Kitchen Remodel Before and After

 

I am finally posting the before and after pictures from our kitchen remodel. We started this project back in March and as with any DIY remodel jobs it took us a little bit of time to get to where we are now. Part of the delay was I got pregnant/sick in April and things kind of came to a halt until I was feeling better. Because we were living in survival mode, working on the house was the last thing I wanted to do. Blake did so much work to finish this for me, and I can't thank him enough! 

Our Process. . . 

Step 1: The Plans

I sketched this up back in April 2015 when we finished our bedroom. If you want to see my process check out this blog post.

Step 2: Finding the Brick

Because this home was built in the 1930's the kitchen used to have a coal burning stove to cook on, thus needing a chimney in the kitchen. Blake saw it one day in the attic and decided to take the plaster off and make it a feature in our quaint little kitchen.
We are still deciding if we should leave it rough or clean it up a little more and glaze it to make it pop.

 

Step 3: Deciding it was time to Paint

As stated before, I had known what I wanted to do since spring last year. But you know, MONEY, and we knew once we started it was going to take time. I got a few bids and in March I decided it was time to get the ball rolling. (Poor Blake). You see, when you do any work on your kitchen you’ve got to plan on living in chaos for a while.

We hired Mark and Valeri Parrish to paint our cabinets. They did a great job and were quick, which is important when working on the kitchen. For the cabinets we did Sherwin William’s Intellectual Gray (SW 7045) which was two shades darker than my go to greige for my house Worldly Gray. 

 

On the walls I decided to go with Sherwin William's Sea Salt (SW6204) which is my new go to light, bluish-greeny-gray. I'm wanting to paint my kids room this color now.

For Trim we used the same white we used for our whole house, Sherwin William's Snowbound (SW 7004)

*Paint Chips are pictured above

Step 4: Flooring

We used the same flooring we used when we did our bedroom remodel vanity area. Tile is from Lowes; Leonia Silver Porcelin Tile. Blake's dad, Bart was kind enough to come over to help us tile ALL DAY. 

I really love the look of this tile, but it seriously shows everything. I really need to get a runner to hopefully hide my day to day crumbs and spots.

Step 5: Lighting

Lighting is a big deal to me, so I spent a little extra on lighting to get the fixtures I really wanted. It really added to the country feel of our little kitchen.

Step 6: Countertops

Countertops may have been the hardest decision for me. I knew we needed to go with some kind of laminate, but I could not decide what direction I wanted to go. I didn’t want to go white like I had drawn, because our backsplash was going to be white and our floor had a lot of white in it. I was about to go with the grey pictured below, but it just made the kitchen feel too gray and bland with the cabinets and flooring.
I really wanted butcher block, but I was worried about being able to take care of it. Not to mention we weren’t willing to pay that much.

We were looking around at Johnson Brothers and Blake spotted the faux butcher block laminate and we decided to go with it. We were a little worried we were dipping back into the 70’s going with laminate wood ;-).
I wish I could remember the name of it, but I didn’t write it down anywhere. I do know we went with the crescent edge which cost about $200 more. I feel like it helped the laminate not look so laminate and more like butcher block. Not to mention our laminate guy Randy did an awesome job!

This is one of my favorite parts of the kitchen. It really warmed up the space and gave it that country look.

Step 7: Plumbing

I decided to go with Kohler’s Cardale Oil-Rubbed Bronze handle pull-down kitchen faucet. I kept the same sink we had before. It is a SOLID porcelain sink and I could not find one that matched in durability. I also had a disposal and oil-rubbed bronze drain fixtures installed. 

 

Step 8: Backsplash

We did your basic white porcelain subway tile with white grout. Blake installed it for us and did an amazing job. Ladies, is there anything better than watching your man do your projects for you?! ;-)

And there you have it. Our Kitchen Remodel. We still have touch ups, electrical and minor finishing we need to do, but there you have it. Our process from the beginning to the (almost) end.

Price Breakdown

For any of you who are interested on how much this remodel was, I tried to break down the cost for you to see below. 

Refinishing Cabinets - Labor and Materials = $1,050

Hardware - Pulls from Wurth @ 1.32 ea. = $50

Countertops - Labor and material = $850

Flooring - Tile, Mud, Hardy Board & Grout - Tile is from Lowes; Leonia Silver Porcelin Tile $3.85 sq. ft + 98.85 = $645

Trim = apx. $50

Paint - walls, trim, ceiling, doors = $85

Lighting - over the sink $37.07 + ceiling mount $107.80 ea x 3 = $360

Backsplash - Mud, Grout, Tile, and caulk = $100

Faucet = $245

Plumbing - Labor, disposal, switch and accessories = $365

Misc Materials = $154

Total Project Cost = $3,954

Family Pictures 2015

Last October, our family finally got family pictures. Something that needed to happen, since we hadn't had them done since Olivia was born?!
The hardest part for me is getting Blake to plan on it. He is kind of a stinker when it comes to pictures. I made a deal with him, if we did these pictures, I would not make him do family pictures until we have another addition to our family.

 

Our Pictures were taken by Natalie Williams, who did an excellent job. And best of all she got all these amazing pictures and more in less than 30 minutes. When your working with toddlers and a grumpy husband that's a must!

I know getting your pictures done can seem a little expensive, but I believe family pictures are one of the best investments for three reasons. . .

1. You can use family pictures in place of art work.

2. Scrapbooking.

3. I will love and cherish these forever!

Thanks Natalie for doing such a great job.

The Kitchen Plans

 

I know what you are thinking...Why would I ever change our kitchen?? ;-)

I love the exposed brick! I think it will really warm up the space (color wise) and bring in a fun texture. Not to mention it shows off some of the authentic bones of the house.

 

Blake and I decided with the area we live in, and if we decide to keep this and make it a rental property, we probably would not get a return on our money if we did the full fledge kitchen renovation. Not to mention I love the to-the-ceiling cabinets, which if you were to have a cabinet company do those now, it would cost a pretty penny. 

So we are choosing to keep the cabinets and the white appliances, and do a minor makeover.

This is what we plan to do. . .

 

A Quick Rendering

Finishes

Some Inspiration Photos

I love all of the white kitchens that are trending, but I didn't want to for a couple of reasons; #1. My kids are messy #2. With the existing white appliances I thought it might be too much white and #3. I didn't like how it would look with the tile. So we are going Grey!!!

The biggest issue is we want to pay someone to paint the cabinets so it's done right. And once we start I want to be sure we have the funds to do it all, so we don't have to cook in a remodel for months and months. Hopefully we can start soon! I'll try to be good and keep you updated on the progress.

Here's some updated pictures of our house....

After I posted the remodeled bedroom pictures, I realized I haven't posted any updated pictures of our home since we first moved in. And since Monday is my cleaning day I thought what the heck?! I'll take some pictures while our house is clean for 5 minutes.
The thing with buying an older home is I feel like the projects never end. And when we finish one thing we think "great there are only 20 more big projects and then we'll be done."
Even though it does seem like project after project; I love our old house. I love being a home owner who has a house to work on, and I love the character and quirks our little house has. It might not be exactly where I want it yet, but it does feel like ours, which is the most important thing to me.
I've compiled a few pictures of our living spaces. . .

Check out our new rug and ceiling fan! Both were this years birthday presents to me.

See our dining room table and chairs. . . That is my next project.

I just love the Art Deco styled vents, and a couple of weeks ago Blake added the toe kick trim which I think really classes up the trim.

I love the old 6 pane windows. I don't love cleaning them however which was my project last Saturday. (Another future project for this room is adding a window seat between the bookcases. I'm just trying to decide whether we should do a built in, or just by a cute fabric covered bench??)

I'm going to do a different post on our kitchen and what we've got planned, so stay tuned. . .