Kathy Price-Robinson


Home Blog Send Email: kathyprice@aol.com *Pardon Our Dust* Submit a Project for "Pardon Our Dust" "Pardon Our Dust" Archives	PARDON OUR DUST If you can stand the heat, totally redo the kitchen After $30,000 and 18 months of hard work on their 1930s home, a couple can enjoy a room they did themselves. Photo Album Questions From Readers By Kathy Price-Robinson Basking in the warmth of Liese Gardner's sumptuous Spanish-style kitchen, it's hard to believe what she is saying: that she and fiancé Dave Lidstone did the entire remodel with their own hands, from planning to plumbing to painting. "We took the room back down to the bone," said Gardner, who worked nights, weekends, holidays and vacations with Lidstone on the kitchen in their home on the edge of the historic West Adams district. "They say if you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen," Gardner said. "Guess we like it hot because we literally did not get out of the kitchen for 18 months." The effort paid off. "It came out exactly how we wanted it," said Lidstone, an engineer. "It's all in the details." The finished kitchen — with cherry-stained alder cabinets, stainless steel appliances, custom-made tile counters, handsome tile floor and pounded-copper sink — offers no ready clue that it is a do-it-yourself job. But the price tag of less than $30,000 does. One contractor told them that, despite some high-end purchases, including $15,000 for the cabinets, the project cost one-third to one-half what professionals would charge to create such a room. The homeowners saved money on labor, as well as by being thrifty and shopping at salvage yards, Craigslist, the Recycler, EBay, specialty shops and big-box stores. Before the remodel, the kitchen had bland white cabinets, a vinyl floor, which covered three layers of linoleum, and original wood, outdated electrical and plumbing systems and layer upon of layer of lead-based paint that had been applied since the house was built in the 1930s. The couple bought the Los Angeles house in 2001 and lived with the kitchen the way it was for a few years while they tackled less challenging projects. "We knew this one would be a lot of work," said Lidstone, who did several other D.I.Y. remodels in his native London. As a warmup, they refinished the living-room and dining-room floors, stripped and refinished window frames, redid a bedroom with a refinished floor and French doors, turned a room into an office for Gardner's marketing business and transformed the service porch into a laundry room. When they were ready to begin work on the kitchen, the first step was figuring out "what we would both be happy with," Lidstone said. They knew they wanted something in keeping with the tile-roofed bungalow's Spanish Revival architecture, and they agreed to keep the original floor plan, with the 29-foot-by-9-foot kitchen separate from the dining room, rather than breaking down the adjoining wall to create a great room. This would confine cooking odors to the kitchen, and the couple believe that unaltered vintage homes hold their value better. They did later decide to create more wall space by sealing a door to the laundry room, which is now accessed through a bedroom. Next step: Window shop. They found a Spanish-style exhibit they liked at Bradco Kitchens & Baths in Los Angeles. But rather than hire Bradco to build the kitchen, they set out to re-create it themselves in their home. They did, however, purchase the custom tile there. Demolition began in August 2004. Gardner recalled a very tidy deconstruction period with a vacuum cleaner at the ready to sweep up the dust. "We're the neatest demolition people there are." After the room was gutted of cabinets, flooring, fixtures and plumbing, they pulled sheets of drywall off the ceiling, where it had been hung to hide cracked plaster. Their new kitchen, they decided, would again have early-20th-century plaster walls and ceiling, rather than drywall. The first months of the reconstruction included installing all new plumbing and electrical fixtures and wiring, including recessed lighting in the ceiling. Much of the work was done inside walls, in the attic and in the crawl space under the floor. After exhausting work weekends, Lidstone recalled, he or Gardner would remark, "Well, there's more work no one will ever see." And he recalls family and friends saying: "You haven't gotten much done, have you?" But once the walls were ready for paint, spirits rose and progress became readily apparent. Although professional remodelers tend to set the cabinets in place before painting, the couple wanted all the walls painted first. They struggled over the color selection, testing it out on sections before agreeing on the hue. As the kitchen came together, the couple scoured the Internet and classified ads for deals. They found a copper sink for $700 on EBay, as well as a faucet. They drove up to Santa Barbara early one morning to pick up a $3,500 butcher-block table they found on Craigslist for $400. And they drove to Topanga to buy a $4,500 DCS stove they found in the Recycler for $1,000. Making purchases this way requires quick action, Gardner said. "You have to be willing to go right away and get it, or someone else will get it." In what Lidstone called a "bold and daring" design, they brought together several different metals: copper, brass, stainless steel and wrought iron. Somehow it works, and the kitchen has an old-world feeling. "We didn't want it to look too new," Lidstone explained. Besides the hard work and long hours the project required, it was "taxing on our relationship," Gardner said, explaining that the two learned "more about each other and our work ethics, our styles and our hot buttons than we ever wanted to know." What they found out was that Lidstone enjoys the big and spectacular projects such as laying tile and installing cabinets, while Gardner finds a meditative peace in stripping paint off the mahogany moldings. "I really, really like putting on the music" and working all day, she said. They also decided that they would not like to repeat the experience of living without a kitchen for 18 months. "It gets old pretty quick," Gardner said. But as the memories of the labor fade, the results of their work — a handsome galley kitchen — endure. And so does their relationship. "Here's the kicker," Gardner said. "We are still talking." * At a glance Project: Kitchen remodel Area: Los Angeles Duration: 18 months Floor tile: Mission Tile West, South Pasadena, (626) 799-4595 Counter tile: Bradco Kitchens & Baths, Los Angeles, (323) 936-3457 --- Where the money went: Cabinets ... $15,000 Cabinet door glass... $300 Cabinet hardware... $360 Windows... $1,000 Electrical supplies... $200 Plumbing supplies...$100 Counter tile... $1,700 Floor tile... $500 Tile cutter rental... $100 Tile-related supplies... $320 Sink... $700 Faucets, sink hardware... $350 Stove... $1,000 Stove hood... $550 Refrigerator... $2,000 Dishwasher... $1,000 Microwave... $100 Wine cooler... $1,000 Water heater... $1,100 Side door... $200 Door hardware, fittings... $175 Butcher block table... $400 Pot rack... $160 Window blinds... $800 Total cost...$29,115

Pardon Our Dust

PARDON OUR DUST

If you can stand the heat, totally redo the kitchen

After $30,000 and 18 months of hard work on their 1930s home, a couple can enjoy a room they did themselves.

Photo Album

Questions From Readers

By Kathy Price-Robinson

Basking in the warmth of Liese Gardner's sumptuous Spanish-style kitchen, it's hard to believe what she is saying: that she and fiancé Dave Lidstone did the entire remodel with their own hands, from planning to plumbing to painting.

"We took the room back down to the bone," said Gardner, who worked nights, weekends, holidays and vacations with Lidstone on the kitchen in their home on the edge of the historic West Adams district.

"They say if you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen," Gardner said. "Guess we like it hot because we literally did not get out of the kitchen for 18 months."

The effort paid off. "It came out exactly how we wanted it," said Lidstone, an engineer. "It's all in the details."

The finished kitchen — with cherry-stained alder cabinets, stainless steel appliances, custom-made tile counters, handsome tile floor and pounded-copper sink — offers no ready clue that it is a do-it-yourself job. But the price tag of less than $30,000 does.

One contractor told them that, despite some high-end purchases, including $15,000 for the cabinets, the project cost one-third to one-half what professionals would charge to create such a room.

The homeowners saved money on labor, as well as by being thrifty and shopping at salvage yards, Craigslist, the Recycler, EBay, specialty shops and big-box stores.

Before the remodel, the kitchen had bland white cabinets, a vinyl floor, which covered three layers of linoleum, and original wood, outdated electrical and plumbing systems and layer upon of layer of lead-based paint that had been applied since the house was built in the 1930s.

The couple bought the Los Angeles house in 2001 and lived with the kitchen the way it was for a few years while they tackled less challenging projects. "We knew this one would be a lot of work," said Lidstone, who did several other D.I.Y. remodels in his native London.

As a warmup, they refinished the living-room and dining-room floors, stripped and refinished window frames, redid a bedroom with a refinished floor and French doors, turned a room into an office for Gardner's marketing business and transformed the service porch into a laundry room.

When they were ready to begin work on the kitchen, the first step was figuring out "what we would both be happy with," Lidstone said.

They knew they wanted something in keeping with the tile-roofed bungalow's Spanish Revival architecture, and they agreed to keep the original floor plan, with the 29-foot-by-9-foot kitchen separate from the dining room, rather than breaking down the adjoining wall to create a great room. This would confine cooking odors to the kitchen, and the couple believe that unaltered vintage homes hold their value better. They did later decide to create more wall space by sealing a door to the laundry room, which is now accessed through a bedroom.

Next step: Window shop.

They found a Spanish-style exhibit they liked at Bradco Kitchens & Baths in Los Angeles. But rather than hire Bradco to build the kitchen, they set out to re-create it themselves in their home. They did, however, purchase the custom tile there.

Demolition began in August 2004. Gardner recalled a very tidy deconstruction period with a vacuum cleaner at the ready to sweep up the dust. "We're the neatest demolition people there are."

After the room was gutted of cabinets, flooring, fixtures and plumbing, they pulled sheets of drywall off the ceiling, where it had been hung to hide cracked plaster. Their new kitchen, they decided, would again have early-20th-century plaster walls and ceiling, rather than drywall.

The first months of the reconstruction included installing all new plumbing and electrical fixtures and wiring, including recessed lighting in the ceiling. Much of the work was done inside walls, in the attic and in the crawl space under the floor.

After exhausting work weekends, Lidstone recalled, he or Gardner would remark, "Well, there's more work no one will ever see." And he recalls family and friends saying: "You haven't gotten much done, have you?"

But once the walls were ready for paint, spirits rose and progress became readily apparent.

Although professional remodelers tend to set the cabinets in place before painting, the couple wanted all the walls painted first. They struggled over the color selection, testing it out on sections before agreeing on the hue.

As the kitchen came together, the couple scoured the Internet and classified ads for deals. They found a copper sink for $700 on EBay, as well as a faucet. They drove up to Santa Barbara early one morning to pick up a $3,500 butcher-block table they found on Craigslist for $400. And they drove to Topanga to buy a $4,500 DCS stove they found in the Recycler for $1,000.

Making purchases this way requires quick action, Gardner said. "You have to be willing to go right away and get it, or someone else will get it."

In what Lidstone called a "bold and daring" design, they brought together several different metals: copper, brass, stainless steel and wrought iron. Somehow it works, and the kitchen has an old-world feeling. "We didn't want it to look too new," Lidstone explained.

Besides the hard work and long hours the project required, it was "taxing on our relationship," Gardner said, explaining that the two
learned "more about each other and our work ethics, our styles and our hot buttons than we ever wanted to know."

What they found out was that Lidstone enjoys the big and spectacular projects such as laying tile and installing cabinets, while Gardner finds a meditative peace in stripping paint off the mahogany moldings. "I really, really like putting on the music" and working all day, she said.

They also decided that they would not like to repeat the experience of living without a kitchen for 18 months. "It gets old pretty quick," Gardner said.

But as the memories of the labor fade, the results of their work — a handsome galley kitchen — endure. And so does their relationship.
"Here's the kicker," Gardner said. "We are still talking."

*

At a glance
Project: Kitchen remodel
Area: Los Angeles
Duration: 18 months
Floor tile: Mission Tile West, South Pasadena, (626) 799-4595
Counter tile: Bradco Kitchens & Baths, Los Angeles, (323) 936-3457
---
Where the money went:
Cabinets ... $15,000
Cabinet door glass... $300
Cabinet hardware... $360
Windows... $1,000
Electrical supplies... $200
Plumbing supplies...$100
Counter tile... $1,700
Floor tile... $500
Tile cutter rental... $100
Tile-related supplies... $320
Sink... $700
Faucets, sink hardware... $350
Stove... $1,000
Stove hood... $550
Refrigerator... $2,000
Dishwasher... $1,000
Microwave... $100
Wine cooler... $1,000
Water heater... $1,100
Side door... $200
Door hardware, fittings... $175
Butcher block table... $400
Pot rack... $160
Window blinds... $800
Total cost...$29,115