July 31, 2016 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

August – Fort Bragg Remodel Finished!

I love the results of the remodel of our vacation cabin in Fort Bragg, CA! It turned out even better than we had hoped. The entire house looks brighter and larger with the new flooring, but the biggest changes are in the kitchen and bathroom.

Yes, my blog is about cooking and gardening; but also it’s a record of change. Changes in your home ripple and have an effect on your life and mental state. A change in your immediate environment changes you as well. A revamped (even cleaning out your cupboards, pantry and fridge) kitchen will make a difference in your life. That difference may include what is prepared in your kitchen, who comes to dinner, and the general mood of the cook. But it could be bigger. Experts have found that a messy and unorganized kitchen promotes overeating. Think about it, it’s stressful and feels out of control. And if you’re stressed you are much more likely to reach for the chips or the cookies. Ok, enough with the lecture.

Bear with me while I first talk about the new bathroom, but feel free to jump directly to the kitchen.

The “old” bathroom had a sunken tub and a clear glass window immediately to the right of the front door, necessitating a privacy screen. This picture of the front of the house is a little dark and it’s hard to see. I took this one the first week we had the house. It’s amazing how much bigger the bushes have grown over the past four years.

Fort Bragg “old” front as it looked when purchased

The new window is frosted, it lets in tons of light but gives privacy to the person taking a shower. We wanted a large walk-in shower with a flat entry and frameless shower doors, you can see how much light that new window lets into the room. Increasing the size of the shower meant that we needed to move the toilet and reduce the size of the vanity. We purchased a dark blue molded glass sink from our friend John Lewis at his yearly seconds sale and found a small piece of marble at a close-out sale.

First, here is the “old” bathroom:

Fort Bragg “old” Bathroom with Sunken Tub and Privacy Screen

Fort Bragg “old” Bathroom Vanity and Sink

New Vanity and Sink

New Shower Window From the Inside

And we have a new front door as well as the new bathroom window.

New Front Door and Bathroom Window

Ok, it’s time to show the finished kitchen. Some of you may have already seen some pictures. The sliding glass door off the kitchen has now been replaced with a French door.

Kitchen

Center Island

Remember that raw redwood board?

Old Growth Redwood

Here it is on the finished cabinet.

Redwood Top to Cabinet

Wood is so amazing!

If anyone in Fort Bragg, CA is considering a remodel, I am happy to share the names and give recommendations for the appliance store, custom window/shower glass store; not to mention our painter, cabinet maker, and contractor. We are extremely happy with the quality of their work and found them very professional to work with.

But you can’t have our contractor until we complete phase II, an addition on the back of the house.

The Architectural and Engineering Plans – Phase II

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and comments along the journey!

June 2, 2016 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

June – Fort Bragg Remodel IV

The new Fort Bragg kitchen is finished, yeah! There are still several things to complete in the house…new front door, French doors off the kitchen, repair the deck, and shower door. But the most important “heart” of the home is done. We spent the holiday weekend moving back in. It gave us an opportunity to question what we want back in the house. When we purchased it almost 5 years ago, we moved in the “leftovers” from our main house. What do I mean by that? The battered and chipped and odd china and pots and pans (and tattered and torn clothing). When putting things away it gave us a chance to re-evaluate and keep only what we truly love. The house has much more of a minimalist feel.

Here are some before and after pictures of the progress:

Before – Fridge and stove wall

After – Fridge and Range Wall

After – New Fridge

Before – Island sink and dishwasher

After – Edge of New Island and Sink

What a pleasure to cook our first meal in the new range (gas top and electric oven), a quick roast chicken that I will be posting. This is the most amazing way to roast a chicken in only 45 minutes.

45 Minute Roast Chicken

The remodel has been taking up all of our spare time these last few months. I hope to get back to posting more recipes soon, including the one above. You need to have this trick up your sleeve.

Meanwhile we did manage to fit in a hike with the dogs on the “haul road” along the coast.

Coastal Haul Road

May 9, 2016 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

May – Fort Bragg Remodel Update III

Our remodel of the cabin in Fort Bragg continues although it seems to be slowing somewhat. I had hoped the workers would have started on the tile, not yet it seems. But, the new wood floor is installed with the exception of the spare bedroom.

New floor

That is the new range in the middle of the room, it should be installed this week.

The kitchen sink and faucet are in but not hooked up yet, ditto for the dishwasher.

Kitchen sink, faucet and dishwasher

We are very pleased with how the sweatshirt grey paint we chose for the back cabinets combines with the stainless steel refrigerator. Since living, dining and kitchen are essentially one room we didn’t want the fridge to dominate the room. The grey paint softens the stainless industrial look.

Sweatshirt grey cabinets and stainless steel fridge

And the new lighting was a successful choice. Here are the pendants over the kitchen island.

The new window for the bathroom arrived.

Bathroom window

It will go in this spot, in the back of the shower.

Area for new bathroom window

Can you believe it was clear glass before, necessitating a privacy screen? The window is placed just to the right of the front door.

Bathroom window

The dry rot means we will have to replace some of the boards on the deck.

I’m not sure I will be able to get up to the coast again until the end of this month. Hopefully we will almost be finished by then. Look for more progress reports.

May 2, 2016 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

May – Fort Bragg Remodel Update II

I was up in Fort Bragg checking on the house this weekend and things are moving along.

Kitchen Island

The butcher block counter tops are on, not attached yet because our contractor needs to install the sink and faucet.

Kitchen

The appliances will be delivered this week once the flooring is completed.

New flooring around the fireplace

It was quite a jigsaw to cut the flooring boards around the stone fireplace.

New flooring

bathroom

Not much to see in the bathroom but the heat mat has been installed in the floor and they are ready to start tiling. The new window is being delivered today so it will really take shape by the end of this week.

Kitchen Island

Hopefully all will be completed (with the exception of the French door and the front door) by the end of this month. I am sure we will see huge changes by next weekend.

That’s Casey you see in some of the pictures, she had a wonderful time sniffing and investigating all of the changes. This is her first time back in the house as the workers have cleaned up all the lose nails and construction materials.

April 25, 2016 by Liz @ spades, spatulas, and spoons

April – Fort Bragg Remodel Update

Demolition is almost complete at the Fort Bragg cabin, now things are being put back together again. This is just a quick post to update the remodel diary.

The kitchen cabinets are in and we LOVE the blue Hale Navy we chose for the island! We agonized over the choice so it is a great relief. It is the most amazing color and looks entirely different depending on the light…sometimes so dark it is almost black, and sometimes more grey than blue. The color is not going to come through in the pictures but it will give you an idea.

Hale Navy cabinet as seen from the front door.

Hale Navy Island from backside (this is where stools can pulled up for a breakfast bar)

Hale Navy island from the sink side

The grey for the cabinets on the wall also came out well, this is Sweatshirt Grey.

Sweatshirt Grey

You can see the hood for the range is “mostly” installed. The appliances will come in after the flooring. There is still a lot to do but we hope to be finished by Memorial Day.

The new flooring has been laid in one of the bedrooms. Next step is the rest of the house. It was a challenge around the fireplace as there wasn’t an even edge. Our contractor had to smooth the line of the rocks at floor level.

New hardwood flooring

And we chose the hardware for the cabinets.

Kitchen cabinet hardware

My husband, Steve, really wanted a redwood top for the Hale Navy cabinet you see when you first enter the house. We found the perfect piece over the weekend at Anderson’s Alternatives in Mendocino, an eco lumber supplier.

Old Growth Redwood

Since the property has many redwood trees, it seems appropriate. It will be beautiful when finished.

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August – Fort Bragg Remodel Finished!

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June – Fort Bragg Remodel IV

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May – Fort Bragg Remodel Update III

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May – Fort Bragg Remodel Update II

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April – Fort Bragg Remodel Update

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