What better place to start our tour of Wrightwood than in the heart of the home: the kitchen. When first purchased, Wrightwood was divided as an upstairs-downstairs duplex - we actually had two kitchens. For everyone's (read: my) sanity I will be focusing on the downstairs kitchen - where we decided the final kitchen would be as we turned Wrightwood back into a single family home. Even though we bought Wrightwood months ago there was so much cleaning, demolition, and exterior work to do we're just now getting to the nitty gritty of the interior. Before I get too far ahead of myself though, let me walk you through the original kitchen. (Can I apologize now for the offensively bad photos? Use them to imagine the epic vision it took to see the potential this house had when we first walked in, because whoa.)
So. Much. Dirty. Work. And not only that, the original owner(s) left decades - almost a century worth really - of stuff. We didn't want it all to go into the dumpster - it wasn't necessarily bad stuff - so we spent a few weeks sorting, boxing, and donating before we could even really get into the exploration and demolition. True story: some of the stuff is even decorating my apartment! As you can see the original kitchen was small and tucked away at the back of the house. Not only was it cut off from the rest of the house, but it cut off the rest of the house from some of the best light and views. Step one: open up the wall between the dining room and kitchen. (FYI: the first image is looking from the dining room into the kitchen. PINK.)
In case you can't tell from the filthy photos, the kitchen - much like the entire house - is unlivable. Now that the house has been reunited as one, she deserved a more open, accessible, and visible kitchen. We combined the original kitchen with a previously enclosed porch which was being used as a laundry/utility room (you can see the edge of a washing machine in the last photo). This laundry space has a significantly lower ceiling than the kitchen that needed to go.
Just look at the amount of space we uncovered for the future kitchen...mindblowingly open and huge right!? Just this week the final bits of enclosed porch wall and ceiling were removed, and my mom and I laid the moisture barrier and plywood just two nights ago (my dad and she did all the hard work though of sizing and cutting the puzzle piece before-hand). Opening up the entry to the kitchen changes everything and by tearing out the existing pantry and adjacent bedroom closets we added another 30-40 square feet of real estate to the kitchen. That may not sound like much but combined with the porch and the more open concept entry we have a whole new level of functionality. Light is pouring into the dining room and suddenly you get expansive views of the backyard. We uncovered an amazing brick chimney and in these shots you can see the kitchen taking shape.
You can see plumbing hook ups are in, and with a little more prep work we'll be laying the new tile floor! From there everything will start moving faster and faster…cabinets get built, appliances get moved in, lighting gets hung. Tune back in later this week for some serious inspiration. I'm talking floor plans, drawings, and much prettier images than these illustrating the next steps!
