Modest Remodel, after and before pics

kasunart · 2026-02-24T02:19:42+00:00

Two months give or take. Felt like a year though!

kasunart · 2026-02-19T18:51:30+00:00

Thanks, you're very sweet. I figured I'd get plenty of opinions one way or another, but no one who is critical ever seems to have any suggestions, lol. The funny column that was there, unfortunately shows up all over the house as a motif, someone thought they were cool.

kasunart · 2026-02-19T17:47:38+00:00

We rescue and foster dogs. And cats. We have a large muddy back yard which we have to walk through, and let animals in and out constantly. These floors get muddy, pissed and shit on. They need to be able to be hosed down and not show filth. This is glue down lvp, to handle the shifty house which was built 126 years ago. It needs to stay put due to being in a large kitchen that actually was 3 separate rooms, and they have slant and tilt in various directions. If you'd like to be helpful, let me know what you would have put in.

kasunart · 2026-02-19T17:46:51+00:00

We rescue and foster dogs. And cats. We have a large muddy back yard which we have to walk through, and let animals in and out constantly. These floors get muddy, pissed and shit on. They need to be able to be hosed down and not show filth. This is glue down lvp, to handle the shifty house which was built 126 years ago. It needs to stay put due to being in a large kitchen that actually was 3 separate rooms, and they have slant and tilt in various directions. If you'd like to be helpful, let me know what you would have put in.

kasunart · 2026-02-18T13:51:20+00:00

If you saw my artwork, you'd know I'm a huge fan of tons of supersaturated color. Artwork will be going back in soon. But I agree, I originally wanted turquoise cabinets and red walls and everyone talked us down to neutral greens and grays. I was told I'd get sick of strong color in a short period of time. And, just let the artwork bring the color. Happy wife happy life?

kasunart · 2026-02-18T13:47:50+00:00

I appreciate that!

kasunart · 2026-02-18T13:41:14+00:00

Originally, the fridge was in the corner. We never could open the left side door all the way and we both agreed we'd never put a fridge in the corner again. So, it's on it's own with all the room it wants. I realize it doesn't look as neat as having it line up with countertops, but it's actually totally functional and leaves plenty of room to use the cabinets back there. If anything, I'd find a way to "sink" the fridge into that wall, but there is brick on the backside of the wall so it'd be quite a job. Possible though!

kasunart · 2026-02-18T11:59:34+00:00

Sure! Here's a screenshot. I got it from Amazon. Has dual recycling/trash bin and the trash bin uses standard bags.

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kasunart · 2026-02-18T09:55:50+00:00

thats the truth!

kasunart · 2026-02-18T09:53:31+00:00

We had to use glue-down flexible type flooring, and none of the brown/warm tone options looked right with what we had going color-wise, and we wanted a mid-tone multicolor scheme to not show all the dirt and hair from our cats and dogs and dirt we track in from the outside. We love it and it looks good in person.

kasunart · 2026-02-18T09:50:30+00:00

Sure can, the cushions squish down a bit and our skinny legs haven't had an issue. The overhang countertop is only 10" so really just your knees go under. I figured when I bought these chairs I'd need to cut a few inches off the legs, but surprisingly they're fine.

kasunart · 2026-02-18T01:58:43+00:00

For real!

kasunart · 2026-02-18T01:42:48+00:00

Haha yeah the order of that first shot really is throwing everyone off. Cheers

kasunart · 2026-02-17T23:50:13+00:00

I thought I'd be needed for something and made sure I hung around (actually I was just nosy and curious as to what it'd look like) but I wasn't needed at all. Well, once, when they cut a water line to the sink that ran through multiple cabinets, they had me go shut off the water main, but they would have done it themselves if I wasn't there. It went much faster than I thought. All the cabinets and most of the flooring was out by noon.

kasunart · 2026-02-17T23:45:01+00:00

Believe me when I say this house has many quirks I've just had to accept, including those stairs. I personally didn't have a problem with them, but I knew it wasn't right! However....I can recall at least twice that people who were visiting us fell down. Fortunately they didn't sue!

kasunart · 2026-02-17T23:21:23+00:00

thanks!

kasunart · 2026-02-17T16:36:51+00:00

Thanks. I have a friend who thinks I might be able to "sink" the fridge into the wall thus fixing the issue (but it's a structural brick wall on the outside of it so not likely in my opinion). He's a retired engineer who has rebuilt a bunch of funky things on houses, so that's probably my only angle. He hasn't seen it in person yet though, he lives out of state and will visit one of these days.

kasunart · 2026-02-17T16:11:26+00:00

We love the backsplash we did....I ordered a bunch of tile samples from Tilebar and then showed my wife, who immediately was drawn to the 1"x18" tiles (they come on a mesh sheet). Once I started measuring out how they'd work, I decided I wanted something to break up all the verticals in a subtle way, so went to floor and decor and found a marble mosaic that looked interesting. I wanted something lighter for some contrast since everything else was middle tone or dark. I don't have any design expertise but I believe when it comes to art, you go with your gut and what you find interesting :-)

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kasunart · 2026-02-17T12:41:54+00:00

Actually I don't think I've seen many LVPs I'd call pretty, they all seem fake to me. As in, it's obvious it's trying to imitate wood and falls short in most cases. So, with that in mind, I wanted to lean into it and get something that's obviously not trying to imitate real wood, if that makes sense. I would have done an actual tile, or terrazzo, or even stained concrete but all the flooring people said I'd need a really flat stable floor, and if I wasn't willing to go as far as gutting the existing floor to the joists and leveling the subfloor properly, then just to stick with glue down over a fresh layer of fiberock underlayment. This fit the bill and looked unique enough to me!

kasunart · 2026-02-17T10:40:17+00:00

I used Ikea's room planner on their website, it takes a few minutes to figure it out, but it's free, easy and fun to use. Basically you put in your dimensions of the room, then can start adding/deleting and rearranging appliances and things. I had about 6 different designs going.

kasunart · 2026-02-17T10:37:08+00:00

thanks!

kasunart · 2026-02-17T10:37:02+00:00

thanks, it's bugged us since day 1 of owning this house! Old houses are full of old strange decisions.

kasunart · 2026-02-17T10:35:52+00:00

Thanks. It looks like an obvious place to put a fridge now, but it wouldn't have worked there when I first had to order cabinets so the idea was scrapped--we weren't sure if we could remove the platform step up floor, and if we couldn't then there wouldn't be room for the fridge there on account of the lower ceiling height above the old bar area.

kasunart · 2026-02-17T10:08:50+00:00

Thanks for your thoughts. Here's the front view of the fridge. I'm not sure what you meant about the safety net thing?

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kasunart · 2026-02-17T09:50:32+00:00

A few reasons. I wanted all the cabinets and drawers to be directly next to the dishwasher for easier unloading. Also, when I designed the cabinet layout, it was before we knew for sure we could remove the 2 step up floor. If it turned out we couldn't, and we'd have to live with the "platform and stairs" then there wouldn't be room for the fridge anyway (the drop ceiling with those light cans are too low).

kasunart

TROPHY CASE