And so it begins

We have finally begun some reno work on our kitchen that we've been talking about for... a long time. It's fairly minor -- replacing and slightly re-designing our countertop -- but a bigger deal than you'd think because we're doing it ourselves. Rather, McPie is doing it, and I'm keeping him in beer, and clapping him on the back whenever he figures our a particularly tricky plumbing/carpentry problem.

I'm pretty excited about this. I can't believe we're actually doing it (it's the first step of several planned for the kitchen.) Mostly, I can't believe that McPie actually knows HOW to do this. I'm so excited, I wanted to share the progress with you.

First, a little "before" action. I didn't actually take a before shot, so I had to hunt around for this one. It's a school day morning, apparently around Christmas time (don't worry - the sparkly garland is not my idea of haute interior design, and it did not go up again this year). I had to cut myself out because now that I'm of a certain age, nobody but my family needs to witness my bedhead. And even they still laugh. And point.



You can't really see, but besides the kiddie-sized counter edge, the counter top is also of a deee-lightful pinkish ceramic tile. Like the kind you would use in your bathroom. The oak around the edges is a little higher than the counter, so you can't slide crumbs off the edge into your washcloth. (Can you say "pet peeve"?) Here is a close-up, with a chip of the formica we're replacing it with. You can't tell, but the formica has a nice texture to it...



To get started, we tore out a tall cabinet that blocked the light and view from the dining room. You can see the non-painted area where it hulked. And -- oh wait, is that... OH MY GOD it's flesh-eating dust bunnies!

(We killed them off, don't worry. McPie is building a counter-height cabinet for that spot, and this will be extra counter space.)



While McPie was reconstructing a smaller cabinet, I got to work tearing off the wooden trim, after which job I was to begin prying the tiles off the counter. Theoretically. In practice, not so much. These babies were not pry-able.



So, we have to remove the counter. We started with the "wings". McPie is cutting it up for disposal.



The rest of the counter will be more complicated to remove. We'll do that once we have the new counter built. So, in the meantime, we'll construct a new counter shape from plywood. Eventually, McPie will cover the plywood with the formica. This is a process that he says is very "fun". We'll see. Also, Findley has been helping.



See, it's beginning to take shape. In this shot, the sink has been temporarily removed for the sake of fitting. (I haven't even mentioned the awesome plumbing job that McPie did - replacing the "Quebec construction" under the kitchen sink so that the sink could be removed as necessary, and replaced easily.) McPie will cut a hole in the middle there when the time comes to actually install the counter.



We had to pause here for a Family Day dinner with the kids and Moms. (Lucy Waverman is my newest hero. Get this cookbook. And clip all her recipes from the Globe and Mail. She has given me a new appreciation -- ok, let's face it, an appreciation... I never had one before -- for brussel sprouts.)

So, we have our work cut our for us. Getting started has ignited our enthusiasm. While in Reno Depot picking up the plywood, we found some maple flooring that we got excited about... Finally, it may only be a matter of time before that turquoise vinyl goes the way of the dodo.