A before (left) and after photo of the kitchen (Photo courtesy Bridget Mearns, BILD Lethbridge)

By Justin Goulet

Renos complete on BILD Lethbridge contest winner’s home

Oct 2, 2019 | 12:04 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Katie Taylor now has her dream kitchen.

The local teacher was the recipient of a $20,000 renovation as part of BILD Lethbridge’s Home Renovation Giveaway. Taylor was surprised to learn of her win back on July 15 and after months of planning and renovation work, she now has a brand-new upgraded kitchen.

Additionally, crews also fixed up her living room and front yard space.

“This is such an exciting day. It’s the culmination of a few months of planning, of hard work by lots and lots of people and it’s been amazing to see all the people that have come together and help do what they’re good at,” Taylor said on Wednesday morning.

“It’s so nice to have a kitchen back. You don’t realize how much you need it or appreciate it when you don’t have it, but it’s so beautiful and my kids are so excited about it. We’ve already had some chances to cook in there together and for the boys to get up and get ready for school and make their own breakfast. That’s been just so amazing and it’s so beautiful.”

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Some of the upgrades in the kitchen include the addition of a hood fan and a backsplash, noting the simple act of wiping it down earlier this week was “so exciting”.

A second image of the before (left) and after of Taylor’s Kitchen, showcasing the new countertops (Photo courtesy Bridget Mearns, BILD Lethbridge)

“The dishwasher works properly and that is huge, I’ve already used that many times because the plumbing wasn’t done in a way that was conducive to having a dishwasher previously so even though I had gotten a couple of dishwashers, it never really helped,” she said.

“Now that the plumbing is fixed and there’s a dishwasher that works, that’s been a huge difference. It’s so easy to clean up and so nice to have extra counter space, to have a bunch of shelves that I can just put stuff on. The floor doesn’t have any holes in it – that’s also a really big perk [laughs].”

She explained that the whole process was an adventure, as at times she wasn’t too sure what crews would be doing – adding some surprises into the kitchen renovation.

“The landscaping was such a huge surprise. My front lawn has never really grown well because we used to have a big pine tree out there and that trashed the soil and everything, so it’s nice to have something that’s easy to take care and it looks really nice without having to deal with weeds all the time. I didn’t expect the ceiling to be painted – like, they built me a little shelf unit inside of this ledge that used to just be dead space and just so many little things like that.”

Taylor pouring champagne in celebration of the renovations during a special ceremony on Oct. 2, 2019 (Lethbridge News Now)

Taylor added that a familiar touch crews kept in involved the kitchen counter colour.

“I had like a marble utensil holder thing that ended up being the same colour as the kitchen counters, so I have my favourite turquoise-coloured spatulas and tongs and stuff in that, and it just goes really well with the kitchen.”

Hooks were also added in on the side entry door by the kitchen and crews kept in something from Taylor’s old kitchen that she was a fan of – a garbage cupboard for easy access to the trash bin when she’s cooking away with her young children.

TEAM EFFORT

Bridget Mearns, BILD Lethbridge’s Executive Officer, said the project was a collaboration of 25 members.

“We started with probably six and as the project grew, so did the number of people who came on board. Whatever we needed, there was a member who stepped up, which was absolutely heartwarming,” Mearns said.

Following the announcement of Taylor’s win on July 15, crews got to work taking measurements and going through designs with her. Mearns explained that demolition work took place on September 3 and the full renovation work was completed on September 23 as crews moved fast to complete the project.

A before (left) and after photo of the door off Taylor’s kitchen leading to the backyard (Photo courtesy Bridget Mearns, BILD Lethbridge)

“When we first chose Katie, part of the reasons were that, because her kitchen was not functioning the way that she needed it to function for her kids to participate with her – they love being in the kitchen, they love helping her to cook – it was clear that wasn’t going to happen,” Mearns commented, saying there was visible damage in the kitchen before renovations took place – including to the walls due to heat from the oven.

“There was a lot of things that just made it not functional for them and now to see this incredible kitchen with lots of counter space, lots of storage that’s beautiful and clean and crisp and new, it just warms my heart because I know for years from now they’ll still be enjoying the same kitchen and cooking together as a family.”

The Home Renovation Giveaway was first launched on March 20, 2019 and entries were accepted until June 16. Out of the hundreds of entrants, a qualifier was chosen each week for 13 weeks.

That list was narrowed down from 13 qualifiers to four finalists. Taylor was then chosen out of that group as the contest winner.