"My fall down the rabbit hole into kitchen renovation hell" At the bottom of the hole and it's ugly.

Well...they say the demolition is the easiest part. I don't know about that but what a mess! Aside from some plumbing issues, things went relatively smooth. We have run into some issues with the new cabinets and their shoddy (to say the least) assembly. FYI: made in America may put people to work, but taking your time and having a good Q/A department keeps people buying. This is NOT the case with this cabinet company (River Run for those of you keeping score). My Dad is coming into town this weekend from Florida so hopefully the reconstruction efforts will start moving right along. Expertise is something you cannot buy despite the efforts of the guys at Home Depot.

I found the PERFECT furniture yesterday from my nemesis Art Van. I put aside our differences (I'm known for taking the high road LMAO) and dragged Hubs there. We disagreed on the chair but he eventually caved after the promise of some special "treatment" at a later time. The stove and dishwasher get delivered on Monday.

So things are moving along. I'll continue to keep things posted as we make progress (sweet, sweet progress).

In the meantime, enjoy the visual chaos :)

My fall down the rabbit hole into kitchen renovation hell: The Fall

Demolition has officially begun.

The carpet in the FM came up easily but the kitchen floor appears to be more of a challenge. Apparently under the tile there now exists plywood and under that some old shitty linoleum. That will ALL have to come up. Can't have like 3 layers of floor down now can we? Why not do it right while we're doing it. Might make the new owners happy ;)

My days with a working sink and dishwasher are numbered. They're probably see their way out by this weekend. I'm already beginning to morn the loss. We did open the trailer yesterday so I do have an alternative to washing dishes in the bathtub. We'll have to drain the tank under the cover of darkness as I'm sure my neighbors would FREAK even though it's just sink water. Not like I'm unleashing a tank of turds in the yard or anything. It's inconvenient as hell to lug dirty dishes outside through the yard to the trailer but whatever....it's not like this whole thing isn't gonna be inconvenient as hell. I'm contemplating just eating dinner out there every night to save me some time/work. I think it would work as long as it doesn't get too hot around here. The a/c in the trailer cannot be run off our house line as it isn't a 110 so we can only utilize the electricity and gas minus the a/c. It's May in Michigan though. I'll probably need the heat more than a/c so we should be OK.

I did find some kick ass links to rebates for old appliance disposal and for buying new energy efficient appliances. Looks like I'm getting just over $100 back for someone else to haul away Grandma's ancient fridge out of the garage, the 25 year old a/c wall unit that's been in my FM since my Mom bought this house in 1990 and rebates for the new dishwasher and fridge that we just bought. Here are the links if you have anything to get rid of or need to buy new, check it out, you may qualify for a few bucks back!

Michigan Appliance Trade Up Rebate Program

Detroit Edison Appliance Recycling Program

My fall down the rabbit hole into kitchen renovation hell:The calm before the fall

Here's the family room/kitchen/dining area in all it's dysfunctional glory:

"My fall down the rabbit hole into kitchen renovation hell" Prelude to my Xanax addiction

I wonder if most addicts can pinpoint the beginning of their addiction. What day/moment in time/life altering event led to their spiral downward. I'm identifying mine now.

We begin our kitchen demolition on Sunday.

I joke (but is it really a joke) that this will either be the end of my marriage or the beginning of a great life in this new kitchen. We don't work well together my hubs and I. We can't even clean out a garage or list a camping grill on Craigslist without having words. I of course, have this expectation of how things should go or end up. Hubs has a different vision (of course he does). I'm usually right (usually...HA! Pretty much always) and herein lies our problem.

We are doing this renovation all by ourselves. We have no experience. We have limited funds. We have two very active boys. We (Ok one) of us takes Prozac that was barely cutting it prior to this renovation. We still have to work. We still have to feed the kids. We (Ok one again) are type A and don't do well with change of these epic proportions. We (one) of us feels like they're having a heart attack just thinking about what's in store and it hasn't even begun. We (one) wonders how in the hell she's gonna still run a household in the midst of this chaos. We (one) wonders what the hell she's gonna feed the family and how she's gonna feed the family during this disaster.

I wonder if my downward spiral will feel like Alice falling down the rabbit hole.

I wonder if the Madd Hatter really does look like Johnny Depp.

I'll let you know.