Floorplan - Before & After Kitchen Reno

Because there is nothing better than snooping into other people's homes after listening to them waffle on and on and on and on...I present to you our current floorplan...

(Apologies for the sub-par graphics. I haven't quite mastered Microsoft Paint!)

Sooo the current kitchen bench/breakfast bar looks into our master bedroom......awwwwkward and a little bit weird. 

Here is the new floorplan, much more modern and has the added benefit of separating the Study & Master suite from the rest of the house. 

We had a great meeting with our awesome electrician, Jim from Jimelectric who has helped us plan the work that needs doing for the kitchen overhaul, namely:

• Removal of the horrible fans in the lounge & study
• Removal of the domed lights in lounge, study, hall, kitchen and entrance
• Installation of flush downlights in lounge, study, hall, kitchen and entrance
• Installation of pendant lights over the kitchen bench

• Installation of Clipsal Saturn switches and points

• Installation of Hunter Pacific Intercept fan in lounge

• Installation of LED strip lighting under kitchen cupboards and around edge of sunroom
• Wiring and installation of the Husk pendant over the table in the sunroom

Next weekend will be our first big start on the renovation. We are getting stuck into the removal of the window from kitchen to sunroom (to make room for new kitchen wall to be built in a few weeks); the removal of the old built in desk from the study area and of course starting the floor removal.

I'll no doubt update you with a ton of unflattering photos (of both the house and myself..time to break out my best reno outfits of course!); and an impressive list of swear words following next weekend.

Till then x

The Point of No Return

Yes, it's happened. We gave Ikea our first born.

Not really, but close (& I'd probably offer it up to anyone who was willing!). Kitchen has now been ordered!!!!!! :):):)
They also gave us $800 in vouchers to use on our dishwasher as we spent $4k *gulp*. It is being delivered Monday in 120 boxes (how the hell will we put that many things together??)

We chose the ABSTRAKT gloss white fronts (as per below) as we are after a clean look:

Our Integrated Dishwasher

We have also chosen our benchtop following a ton of annoying emails (in which I was the annoying one!) to a local stone company. We have chosen an awesome new colour - Caesarstone Sleek Concrete - just released and has a great matt texture finish

On another note we purchased a ton of items for the kitchen reno:

Our Oven

Our Microwave Combi Oven

Our backsplash - Carrara Marble

Our Benchtop Pendants

We have a busy few months ahead of us in preparation for the big reno. Flooring & tiles to be pulled up; new skirting boards to go in, painting to be done, walls to be demolished and built, old kitchen to be removed and of course Ikea cabinets to build!.....& lucky for you guys, I promise to keep you all up to date and in the know (including whether or not I stab Timothy in his sleep over light switch cover choices. It could happen. It might happen....)

The Kitchen Reno - D Day 2nd Week September 2014

AHHHHHHHHH freaking out. My leave has been approved for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th week of September to get this old, broken kitchen out and put this new bitchin kitchen in! All by ourselves (well.......hopefully with a little help from our lovely friends and family and a great electrician).

You might be thinking, Gee Jess that sounds easily doable, why three weeks off? 
STOP JINXING ME DAMMIT!

In true CaseyPedersen form, it is not simply a kitchen swap - oh no....we will also be pulling up the multitude of floor surfaces (read: horrible yellow laminate, black lino over white tiles in random places, and manky carpet) and installing our new flooring throughout the ENTIRE house; which will this be this beauty:




Yeah. We're insane. But we like it.

As for kitchen design, we are finalising our IKEA 3D build and making a few adjustments here and there (an undermount sink? YES PLEASE) so I should have a screenshot of that soon for you all.

We have chosen the gloss white ABSTRAKT cupboards with a Laminex Freestyle benchtop (including waterfall edge on the island) in Smooth Concrete. Pretty much the exact kitchen look below (down to the handles) but with an integrates dishwasher & different backsplash (we'll get to that in a minute)





As for the backsplash we are on the hunt for some 51mm white hexagonal tiles with white grout, ala:





But what about lighting, I hear you ask. This one is a difficult choice. Tim is what I like to refer to as a BIG FAT SNOB. He is headoverheels for $400 concrete pendants (each!!) from The Block below; whereas I am of the mind that it is ridiculous to spend $1200 on 3 lights to hang over a bench (no matter how pretty and delicious they are). So I guess we will see how much room we have in the budget once we have some items locked in and go from there.




Speaking of budget, we're hoping to pull this whole reno in under $15k including appliances - some of which we have already begun collecting. We scored a $3k 70cm Westinghouse induction touch Cooktop on GraysOnline for about $270 and a discontinued hidden Rangehood from Ikea (still in box) for $74 (85% off!!!!!!).

Next up is an oven and fridge as we know we are buying a Microwave Oven and the integrated Dishwasher from Ikea. But promise me you won't mention fridge size around Tim; he thinks we need one big enough to feed a small family of 30.....

Until next time xox