Before & After: Kitchen

Oh the kitchen.  By far the most intimidating part of our house.  I loved the charm of the house and could deal with many of the outdated aspects but oh the kitchen.  With it's 80's oak cabinets (albeit solid wood), brick floors, fluorescent light fixture, yellow formica countertops, and hobby woodworker embellishments...  Not quite my dream kitchen.  BUT the appliances were updated, so there was a plus!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Oh what a little paint can do!  Because this is our starter home (and not exactly the best economy), we opted against the full gut option.  Like I mentioned before, the cabinets were solid wood, just dated.  We decided to paint the cabinets white - Behr Ultra White.  We were newbies to the whole DIY thing and didn't exactly do it the way the professionals do.  We did use a sprayer on the doors so don't get me wrong, they look great, but durability hasn't been the best.  After nearly 3 years, it's about time for another coat, especially around the knobs.  When we finally get around to round two, I will look more into the sealant side of things!

We also replaced all the knobs and pulls with brushed bronze hardware.  I love the contrast between the dark and light.  And of course the countertops had to be replaced.  We started out looking at a nicer formica but for the size of our kitchen the price for granite wasn't too bad so we opted for it.  We figured we'd be happier with it and it would be better for resale.  We chose Giallo St. Cecilia, which is a common color.  I'm so glad we went with the granite.  I love it!

 We replaced the old stainless sink with a white cast iron one and added brushed bronze fixtures.  We painted the wall space between the cabinets in Behr Pensive Sky, a soft grayish blue.  We opted not to do a backsplash since we extended the granite up the wall several inches.  I know many people hate a blank wall without a backsplash, but it really hasn't bothered me and I've enjoyed having the little bit of color there.  It's not shown in the pictures above, but I promise we replaced the light fixture with something of the non-fluorescent variety.  Nothing special, just a basic flush-mount, but it will do until I find something that excites me.   I also made a cafe curtain to go over the sink using Waverly Stripe Ensemble in Robins Egg.

 

I love a good striped fabric and this one had the perfect shade of blue and the little pop of red to tie in my barn star that you will see more of soon!