[Note to future self…if I’ve come back here to remind myself the order in which things happen, because another major room is going to be renovated…stop! Don’t go through the stress again, move into a new build!]
We first sat down to plan the kitchen last June…it’s crazy how long it has taken before work started.
Prior to the joiners coming I’d already done some work. I was supposed to be removing tiles but that proved a lot harder than I imagined, so I removed some cabinet doors.
On Monday the joiners arrived at 8am and ripped out our old kitchen and utility room. They’d finished by lunchtime! I then removed the laminate flooring, offered it free on our local community Facebook group and it’s gone to a couple who just moved into a council house that had stained carpets so that is good it didn’t end up in landfill. The plumber came and removed one radiator, the sink and gas hob and moved some pipework.
On Tuesday the electrician came and did all the wiring for new sockets and relocating others. I started to paint the utility room.
On Wednesday the joiner came back to patch some holes in the plasterboard. I did more painting in the utility room and painted over one of the red walls in the kitchen.
On Thursday the plasterer came to cover two walls which had had tiles and upper cabinets which aren’t being replaced. He also did some patching on another wall for us.
At the same time the plumber was back to swap out some radiators for bigger ones and repaired a couple of other radiators too. I slapped some paint on the wall where the new radiator was going in. Hopefully these new larger radiators will give us a sunroom available more than 5 months of the year. We may even be able to remove the glass doors 🤞🏻
I gave the utility room another coat of paint! Serves me right for not having done a better job sanding the old shiny paint which kept showing through, but now with 3 coats I am finally happy with the clean jasmine white walls. I don’t have any before photos of the utility room, but it was blue/grey.
The joiner said they’d be back Monday, then texted to say Friday.
On Friday I felt like we were in the 5th week, not 5th day! Gosh its exhausting. The joiner didn’t turn up. However the plaster was still drying and gives me the weekend to do some painting.
So today, Saturday, I’ll start with the coving and the existing painted walls, then I’ll tackle the freshly plastered walls….which apparently eat paint! If I’d known the joiner wasn’t returning I’d have got started on the painting on Friday, but I probably needed a rest day anyway.
Our joiner is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and he can’t hear me, so I’m leaving communication with him to my husband now. The plumber, electrician and plasterer have all been great.
HighlandHeffalump 
Wow. What a huge job! I’m exhausted just looking at it and can’t wait to see the final rooms.
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That looks like a lot of stress! I’m about to make a start on getting ours done and I’m now wondering if I should take your advice and move instead. Good luck with next week.
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If you can find a company that can do it all and project manage it then I think the stress would be reduced…dealing with 4 separate contractors and having to fit around the joiner availability is such a challenge but we are short of trades people in the Highlands. I don’t know if you are the same where you are.
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Yes we struggle here to get work done. I’m mentally preparing myself for paying a lot more to have the local kitchen firm take on all the stress of managing all the different parts of the job. I’m just at the nice part of planning what I’d like – I wonder how it will resemble what I can afford 😂
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These are amazing pictures of the process. I’ve never gone through a remodel, and I’m amazed so much has been done in 5 days. I can only imagine how exhausting it all is. Looking forward to seeing more pictures as you go along.
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I was amazed how quickly the kitchen was removed, it’ll be interesting to see how much longer it takes to put the new one in.
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It’s going to be lovely when finished! (She says, encouragingly.)
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Kitchen remodels are very stressful. We dealt with 3 different people during ours. It took 8 weeks from from start until we could use it again. But…it is exactly how I want it now so well worth the headaches. We start bathrooms in 2 weeks and have been waiting 4 months for the cabinets to come in. Have already been told it will take another 4 weeks for the counter tops once the cabinets are installed. This should prove to be interesting.
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I wish you luck. Our worktop won’t be here until towards mid/late February but we have a temporary one.
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I’m amazed that you had so much success lining up that many contractors, and in the proper order! This would never happen here in the US of A. We are desperately lacking in skilled tradesmen. Oh, and enough materials.
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Wow, so much has happened already, even though it seems like forever to you. It will be marvelous when completed!
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[…] Well this week has felt like it’s gone on and on and on. The kitchen renovation is underway and I’m tracking the progress on separate posts. Oof….its been a long week!! Week 1 post link. […]
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Love how your kitchen was but can’t wait to see your renovation.
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So much has gotten done already! It is going to be amazing when it is done!!
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Your kitchen obviously has such great bones. I actually liked the before photos, but the new kitchen will have everything as you want it. We did a kitchen remodel several years ago. There were so many steps! It’s an old house and the old kitchen was just so inconvenient. You’re going to love the new one. Hang in there! It will be worth it!
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Thank you. Yes I hope to love it when it’s all totally finished.
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This is quite the undertaking. It will be beautiful when all said and done. Will you be keeping the french doors?
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If the new radiators have solved the coldness of the sunroom then we will probably remove the french doors. It has a much better flow when they aren’t there. We tried them off in the summer but had to put them back on because it was so cold in the sunroom in autumn
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