But before we get into that, let’s talk about yesterday morning. I woke up to find that an upstanding resident of Florida got their hands on our debit card number and spent the weekend dining at fine establishments (Checkers, for example) on our dime. Then I spilled coffee all over my car as I spent 60 minutes commuting 15 miles (usually only takes 30). It was a rough way to start a Monday.
But then Holly Mathis, who I have been inspired by ever since I came across her a year ago, wrote a nice post featuring part of my house and blog, and my day was filled with sweet comments from new readers. It was so wonderful to hear from each one of you! Thank you all so much for the kind words. I’ll need them as encouragement as we continue working on the rest of the house!
One thing we won’t be working on is the kitchen … because since the installation of our new dishwasher, it’s done!
Here’s where we started at the end of 2009.
Neither one of us liked the curve at the top of the upper cabinet doors and the brown Corian countertops still don’t do it for us. But we didn’t have the budget to change these things at the time, and neither one of us felt right about tearing out perfectly nice solid wood doors and expensive countertops. So we worked with them!
Before we even moved in, I painted the cabinets. And we continued to work on the kitchen slowly over time. In all we replaced the faucet, added the beadboard backsplash and corbels under the cabinets, replaced all the hardware, purchased new appliances, added a cabinet and open shelves on an empty wall, and redid the lighting.
And now we have a finished kitchen.
What a great feeling! I really love how it turned out, and I feel so lucky that we started with good bones (tiled floors, solid cabinets, nice solid surface countertops) and were able to make it ours relatively inexpensively.
That said, if I were to do it again, I would do just a couple of things differently:
I would have purchased a counter depth fridge. I had no idea fridges came in different depths, and my heart sank when ours was delivered and it felt like it stuck halfway out into the kitchen. I don’t notice it anymore, but I’m glad I know for the future!
I also would have purchased a wall mounted range hood. At the time, the added expense of wall mounted vs. under cabinet mounted didn’t seem worth it. Plus, we would have had to deal with taking the existing cabinet out and then redo the crown molding.
But don’t let these caveats fool you. I 100% love my kitchen. And I’m 100% happy it’s D.O.N.E!
Love it! Great job!
Thanks for sharing that about the frig. I didn’t know that either. We’re hoping to replace ours soon, so that is good to know.
Love your adorable blog and your beautiful house! Thank you so much for taking the time to link to all of the resources you found handy in renovations. We are renovating an old house too – and your links are so very helpful. Many thanks!
Looks awesome! All that hard work definitely paid off!
absolutely love your home. You have such wonderful style. Where did you find both of the gunnerra prints in your living room? Looks like only one is available. Thank you for sharing your home, you are an inspiration.
Hi Kimberly – thank you so much! I purchased mine a year ago, and I had a hard time getting my hands on both of them even then. You’re right, I think only one is available now. Thanks for reading!
Congrats on a completed kitchen! It’s absolutely beautiful!
love your home and can’t wait to follow your blog…. found you via holly mathis. could you share the source for the rug in your family room? thanks a bunch!
Thank you, Katrina! It’s a seagrass rug from here: http://www.naturalhomerugs.com/ My dining room is also from Natural Home Rugs, and I have no complaints!
Hi…I also found you through Holly’s post yesterday and I’m so glad I did. Love your home and your style….just gorgeous! Congratulations on finishing your kitchen…it is beautiful. I LOVE your black appliances….such a great look (I am not a stainless steel fan!).
Would you mind telling me what the gray color on your cabinets is? I’m pretty sure I’m having mine cabinets painted gray and I really like your choice. Thanks so much!
Karen
Karen, thank you so much! I’m so glad you stopped by! The lower cabs are painted Valspar Safari Beige. The swatch looks more brown, but I find the color looks more green or gray depending on the light!
I 100% love your kitchen too! Absolutely gorgeous. And your furniture piece was the inspiration for my ktichen furniture piece! Thanks for that!
What a nice thing to say! Thanks, Diana!
Looks so beautiful!! I think you guys did an amazing job! And I totally get what you mean about how nice comments can be so uplifting!
Nice post
Your kitchen is soo so nice! I love your choices in colours, shelving, cabinet style… everything is really appealing.
Love your kitchen! I love the colors, especially the green. I also really like the additional storage you got by adding a dresser and some shelves to a blank wall. I’ve been looking for a dresser for my kitchen to do just that. Found you through Pinterest!
Thanks so much! Best of luck with your dresser search!
I know this may sound silly, but what kind of light bulbs do you use? Everything looks so bright white and not yellow.
Hi Shelly – they’re halogens. And you’re right, they’re bright white. It makes a HUGE difference!
Thanks! Last question, what color did you use for your walls?
It’s Glidden’s Sand White
What colors were used on the cabinets , top and bottom . Did you use latex paint ?
Hi Sher! The uppers are Behr’s Eggshell Cream and the lowers are Valspar’s Safari Beige. I used plain ole latex paint in eggshell sheen.
Looks beautiful! Where in the world did you find the open shelving? I haven’t found anything that holds weight with my google searches.
Hi Andrea! We made them! The shelf itself and the brackets underneath are screwed into the studs so they are very sturdy and hold weight.
This is no lie, as i was looking at all of your pics i noticed so many similarities in our home. we just moved a year ago into a 1964 red brick home. have done so much but have so much left to do. I do want to paint our shutters a dark gray / slate color, is yours black or dark gray? We are also going to try to save $$ by painting kitchen cabinets although they are not even as nice as yours, everything is ORIGINAL to the home. ugh, what COLOR did you do your bottom cabinets?? I like it a lot. We have several built-ins and i feel this would help break up the color. right now everything is wood.
Hi Karey! Our shutters are dark gray – Sherwin Williams Seal Skin. The lower cabinets are Valspar’s Safari Beige. Maybe you could add some moulding to the face of the doors or crown moulding above the cabinets to update them a bit? I know we got extremely lucky with having nice kitchen cabs to start! Best of luck – it’s a lot of work but little by little it all starts to come together! Love that my house reminds you of yours!
Hi Kate,
I love your kitchen…. Did you paint the beadboard backsplash the same color as the upper cabinets? Also, what about the crown moulding and other kitchen trim?..
Your house is beautiful!!!
Hi Wendy! Thanks so much! The beadboard backsplash and crown moulding and all other trim is bright white. The upper cabs are cream. Hope this helps!