Sunday, July 1, 2012

The Evolution of the Kitchen

We have made a TON of progress on the kitchen over the last week! Rather than just show you where it is today, I'm going to take you back to the beginning and show our progress along the way. (Yes, this is a super long post, so beware!)

These are pictures from the first time we walked through the house:





We bought this house because of the potential to knock out the wall between the kitchen and eating area, and eating area and dining room. But to tide us over in the meantime, we decided to paint the walls and the kitchen cabinets white.






Here you can see the walls and then flow choppiness of the rooms:





And then, we started opening up the walls to see what was there!


(Yes, I did cry when I saw that pipe smack dab in the middle of the wall!)




Then we opened up the ceiling above the eating area and the wall between the dining room and the eating room.



And this week, we had all of the plumbing done.. basically replaced everything from the basement to the second floor! It is beautiful. I never thought I'd be so fascinated by plumbing, but these new copper pipes just amaze me! lol :)


And with that, the wall is officially OPEN!

(Notice that we moved the fridge back into an alcove, and therefore it doesn't stick out anymore? What a HUGE difference!)



We still have a long way to go in terms of finishing the room, but having the walls completely out has had the biggest impact! I love it! It makes the whole house so much brighter and feel so much bigger!

What's left to do?
- All the electrical work (including adding recessed lighting and new pendant lights over the island)
- Rip out the Pergo floors and adding hardwoods to match the rest of the house
- Drywall the ceiling/walls of the old eating area
- Add new baseboards, trim, and new crown molding
- Install new slide-in range
- Purchase and install new farmhouse sink
- Purchase and install new faucet
- Build cabinets around the fridge
- Install new marble countertops (this may be a little ways down the road still, though!)

I can't wait to enjoy the finish product, but I'm also going to be sad when its all over! I've enjoyed every second of working on this transformation!


10 comments:

  1. oh to be young again
    You are doing it right Sara...get it done and live beautifully in the new design...it is wonderful

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  2. Sara, you have outdone yourself too! (Props to Hubs as well)

    Honestly, I bet if you'd shown the previous owners what you've done with the place, they probably would want to buy it back from you :D

    I can't wait to see how it looks when it's all done. Truly ... this is magazine feature worthy.

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  3. Hi Sara - the progress you've made is beautiful! And you manage to keep that space looking clean and nice all the while. I don't remember how I came across your blog now, but I'm glad I did. I can't wait to see the results! :)

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  4. I think you're doing a fabulous job! Having just updated our bathroom I don't envy you at all with all the upheaval. It's going to be absolutely beautiful when you've finished though, and I'm so impressed that you have such a clear vision. Well done!

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  5. Can I ask you what you used to paint the cabinets with? My next big project is to paint our oak cabinets white but can't decide whether I should do the whole sand, prime, paint thing or just buy a rustoleum kit. Thank you. Love your blog!

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  6. Hi Becky! I did a LITTLE sanding, and then I used a single coat of Killz Primer, and 2 coats of a custom Sherwin Williams paint (using their Cashmere paint). The keys are to make sure the cabinets are extremely clean before painting, do very VERY light coats, and make sure they dry completely before using them. Overall, it worked really well! We are pretty hard on things, and any dents/knicks are easy to fix because all you have to do is get out a paint brush! :)

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  7. Oh, that pipe really looks like trouble in that place. It sure calls for some serious re-plumbing for you to be able to completely remove the wall. But all the same, I enjoyed the ‘looking back.’ :) Your kitchen turned from having a traditional wood theme into something more elegant, with the metal elements and gray paint now more prominent.

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