Home of the Tumbling Stones: Kitchen Renovation Part II

It's been a little while since my last post: Kit Kit Kitchen.

So, last place I left off was that my kitchen was gutted, I found some amazing wallpaper, and I was going to be taking out a loadbearing wall (eeeek!!) and combining 3 spaces, the breakfast nook, the original kitchen, and the CatPalace Pantry to create one huge kitchen.

I'm not going to lie. I had never intended on blogging my renovation process so I don't have tutorials... but I do have some good pointers about kitchen expansions.

CREATE AN EAT-IN SPACE. My house was built in the 1930's, but the developers at the time were ahead of their time: an ensuite bathroom (more on that in a later post!) with the Master Bedroom, another full bathroom, and a powder room on the main level. Just because your house is old doesn't mean you can't have an eat-in kitchen! A breakfast bar can create a space that makes it easy for entertaining and a great space for a quick bite.
ALWAYS FOLLOW THE 3-STEP RULE. There is a reason why this rule exists. A good looking kitchen doesn't mean a functional kitchen. Make sure your sink, your prep area, your cooktop or stove, and refrigerator are all within 3-steps away from each other.
MAKE YOUR KITCHEN PERSONAL. I'm a wine geek, so I knew I wanted a space where I can display my stemware and my wine bottles. I also like collecting cookbooks, so I had a little bookshelf built in a section where I can store them. If you have pets, think about where you want to put their bowls! One may think, "Why make it personal if I want to raise resale value of the kitchen?" Truth is, I think wine racks and bookshelves are just great additions that adds value and not deter buyers away. If anything, the kitchen will be a huge selling point. With the right buyer, that extra amenity you put in the kitchen may be the token to a quicker sale.
CONSIDER WOOD FLOORS INSTEAD OF TILE. I think the best decision I made for the kitchen was to keep the original hardwood floors. To me, tile is just so cold and so hard... refinishing the hardwood floors not only saved me $$$ but it also gave the kitchen a very classic look. My inspiration:

So here we go with some more BEFORE pictures:

The floor of the kitchen was vinyl... on top of vinyl... on top of vinyl... on top of linoelium, then another layer of lenolium, then finally, after 5 layers, we discovered the original hardwoods. The most confusing thing for me was the fact that one of the vinyl floors mimicked wood. WTF?

So, the journey begins with demolition which you can read more about here.

After many wallpapers and pounds of plaster torn down, we were finally down to the studs: