Planning My Own Kitchen Remodel

So, we're selling our beautiful home and moving into a "new" place, which is actually a 1950's home that is a bit of a dump:

The reason I'm not completely depressed about this is because it's allowing us, for the first time, to take on a large remodel of our own.  I've been helping others with their remodels for years, and I've done plenty of smaller projects in the various homes I've owned, but never something of this scale.

I recently gave tips on Utah Style & Design for finding good deals on renovation materials (see the post here), and we've used every one of these to our advantage.

We've also been deep in the planning stages to make sure everything is done correctly.  We've got floor plans approved by my structural engineer, so we're nearly ready to start demolition!

I'll post pics along the way, but here's a glimpse of our current plan:

Stay tuned for more!  (And in the meantime, if you know of someone who wants to live in a charming old home in the Marmalade neighborhood, send them my way!)

Design for a Difference Regional Winner!

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm a regional winner in the Design For A Difference design contest!  This means we'll receive $2,000 to work with Foremost Interiors for a makeover of our chosen charity, Bicycle Collective.  I'm so excited to be able to support this great cause!

The Bicycle Collective is a local non-profit, whose mission is to "promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households."  The concept is a no-brainer:  There are people who can really benefit from having a bike and being able to maintain it themselves, and the Bicycle Collective makes it happen, and has a whole lot of fun while doing so.  

Aside from supporting the Bicycle Collective, as a regional winner I also get to travel to Kansas City, where all regional winners will spend time with Mark Brunetz (of HGTV fame) and other International Design Guild participants, working on the Grand Prize winner's chosen charity makeover.