So... this little project soon became a big project, which was mainly because we didn't really know what we wanted up front and our tastes were always likely to evolve as the work progressed.
It was all managed from a large piece of kiddies drawing paper attached to the Kitchen wall (until we knocked the wall down). It roadmapped the dependancies we had between the various tasks, as well as a calendar of what was happening when. Co-ordinating the various tradesmen required was a fine art, expecially when they are in short supply in Brighton (forget IT become a plumber in Brighton instead!)
The before shots of kitchen....
#1: View from our hallway into our dark faux oak panelled galley kitchen
#2: Mandy, our Au Pair, burning something...
#3: Jemima and Beatrice in the Dining room adjacent to the Kitchen
Stage One - make a big mess
First we knocked out the wall between the Kitchen and Dining Room - which was god send in itself as it let so much light into a previously dark, narrow space.
Then we eBayed our kitchen... yep! Faced with a £250 charge for dumping our old kitchen (labour and skip), we sold it to a guy who needed a temporary kitchen in a cottage he was moving into (whilst planning permission for a kitchen extension was processed). He paid us £100 and came and took the whole lot away with a plan to re-use it. Result!!
Stage Two - Be indecisive!
After a lot of 'thinking' we finally got down to business and went ahead and ordered our Howdens kitchen. The installation seems to have gone well so far (nothing's fallen off the wall or come off in our hand!)
Stage Three - start doing the Bathroom BEFORE you've finished the Kitchen!
