Kichen Transformation Part 1

The kitchen has been completely transformed in the last 2 years. Looking at the before pictures makes me appreciate all the work that went into it so much more. If I had to live with that kitchen, I would cry... real tears.
Here is the before:

what a beautiful range hood.

stunning light fixtures.

little cat hole.

So first step was to remove all the cupboards. My brother, Marc, is meticulous about these things. I would have just taken a sledgehammer and sent it all to the dump. He, however,  he removed all the doors, screws and hardware and disposed of things properly. I was a tad impatient, but I learned to just go along with it. After all, he was building me a new kitchen at the little sister rate!

Once they were out, we started on the floor. The plan was to put down tile. I really liked slate. I was told that the existing flooring need to be removed regardless of what I decided to do.

So, we removed the old cushion floor and plywood that had been nailed to the floor using shovels and crowbars. I say we, but Stephane did most of the work. Underneath, we discovered this:

Checkerboard tiles. We started removing these by chiseling away each tile. The tiles were made of tar and were a nightmare to lift. For some reason the black ones were a lot easier to remove than the white.

Bless his heart.

I was having the hardwood floors in the rest of the house refinished and the man came by to give me an estimate. He handed me the quote and it included the kitchen. I told him there must be a mistake. He couldn't possibly think that my kitchen floor could be salvaged?

Seriously, lets look at it again:

He said he could refinish it no problem. Provided, I punch all the broken nails from the subfloor back into the floor. Otherwise, they would destroy his sanding paper.

Sure! That doesn't sound so difficult! Tell that to my Dad. I punched nails for what seemed like days. Then he came and claims to have found at least 600-700 more. Our knees were shot.

But in the end it was worth it. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my new kitchen floor for the first time. Isn't it great?

Stay tuned for the rest of the kitchen makeover!