A Long Time Coming

My kitchen has really needed to be updated for a while, but I wasn't inclined to spend the money or go through the hassle of doing it -- and I know it will be a hassle. Now, though, everything has to be torn out because of the water damage and subsequent mold issues, so I can redo it however I want. (This is a big look-on-the-bright-side scenario, as I'm down to concrete floors and have been sick from the mold spores for a few weeks.) Today I found out that we can start the demolition as early as next week. That is exciting! And my mitigator, a public adjustor, said we can do everything at my convenience; we don't have to do it next week, but we can. He also gave me a ballpark amount that I'll have to work with, which will cover my flooring throughout the house (other than bathrooms and bedrooms), drywall, paint, cabinets and countertops. I'm pretty clueless on how much any of that costs, but at least now that I know an approximate amount I can start looking. And when I say "however I want", I don't mean anything extravagant; there won't be enough money for that, not that I'd want that anyway.

Because I like to surround myself with unusual and beautiful objects, I'm planning to go to the local architectural salvage store downtown and find something really cool. I guess I don't really have to do painted drywall; I might find some other nice wall covering. I'm thinking about open cabinets -- or just shelves -- higher up and closed cabinets on the bottom. Maybe I'll even be able to get nice granite countertops. Wouldn't that be awesome! There was nothing wrong with my kitchen, and updates are expensive, but now that I have to do it, I want to think carefully about what's important. I care less about the cabinets than about the flooring (which doesn't need to be replaced in the kitchen because it's tile, the same thing I'm planning on putting in the rest of the house) and counters.

I didn't expect to get enough from the insurance company to be able to repair everything that got messed up, much less to fix everything up to match (or mismatch, if I so choose, but in a good way). It has been a big pain living with things the way they are now -- four weeks of water damage mitigation seems a lot longer! -- but in the end it will be more than worth the wait. Off to Pinterest to look at kitchen designs!