KITCHEN RENOVATION PART 2

The initial demo and the beginnings of our new kitchen are in the preceding post so if you want the FULL experience then SHUT YOUR EYES AND CLICK HERE!!!

Our New fridge.  We flipped the surounding cabinets to open up the space and left just enough room against the wall so the door can open fully.

Shot of the new floors highlighted by our new oven

We took the cabinets that used to make the "L" and bought some unfinished fill ins to make this island. So embarassed that you can all see inside my messy cabinets.  At this point I had sanded all the cabinets to prep them for their makeover. Notice my mom and john in these pics... I SWEAR we did work!

Like I said in a previous post, we lucked out with contractor pricing on floors and countertops which was such a blessing for a project this size.  Trust me, we would never have been able to do this without that connection.  Here are the templates for our new granite countertops!!!

Notice our cool prep sink sitting on the island

Let the priming and painting of the cabinets BEGIN!!  I wish I could be happy about this project, but it was the worst project ever.  It did turn out beautifully though... but took sooooo long!

Do you like our attempt at safety?  Home Depot bags to alert us of the dangerous brackets!

You can see in some of these pictures how we solved our issue with trimming the bottom of the cabinets.  The toe kicks on all of them were old gross black particle board that was crumbling. So we took the baseboard scraps that we had left over and used them.  It turned out great and was a good solution.

Notice the back of our wine fridge in the island.  Good idea John!  You can also see the awesome Pottery Barn lights over the island.  They were a much appreciated gift from my mom and they are perfect.

The countertops arrive!!  I will admit, my mom and I got teary eyed when they were putting these in.  John and Jim just giggled at us.

 Some details...

 Wine fridge!!

The chosen tile... more to come

The island prep sink and the awesome grain in our ganite.  We chose a really nice piece for the island and then chose a simpler matching piece for the perimeter counter.

Our base board trim solution.  I love how the white conrasts with the dark wood floor

TILE!

I will admit- by the time we had to install tile we were exhausted and the daunting task of glass subway tile around the island and the whole backsplash was too much.  I found a guy willing to do it for $300 so I gave up!

AND...

DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!!

THE FINISHED PRODUCT!!!! sigh

notice the awesome curtains that my mom made out of Target shower curtains that I bought

This shows the angle looking into the dining room and is a more recent picture.  Obviously we were set up for a partaaayyy!

RIP Old Kitchen, you won't be missed

KITCHEN RENOVATION

Last year we were able to start some renovations on our kitchen.  We had a modest budget considering what most kitchen renos go for, especially given the fact that I have expensive taste (sigh).  Well we decided to tackle it ourselves with the much needed assistance of my interior designer mom and her "jack of all trades" husband John.  Here is the BEFORE:

Don't you just love the canary yellow walls and the tin backsplash?  That is sarcasm, but only for those who don't like it.  For those that do like it: "It is beautiful, but we just needed our own touch!"
We gutted the kitchen around Halloween which resulted in Thanksgiving dinner moving to my sister's house in PA.

Introducing... THE HUBBY!!

You will notice that we painted the room a nice cool Tan and added some classic stripes to dress up the soffit (sp? even the correct word?) prior to the demo.  We also upgraded the oven to a beautiful GE and installed an upgraded GE microwave.  Unfortunately I don't have zoomed in pics of that, but I will put some up later.

John and Hubby aka Jim

Next we had to get rid of those wonderful fake wood plastic floors

Bode is trying to help

 It went through the front hallway and into the back laundry room and powder room.  Sounds like a lot but ripping things out is my idea of fun

After the floors we had to say farewell to the tin backsplash.  Ripping that out was so much fun!

Here is Maclin helping out

He is now 85 lbs so you can tell how old these pics are!

Mom!!  Let us in!

You can also see our deck in this shot.  We just ripped that out and got a new one so I will put that in a later post.  You can see the boards that Jim had to put in because it was falling apart.

Shout out to Ved who helped rip up the sub floor.  That job was terrible.  I followed behind and pulled out all the nails and there were about 10 nails every 5 inches... uughhh!!!

Notice the cabinets missing from the wall and the lack of a fridge.  Don't worry we used all of our cabinets and the fridge has a new home in the garage.

Speaking of the garage... here it is acting as a temporary garbage dump

You may notice the bathroom sink in there.  We re-did the powder room while we were at it, but that will be a seperate post.

I mentioned before that we didn't have a big budget so I had to be creative and really find "connections".  Our good friends hooked us up with some contacts for flooring and countertops.  We were able to get contractor pricing and that was HUGE.  We decided to get unfinished oak floors and chose a 4 inch plank.  The price was so good we did the whole ground floor!

LIVING/GAME ROOM RENO

Look at all the DUST!  We had to live in a dog friendly hotel for a week while this was getting done, but it was worth it.

DINING ROOM RENO

Next I had to pick the stain.  I chose Jacobean because I love dark wood floors.  Cleaning them is a pain with 2 huge dogs, but oh so worth it!

Bode resting by the front door on his new floors.  More to come!!!!

Living Room/Game Room Before and After

Well I finally got around to finishing the Game-Living-Man Room.  It has been through a few transitions, but we have settled on it's best use.  While the hubby was away watching his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers I got to work.  Here is the Before and After:

BEFORE

AFTER

The pictures turned out grainy for some reason... probably because I had just grabbed my camera from the cold car.  I will add the after shots of the office and kitchen soon.  Right now they are not fit to be photographed as they are filled with xmas gifts, wrapping paper, and baking mess.  Happy Holidays!!!!!

Things That Make Me Happy

Haven't made much progress on the decorating front.  This is a crazy time of year at my job and I have no time for much else... sad.  BUT!  My friends gave me a beautiful and sweet vase that matches our new kitchen perfectly!  I put an awesome flower in it.  If you know what kind it is let me know... I have no clue, but I love it!

Somewhat Successful

The weekend was somewhat successful.  I got my long run done (it was not pretty) and we set up some of the game room, and my office is almost totally done... sooo pictures will come soon!!!

HOME OFFICE

The plan for the weekend... after I go for an 11 mile run (YUCK!), do work, and go home to Philly for my bday BBQ!!!... is to get our game room and my home office squared away.  The Game Room was a Living Room but we never set foot in it so we decided to add some "toys".  The office has been painted and somewhat set up but the plan is to get them done this weekend!!  Here are the BEFORE SHOTS

GAME ROOM/ LIVING ROOM

OFFICE

Dining Room Before and After

BEFORE

AFTER

DRAPES: IKEA

TABLE/CHAIRS: CRATE & BARREL

BAR & LIGHTS: IKEA

WALL SHELF: IKEA

SIDE CHAIRS: IKEA

MIRROR: TARGET

PAINT: BEHR PLUM MERLOT

LAMP/RUG: HOMEGOODS