The very first time I came with our realtor to see our our house I loved it. I could see the work needed, but I could also see its lovely bones and the potential for a comfortable and homey abode. That held true for the kitchen even though, like the rest of the house, it was dark. Dark wood cabinets, navy blue floral wallpaper...everywhere. Dark red, stained countertops and broken appliances. Oh, and wood shutters on every window, top and bottom (these shutters covered every window in the house)
Here it is, in all it's former glory. It's hard to even remember how dark and cave-like it was in there. Are you digging the expanse of 80s wallpaper?
Here we are in the process of pulling off the wallpaper. We also ended up removing the dishwasher altogether. Silas was so little in this picture!
And here we are, three years later...and about 90% finished. Much lighter and brighter, don't you think?
You can see a few unfinished projects here. The window over the sink has weather plastic on it so we will paint it in the spring (if it ever gets here!) And we will be putting subway tile on the backsplash and a new kickboard in. And feet for the lower cabinets.
When we moved in these upper and lower cabinets were in the basement...not sure why. But we desperately needed the storage so we cleaned them and put them back.
This is the door that nearly everyone uses. It is getting refinished and reglassed in the spring. The hooks on the wall are our coat closet. While we live in a big house, there is a derth of storage space. Across from the hooks is a door leading to a back staircase. We use that mostly for storing mops and brooms. The kids use it mostly for playing spy games. And don't you think Sipsie matches my color scheme nicely?
A couple of notes about budget. We did the process slowly, waiting until we had the cash (or gift cards) to do a project. I painted the cabinets and hardware myself, the countertops are from Craigslist, the light fixtures and curtains are from Ebay, and everything else is either from a bargain store or tag sale. I would estimate that the whole room was done for around $400.
It was a long haul, but utterly worth it now. We spend a lot of our time in this room
and now we do so in comfort.
Next post: Living Room.
Have a great weekend!
