The Kitchen

The Beginning:

a couple views towards the west facing window.  

Our kitchen was the first major project that we tackled.  We were young, newly married, with zero renovation experience.  Our intention was to do the major overhall in the future and spend as little money as possible in the present with just decorative updates such as paint, hardware, etc.   However, as the "to do" list kept multiplying with MORE work in the future looming...plan "A" made less and less sense.  

It's kind of funny to sit here and think back about the beginning of this project.  It honestly kind of gives me a headache to remember it!  We were so clueless...haha!  I think it may be safe to say that more than one person close to us thought we were crazy and should just leave it alone for awhile longer.  

Anyway, in the end it was the cabinets and flooring that made our decision for us...both major renovation expenses.  First, we had called a cabinetmaker to come give us an estimate on some minor repairs and few additional cabinets on the east wall. (see below)  We explained our plan, which he wasn't crazy about, and by the time he left we were waiting on a quote for ALL new cabinets.  Second, we called in a flooring guy to get a quote for new flooring.  We weren't thinking anything too over the top at this point, just something that would be a little easier to maintain.  Carpet and I weren't getting along....salsa was involved. :)  However, we quickly became discouraged when we discovered that there was a structural issue that no other flooring than carpet could cover.  No carpet equaled ripping out the flooring, subflooring, everything down to the joists and then replacing some of them.  Fantastic.  

view from the now dining area towards the living room

When the quote came back for the cabinets we were shocked!!  It was much lower than we had expected (which NEVER happens...and probably hasn't happenend since!)  This is when we came to the conclusion that the best financial decision for us was to move forward with the larger renovation now, and forego the wasted money on the smaller updates....because in our case that was going to be an expensive route too.  Anyone who has ever experienced renovating an old house knows that "simple" isn't usually part of the equation.  This is about the timeframe where we learned that little tidbit of info, haha!

As you may have expected, however, even the new kitchen has seen some updating and changes over the last 10 years.   My goal was to have all of these "updates" finished before revealing the pictures on this blog but....life happened. :)  So, instead....I'm stuffing my perfectionism in a drawer and showing the "in progress" and giving this blog one more purpose: to hold myself accountable to finishing up a few things!  

I should also add the disclaimer that I am NOT a photographer....in person the colors are slightly different, but I'm not sure how to achieve that with my camera yet.  It's close enough hopefully you'll get the idea! :)

The Now:

view from entrance to the back hallway

view from dining area

view from entrance to living room

alternate view of stove area

view from dining room table

Looking back, I’m still glad we took the plunge and did the kitchen first.  It was by far our most expensive project, and I’m glad we got it out of the way when we did. 

My goal is to have all my "little" projects finished by the end of March.  Ok, who am I kidding it probably won't ever be truly "finished". :)  And...since the bulk of the kitchen was completed many years ago, there are a few things on the wishlist to update sometime in the future.  I'm sure there will be more on that later!  Thanks for reading!

xo,