When we looked at the house, the kitchen was definitely the highlight of the house. The homeowners had remodeled it within the last year. The only things we didn't like were the wall color and the dark trim, which didn't match the trim in the rest of the house. I also didn't like the light fixture in the dining area. It's kind of hard to see here, but it was brushed nickel and everything else was bronze or dark wood.
The granite was really pretty and the appliances were all very nicely upgraded.
The floor was a little dark for my taste, but I knew that a lighter wall color would help lighten up the room.
Not long after we moved in, I painted the kitchen Muslin Tint by Farrell Calhoun. We had that in our last kitchen and I really liked how light and clean it was. We asked our contractor to change the trim in the kitchen to white as he was added trim to the rest of our addition. Normally I would have just painted it white, but it was a very intricate trim and painting it would have been a nightmare.
That's all we planned to do to the kitchen until our ice maker leaked. This lead to a major remodel. Thankfully it was covered by insurance, but it added a lot of time and stress that wasn't planned. We were without a kitchen for several weeks. It was toward the end of our remodel b/c we had to be worked into the contractor's schedule since this wasn't planned. I was completely done at this point.
They had to remove the cabinets, counter tops, appliances, and floor. To make matters worse, when they were removing the granite one piece broke, so we had to replace all of it. Again, it was covered by insurance, but still. That was not in the plan.
One difficult thing about this is that you had to walk through the kitchen to get from our room to Miles' room. That was tricky for Miles if he needed us during the night since it looked like this....
All the inconvenience has been so worth the finished product. We went with a lighter granite and removed all the decorative rounded edges to make it a little more streamline. The island is a slightly smaller, which I think opens up this area. They were able to save the back splash.
The same cabinets were able to be reinstalled. The previous owners installed really nice cabinets with slow close doors and drawers. We did get a new sink. We had a brown ceramic sink that didn't have a divider that went all the way up in the middle. We just couldn't get used to it. We installed a basic stainless steel sink. The new sink alone might have been worth all the trouble.
This is our only dining area. Our house doesn't have a dining room and a breakfast nook, only this area and the island. We used our dining room furniture from our old house and all the decorations from our old breakfast area. I had to order a larger rug but I ordered the same one. I also purchased the same curtains b/c the old ones stayed with our house. We eat dinner here every night, unless we are eating on the patio.
I love how much lighter the kitchen is. The new white trim helps so much. I love to cook and this kitchen makes me happy. We changed the floor from a dark vinyl to a light ceramic tile. That was a hard decision b/c we had to pay for the difference. And, the tile extends all the way down the hall to our room, in the office area, and into the kitchen. It was a rough expense to deal with, but I am so, so glad we did it. I couldn't be happier with the floor.
We replaced the old light fixture with this one. I bought it on a Facebook resale shop for $20. It matches our island pendant lights almost perfectly.
More decorations from our old dining room. I'm not a great decorator but I like the way this wall turned out.
I bought two of these chairs for $20 each and spray painted them a cream color. I saw the idea on a blog of putting them beside the hutch with the pillows.
A few other random things that I like in the kitchen are, this coffee mug tree from Pottery Barn...
The view from our dining room table, especially in the morning when the sun is coming up...
The ice maker that the previous owners installed in the island...
And, the double trash cans also built into the island...
Overall I couldn't be happier with our kitchen. I love that it's in the center of the house. We love cooking here, eating here, talking here, and playing games here. I missed our old kitchen so much at first, but I am finally happy with this one now that it's decorated and functioning so well for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment