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Pardon Our Dust
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PARDON OUR DUST
Making Quick Work of Remodel
Homeowner promised his wife a new kitchen in five weeks and he delivered on time.
Podcast
(MP3 file, 8 MB, 8 minutes)
While the two-story tract house Rick and Stephanie Taylor
bought in 1988 had a lot to love--an open floor plan, arched doorways,
a pool--it also had plenty to loathe.
On the Corona home's negative side were its dreary tile floors, dark beams
and dark woodwork, a deteriorated deck, and a lack of storage.
But one room stood out.
"The thing we hated most was the kitchen," said Stephanie, a
full-time mom and part-time teacher.
The problems in the kitchen were both cosmetic and practical.
Stephanie and Rick detested the plastic, dropped ceiling (which was considered
"cutting-edge" in the 1970's, when this house was built), the
drab cabinets and the vinyl floors. The kitchen was so worn after 20 years
of use that it always looked dingy.
"The grout was dirty," Stephanie lamented. "The stove top
couldn't be cleaned."
Then there was the dishwasher in the peninsula, installed at right angles
to the sink so that if the dishwasher door was open, Stephanie couldn't
stand at the counter.
Worst of all was the layout, which put the sink and stove on opposite
sides of the room, leaving Stephanie "ping ponging around the kitchen."
"We managed" is the best Stephanie can say about her 10 years
cooking and cleaning in that kitchen for her, Rick and later their two
children, Stephen, 5, and Annamaria, 7.
That all changed last year when Rick, an electrical engineer, ripped the
old kitchen down to the studs and in its place installed a new maple and
tile kitchen.
Doing all the work himself, he spent only $7,500 for a job that he figures
would have cost $20,000 if done professionally.
The kitchen remodel seemed imminent when the drawers started falling apart,
the plumbing clogged more often, and, as a final straw, the ballasts--which
held the offensive fluorescent lights above the ceiling panels--were failing.
"I was not going to replace the ballasts," Rick declared.
When Rick told Stephanie in mid 1997 that he wanted to redo the kitchen,
she thought: "'Oh, no.' I knew it would throw us into chaos. How
was I going to keep kids out of the kitchen who are constantly hungry?"
Rick recalled her resistance. "Stephanie didn't want anything to
do with it for a long time."
Undaunted, Rick proceeded in the methodical manner befitting an engineer.
To assuage his wife's fears that the project would drag on indefinitely,
like other remodels she'd heard about, he proclaimed that the project
would take only six weeks, and he would draw up a detailed schedule indicating
when the demolition would happen, when the plumbing would be installed,
and the cabinets, and so on.
"He assured me he was going to stick to it," Stephanie said.
"And he did."
Rick then "investigated all the options" by watching home improvement
TV shows, attending Saturday morning do-it-yourself workshops at home
centers, and pouring over remodeling magazines.
Eventually, he laid out his ideas on his computer with a home-design program,
switching the location of the stove and refrigerator to place the stove
near the sink. Eliminating the peninsula opened the kitchen to the family
room and allowed the dishwasher to be put next to the sink, instead of
at a right angle to it.
Of course, the dropped ceiling would go.
Rick then took his plan to the kitchen design desk at Home Depot, with
his dream of approximating a display he'd seen with maple cabinets and
dark blue Corian counters. The solid surface was for Stephanie, who wanted
materials she "wouldn't have to labor over."
When Rick saw the price of the Corian, he instead chose large blue ceramic
tiles with dark blue grout, for a fraction of the cost. A ribbon of white
tile would add interest to the backsplash.
Throughout the year, Stephanie remained in the background, especially
during the hectic holiday season. In January of 1998, she joined Rick
at Home Base to make final selections.
Rick then purchased his materials and appliances, storing them in the
garage. When the couple discovered that their chosen shade of Pergo flooring
required special ordering, which would have thrown off Rick's schedule,
they quickly settled on another color that was in stock.
With everything ready, Rick took a planned three weeks of vacation from
his job and began the demolition. Stephanie's concern about feeding her
children was solved by a friend, who suggested: "Just get take out."
"The kids loved it," Stephanie said. "We had something
different every night."
By the fourth week, Stephanie could use the new kitchen, and Rick took
the next two weeks to finish the details. The new kitchen, while economical,
includes some upgraded extras, like roll-out shelves and a cabinet door
with glass inserts.
Rick also installed a channel in the ceiling for a skylight, but he waited
until this summer to install the skylight itself.
As he put it: "There's only so much a guy can do in five weeks."
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