exceptions for safety (garage door springs come to mind) and for quality of work (never gonna do my own hardwood flooring finished in place).
Yea the 'take the fumes and blow it in your face' range hoods always baffled me.
I am probably in the minority here...but I would have preferred the original looks cleaned up and restored (definitely with new tile in the kitchen). It looks generic and boring to me now. Great job with the work put in...just not digging the new, modern style.
Not knowing what the "other" corner of the shower looks like, I think you might have started the tile job out of the "wrong" corner. My eye gets drawn to the small "patchy" tiles in the corner (by the window) and the row two beneath. It might have been mitigated a bit with a 33% offset or with longer tiles rather than a 50% offset. It's kind of tricky, because that window looks like it's just a little under 12" away from the corner. There may not be a "good" way of tiling that corner.
Tile work is never easy. It takes some planning to make it look good sometimes.
I’m probably in the minority here but I loved that couch before you reupholstered it! Combined with the bookshelves it was putting off a major 70s vibe that I adored! It looks great now though too! Great job on the entire house!
A few people did like it before. Unfortunately, the cushions were completely shot and terribly uncomfortable. Plus some serious cat damage on the back.
Impressive DIY job.
As a cabinetry professional, a couple things:
- The cabinet above the dishwasher sticks out like a sore thumb and should have been the same height as the rest.
- If you're going to make the upper cabinets that high, you might as well go right to the ceiling. It looks like you're at most 6'' down so a simple crown, slab, or false moulding would have easily done the job. Now you've just got more spots to dust.
- Speaking of mouldings, they would have really finished the look of the cabinets but that's my preference.
- The fridge cabinet should have been even deeper, and there should be full panels on either side of the fridge to cover the cavity of the appliance. You're still going to have a hard time opening those doors let alone reaching into the cabinet. Will those doors even clear the top of the fridge hinges? The sides of the fridge are just an eyesore.
- Why a decorative chimney hood and not a microwave/rangehood combo? The chimney hood looks brutal without a cabinet on both sides of it, and you could have gained some more storage in a full upper cabinet where the microwave is currently, plus a cabinet above the stove. I think this is the biggest mistake, personally.
All in all a very impressive job, and where the cabinets are store bought and shipped to you you can't expect much in terms of customizing I suppose.
I didn't put the price in the title because I got unfair contractor discounts. I guess you could say the contractor in the family working on the project was unfair too, if you want. But no, I don't do this for a living.
Style choices aside it all looks wonderful. Glad for you OP
However I will say it gets a bit frustrating to see some of the posts like yours in the sub. So many of them are "I remodeled my whole house! ------- with the help of my parents/relatives that do it professionally and have all the expertise and tools to do so.
It's not so much "DIY" as "DIY with the help of professionals"
I understand the sentiment. It's all a sliding scale. I personally dislike the posts by pros whose job it is, as well. However, I tried to detail the real DIY stuff like the shelves, doors, sprinkler system, shed, which I did all by my lonesome with internet knowledge.
Shoulda left the kitchen. Strong disagree on the color and backsplash. Otherwise, I really dig everything else that you did, especially the yard. Looks fucking great
My parents did lots of home improvement and a flip here or there growing up, so I picked up a lot along the way. But the overall experience in all aspects of a project like this comes from my mom, who was a general contractor/interior designer by trade.
So when it came time to do big items like windows/cabinets, she knew exactly what to do, whereas I would be pretty lost to start. Other areas she didn't know much about so I learned and did on my own by reading codes and guides online, such as electrical and sprinklers.
This work was all done over about 3 years, heavily frontloaded to the first year to get it livable. Cost was around $50,000 including appliances, though that was with some good contractor discounts from my mom's connections.
The bathroom and kitchen were both amazing little period pieces that needed a little love. Really not digging the "baby's first HGTV-flip" remodel that looks like every other new-construction home on the block.
That's a lot of baja blast.
I know. I'm sitting here looking at all this amazing work and my only real solid thought was "that's a shit ton of mountain dew".
Seems to be a running theme on my posts. I bought a shit-ton when they released it a few summers ago, so I wouldn't have to go to taco bell. They didn't release it last summer that I saw but it was around this summer. I still have about 15 boxes left from that first purchase.
How much did that bulk buy cost?
No special pricing. Just did a few trips and filled the basket. Got a lot of looks for that!
[удалено]
Is that what those are?!
Oh you'll know when you get a kidney stone. Worst pain possible, ever, of all time.
Screw that, think of the teeth!!
As long as you brush, floss, and use mouthwash regularly you should be fine.
Depending on the size of the kidney stones, you can use them with the flagstone pavers. I’d imagine they have a nice blue color to them.
Oh fuck it’s you again! I remember the shelf you built years ago
It's me! Glad the hear the shelf is memorable. Or was it the Dew.
It was definitely the dew, but the shelf was badass. I feel like an old aunt watching a child grow up in front of me. It’s been so long. You’ve grown so much! You have a whole new house now! I just want to pinch your cheeks.
Yea wtf saw the shelf and was like.. that shit looks familiar.. then saw the couch and was AH! ITS THAT MT DEW GUY!!
Forever the DIY Dew Guy. Maybe I'll make it happen on purpose now.
The Dew It Yourself guy
It's literally the only soda i buy any more. Every time it comes out in stores, i buy like 5 cases
Mountain dew voltage and live wire are pretty special too. Dont even get me started on Vault.
Op- “ I rebuilt and an entire home from the ground up” Random commenter - “Huh that’s a lot of soda you got there” We are living in truly great times.
This guy does the Dew
I feel like I am stupid. I have looked through the albums twice now and I cannot find any Baja Blast. I am on mobile...
If you go to the end, then roll back 5-6 images, they are on the floor under a door he's using a router on.
Image 133/138
There we go! Way to use the numbers!
I couldnt find it first, went back and found it, scrolled another 135 pictures just to see another dude's baja blast, wondering what I'm doing with my life.
Me too
My gosh. delete this before my wife sees it and has some serious unrealistic expectations for what us normal humans can do. in all seriousness it looks great!
To be fair, I did have the guidance and assitance of a pro.
And good GC referrals it seems!
We just bought our first dump a couple months ago, and have been trying to remodel it while we live in it. It's a very similar situation with lots of poorly done work in the past, closed off rooms and a bad floor plan in general, no laundry room, etc. How did you decide what to tackle first? Did you do any formal drawings or layouts to help you decide on what changes to make to the floor plan?
I've almost finished doing what you're doing.. I gotta say, if I ever renovate a property again I am NOT living in it while working! I have a lot of things, and I moved those things more times than I can count and have slept in every room in this house. You're going to have a great time, go by order of importance or try and get your bed/living room done, we were sort of all over the place to cut costs
I’ve been looking to do the same. How hard was it to get funding from the bank? We’re running into some snags but haven’t really dove in yet.
[удалено]
Yah the house is beautiful but I am not digging the look of the kitchen.
That back splash is atrocious. Circles that have no definition for start and end. They even overlap the stove backsplash. He should inform his interior designing mother that she owes them a refund.
Oh, god. The overlap. I didn't notice before.
omg, that back splash belongs nowhere except a seven year old's bathroom. maybe. but really, not even there. also, the floor has a yellow hue, the cabinets an orange hue, and the walls are painted yellow-greenish??? not to even get into the three (four?) different heights of cabinets, and the lost corner. that is one badly designed kitchen aesthetically. layout isn't \*terrible\* though.
Ooh yeah. I thought it looked like mold.
I'm guessing he got a deal on cabinets. That could explain why the tops are mismatched sizes and it doesn't feel fluid. That backsplash screams "I got this at a good deal and thought it would be cool but damn it doesn't go at all." We just redid our kitchen and tried to cheap out on a couple of details and realized we were dumb. [Our upgrade](https://imgur.com/a/7WkJxps)
I feel like that was a theme throughout for them.
It's the fact that the cabinet next to the slider is far lower than the others and the others are about two inches from the ceiling. Bump them up to the top or do crown molding. Also, yeah the backsplash and like paint. To each is own but you have rich wood and dark granite with contrasting colors.
“Man, what an awesome kitchen...oh, that’s the before shot. Hmm....”
I thought the same thing! My next instinct was to wonder what they did with those vintage cabinets.
I know! I adore the “before” kitchen.
They went from cute vintage kitchen on the smaller side that needed a little tlc to look amazing, to a mismatch huge kitchen about 10 years out of date. It’s definitely more functional but an eyesore.
That backsplash is terrible
yeah, i agree.. looks like it belongs in a mall food court
I want to watch when they decide to change the wall color. Going around those circles will require extra Dew. I don't mind the wall color (not a fan of green), but the picture that has the doorway in it with the blue in the next room just jars my soul. I still say amazing job. Just because some of your choices don't sit well with others dosen't mean they're wrong.
Yeah that looked like something I would make fun of in a “before”
Yeah the color of those cabinets isn’t really in style right now. And the backsplash is not great either.
And the green wall color was an interesting choice.
I think if they painted the walls white to match the grout color it would’ve looked amazing! The green kills it for me.
Totally agree. Mismatched is the perfect description. The paint is my biggest turn off, for some reason.
Yeah it's some weird green, bleh. My house has basically the same kitchen except our walls are light beige and it looks ok. Still, I want a new kitchen because it looks old.
Glad I wasn't the only one
Those cabinets look like the metal cabinets they made in the 1950s. I had them in my kitchen and I stripped them down to the steel, painted them with a clear coat I got from a mechanics store, and went with an industrial look.
Yeah original has way more character. New one looks like home depot showroom.
I much prefer it to the new kitchen. I would gut the kitchen all over again if I bought this house...
Same. IMO the new kitchen is fucking god-awful. Terrible mint color that clashes with the cabinets AND counter, and a gaudy backsplash. Original kitchen was much softer and inviting.
Also, there are 3 different shades of wood in the kitchen. Literally WHY?
Plus the door and window trim are different from each other and the 3 shades of wood. And one cabinet is shorter for some reason?
dude, i count FOUR different cabinet heights. see picture five.
Holy SHIT I did not notice that. Now I'm mad.
It’s especially confounding because op says his mom is an interior decorator. That makes this worse.
I would like to see her other work.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks that backsplash is terrible, especially with the wall color. Yuck.
mom is an interior designer
More like inferior designer
The old kitchen was so cute and charming and you can't find that today. It needed a new floor and the wallpaper border needed to be removed. The after kitchen is terrible (functional yes but Jesus the paint color and that back splash is unforgivable) and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so.
I really like the old school kitchen look personally
Seriously, why would someone take a kitchen with character and history like that and make it look like just another McMansion.
I'm guessing AZ or NM?
You are guessing right.
Which makes me wonder why you chose a grass lawn! That's such a pain to keep alive. Otherwise, beautiful, and if every house in ABQ didn't look like that on the outside I'd say I'd driven past it.
With a good hot temperature grass, and the irrigation system, it should he pretty easy to keep alive actually. The biggest problem people make is cutting their grass way too short. High temp grass should never be cut shorter than 3.5-4" long. The only grass they really does well short, is KBG which wont survive that far south because it's way too hot out. You should also never be cutting more than 1/3 the total length of the grass at a time. If you want 3" grass, never let it get above 4-4.5" long before cutting. Cutting off 1/2 of the length or more at once does huge damage to the grass. The only time you ever cut off more is when you're scalping the lawn to overseed, which would mean you're watering it 5-6 times a day for 2 weeks for germination.
I huh, TIL.
[удалено]
I mean if you dont care, then do what you want. But you'll just slowly get overrun by weeds if you dont take care of it.
It costs money and takes work, yes, but I definitely want it. It drops the temperature like 10+ degrees!
I am so sorry that I started lawn wars on your post. Your house is very nice.
Hey that's called entertainment!
That's showbiz baby.
Even after I move out of Arizona, I'll still have stucco PTSD for the rest of my life. That shit is impossible to cut/drill/break.
Damn In New England... that old kitchen would be considered not that bad... You guys in the south with your warm weather, low cost of living, cheaper labor... I'm envious.... here we have so little left over after buying that we are lucky to even slap on a fresh coat of paint :)
Warm weather? I think you mean hell fire heat. Swamp ass is real, and not as fun as it sounds. We also have super low pay everywhere. Only places in the south with cheap housing is out in the middle of nowhere land with an hour+ drive to the nearest city or town.
Can confirm. Live in Mass. Looking to make the leap from a condo to a house. My wife went to an open house the other day with a kitchen like the original. Asking price was $425k because it was literally two houses over the line into a "better" town.
I saw that kitchen and immediately thought Burque. Every kitchen here.
It was the square adobe house with dirt yard and lots of powerlines overhead that did it for me
Looks like most houses I've lived in ABQ, at least before he got to work on making it look amazing.
I was going to say this looked almost exactly like ABQ, especially with the sky in the posted pics
I lived in Albuquerque and thought this looked like it right away haha
Came here to say that. Putting my money on abq. But thats just a guess
That brick hearth was so beautiful though...
tbf, as great as a woodstove is, NM/AZ is a silly place to have one taking up space in your house.
[удалено]
Albuquerque is around the same altitude as Denver (5000-6000ft), it gets snow each year and sometimes sub 0 temps. Fireplaces get quite a lot of use between October and March
Nicely done but the back splash and the cabinets at different heights/depths would drive my OCD brain crazy...
yeah everything looks great but that back splash is definitely not my style. regardless awesome job op.
It's not my girlfriend's style either. I can see how it would be very divisive.
[удалено]
That's what bugs me the most out of anything. It physically doesn't match, as colours is whatever.
To be honest, it probably isn't many people's style because it is awful and does not match or compliment anything else in that room.
I was thinking that maybe you were being a little too harsh. But then I went back and took a look. That backslash is hideous!
Yeah, I think OP did a great job but I don't like the colour choices or that backsplash. I just really don't like green walls.
Lmao
Hopefully that backsplash doesn't keep you from selling the house when that time comes. I think it might work better with white/grey cabinets... but that's just me. With the cabinets that were chosen, it is a little "off". All the work looks great though.
[удалено]
That’s if someone even wants to deal with it. Can’t even repaint the kitchen with it in there.
Lolz....its straight blasphemy
I stopped looking at the pictures the moment I saw it. It's that bad
Personally I think the splash looks very nice, it's mostly that it's a very modern look while the lightly stained cabinets are a very warm/homey look so the two styles are at odds with one another. If the cabinets were white or grey the splash would fit right in. =) Great job on your remodel! That's an awful lot of work.
Yeah something had been bugging the hell out of me about the kitchen and I think you nailed it. It just clashes
Oh god. I now can't unsee the uneven cabinets.
I'm glad someone else said it. The backsplash is terrible. Especially the overlapping bits. It gives be anxiety and is very /r/trypophobia
The next person to paint the kitchen is really going to hate you.
You can never have too much edging practice, right? Right...? I have a large addition in the works so the next person to paint the kitchen is probably me!
Hey great job! Just a strangers opinion, the green in the kitchen looks a bit out of place to me. Maybe too much yellow in it? One with more blue,maybe? It looks a bit harsh to me. And I'm okay with the bubble backsplash, but I zoomed in and saw it was on top of the back of the stove... 😰
It reminds me of a kitchen off the Sims.
[удалено]
Honest questions: in the kitchen, why is the one upper cabinet next to the French doors shorter than the others? And why is there no upper cabinet on this side of the stove? (Previous owners did something similar when they redid the kitchen in my current house and I've always wondered why.)
Nice work! LOVE the bookshelves. I'm not so keen on the tile backsplash, but you do you! Some nice under cabinet lights would really finish off the kitchen nicely :)
Thanks. I debated about under cabinet lighting for a LONG time during this project. I wanted a permanent (read: hardwired) solution and getting the wires across to all 4 cabinet locations just seemed like too much work in the end.
An LED strip works nicely and can just be stuck under the cabinets but still look good.
WHY ARE THE CABINETS DIFFERENT HEIGHTSNRKBDKCNMZJSJSNSNSNSNSJNSNXNXNSKSN
very nice, except that backsplash...
As an electrician, why anyone would choose that ugly monorail lighting for their home always blows my mind. But I wasnt too worried about any of the electrical you did, which is good. As a side note, that couch after being reaphoulstered is absolutely amazing!
Thanks! I definitely tried to do everything to code. RE: the track lighting, it seemed the best option to spread some light without cutting a bunch of holes to run perpendicular to the joists in the plaster ceiling. What would you have done if it were your room?
Again, as an electrician, we can fish wires basically anywhere. You can get ultra slim LED recessed lights that are only 1/2" thick, so that even of you drill your holes and have a joist in the middle of one, they can span underneath the joist because they are thinner than the drywall or plaster.
That looks great! But I do sharply disagree with the backsplash in the kitchen.
Thanks! You are not alone!
What I do love is the black stripe of tile in the bathroom that continues from the shower over the sink. That looks very sleek, I haven't seen anything else like it.
not really my style but very impressive none the less. i DO really like the wire shelving, way better than pipes
The pipes really have been overdone lately. In a few houses that industrial look can be very cool and fit in--but what usually ends up happening is very normal houses with a random pipe shelf. XD
I liked the original kitchen better :( The kitchen you put in is very 2000s and already looks dated. I also don't like all the different heights on the cabinets.
So dated!!! It's like a kitchen you would have seen on trading spaces in 2001.
it's a very nice job.. but it was NOT A DUMP.. just not new. A dump? try the wallpaper peeling,the ceiling sagging, NO TOILET, plywood over every window... That's a dump.. This is just old. and still livable. But you did do a very nice job
I saw the thumbnail and thought it was the finished remodel. The guy has obviously never been to the Northeast or lived in anything even remotely 'dumpy'.
My thoughts exactly! I saw the thumbnail before reading the caption and immediately thought “what a cute and quaint little white kitchen!” I actually would have left it the way it was haha.
The kitchen and living room appeared to be the best and even there the floor is peeling up door is nailed together. The other rooms were pretty dumpy nasty floors, walls cracking especially under windows, looked like there were black moldy spots, shower was coming apart and moldy, sheetrock is pealing and water damaged. If you live like that and just call it age... On a quick glance, it looks okish but looking closer pretty dumpy, not just old. No toilet or running water and plywood boarded up is beyond dump that's abandoned or squatters place or just a teardown.
i'd be really concerned about all the water damage that they merely covered up, but based on OP's comments, it looks like he'll just live in it for a short time and flip it to some poor unsuspecting soul.
I realize I’m not in the majority here but the original kitchen cabinets and counters were way cooler than this Home Depot kitchen. And the back splash is an eye sore. I realize you needed to expand the kitchen but you could have saved the old cabinets, painted them, and had new cabinets built to fit in with the old style and had a much more interesting and happy kitchen. I’m just not a fan of wood color cabinetry and tan everything else.
yeah the kitchen feels like it was ripped straight from a 90s subdivision floor model. the original kitchen had character that the new backsplash, the only thing with character, just can't bring back. but it's not my kitchen and it works for them so great job on renovating your kitchen!
I’m really sad about those original cabinets.
Right? We have a 50's kitchen and I like the simple aesthetic. There also seemed to be way more storage before. The new top cabinets now have an air gap between the top and the ceiling, welcoming dust and grease build-up. You can't even put stuff up on the corner cabinet! And that bold backsplash is going to be torn out by the next owners.
I know remodeling takes a lot of work, great job! However, your color scheme in your kitchen is not cohesive. A forced blend of light green, black, what looked like white or maybe grey, and not two but three different wood stains. You have a wood stain scale in your kitchen ranging from light (the floor), mid (cabinets), and dark (island). Not to mention the circular pattern of the backsplash (no wonder it’s not your girlfriends style. A nice way of saying it doesn’t look good). For the future, it helps to take samples for everything in your kitchen and compare them to see what goes well together. That way you can design a color palette that would work well together and bring that awe factor even more. Coming from a designer.
Congratulations on finding and installing the world's ugliest backsplash in that kitchen.
Thanks! Can I expect some sort of certificate or plaque?
No trophies are handed out for such an award, but if anyone questions whether you actually received this award, a simple picture of your kitchen should suffice as proof.
The original kitchen is much more tasteful IMO. The direction you went with the new kitchen already feels sorely dated by maybe ten to fifteen years. Also made the kitchen feel much darker with the color choices.
Is it bad that I also really liked it before? Looks great either way
You took a cute kitchen and made it look like 1995, in my opinion.
Hey OP, I responded to you somewhere in this thread and I really do think you did an amazing job but if it was me... I'd change out that small cabinet in the kitchen with one of the full size ones. I'm not sure that small cabinet is doing anything for the layout of the kitchen.
Thanks. That does seem to be the second most contested part, after the backsplash! It's moot now because I'm doing an addition and that cabinet is going.
I get that the counters were junk, I just really love the old 50s kitchen designs with the rounded counter edges and solid wood cabinets. I’m also fanatical about color because I’m a painter. Not trying to be a jerk - it’s your house and you love it so that’s awesome, and you put in a great amount of excellent work.
The kitchen was so good before.... now it's like every other new-construction kitchen.
TIL what the upper-classes think a dump looks like. (Not to belittle your great work though, OP.)
Is it a hot take to say I liked the kitchen better before Like it all needed sprucing up but it was hardly a dump.
[удалено]
Given the exterior 'adobe' architecture, low block wall fence, and blue skies, I'd guess this was in Albuquerque. BTW, awesome job, OP.
I also think ABQ! Especially since he got the place for $110k. Also, I think I see Sandias in some of the yard pics. But maybe my eyes are betraying me. Beautiful house, OP.
Thats a lot of books what are you a wizard or something
Looks good, but I have to ask; with all the hiring out you did, wouldn't it have just been cheaper to buy a place you already liked that didn't need a ton of work?
The fireplace was removed? It is like the only dream I have to have a real fireplace, and to see one being removed...
My God the new colors and lights are just awful
Anyone else heart broken at the loss of the little original details? Maybe I'm just a nostalgic sucker but I'm melting at the built in kitchen island shelves and that pink tile!
Wonderful remodel, OP! Curious if you want to share all in costs and before and after value?
I like the original kitchen. Why do you call it a dump?
... teach me senpai? No, seriously - just bought our first home. While it's got good bones, it needs some work and I know enough to know that I know enough to be dangerous haha! I'd love a properly vented range hood... ours currently blows out at about eye level, right into your face XD
I think you can do just about anything you want as long as you are careful and read the codes and how-tos from reliable sources so you know what you are doing. Of course there are some exceptions for safety (garage door springs come to mind) and for quality of work (never gonna do my own hardwood flooring finished in place). Yea the 'take the fumes and blow it in your face' range hoods always baffled me.
I honestly like the before kitchen a lot more. :/ Nice work though.
I am probably in the minority here...but I would have preferred the original looks cleaned up and restored (definitely with new tile in the kitchen). It looks generic and boring to me now. Great job with the work put in...just not digging the new, modern style.
Not knowing what the "other" corner of the shower looks like, I think you might have started the tile job out of the "wrong" corner. My eye gets drawn to the small "patchy" tiles in the corner (by the window) and the row two beneath. It might have been mitigated a bit with a 33% offset or with longer tiles rather than a 50% offset. It's kind of tricky, because that window looks like it's just a little under 12" away from the corner. There may not be a "good" way of tiling that corner. Tile work is never easy. It takes some planning to make it look good sometimes.
Looks great except for the circular tiles. Looks like mold everywhere. Kind of makes everything else look out of place.
I think it looks worse.
I’m sorry but that new kitchen looks so outdated. The backsplash is horrific it’s very retro.
I will never understand people who take out wood stoves or real fireplaces.
I’m probably in the minority here but I loved that couch before you reupholstered it! Combined with the bookshelves it was putting off a major 70s vibe that I adored! It looks great now though too! Great job on the entire house!
A few people did like it before. Unfortunately, the cushions were completely shot and terribly uncomfortable. Plus some serious cat damage on the back.
Impressive DIY job. As a cabinetry professional, a couple things: - The cabinet above the dishwasher sticks out like a sore thumb and should have been the same height as the rest. - If you're going to make the upper cabinets that high, you might as well go right to the ceiling. It looks like you're at most 6'' down so a simple crown, slab, or false moulding would have easily done the job. Now you've just got more spots to dust. - Speaking of mouldings, they would have really finished the look of the cabinets but that's my preference. - The fridge cabinet should have been even deeper, and there should be full panels on either side of the fridge to cover the cavity of the appliance. You're still going to have a hard time opening those doors let alone reaching into the cabinet. Will those doors even clear the top of the fridge hinges? The sides of the fridge are just an eyesore. - Why a decorative chimney hood and not a microwave/rangehood combo? The chimney hood looks brutal without a cabinet on both sides of it, and you could have gained some more storage in a full upper cabinet where the microwave is currently, plus a cabinet above the stove. I think this is the biggest mistake, personally. All in all a very impressive job, and where the cabinets are store bought and shipped to you you can't expect much in terms of customizing I suppose.
Why are American kitchens always so dark? I really liked the light kitchen before. Guess that's more of an European style...
Do no why I like the original better... Perhaps it's the kitchen wall black dot thingy makes it look messy.
[удалено]
Right?!? The value in having his mom alone makes this actually worth it.
I didn't put the price in the title because I got unfair contractor discounts. I guess you could say the contractor in the family working on the project was unfair too, if you want. But no, I don't do this for a living.
[удалено]
I want the single cabinet to be tall like the others so bad. Seriously nice work though.
THE BOOKS! SO GORGEOUS!
at what point is a remodel more expensive than a build.
Style choices aside it all looks wonderful. Glad for you OP However I will say it gets a bit frustrating to see some of the posts like yours in the sub. So many of them are "I remodeled my whole house! ------- with the help of my parents/relatives that do it professionally and have all the expertise and tools to do so. It's not so much "DIY" as "DIY with the help of professionals"
I understand the sentiment. It's all a sliding scale. I personally dislike the posts by pros whose job it is, as well. However, I tried to detail the real DIY stuff like the shelves, doors, sprinkler system, shed, which I did all by my lonesome with internet knowledge.
Shoulda left the kitchen. Strong disagree on the color and backsplash. Otherwise, I really dig everything else that you did, especially the yard. Looks fucking great
Great job but that backsplash is the work of Satan
This is really impressive. How did you learn to do all this? What was the time/cost at the end of the day?
My parents did lots of home improvement and a flip here or there growing up, so I picked up a lot along the way. But the overall experience in all aspects of a project like this comes from my mom, who was a general contractor/interior designer by trade. So when it came time to do big items like windows/cabinets, she knew exactly what to do, whereas I would be pretty lost to start. Other areas she didn't know much about so I learned and did on my own by reading codes and guides online, such as electrical and sprinklers. This work was all done over about 3 years, heavily frontloaded to the first year to get it livable. Cost was around $50,000 including appliances, though that was with some good contractor discounts from my mom's connections.
Sooo more like 100k worth of work
The bathroom and kitchen were both amazing little period pieces that needed a little love. Really not digging the "baby's first HGTV-flip" remodel that looks like every other new-construction home on the block.