We are starting kitchen renos. YIPEE! When we bought our house, I hated the kitchen. The pictures on the MLS site made me cringe a little. I couldn't picture myself in such a place. I knew we couldn't buy it unless I had the promise that we could fix it...not drastically, but at least a little. The main complaint is that it's dark and dingy. Those nice 80's oak cupboards with brass knobs, minty green countertops, unmatched appliances, shiny white bathroom tiles.
Let me show you...
It does have newly done tile flooring which isn't my favorite as it's hard and cold, but it looks nice and is a taupe marble look. It will stay.
We hope to take half a wall out to bring more light in from the next room (right side of the picture). In order to do that we are going to remove a sliding door and put in a single door to make room for the fridge that we will need to move there. Then we'll make it into a bar counter with stools (on the right side of the picture), and we want to paint the oak, change the hardware, take off the wall tile and either re-tile or paint, replace the trim, replace the counters, the sink, the stove, move up the microwave that is hanging low over the stove, and build a few additional pot drawers under the new bar counter.
Yikes. Lots to do. Since G and I don't have experience in this department, we're pulling in my dad and brother to take on this project (with our help of course). Might be a long long story. I will be sure to post pictures for those of you who like reno befores/afters as much as I do. I hope to learn lots on this project so I can tackle some more areas of our house.
Here's what I did today...I slowly and carefully (as not to cause too much dust and breaking tile) chipped off tiles in between separating fights of the boys and dealing with a super cranky teething baby with a head cold.
That's a start, hey?
So now I would love to hear all your advice and suggestions. I'm trying to decide on the wall color that will go in the kitchen. Right now it is taupe as is the WHOLE HOUSE. Although it is not a bad color, it is a tad blah. I don't want to paint the entire house, so I need to pick something that goes with it. Also I will need to pick out the exact color of white/cream we should make the cabinets...who knew there were so many shades. I know some of you may be cringing at the thought of painting wood, but I think painting them light will add so much more brightness to this dark side of the house.
I will be updating you as we go. Wish us luck!
4 comments:
Good for you! We're in the same boat with our basement room right now. Have fun!
~Elizabeth
I think opening the kitchen up to the rest of the house is a great idea, and I think painting the cabinets will make it much brighter. Open and bright that is the way I like things too. :)
I look forward to seeing the finished results!
Oh gosh. This makes me smile. I would love a project. I'd love to come and help out sometime. Like you said today, maybe Friday games night can turn into minor demolition night!
We painted the oak cupboards in my parents old house a white shade and it turned out great. Make sure you get good paint though that can stand up to kitchen cooking/humidity etc. As for wall colour, I loved the green in your old house, you know that I love sunny yellow, and I've seen a pale sky blue lately that would look nice. There's my thoughts! How liberating to ripe off old tiles! Good luck!
Lisa
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