Have you ever decided to do one simple DIY project and then suddenly found yourself in the midst of a much bigger ordeal than you imagined? This is how we ended up with a kitchen DIY remodel.
It started one day when we decided to look under the carpets in a few rooms of the house because we had an inkling that they had hardwood floors underneath. They did! We were very excited so we pulled up all the carpet.
The problem we found underneath was that the previous owners had used a really thick white carpet glue over every inch of the floor, except the little part we had tested when taking a quick look under the carpet. Thus we found ourselves in the midst of a project scraping floors to get all the glue off.
This led us to pricing out hardwood sanding/refinishing because we heard it was a pretty big job and we thought probably outside our DIY expertise. We figured living with carpet glue covered floors long term wasn’t going to be our favorite.
This led us to realizing if we do this in the living area and the playroom we should also take care of the kitchen at the same time because we didn’t want to do it twice because you have to move all things and you can’t be in your house a few days due to the fumes.
This led us to reorganizing the kitchen so that we could get the cupboards moved where they needed to be in order for the floor work to be done. So, we found ourselves in the midst of a kitchen DIY. Here are 10 things you need to do if you want to survive a kitchen DIY, especially if you have young kids.
- When you start a project be prepared for it to not be the only project you uncover. Mentally prepare now. One thing will always lead to another.
- Whenever you empty out cupboards empty them out into laundry baskets and try to keep one set of items together. For example, all my canned goods and pasta stuff was in one basket. Another basket had all my baking supplies. Keeping it somewhat organized in the baskets will help you locate things even while things are a mess. This helps with the question, “Mom, I can’t find….”
- Build eating out into the home remodel budget. Often after a long day of multi-tasking between working on the kitchen and taking care of kids, we found ourselves simply too exhausted to make dinner. Plan ahead, include it in the budget and you don’t have to be stressed at the end of the day.
- Every night before you go to bed know where everything is that you need for the next day. We had a lot of piles of things around the house. Piles of dishes were in one room, food was in laundry baskets and it was hard to remember where everything was. In order to maintain my sanity I made sure I always found what I needed the night before, especially school nights, so that it wasn’t a mad rush in the morning.
- Clean a lot. My husband is messy when he is in the midst of a project and doesn’t always immediately clean up when he is in his groove. I went ahead and took that on as my thing to do. I cleaned the kitchen a lot, to make it easier to somewhat function as we went along. This allowed me to get the kids snacks when they needed them, find lunch supplies and generally survive life.
- Get the kids involved. There was a wall we were tearing down and each o
f the kids took turns with their tool kits to bang on the wall. They loved it and still talk about how demo is so much fun. We bought the kids these cute tool kits for Christmas from Lowes that have real tools in them. So much fun. - Buffer in the budget. I would say, so far, most things have been more expensive than we thought they should be. This is mostly because we don’t know anything about what things should cost and so we just think they should be a certain amount and then they aren’t. Even so, set your expectations accordingly, do your research, get bids as needed and prepare the budget so you have room for surprises.
- The domino effect. There is always an element of one thing needing to be done for another thing to progress, be prepared for delays. We built an island from our existing cupboards, but this meant we needed electricity to be wired into it. We had to wait a bit for the electrician so while we were doing other things in the meantime, it meant I did not have a stove top for a week or so. I could use my oven but no stove. We had to get a bit more creative with meals. Then after that for a short time I didn’t have electricity for either my oven or my stove. We planned some very fancy microwaves meals for that week, but you just need to plan ahead so you aren’t frustrated. Or, just plan on eating out and build it into the budget!
- Movie & Pizza Night – If there is a day where we find ourselves working extra hard on a project and then kids are forced to play more by themselves and I can tell they have that look in their eye that they want some mom and dad time, I plan a movie & pizza night so we can reconnect as a family. It’s fun. We usually do a make your own pizza, let the kids choose a movie and relax. It’s a great way to unwind and connect as a family.
- Set expectations. The biggest thing with our kids is just preparing them. “Kids, just an FYI it’s going to be messy in here for awhile, make sure you are wearing your shoes so you don’t hurt your toes.”
Kitchen Before
Kitchen After
Now that we have the cupboards where we want them, we can start working on those floors that we were originally focused on. And then we will think about things like countertops, new cupboard for our oven and backwall and backsplash. Next project here we come! (Bonus tip: The projects don’t end. Enjoy the process) Best of luck as you begin your next DIY project. What tips do you have?
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