Friday, January 24, 2014

Kitchen Remodel

The Headlines:


We bought a house.

It was built almost 20 years ago.

We already made a WHITE KITCHEN and more!

We will be working on it until the day we die.

Here's what's next.



So one of the reasons we bought the house we currently live in was, not only did we like the neighborhood, but EVERYTHING in it was old! It was my dream come true!  I know many of you hate the thought of such a daunting task.  I couldn't wait to get started.  Why?  Mostly because Arizona style is not mine.  As I've mentioned here before, my "defined style" is Desert Cottage.  I would say the most common style in Arizona, for right now, is Tuscan.  Most of the houses where I live seem to lean towards that.  Therefore, almost any house we bought, though completely new and beautiful, would not have been what I wanted.  I really needed a house that needed to be re-done so that I could make it mine!

We began the major projects within a couple months of living here.  But for the most part, we took last year off, traveled instead.  We needed it.  Remodeling takes a lot out of you… especially when you have kids.  It's a lot of juggling!  So, I wanted to space it out and kind of concentrate on one project at a time.  I did not hire a general contractor because that was me.  I also didn't hire a designer.  That was me too!  I found all the contractors separately.  Recommendations were key.

The first priority was the kitchen… isn't it always?  You spend so much time there!  Plus, everyone sees it


I love it.  Everything was re-done.  I knew I wanted to continue my "desert cottage" style and I wanted a white kitchen.  I love the look of a white kitchen but I needed to keep it warm and classic.  Some white kitchens can get a little cold if they're done with too much white.  I decided against a "rubbed" white cabinet look which is really popular right now... because it's really popular right now.  I also went with brushed nickel pulls (or jewelry on the cabinets as I like to call them) because I thought it would stay "in style" longer than let's say… an oil rubbed bronze (which has been a cool look for a few years now).  We also put in granite countertops to warm it up and bead board on the island.


We purchased all new Kitchenaid appliances, installed a dark wood flooring, put in a farm sink...


Basically, it all had to go.  It was pretty bad.  Here are some "Before" pictures…  it's even more of a mess than usual because I just quickly took this on a random day to send to a contractor.











We also took out the soffits and added high crown moldings.  Soffits.  Know what those are…?



They're those wall protrusions that come out of the ceiling and sit just atop the cabinets in your kitchen. So very 90's.  They're all over Arizona.  But now, at my house, they're gone.  Look!


We re-did the half bath and continued that dark wood plus some white paint (in the kitchen we used a light gray called foggy day by Dunn Edwards) in all the common areas.  It was a lot of work, time and money.  But worth every trouble and cent.  Here's the before and after of the same space in the kitchen. 
Before Kitchen




It's the fact that our hood, smack dab in the center of the above picture, doesn't have a "topper" to anchor it.  So it just kind of floats there. When we put it in I wasn't sure what to do with it so I let it remain until I could figure it out.  But our contractor never came back, after multiple calls from me, to do it - once I knew what I wanted.  I think it was too small a job ($ wise)… this year… I will beg him if I have to!

Helllllllo 2014!  Nice to see ya… you and I are going to get along just great!  Remember, if you ever have any questions please don't hesitate to ask - I love this stuff!

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