Kitchen - Before & After

When we moved into our home in 2009 we knew we'd have to make updates. However, I'm learning to despise living in a remodel project. It's a mess! It's amazing the things we have been able to check off our BIG to do list, but the more projects we tackle the more that seem to come up. It's never ending.

BUT once we finish a project there is deep satisfaction from a job well done. We worked so hard on this kitchen. Let me show you the process...

If you read my Pretend You're a Professional Interior Designer blog back in May, you'll find that I tell you to pick one item that gave you inspiration. I've always wanted a red kitchen, but not because of just any item. Since I was a year old I've been collecting Mickey Mouse items. Let's just say I'm a tad obsessed. So the inspiration for the red came from this Mickey Mouse flower pot that I used as a utensil holder.

So when it was just me, my kitchen was red, black, and white because I decorated it using all my Mickey Mouse stuff. Well... when Kyle and I got married he kindly asked me if we could have a more "grown-up" kitchen. I conceded telling him I'll just use the stuff for our future nursery, he agreed. (I wonder if he's regretting this now?)

 

My living room and kitchen are pretty much connected, so I decided to use the same inspiration I found there, creating some uniformity from one room to the next. I went to my all time favorite store, Hobby Lobby, for some Live, Laugh, Love particulars. I found what I was looking for, and then some - I had to pick, and it became my new inspiration and I was still able to have my red, black, and white kitchen. :)

The top one says, "Live like there's no tomorrow."
The second one says, "Laugh a lot. When you're older all your wrinkles will be in the right spot."

After I had my inspiration, everything else just came together. First thing I did was research. Black and Red are so bold and dark. I wasn't sure how the whole thing was going to turn out. So I googled "black and red kitchen" pictures. I found this kitchen with my exact color scheme (the light yellow is in my living room, which -remember- I was trying to connect) and decided to do it, because I LOVED it: Kitchen Inspiration

So I went ahead and painted the walls. (This was when we first moved into the house, back in 2009.)

Ceiling = white.
2 Walls = Red
Behind Cabinets = White
I also painted the microwave white, where there was that fake wood accent (yuck).

Next, (which ended up being in the summer of 2010, one year after painting) was the big project... the cabinets.... I went in with the mentality that it "couldn't be that hard." Well, it wasn't, but it was a pain- in- the- buttocks. The most important part of the process was the first couple of steps:

1. Clean and ZipStrip.
2. Prime.

Those two steps were the most time consuming. Here's some pictures of the process:

Started cleaning and priming.

Cleaning, Priming, and Painting the doors on the porch.

After the primer dried, I painted it black. At this point there was no turning back. I was a little scared of such bold colors. Boy am I glad I stuck it out.

Letting it dry...

More drying...

I removed the shelf above the sink to open the room up a tad and use open shelving. I love how it turned out.

Now for the top, clean... prime... paint... clean... prime... paint.

After a few days of drying (drying really slows ya down) came the hardware. I chose a brass color to tie into the living room and the counter tops, which we decided (budget wise) to keep. I really don't mind because it just works! As you will see from my pictures, this is where I was going insane. I was putting the hardware in and then hung the doors...

I hit my ultimate frustration level (after I dropped a cabinet door on my foot, dinged a door pretty good, and lost my screwdriver)... lol.. it's funny now!

Thankfully, it was an easy fix with wood filler, prime, and paint. You honestly can't even tell, thank GOODNESS!

I'm finally done with that crazy project, on to the next one: the floor. (This project we completed Saturday, so it's been a 3 year process...)

We weren't sure if we'd be able to install tile and still be able to open the back door. So we decided to stick to linoleum. It still looks nice, plus it was a lot cheaper. When we began ripping the floor up Kyle realized that they put this funky floor on top of the sub floor???? I've never even heard of that, but we had the linoleum, and not the time to investigate it further. So we ripped off the original floor and went to work from there.

It was a nasty, disgusting job!

Getting somewhere...

Our living room became storage for our kitchen appliances.

The fridge blocked the doorway from the living room to the kitchen. Marley was NOT a fan.

Once the floor was completely ripped out, we laid the new floor out on the lawn to cut it.

Haha, old floor... new floor...

After measuring twice, cutting once, we brought it in, hoping that -Kyle- had done the calculations correctly (that is not my thing... sometimes 2 + 2 = 5 in my world.) BTW, he did.

We're done! There are a few minor projects we need to complete yet, but the major projects are DONE! Yay!

 I think the best way to end this kitchen remodel is with the before and after pictures...

Before...

  

Before



After

I know you can't see me, thank goodness, because this project was exhausting, but I have a HUGE smile on my face. I love my kitchen.