Kitchen Remodel

Here are the before and after photos of our kitchen remodel. I hated my old kitchen. It is still small but much more functional and way prettier than the old days. New appliances, sink, granite, tumbled marble back splash, black granite sink, new tile floor, removed part of a wall, added recessed lighting, new custom made (by Jason) cabinets except for pantry and top cabinets on one side, under cabinet lights. Jason just built new doors so you can't tell...oh and he removed the dreaded scallop detail at the bottom of the cabinets.  

 We had the wall area where the oven is removed and made into a breakfast bar.

 TA-DA!

 Much better? Under the bar area on this side of the stove, Jason added deep drawers...where I keep my utensils, pots, pans, baking pans and cookie sheets...all have their own drawer. You can see our hardwood stacked in the dining room ready to go in next week!

 New matching refrigerator...

 Gorgeous granite sink and check out that back splash!

The stove was a big splurge...GE Profile but our neighborhood appliance store blew every one's pricing out of the water! The microwave and dishwasher are not new but they match and work well (after a little tweaking from Jason).

 This is my coffee/hot chocolate bar...see, coffee, hot chocolate packets and marshmallows! I am about to change this out to tea bags and crystal light packages for warmer months...

 Pantry cabinet detail...

As you can imagine we are thrilled with the transformation. Next up the laundry room! It is finished and the new hot water tank went in yesterday!

Linking up to Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday and Remodelaholic

A little Spring Break Fun!

First of all...meet Lil' Joe our newest yard guest! He arrived a couple of weeks ago and won't go away! We have a very unresponsive animal control department (1 person) in our community. I guess he was on spring break as well. Our community has an animal rescue so eventually he will be adopted to a good family. He is super sweet but has an extremely annoying voice...I think he is of Siamese ancestry! I suspect he was dumped in our neighborhood because he is not at all afraid of humans and seems to know what "inside" is. I tried ignoring him but I can't swing that since I love cats. I am not up for more neutering, shots and declawing and quite frankly I can't fit one more animal in my bed! So we will enjoy him until he has a home.

During spring break we went to the park with some of our homeschool group friends.  The top row is Brook and Sarah, the front row is Grace, Sydney and Shelby. There were also the boys Preston, Frank and Blake but they didn't stop to have their pictures made...imagine that! I have to say this is one of the prettiest group of girls I have ever seen.

After the park we went for ice cream with the whole crowd. Mamas at another table. From left to right is Blake, Preston, Frank, Sydney, Brook, Sarah, Grace and Shelby.

I have to ask this question...do cats ever stop licking? At least Romeo doesn't seem to...even with Pillow Pets and Build  A Bear friends watching...oh well, I guess he's among friends! He loves Sydney's bed because it's so soft...mattress, memory foam topper, feather bed topped with a velvet comforter...nice!

Bathroom Reveal

I have been too busy to blog lately but I am going to try to update more often. For example, we updated (gutted) our bathroom in August of 2010 and I am just now getting around to posting.  Since my bathroom was icky, I never really took good before pictures. The demolition took place while we were in Colorado last summer so the days just prior to were filled with packing and planning not thinking about before pictures.  This bathroom had white original 1965 tile with gold trim. It was nostalgic because the house I grew up in had the same tile. Ours sadly was also full of cracks and had glue on the floor tiles from when the bathroom had carpet. YUCK! To me carpet in a bathroom is just about the grossest thing on earth.  That was the first thing to go when we moved in 15 years ago. I thought I could live with the icky stained tile underneath and I did for 15 years. I had to place rugs in strategic places to cover the cracks and other things.  There was also brown and gold wallpaper with bird nests...just ugly.  I have pictures of that somewhere but my scanner died...maybe someday.

Jason, our trusty contractor and friend sent this photo to us while we were in Colorado...this man does not fool around when it comes to demolition! So there is no turning back now! That same day we got word from the supplier that our tub was on back order for 4-6 weeks. Jason found us a tub and we were back in business. The tub is actually a post all by itself. We wanted fixtures in a color called linen which is lighter than almond but not as stark as white. Hence, the hullabaloo. It is really a beautiful color as you will see below.

New granite, light fixtures and custom cabinets (built by Jason our contractor). Just so you know, Jason is a Pandora's Box of talent and ideas...all better than our original plans.

Hand held shower...essential for my thick curly hair and assisting the little girl rinse her hair as well. 

Also good for dog washing.

The insets (just like the other bathroom)...all Jason's suggestion.

The tub. Love this tub...not fancy but pretty

This is an old house with a hall bath so I have to share this with my little girl. So nice to have 2 sinks!

This mirror is the only thing original to the bathroom...It was really nice and thick so rather than 2 separate mirrors we saved a little by keeping this one.  It was kind of grody around the edges but Jason to the rescue again...built this pretty frame for it. Also notice the cabinets...Jason built these too...I will post about the cabinets and other details at sometime in the future...lots of drawers to hold my stuff. The cabinets were his design as well.

I have kept things fairly neutral because after that stark white and gross blue this felt serene to me. I found the dragonfly towels and shower curtain on clearance at Dillards and bought 6 handtowels, 4 bathtowels and the shower curtain for less than 100.00...how awesome is that?

I forgot to take pics of the floor but you can see here that the tile is pretty as well...same as in the shower.

I have enjoyed this bathroom more than you can imagine! I still need some decor but we are changing every room in the house so decorating can come later.

So far we have completed our master bathroom (a term used loosely), the hall bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room. We are putting hardwoods in the entire house except for wet areas. The floors have been installed in the hall and bedrooms and the rest of the floors will be completed next week as well as a new hot water tank. (Jason's turn to go to Colorado). The paneling in our den and breakfast room is a thing of the past...only a distant memory! Next I will post about the kitchen transformation...truly amazing!