One of the worst things about this rental house (well, besides the moldy showers, filthy walls, and smell of dog urine in the carpets) was the nasty kitchen. (Okay, the wall-o-mirrors is pretty bad, too, but our bookshelves largely cover them.) We’ve dealt with the cleanliness issues, and when we renewed our lease this month, we asked the landlord to consider doing something about the broken tile counter with missing grout and the stained, chipped sink with worn-out enamel. The same week that he said he’d pay for renovations, my parents were dying in the 107 degree heat back home. When I called and mentioned that it was 72 degrees here, my parents decided last minute to fly out here for my birthday so my dad could redo the kitchen for me!
What followed was an intense week in which I learned that a) I don’t have it in me to ever own a true fixer-upper house; b) my dad is the best dad in the world; and c) he can do anything! Here’s the grand reveal:
BEFORE: Chipped, filthy tile countertops with disgusting grout that made it impossible to ever truly wipe my counters clean.
And places where the grout was missing. No matter how much bleach solution I scrubbed in those cracks, I had no idea what was festering and growing in them.
Lovely enamel sink with chips and so many worn-through spots that it always looked filthy, no matter how much I scrubbed. Oh, and the hot and cold pipes were connected backwards, so you had to push the faucet right for hot and left for cold–incredibly frustrating when you’ve spent the first 30 years of your life with standard left=hot, right=cold faucets.
DURING: First we (meaning my parents) had to tear up the old tiles and cement underneath.
Lots of sawdust, and several days without a sink and oven!
AFTER: Clean, smooth counters that I can wipe up and sanitize easily!
Lower backsplash, scrubbed walls, and a fresh coat of paint…
New, easy-to-clean stainless steel sink (with hot and cold pipes standardized!)
Now excuse, me, I’m off to bake in my “new” kitchen!
Wowzers! What a change! I’m glad the landlord could see reason (and the gross modly grout and sink) and that you could make the changes. Oh, and props to your parents for doing all that hard work. The results look fantastic!
It looks great! So nice and clean!! God Bless your parents for doing the grunt work – I can imagine how difficult it was to do! Can’t wait to see it!! Enjoy! 🙂
So wonderful! Did he pay your dad, too??? That’s great that your parents made a last minute trip to visit. Wish mine would! (Altho, we were dying under a heat index of 116, and I don’t think they would have enjoyed that!)
looks soo good!!! i have a friend who has tile counters too and while it looks good- very impractical. so i can understand how glad you are to have regular counters!! so nice to have such handy dad (and mom too)!
Oooo! I love the sink! How awesome to have a dad that can do it all! 🙂
Yes, your dad and your mom can do anything and everything! But your dad will never hear it from me! 🙂