Tattered and Timeless: renovation

Showing posts with label renovation. Show all posts

The Talent Scouting Party- all things KITCHEN

We live in a 1929 four square.. and our kitchen when we bought it was just that - square in shape and design.

We gutted it to the studs and started over. The only thing that stayed was the old wood floor. We then built our cottage kitchen that worked for and with our family.

I gleaned a lot of inspiration from my Canadian friend Heather at Inspire Me Heather. She shared Ikea finds with us and also I loved her cabinet feet.

We ordered the cabinets in white from Lowe's with a simple panel front. The knobs on the doors and the pulls on the drawers are brushed nickle to have an older not so new sleek chrome look.We added the feet to the bottom. First we put black thin plywood to make them look like empty floor underneath then added the feet.

The counter tops are from Ikea and we refinish them yearly to keep the nice look.

I purchased the old school lights from eBay. They were in various finishes so I painted them black to unify them all. We ran a black crown to break up all the white and to coordinate with the other black touches.

The closed door below goes to the pantry/laundry room. The opening on the other side is the butlers pantry which I have taken over as my office.

We wanted the island to house our four kids but we knew with them and their feet, white was not an option. So that is where we put in the big dose of black. We have all the kids snacks and the microwave in the island. Easy for smaller kids to use.

The sink and faucet are from Ikea also. Keeping a budget on this project was a must.

The kitchen before had so many cabinets that it felt claustrophobic. I wanted this to be more open and airy so we lost all the cabinets on the sink side of the room and put open shelving up. The brackets are from Home Depot and since they were going to be load bearing we secured them into studs for safety.

I love the effect the whole wall has. I wanted all white and clear dishes to showcase with small hits of black or seasonal colors. The walls are done in narrow tongue and groove bead board painted with Benjamin Moore Kitchen cabinet grade paint. It is hard paint and cleans up well.

In the previous kitchen the stove was on the same wall as the fridge and sink..I wanted to break that busy wall up some so we moved it. I got the one I love- gas pro line from sears..LOVE it.

You will also notice my pot rack. I had this old mirror waiting for some project and saw in a magazine something similar so we did it. I left it the natural oak color to tie in with the floors. That wall is a back to a fireplace in the dining room so we had to use it somehow.

H is for our name, I adore the silverware canvases and the Kirk's cornmeal bag is because hubby's name is Kirk. I ordered old used coat hooks from eBay to use on this piece.

This is the view across the room from the laundry area. Notice the corner cabinet/appliance garage?

That was a requirement on my list. I hate to see electronic gadgets- mainly toasters and coffee pots so they are hidden in there. Wonderful to have them out of sight.

It works wonderfully as hubby's coffee messes are hidden from me.

You will notice the breakfast room through the open doorway. Please don't notice the unfinished trim around the doorway..oops.

Here is the breakfast room.

One last look to mention the floor. Yes the floor that I painted each square with black porch floor paint. I did not seal it as I want the kids to scuff it up a bit before we seal it so it looks old.

Here is the before so you can see what we had.

Home made cabinets that didn't open or close all the way. Counter tops that were made of bowling alley flooring, red and yellow walls. Basically bad, not cottage looking and not us.

So, is a kitchen remodel in your future?

tammy

Done - kinda.

Well here are the shots and it is done kinda.

I still need some window treatments I think but maybe not as I love the sunlight.

Here are the before shots:

Remember it was a mud room and always messy which drove me crazy. We have since moved all this backpack mess to the laundry room where it can't be seen by anyone who enters the house. Also moved the kids and dads computer around to the other room which was doing nothing.

And here is the lovely after:

Now that we have a table that seats 6 (our family size) I am wondering if we need the other table in the dining room or if we really need the dining room at all.

A close up of the lavender on the table..yes it is fake from Hobby Lobby. I wish I had real but there is none available around here right now.

Here is the kinda part...the back door. We are going to convert it into a dutch door but what I need help with is the color. I lean more towards neutrals but then again a dutch door is fun so should be a fun color. Any inputs?

The ever stylish teen age son in my house now says the cup of cocoa paint on the upper walls looks bad. He actually said, "it makes the room look unfinished". I am leaning towards either a soft gray or another tint of white. Whatcha think?

And do you notice my lovely chairs I paid a woman to finish when we bought them from the unfinished furniture store are now a bit too off white for the table and the room.

Ahh yes another project for when it warms up..spray all those chairs white. What is it they say about a project- one step forward and ten back.

So, to recap..Walls are done except for uppers- what color?

Door needs to be converted to dutch and painted- what color?

And then later we will bead board the ceiling or at least add some crown.

Off to the next project: the back hallway from the new eat in area to the stairway.

It is going to get the same wall treatment and all the doors will go white.

So, you all have your upper wall ideas left in the comments so I can get it done.

How are your house projects coming along?

linking up with :

visit the above parties to see lots of cool projects

what have I been up to?

Well I got most of the house work done and painting is finished except for some touch ups.

Below, I also went through tons of magazines and tore out what I wanted and sorted/organized it. Yep,took over that dining room table and went to town.

Also, got 12 boxes from JCPenney of organizational cubes and base cabinets to put together to help out the princess' room and the craft room. That took a long time- jeesh so much Styrofoam. I mean why don't they make it illegal to use that crap- I think the air filled plastic tubes has to be easier and also better for the earth. The dang Styrofoam takes up too much space in the trash can and we can't recycle it- hate it.

Here is the system in the daughter's room. I know Ana has how-to plans on her blog and I was going to make them but then realized I already had the bases so it was easier and pretty cheap to order the cubes..they were on sale..Now, maybe the room stands a chance of being clean most of the time. :)

So, glad to be back. The break took a bit longer than I expected..you know life got involved. And with all the time off being able to do more family stuff I realized that I love blogging but love my kids more. So, I figure that I'll try to post M-F but weekends - well they are family time from now on. And heck with spring hopefully coming soon- weekly might go to M, W, F only as gardening takes a lot of time here - along with soccer and dance, etc..you know? Life.

Progress on the den

Well been busy painting and more painting. Here is a sneak peek...

Den/Family Room before- red upper walls with white wainscoting and dark leather sofas.

During painting with primer gray on upper walls..it looks amazingly light and so much airier already. I took a picture of the gray as there tends to be a gray vibe going on in decor now but I think this gray is too blue for my liking- I could swing a barely there gray..but not this and it doesn't go with brown leather sofas either.

After with cup of cocoa on the upper walls. I like how much lighter it is and it seems bigger.

Now to just get the finishing touches done..not sure about the rug..but it is soft and kids play on it..

Need to find fabric for drapes.

Might want to paint that dark oval table in the background.

Gotta redo the cabinet for the TV (especially since moving the one we have now it sort of broke on the side..)

And looking for a smaller cabinet for the movies- we don't need that tall red one- too big.

Okay - back to work for me..

What should I do in the family room?

Well here is the gist of the potential problem. I say potential because well I haven't painted the walls yet to see if the problem really does show it's ugly head. Anyway, I am in the process of lightening up the old house. We have red walls in the family room with white wainscoting below. Then add to that two leather couches which we need with 4 kids and it seems a bit dark.

Here is a current look- keeping it real so you can see all the mess that goes with it.

We have the dark walls, white below, wooden shades and a nice soft rug. We have the pottery barn table with drawers under it to store games etc. (Don't look at the primer paint swatch)

Notice how it looks so top heavy but then the sofas look so weird against that white?

I am going to paint the top a nice creamy tan -as I have done the entire downstairs of the house. Here is the potential problem? Will it still look so stark with the dark sofas against the white then? I really don't have an option to take the wainscoting down now as the previous owners put it up to camouflage the bad plaster walls beneath it..that would be a honey-do job and well he is in Afghanistan so not gonna happen now.

I figure I will paint the red to the tan color. Then if the bead board still bugs me being too white I could always paint it tan to and make it disappear right?

What do you think?

Now in this picture you'll notice yet another leather chair- I know too much leather but the seat is busting and dang it is so comfortable so I am going to recover the seat in a lighter fabric to lighten it up some. I also have drapery rods with drapes that now will be too much the same color as the wall but I think I may do drop cloth drapes there? good?

Not sure about the rug..it is so soft but then again is darker in color- remember 4 kids so light does not work to well with them.

Over in this corner is an old cabinet that we store dvds and cds in ..I think I am going to paint it cream and distress it some.

Then you'll notice the kids and dad's tv..yeah I wanted only a 36 inch but was vetoed big time. It sets on this old stand that does not even fit the dang tv..and I hate it. So....

I have this antique stand that is wide enough and narrow enough in depth to work..I thought I could put it in there for the tv and electronics. Do you think it will work? It is a light gray in color and though I LOVE the color it is I am not sure if it will work with the dark sofas. Should it go cream like the cabinet?

Help...please. What are your thoughts?

Finally - the Kitchen Reveal

Well it seems like it has been forever since we started this renovation. And to think we were just going to paint cabinets, get new appliances and counter tops. Then because we had to cut a wider doorway so the fridge door would swing open it turned into a gut job. But I am glad we gutted and started over as it turned out just perfect.

First lets remember how awfully ugly it was to begin with. It had white cabinets to start with but against that glaring red wall it hurt. So, I tried by painting the cabinets a light green. It worked for about 2 weeks then I hated it. Remember it had those terrible flooring as counter tops- kinda reminded me of a bowling alley. It had all the storage on one side of the kitchen with so much counter space that never got utilized.

Then on the opposite wall it had all the cooking triangle. Yes stove then 9 inches of countertop, sink then 24 inches with dishwasher underneath then the fridge. It was hard to work with it all on that one wall.

Would you like a tour? Well come on in. Here is a shot from the newly widened doorway. We got new cabinets from Diamond - plain classic white. We did white bead board planks vertically up the walls and then did butcher block counter tops from IKEA. I sanded the floors then painted a distressed black checkerboard. It is a bit more distressed than wanted as moving in cabinets and appliances seems to have hurt it a bit - but I can touch that up later on. We installed a new island that is black and it hides the microwave down low so the kids can reach it. We also put a huge blackboard on the back wall. Nice for reminders. The appliances are all stainless steel. My faves - nice double door fridge, nice quiet dishwasher, wonderful Kenmore pro dual fuel stove ( love it ) and a wonderful farm sink from IKEA. It is truly a kitchen that is reflective of our old house. We wanted more light as our only window looks onto a screen porch (not much natural light) but cans just didn't seem to go with the look or age of the home. So, I found old school house pendant lights on eBay and got 3. Two are used in the kitchen over the island and the third is in the adjoining mud room. We also have two school house flush mounts (old from eBay) in a corner and over the sink.
Now enjoy the rest of the photos.

We went with shelves on the sink side as I didn't want it claustrophobic with tons of cabinets and I love them. It makes putting up dishes so much easier and neater. I also painted the crown and window molding black for a pop of that color around the room. I plan on putting a skirt on the bottom of the sink to soften up the room a bit but that is a much later project :)

Now we will take some closer looks. Here is a tree I decorated for the island. Very primitive, plain and just candy canes. That is the kitchen theme this year. It usually is gingerbread men - but hey a girl needs some change once and a while.

Here is a view of my lovely open shelving. I just adore it.

Here is a close up of the left side of the sink. This the side for the plates and bowls and such.

Okay had to throw in a couple gingerbread men. The kids love them.

I love using all the silver in the kitchen. And it is great fun to find it all at thrift shops and auctions.

Here is the right side of the sink. It holds all the glasses. Don't worry there are plastic ones for the small kiddos they just go under the island - can't have those ugly things messing up the shelves. :)

Now we are on the stove side of the kitchen. It turned out great.

Notice the feet my hubby cut out for all the cabinets? It is the same form as the brackets under the shelves.

View of the stove side. I insisted on the appliance garage because I - hate - seeing appliances on my counter tops. Especially the coffee pot. It is a God- send.

And here is my pot rack. I was considering hanging one over the island but didn't want it to block the view or hit my taller kids in the head. So, I had bought this piece at an auction and thought about using it in the master bath but then it screamed to be here. I love the pots hanging there and then a shelf for display above. Okay I hate my pots - except my one nice Martha Stewart one but we are working on finding new ones.