Kitchen Reno Part 1

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Let me start this by saying, there is no easy way to paint kitchen cabinets. I have painted two complete houses now, top to bottom, and this was still a difficult and tedious project. However, we’ve only done half of the upgrades I want to do to this space, and I think the results speak for themselves on what a facelift it’s gotten.

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These are the before photos. It’s a fairly small kitchen with a long and narrow floor plan. I loved that there were hardwoods in here and the overall configuration worked, it just needed an upgrade!

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I can’t tell you how many times we hit our head on this light before we finally took it down. We don’t have a kitchen table just yet, so until then we opted to just put in a flush mount. Someday I want to redo the electric in the first floor with recessed lighting, but thats far down the road!

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So let me break down what we did in this first part of our kitchen renovation. I am so happy with how it turned out, and feel much happier and peaceful when were in here now. It really works for our daily routine and style!

So the first thing I did was paint all the walls. Every room in the house got a new coat of paint (good gracious), and the whole place looked brighter and cleaner just from that. We also took down the cabinets on the far left and over the sink. I thought it would let more light in and allowed us to install some open shelving.

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So someday in the next couple years I plan on taking out this sink and countertops and upgrading them, but with just having a baby and buying a house, we’re trying to pace the expensive projects a bit. So you it doesn’t make sense to put up a backsplash when you know you’re going to replace your counters because you’ll ruin it when you take them out.

Enter my every present love for Target. They had this subway tile temporary wall paper. Now I will be the first to admit it is not perfect. It was my first time using wallpaper and it’s not as nice obviously as tile is. But it wipes down easily and the overall look is what I want. So while I wait a year or two for the real stuff, I am THRILLED with being able to use this for about $60 for two rolls.

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The other big change we did was adding this center island. We had it custom made for the space by Worthy’s Run Furniture. It was such a specific size that we needed, with it being longer, but narrow and we wanted to be able to have our bar seating we were used to at the old house.

I worked with the owner Todd every step of the way on creating this piece and could not be more thrilled with the result. It is made with such craftsmanship. The drawers are slow close, the top is as smooth as butter. The paint job is perfection, especially when you compare it to my job on the cabinets. It was worth every penny and has made our kitchen 10 times more functional between the extra counter and storage space.

I HIGHLY recommend their products and am so thrilled to have this piece in our home. You can also check them out at their website here!

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So eventually I want to do something fun with the pantry door, replace the counters and sink, and get a real backsplash. But isn’t this so bright and cheery?? AND SO MUCH MORE COUNTER SPACE.

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I will forever love these drawer pulls. We were able to coordinate the knobs that were used on the island with the hardware we used in the rest of the kitchen and even painted the cabinets with the exact paint color they used, so everything blends together really nicely.

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This little space is right off the garage and has added a lot of function to this previously wasted space. We are able to house lunch boxes, leashes, dog collars, water bottles, and all sorts of things to be ready to grab as we head out the door.

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One of the walls I was the most sad to leave at the old house was my chalkboard wall. I was happy to find a little space to put one in here! Eventually I will have a little cup screwed into the wall for Parker to be able to draw on the bottom half!

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And that’s the kitchen! We still need a kitchen table, but for now it is such a huge improvement in function and style for us. And can we all give an AMEN that I am done painting those dang cabinets!!