I love cooking. I love trying new recipes and cooking "tried and true" recipes. I enjoy collecting cookbooks and love lingering in kitchen areas of stores. I may even have a slight obsession with Le Creuset and kitchen tools. Despite these loves, I craved a kitchen that was not updated. And, so did Z. We wanted a kitchen that needed "lots of love." Why? We wanted a house that needed "love" so we could put our own touches on it. We had the same philosophy with the kitchen. We wanted a kitchen that needed love so that some day it could become our dream kitchen. While, it will cost us quite a bit of money to do, it will be worth it.
In the last few months, Young House Love posted their reasoning and justification for painting their cabinets and updating their cabinet hardware. They discussed how for a fraction of the cost, they could give their kitchen an update look while they saved money for their dream kitchen.
Before we get to the updating that we have done, let's take a scroll to look back at where our kitchen has come from. (Thank you, Zillow, for still having pictures of our house up!)
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| Before - Kitchen looks into dining room. |
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| Before - Dining room looking into kitchen. |
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| Before - Dining Room |
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| Before - Kitchen |
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| Before - Looking into Kitchen from Dining Room |
The pictures above are pretty much how we bought the house. The exception is that the living room was all tan - not green as seen above. We bought it with yellow sponge painting and all. In my dream kitchen, I have imagined either having dark black cabinets or light gray cabinets, like the ones seen at IKEA. While we have years to decide what cabinets will actually be installed, we decided for the present time we would do some updating of our kitchen. A couple hundred books over years seemed manageable.
To update the kitchen and dining room, we decided to:
- Paint the Kitchen Walls
- Prime & Paint the Kitchen Cabinets
- Replace drawer pulls
- Paint the Dining Room Walls
- Paint the Trim in both rooms
- Replace outlets, lights, and vent covers
- New window treatments (Thanks, Mom!)
- Flooring
Below, are the pictures of what our kitchen looks like now. It is amazing what under $100 can do!
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| Kitchen - Cabinets Primed & Painted |
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| Kitchen looking into dining room. |
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| Z added a shelf for cookbooks. Red island from Hickory Dickory (First Friday) & wine cooler from eBay! |
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| Dining Room - Painted |
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| Dining Room - Painted |
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| Dining Room - New light fixture. (Christmas / graduation gift from E's Mom.) |
I have absolutely loved what a difference the updates have made in these spaces. Z loved the light that was in the dining room, so I suspect that it will reappear somewhere in our house someday. Perhaps in the man bathroom?! What you can't notice in the pictures is that the granite countertops where the mixer is located at is not even! The previous owner chose beautiful counters but it was not installed properly. Also, almost each of the large tiles in the kitchen is cracked! Again, it was not installed correctly. Knowing that we will be living with this kitchen for a few years, we are debating what flooring options we will consider. Right now, it is between replacing the grout between the tiles to clean it up, or using a faux wood "peel and stick" in the room.
In the upcoming months, we plan on retouching the trim to freshen it up and possibly replace the fan that is located in the kitchen. As we continue to use and cook in our kitchen, it gives us the chance to think about what we really want in our dream kitchen. Oh, the possibilities!
There are so many fun kitchen gadgets, accessories, and things to plan for in a kitchen. What is your favorite kitchen thing? What would you have in your dream kitchen? I'd love to hear what you love or would add into yours!
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