Kitchen Renovation

BEFORE

Back in 2007, this is what our kitchen looked like.

Cute. Just not my taste. We knew when we bought the house that we wanted to upgrade the countertop, backsplash and flooring. It was just a matter of time.

and of course, money!

When the time came, I knew what I had to do. The cabinet finish was never a favorite of mine. I was hesitant to paint them because they were BRAND SPANKING NEW! We bought the house in 2003 and something just did not FEEL right about painting brand new perfectly good cabinets.

BUT...it had to be done.

Oddly, I had the approval of my husband which I think was what I was afraid I would not get. He was TOTALLY on board and liked the idea of the painted cabinets as well!

SO, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work!

Big D and I took on the daunting task of removing all of the drawer fronts and doors and sanding them as well as the cabinet boxes. That came AFTER we peeled the laminate backsplash and countertop off! Get this...the countertops were a site finished laminate applied to the top of the cabinet bases. The granite company usually removes that for you. We had never heard of such a thing. We did not know better, so we took it all off. Boy oh boy did the granite guys love us once they realized that we had already removed it!
They got out easy on that one.

I wanted the cabinets to have a smooth finish, so we had our painters come in and paint the boxes and they sprayed the doors and drawer fronts. This alleviates any brush strokes being visible on the doors and I feel like it made a big difference to the finish! We kept it simple and went with Sherwin Williams Antique White.

There were a lot of long days and nights over these few weeks. I really gotta give a lot of credit to Big D, he is SO good at this kind of thing. I am so lucky to have a builder for a husband!

Once the painters were finished, I hand glazed every inch of those cabinets. Talk about slow work! It took several days! I love the way the details in the trim catch the glaze and make it more prominent. I just used
the ready made glaze from Lowe's. I think the brand is Valspar and I used Burnt Sienna.

We added this little trim piece. I wanted to add something to dress the cabinets up a bit. There was no changing the arch on the cabinet doors, so since that gave them an overall more traditional look I figured, why fight it? Just GO with it, right?

There were several more places that we added trim pieces to before we painted, just to add architectural detail. As you can see, we ripped up the floors. I chose wide plank handscrped floors and we put them throughout our main common living areas. WE LOVE THEM! We have two dogs and if you have dogs, you KNOW what they do to hardwoods! I wanted something that would be durable!

My faucet is one of my prize possesions. It is the Moen Showhouse Waterhill in Wrought Iron.

The pendants we had laying around from a previous project and they worked, so we went with them! Hey- the price was RIGHT!

AFTER

I wish I was a crazy talented photographer with a fancy camera, but hey, at least I have learned it is worth it to wait for the natural light! As you can see, we opted to continue our previous idea of a counterheight table for an island. I love it because the legs make the room seem more open and spacious than a traditional cabinet style island.

I know I am not normal, but I prefer the black appliances and I LOVE being able to have things hanging on  my fridge! I guess I am just happier with that little bit of clutter!

This is an example of some extra trim we put up before we painted. It helps to finish an otherwise blank cabinet side.

A shot of my absolute black granite countertops that I absolutely LOVE...when they are clean. Word to the wise- black shows every crumb, smudge, or spec of dust! I was so glad to find cup pulls that worked with my existing holes from the original hardware. I absolutely love the period feel of them.

Since there were holes that I did not want to my husband refused to fill in and sand deal with filling, I had to find a coordinating handle for the doors. Cup pulls are generally better suited for drawers.I looked and looked and I really could not find anything that I liked. Big D was NOT on board with filling in the holes. One day when I was out in Smyrna walking one of my communities, I ended up in a Home Depot that was going out of business and WHAM...I found these for 50 cents EACH! Not my first choice, but when you need 33 of something, 50 cents can't be beat!

This stuff has been awesome. I mentioned that the black granite shows everything! Well, Pledge Multi Surface really gets the streaks out. I always keep plenty on hand. I have actually started using it intermittently with my furniture polish on the rest of my home and love it!

This is the other side of the kitchen. It is and eat in and we eat here together every night. The light fixture over the table is the "builder" fixture. It was satin nickel, so I sprayed it black to go with the pendants. You can see Jack's bib draped at the back of his chair. Poor guy, we still make him wear it:)

But hey, we are not all bad- check out the cute little Jelly Bean holder that I got for him. This lives on the kitchen counter top and Jack gets treated to Jelly Belly's frequently!

So I have loved my kitchen remodel for the past 3 years. It is so much more my taste.

Still, I find myself wanting to change things. I want different pendants over the island, I would love to paint the walls a smoky light blue, I am toying with the idea of changing the faucet to bright polished chrome and change all of the hardware to match, should I paint the cabinets solid white?

UGGGHHHHH....I can't help it!

How about you?

Do you find yourself always wanting to change things around, or are you more of a keep it the same kind of person?

I need to know...because maybe I am just bonkers!!!

I am hooking up over at WOW US WEDNESDAY at Savvy Southern Style- you should go check it out!