A Peek Inside My Home

We live in a small 1400sqft. 1960 ranch house with 6 kids. We have done tons of improvements from when we first moved into this house 13 years ago.

The kitchen has undergone a few changes through the year but one thing has remained the same, the cabinets. That is a big CHUNK of money we do not have right now so we have made due by painting them. One day I want to replace them but they are functional, so replacing them is not at the top of our TO-Do List. When we moved it the cabinets were 1960's builder grade brown and UGLY!!! We painted them Yellow a few years ago. I wanted a yellow kitchen and had saw a pic in a magazine. The walls were dark brown paneling when we moved it.... it was dark dark dark. We wall papered the walls and added a new counter-top at the time we painted the cabinets yellow. It was fine for a while but you know how your style evolves over time... I wanted a white kitchen... Here is what I ended up with.



The Finished Remodel



love my floors

We still want to replace the appliances with stainless steel but I am being patient. October is just around the corner and that starts our busiest time with  FOUR Birthdays, our Wedding Anniversary, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. We stay BUSY BUSY BUSY from October until January when I feel I can finally breath again. :D

I have two favorite things in my kitchen, my beautiful pantry and our new back door. All built by  The Hunky Hubbs and myself. I am not going to say that everything is perfect, (far from it I am sure) but we are so proud of all the work we have done.

Here are a few pics of the work in progress....

That is me.. trying to load the dishwasher in the mist of the mess

I looked and looked and could not find a pic on my computer of the kitchen before we started. The empty wall once held an antique Buffet cabinet. We gave it to my Mother-in-Law (who had her eye on it for some time). The floors were linoleum. The area you see that is bare wood is where we had to tear up a portion of the floor so it could be leveled from underneath. 

The brown spot on the wall was where a cabinet once hung. We removed it to add a back door.  

removing the lower cabinet

  
    
 The Hunky Hubbs hard at work removing the lower cabinet.

messy

The cabinets are gone and the hardwood floor has been brought in to be installed.  Also a leveling compound was poured on the floor to prepare it for the hardwood to be installed.

The pantry walls

 After installing the flooring we built the pantry.

Sheetrock a new cabinet and a little helper

We sheet rocked the walls, added 2 small lower cabinets and a small upper cabinet. Then cut the hole in the wall for the exterior door.

this was scary

 

There was a hole in my house... eek!!!!

ahhh.. much better

 You have no idea the difference in the kitchen now that the glass door has been installed... The room seemed to flood with light!!!!

Let's look at the finished work once again.. I am so proud!!!!

This picture is looking into the kitchen from the Dining area. There was a small doorway with a pocket door between the kitchen and Dining room... I wanted it OPEN... So several years ago we took the walls down to half walls and added the columns!!! This is one of my FAVORITE projects!!!

I love my two chandeliers. Thy give me small kitchen a warm feeling. The small one was purchased from Lowe's and the large center one was a good-will find for $30!!!! It was bright gold but I could not pass it up!!! I took the crystals off and gave it a coat of spray paint. The paint resembles rust and I love it!!

I noticed the bulb was out but of course I did not have any more... I wanted to include this pic so just overlook it PLEASE. :D

I am undecided as to what to do with my windows. I think I want to get rid of the dirty broken blinds. Any Suggestions as to what to replace them with?

I do hope you enjoyed taking a peek inside my home and my little kitchen. I've had fun putting this post together.




Blessings,
Amy