#4 - Really.....What should I do first?!?!

I guess the first thing I need to do is find a contractor.  Lucky for me, my wonderful and fabulous Realtor, Jade Beardsley, has many many many contacts.  Enter Paul Riley and Jay Lester from Express Construction.  

I've worked with a couple other contractors before but I wanted to work with someone new and more local.  Oddly enough, I took a lot of comfort in knowing that Paul and Jay were working on Jade's house while I going through the short sale.  If they are good enough for her, they are good enough for me. 

First order of business is to seriously get the carpet out of there.  The max time I can stay in my own house is 3 hours.  My Claritin is just not good enough.  BYE BYE CARPET!!!

   

   

   

   

The red is just the mattress pad.....

After long discussions with the contractor, my first stop is Home Depot in Huntington Beach (the newer one).  Time to plan out my kitchen.  When I was browsing around their kitchen section, I discovered the wonderful world of Martha Stewart.  Apparently, the Martha Stewart collection is one of the more inexpensive lines.  HELLO, SOLD!!  (I love her style and I think she is so cool, no matter what people say)  

I've always said I hated how "wealthy" people's kitchens look.  It's kind of hard to explain what that means but usually those gourmet kitchens have a much more "chunkier" look to them.  This may be because they are HUGE and my kitchen is teeny tiny.  But I prefer a more classic look with a twist of country/cottage.  I like clean straight lines but not too contemporary/minimalist.


The Martha Stewart style and color that fits what I love so perfectly is THIS:

My official inspiration (style: Seal Harbor, color: Sharkey Gray).

To give you an idea of what I hate, here are some examples of what I think are "wealthy" people kitchens:

 

The major issues I have in my current kitchen is the lack of storage and THIS.......

   

The vent for the range goes across 3 cabinets.  Count 'em, THREE cabinets.  I don't have enough storage as it is so we definitely need to do something about this........and I have a Craaaaazzzy solution!


This is my current kitchen floor plan:

I don't know if you can tell, but I don't have much counter space as well.  So this is my idea:

1. Slide the oven over so that it is directly under the vent so I can gain some upper cabinet space - PROBLEM: I am told an appliance cannot be directly next to the fridge.

2. Flip the fridge to the other side of the kitchen in order to extend counter top and move the oven over - PROBLEM: This giant fridge is going to cover up more than half of the sliding glass door to the patio, blocking whatever natural sunlight I have. 

3. Buy smaller fridge.  This one is perfect (24" x 24"):

LG Electronics LRBP1031W 10 Cu. Ft. Refrigerator

4. Get rid of the breakfast bar and extend out the counter top so that everything is all one level creating a "peninsula".

The new configuration to my kitchen will hopefully look something like THIS:

 

There is one item in the kitchen I refuse to compromise and I don't care how much it will cost me.  My dream kitchen has always had a FARMHOUSE APRON FRONT SINK: 

Pegasus Farmer Apron Front Fireclay 29-3/4 in. x 18 in. x 10 in. Single Bowl Kitchen Sink in White

So now that I have the layout and style all picked out, I need to get actual measurements so we can start the design process.

Normally, Home Depot sends someone out to measure for around $90.00 but they were running one of their many deals where we can get this service for only $45.00.  This can then later be applied to the installation cost if I choose to hire Home Depot for the install.  

I am very excited to see how this kitchen is going to turn out!!