It's not just lipstick on a pig...

When we made the announcement, that we were going to remodel our kitchen, it was half assumed by my husband, and totally assumed by many, that it would be a cosmetic job.  Our house is more than 60 years old.  Why put lipstick on a pig?  Or a chandiler in a condemned house?  Not that our house is a pig, or condemned.  But before we moved in, many updates were just cosmetic. 

We chose our contractor wisely.  We chose my incredibly particular brother-in-law.  We chose him because we love every house he's done, that we've stepped foot into.  We chose him, because we know he is relentless when it comes to perfection.

We stripped our kitchen back to the studs, we added insulation to the exterior.

When taking apart the old plumbing to the kitchen, our contractor discovered just how much build up there was in our pipes.  Luckily, my husband was also witness to the build up, and they decided then, it needed to be a complete plumbing replacement, to the whole house.

This picture is in our "fruit room" (more of a basement pantry) where the water comes into the house, a new pressure gauge, and this picture was taken partway through the plumbing job.  We now have fast hot water, and clean clean water.  No more junk coming though our pipes.  My son LOVES getting to use the bath tub, for the first time in his life (almost 3 years).

And, since we did some moving of wall openings and doorways, some of which got closed, other openings were created, we are getting some updates to our central heat and air system.  Our mudroom/breezeway will actually have air flowing through it, and not be so cold in the winter and so hot in the Summer.  We are also getting a wireless system, to help our bedroom out so it won't be sweltering in the summer.  We will have two control pannels.  The A/C guy comes back to finalize plans this week.

My theory, and I hope my husband agrees, is, we spent money to get our kitchen updated.  It would not have been a good expierence if we had all the new flooring installed, and all of the new cabinets, counter tops, and backsplash installed, just to have to rip it all out, to get to those other projects that needed done.  Not to mention, the all new wiring to the kitchen and laundry room, making them much safer. 

The reason for this blog entry is because I wanted people to be aware, prepare for these types of things to come up while you've got the house open, guts exposed.  This is the best time to get it all done.  And, for those who aren't so happy that we are spending our money on updating these types of things, be supportive, even if you'd rather we just put the lipstick on a pig, know, we are raising a family here, we don't want to have to demo a kitchen again, at least not while we live here.  We want clean water, and safe electrical outlets.  Investing in us, our family, our home, isn't a waste of money.  If you're worried we've spent too much, we haven't.  We know our budget, and we know what our safety is worth.  Be supportive.  Be excited for us.  That goes a long way.