Our Kitchen

My husband and I moved into our mid-90s house in 2007. We were so thankful for such a great place to live, but we couldn't help but notice that the kitchen was begging for our attention.

Here's what the kitchen {sorta} looked like when we moved in:

Now, I say sorta because this version had already undergone a few small changes including:

• Kitchen Island painted white (was the honey color of cabinets)
• Walls painted tan (were stark white)
• Linoleum stick on tiles cut up and stuck over the hunter green back splash tile stripe

It didn't take long for me to decide that I wanted to paint the cabinets white. So I talked my husband in to letting me buy some white paint and I got busy giving new life to that honey oak. I used a coat of Kilz and then a few coats of white paint. I think I just used latex satin finish... which I realize now is not the preferred cabinet paint... but it worked great and we have had no problems so far.

Here is my kitchen with white cabinets:

During that time, we'd saved up enough to re-do the floors in our house... another BIG CHECK off of our wish list. My uncle was able to hook us up with gorgeous hand scraped wood floors for a way below retail price tag. (Be sure and notice the floors below)

I finally felt like my kitchen was starting (keyword: starting) to come together. While the white definitely brightened up the space, I still thought that my cabinets were missing something. I saw this kitchen on HGTV's Rate My Space and I knew that I wanted to distress my cabinets like Kristina had. I asked Kristina to share the process of how she did it with me and she sent me an email explaining the process that her neighbor used to achieve the awesome antique finish on her cabinets.

Check out Kristina's handiwork:

Isn't it just to die for? And let me tell you, that Kristina was such a sweetheart. I just love it when people you don't know go out of their way to show you a little kindness. Don't you?

Here's my kitchen with distressed cabinets:



Also, did you notice that my microwave and dishwasher changed to stainless steel? My {amazing} in-laws gave us the stainless steel fridge for a wedding gift. The next year for Christmas we asked for the dishwasher... which we LOVE. And my sweet parents got us the microwave for Christmas that year. This past Christmas, we asked for a stainless oven range and we got it- so now all of our appliances are stainless and beautiful and it didn't cost us a dime. What blessed little people we are!

I didn't take a picture of it, but there is a large awkward space above our cabinets. The wall above it is straight on one side and slants on the other. The center of the wall and the center of the cabinets do not line up. Mainly, I had NO IDEA what to do... until I saw Layla's fireplace mantle. I knew that something like this would fill the space and keep your attention long enough to divert you from noticing how awkward the space is. I was lucky enough to find 2 antique corbels at the Frisco Mercantile and put them on either side of the shelf.

Here are some (bad quality) photos of my shelf:

I found some odds and ends that I really liked to place on my shelf. I tried to be careful not to just put "junk" up there to fill the space. I'm so on board with all the awesome found items popping up at places like Pottery Barn... though I shop all discount stores for mine.

Well, I didn't really show you a big photo of what my kitchen looks like now and that's because IT'S ABOUT TO CHANGE... big time. We are (FINALLY) getting new counter tops. Since we moved in, we've been living with white laminate counters. I have to admit, if I had to have laminate, I'm glad they were white and not some crazy color (like the peach ones my parents inherited when they moved in to their house).

Our sweet neighbor growing up, Becky, is getting us a major hook up on granite. We are so excited that she's been so willing to help and so gracious with us and our budget. Here's what we're getting:

Can you tell what it's going to look like? Probably not, because I did not use the right camera settings... but just consider yourself in for more of a surprise when I show you the grand reveal. The color is truly amazing. We are so excited that not only are we getting the counter tops we always wanted at an amazing price, but the color is the exact color we would pick if we could choose from all the colors in the world and Becky just happened to have it. How is that for awesome?



And with the new counter tops is going to come new back splash. I am trying to decide if I want to do white bead board back splash or if I want to do white subway tile. I'm a little torn and have been wavering back and forth. What do you think?

 

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In the meantime, I have begun preparing for installation. Here's the byproduct of my weekend:

Do these pictures make you a little terrified? Cause the current state of my kitchen does frighten me just a tad...

You're probably wondering why we took out all of the drywall and not just the tile. The simple answer: because that tile was stubborn and was not coming off of the drywall. I'll post on how to remove tile back splash soon. Just to save some of you the headache of having to figure out the best way... I've tried almost all of them and came to a conclusion.

So there you have it. My beautiful kitchen torn to pieces. Only to get more beautiful.

{that kind of reminds me. sometimes when God is refining us and making us more beautiful like Him, He has to strip away some of the old to make space for the new. And sometimes the old clings so tightly that He has to pry us out of a situation and take more than we are comfortable with. While the transition isn't always pretty (see above photo) or easy, it's always worth it in the end. Because Him not allowing us to remain the way we are is His grace, that He is continually transforming us more and more into the image of His son.}

And with that, I can't wait to show you the final reveal of our kitchen. For the first time ever, completely done.

The guys are coming to measure on Friday and by next weekend, I should have some shiny new granite counter tops to show you. (The back splash probably won't be done yet though).

Thanks so much for reading. Hope you have a great week!

- Lindsey