the hideous kitchen floors.

this is our kitchen!

i bet you're thinking "well, that looks quite nice actually". and it is. the ikea cabinetry is just fine for now, and the carrera marble countertops are pleasant enough. but did you noticed the checkerboard floors? now, if you're thinking that it's a weird design choice, but really not that bad because at least it's nicely tiled, then you are very, very wrong. it is not tiled. it is a giant sheet of vinyl. that feels icky (almost sandy) underneath your feet, and has lots of air bubbles because whoever installed it did not do so properly. the pictures don't really show quite how bad it is, but you can kind of get the idea.

and this is what's beneath it:

i literally pulled up this corner with just my hands. i think i would have preferred that old orange linoleum to what is in there now. oh well. we don't have the money to do a full kitchen remodel, and other than the floor, it's really not that bad. so the plan is find a cheap and acceptable solution for the floor. i think we have settled on vinyl wood plank, which tends to fall in the $1-$2 per square foot range. so for hopefully less than $200 we will have a quick and durable solution to our kitchen floor problem.

before it was flipped.

using google maps street view, we are able to see what the exterior of the house looked like before the flippers that we bought the house from got their hands on it.

it's a pity, as i really much preferred the colors it used to be, as opposed to now. especially since they painted over everything in blue, yellow and red., including all that stonework.

purchased: appliances.

we also did our appliance shopping on president's day weekend. so many sales! after comparing the prices and sales available at several stores, we settled on home depot for our refrigerator, washer and dryer.

we had a bit of a dilemma regarding the fridge due to how the kitchen is configured. the space for the fridge is between a counter on the left, and a wall on the right. the space is exactly 36". most refrigerators are 36" (or just under) which would pose a serious problem for the french doors and bottom freezer that i so wanted since you wouldn't be able to open the right side door all the way. they were super helpful at home depot though, and we found this 30" wide samsung 21.6 ft3 fridge. the hope is that with the extra six inches between the fridge and the wall, we'll at least be able to open the right door to about 90 degrees, which should be enough, especially when the other door is open all the way. we're taking a bit of a gamble here, but our other option was to get a left-hinged single door, but then that would sort of not really flow with the kitchen, since you'd be between the refrigerator door and the wall.

we went with this LG washer and dryer set, in cherry red (minus the pedestals)! originally about $1,000 each, we were able to get them for $800 each.

after tax, all three appliances cost us less than $3,500! which is really exciting, as we were afraid it was going to be closer to about $5,000. the more savings the better right now, as there are a few more things to buy, and some renovation that has to happen up front before we move in.