Well, folks, it's been long in coming, but I've finally gotten around to posting our kitchen renovation. For starters, it took about 5 1/2 weeks from start to finish, but I'm sure it could have been a week less if we hadn't gone on a 10 day vacation in the middle of it. I did get sick of eating out -- and for a girl who eats out a lot, that's saying something. One tip I would give if you are thinking about a kitchen renovation is to keep your microwave till the end of the reno. We had the kitchen gutted and all the appliances but the fridge taken away at the beginning of the project. It would have been great to have the microwave on a table to use during the reno. That's about the only thing I would have done differently. Also, we didn't change the footprint of our kitchen. I've always loved the spaciousness in our kitchen and I've never needed or wanted an island. That's due to the large peninsula we have with so much working space. Not changing the footprint really cut down on costs, which was great. Our kitchen does have plenty of room to add an island if someone would want to do so in the future.
Let's start with some before and after photos from different angles. Here's the angle showing the before desk area and the after. I guess you could say we changed the floor plan by taking out the desk. In the 25 years we lived here, we never used the desk as a desk. The counter above it became a catch-all for mail and the likes, so we didn't want it in the new kitchen. We love that the new area has more storage with more cupboards below and above...
Here's another angle. We always had a "built-in pantry" in the kitchen (shown in second photo), but the new pantry has pull-out shelves, so it is much more usable.
Another angle...
I absolutely love the products we decided upon. The cabinets are a warmer "white" than it shows in the photos, and the glaze around the cabinets picks up the dark brown in the granite. I wanted a really simple subway tile for the backsplash. I don't care for a "busy" backsplash. I would much rather the granite and the cabinets be the star, than the backsplash -- although the backsplash is often what your eye is drawn to first. I love the gray tile with the cream cabinets. The tile picks up the gray in the granite, and the cupboards pick up the whites in the granite -- beautiful...
I love decorating once a room has been renovated, and I always tend to add a touch of whimsy. I didn't want a lot on the counters. Most of the time anything on my counters in the kitchen has to be functional... except for these mice. I bought them in Bar Harbor, Maine, on our trip. Fell in love with them... even though I cannot stand the real thing...
Well, that's about the end of the tour. I did buy one more thing that pretty much typifies my life right now. It's this sign....
I choose joy. That's something I want to be reminded of daily -- that joy and happiness are a choice we make -- not a circumstance. One more thing I choose is fresh flowers -- often. {P.S. - I'm a sucker for Joanna Gaines' new line at Target. Get a load of that beautiful pitcher.}
