In Our Kitchen

Cupboards, sink and fixtures by Ikea
Countertops, backsplash and floors by Carrara
Vintage teacups
SS Printshop print
Chapters Indigo frame
Chapters Indigo teapot
Brunette the Label mug
Sloane tea
Mauviel pot
Lumira candle
Patisseries au fil du jour by Laurent Jeannin
Larousse gastronomique
Cinq saisons par Hugo & Victor

When we began looking for our Winnipeg home in June 2017, we chose a very specific geographic area to live in. Based on the area we chose, we knew we would be buying a home in an older building that, even if it were in good condition, would need renovation. The buildings in our neighbourhood are almost exclusively part of a nineteen-sixties development, situated on what was once a large estate. A few beautiful old homes still stand, but mostly, there are highrises all around, which is fine with me.

We aren’t first-time homeowners, so the prospect of a project didn’t concern us. We’ve (reluctantly) done renovations before, with good results. And the vast majority of newly constructed condos in Winnipeg aren’t to our taste, so we were happy to start with a blank canvas. The apartment we bought was well-maintained but extremely dated. After tearing out nine hundred square feet of beige carpet to reveal beautiful parquet floors, we turned our attention to the kitchen.

Of all the rooms in our new home, the kitchen was in the worst shape. The linoleum floor, once a shade of yellow, had faded to beige; there were large chunks out of it in some spots that we had to tape over, and it was peeling at the edges. The original cupboards, a dark wood that our next-door neighbours still have, had been replaced, leaving us with a seventies-inspired cream and maple style that, while bright, were both ugly and impractical because they had no dividers inside – they were really just one long cupboard with a lot of doors. And don’t get me started on the countertops. The one recent improvement to the kitchen came in the form of thick black granite. Not only did it not match anything, but it also sucked all the light out of the room. Suffice it to say, everything had to go.

We knew exactly what we wanted our kitchen to ultimately look like: white and bright. The kitchen space is tiny and immediately visible when you walk in the front door. Nothing but white made sense, especially since there are no windows nearby. We mistakenly thought that because we chose to use Ikea fixtures, and because the room is small, the project would be easy.

Let me be the first to say we were so, so naive.

After two days of rapid progress, everything stalled, and our six-day renovation turned into an eight-week saga wherein everything that could go wrong did. It was beyond frustrating. Contractor errors, railway delays, a broken air conditioner… the laundry list of problems and setbacks was long. I ate takeout for almost two months straight. We wore shoes in the apartment all the time because there was dust and dirt everywhere. But, eventually, everything did get finished. And we absolutely love the end result. (The trauma of the actual renovation will fade in time, I’m sure.)

We still have lots of work to do in our apartment, including a major bathroom renovation. But after the kitchen saga this summer, we’re taking a break to simply enjoy our space as it is. And probably make some more cosmetic changes, too. I can never let a project sit untouched for too long, and the apartment is definitely my biggest project at the moment.

Have you ever done home renovations? If so, I hope they’ve been less fraught than our kitchen makeover!