House photo's, including my renovated 'Chiefs kitchen'

[Connie Jo]

I'm not complete with renovations...I need to rip out the beige backsplach ceramic tile in the kitchen area...which I'm dreading. Ripping out tile is a messy difficult task, but I want to replace it with a gray stone tile, the same for countertops.

I'm ripping out the carpet & linoleum throughout the entire house. It's quite a project to do with only two hands, but I'm making progress one day at a time. The floor underneath is concrete slab, I'm using a satin epoxy enamel concrete paint as a finish...3 coats paint, 2 coats satin clear coat protectant...so 5 coats with drying time inbetween...gonna take a while, haha. The painted concrete resembles a smooth natural slate in texture & color, think it's gonna look pretty good when I'm finished. I'm not a fan of carpet for many reasons, including it's high maintenance & short term durability. Hard surface flooring, in my case concrete, is much easier to maintain, never needs replaced, very durable. I'll use area rugs as well.

I'm repairing all the divots in the concrete left by pulling carpet tack strips nailed to the slab with concrete mix, also the perimeter edges are rough, trying to patch & even those up some too. The slab is covered with paint, drywall mud, caulk, adhesives, machinery oil, dirt...sub contractors knew it would be covered with carpet, so were sloppy. It takes an hour to clean a 3 foot square area, scrubbing & scraping using chemical strippers. I'm familiar with building sites, so knew it would be sloppy, but this is some of the worst I've ever seen, but tis what it is! haha

The house was only 3 yrs. old when I bought it the end of December, but sat vacant for a year, and the original owner didn't maintain or care for it the first two. The carpet was badly soiled & stained, not salvageable, also a poor quality carpet. This small house appears to be built well, had to meed strict building codes, but the finish materials were of low quality.

Below is a before & after photo of the kitchen space to date, but as I said...still need to remove the beige tile & countertops, replace with gray stone, and finish ripping out the linoleum, finish the concrete slab in the slate epoxy paint finish. The cabinets are solid wood, but the oak stain/lacquer was peeling, flaking, they looked horrible. Clint can attest, he saw the house the very weekend I was moving in, haha. The before photo is a realtor photo, not my own...I lost my before pics when my old PC crashed. The sink light & ceiling fan are original, I replaced the shades with red art glass ones I found at Home Depot, painted the fan blades black. I stripped the cabinets down, then finished them in a distressed black satin. I replaced all the cabinet pulls with solid pewter pulls I found on clearance at Lowes. I replaced the standard builders shallow sink & faucet with a deep double bowl stainless steel and goose neck faucet in brushed nickel. I do too much baking & cooking not to have a deep sink for washing pots & pans, haha.

[AussieChiefsFan]

This is my TV Armoire & side cabinets displaying some of my Chiefs memorbilia I've kept. I spent about 2 hrs trying to get the darn door hinges adjusted so the knobs lined up...they shifted during the move I guess. Anyway, I became frustrated & gave up, but will eventually get them aligned, haha.

[Connie Jo]

Thanks Aussie!! I hope someday in the future you and your parents, as well as Conrad will be able to visit my home!! You know you're always welcome unconditionally in my home!! :)