☺ ** My budget friendly kitchen renovation is completed.** ☺
It's amazing how much brighter my little kitchen is now with the white bead board, white farm sink and far less clutter lurking about!
The bad news is that now my floors stand out like crazy. Nothing a small sea grass rug (already had) and a little grout trick (at bottom of post) can't mask.
You can see the before in the middle with the cluttered bakers rack and laminate counter tops and back splash. The tan laminate counters and back splash always gave my kitchen a yellowish hue, although you can't really tell in that photo.
This is the view when I walk into the kitchen from the upstairs landing in the morning.
A before and after side by side below. The photo on the left was taken in 2010 with the dark stained island and too much counter and top-o-the-fridge junk, eek!
The view while standing in the kitchen, looking into the dining room on the front of the house. The kitchen feels so much more open with the bakers rack and the wood island out of there. Since we're lacking in counter space I feel like I need this center island and having the open bottom does lend to a bit more airy feel.
This is a good before and after shot. Lighter paint and less clutter in the kitchen and you can see the a hint of the shift in the dining room over the past 4 years as well.
I just adore this sink. It's the single bowl Domsjo (sources at bottom of post) but it feels huge to me and definitely works in our little space. I didn't want the clutter of the extra spray nozzle at the sink so we opted for a single hole, pull down sprayer faucet.
A scary and embarassing before and after of the sink and surrounding clutter:
I removed the fold down leaves in my old kitchen island cart and it fits perfectly in between the powder bath and my sun room entrance. Again, because space is an issue I opted to keep it for now {storage!}. This forced me to move the ozarka water tank, the big stainless trash can and the dog bowls into the sun room which is a better trade off visually.
I gave the walls a fresh coat of the leftover Fieldstone (Benjamin Moore) from my living room update last year. It's a bit lighter than the gray that I painted in here back in 2008 and flows much better while looking into the kitchen from the living room.
Looking to the back of the house into the sun room with the powder bath on the right and the stair landing to the left.
Some close up shots below.
This old kitchen cart has been out in my garage for the past 4 years. Nothing like a can of rustoleum primer/sealant and silver metallic paint to make her as good as new.
The stove side progression from 4 years ago to today.
Some 'faux' white grout was used to freshen the yucky laminate floor tiles that we placed in a hurried pre move-in state back in 2008 (HAD to cover the avocado green tiles). You can see in the photo above by masking the gray lines it does freshen the floors a bit. I found this white sharpie paint pen (oil based) at Michael's.
A tip to fix those nasty yellowed handles on your dated-but-in-perfect-working-condition-fridge: simply remove the handles and use spray paint for plastic. I'd tried everything over the years, goo gone, bleach etc and it just made them yellow further. It was easy to remove the handles and give them a fresh coat of white.
Sources:
We still need have the countertop/backsplash edges caulked and sealed but that's about it.
Now I just have to quit nesting and labeling everything in my newly organized and purged kitchen and get back to cooking and taking care of my family! ♥
xo~
Tricia
PS~ A huge thanks to this amazing friend for all of her help this weekend. She sat on my dirty kitchen floor, paint pen in hand, then she moved on to hanging some of the wall decor and setting up the counter top stuff. THEN she proceeded to de-clutter my entire downstairs by loading up my dining room table with accessories and knick knacks to be packed away and rotated in/out. So not only is my kitchen new and fresh, my dining room, living room and sun room are in tip top shape. Love you La!!
.JPG)
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