Monday, November 21, 2011

Kitchen Makeover: Before The Transformation


Hi Friends!

We started our kitchen transformation project about two weeks ago and it is taking MUCH longer than we expected!

Just so you know what we are working with, here are some before shots of our kitchen.

Here are some close-ups of the actual cabinets as well. As you can see, the paint is literally peeling off of them, which is probably because there is no hardware on them and they just cant keep up with the everyday wear. Also be sure to take a look at that sexy countertop in the second picture! That linoleum-ish countertop is so old that you can tell the color is not even close to what it was when it was first installed.
  
I will be posting each step of the process as we go along. Just so you know, we aren't actually knocking down walls, removing cabinets, or getting any new appliances. We wish we could, but it just doesn't make sense to invest that much money in a home when we will most likely be moving in the next year or two. Our plan for this project is to paint all of the cabinets on top white, all of the cabinets on bottom black, install granite tile countertop with white subway tiles as a backsplash, and get a new stainless steel sink while we are at it. 

Stay tuned for the actual process. I should have the first step (upper white cabinets) posted for you soon!


Have a lovely day!
 
Natalie

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Before & After: Front & Back Doors


Matt and I started the kitchen redo last weekend and WOW is it an intense project?!?! I mean, I knew it was going to be a tough one, but it has pretty much been consuming every ounce of my life outside of work. All I have to say, is I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I am SO EXCITED for everything to be completed. 

In the meantime, I wanted to show you all some before and after shots of our front door and back door. My apologies for the 'before' pictures, as they were taken after I had already done some prep work for the project, like taping or taking off the hardware. I did the doors the same weekend we did the bathroom cabinets and linen closet and it was more of a spur of the moment type of project. Lets just say, I pretty much fell in love with that Edward Dunn English Browne paint and was just looking for anything and everything to paint it with. Boy, am I glad I decided to do it because I think the transformation was much needed and actually inspired me to get going with the kitchen! I figured if a door can make my house look this much better, than a kitchen is going to do wonders. 

Front Door Before:
This door is one of those really old solid wood doors. It's difficult to tell from this picture, but the texture is not smooth. It's more like a raw cut and you can really see the swirly grain of the wood on it as well. I'm sure if you took it off the hinges it would weigh somewhere around 200 lbs. I can also tell it has been painted at least 10 times from all of the different paint colors on the inside track of the door. 

Front Door After:
  This is the door after going to town on it with the Edward Dunn English Browne metallic paint. This paint really brings out the natural grain of the wood and with some new pretty hardware, it looks good as new! Next on the list for the front entryway is to paint the walls, so the white trim pops and the door is the center focal point.  

Back Door Before:
Well, looks like you're getting a half-shot of the door before its makeover. The color of the door was just a basic wood color and added absolutely nothing to the room. In fact, it was actually distracting to the eye. The frame around the door was almost the same color as well, which was just about horrid.

Back Door After:
After applying the paint to the back door, I painted the wood trim white so that the door would really stand out. All of the windows in our home have faux white wood blinds, so we slapped a few on these bad boys and voila! Just like the front entryway, next on the list for this room is painting the walls as well.

Hope to have some kitchen pictures for you soon!

Have a lovely day!


Natalie

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Before & After: Master Bathroom


A while back I mentioned that the hubs and I revamped our bathrooms and hall linen closet and I promised I would try to dig up some before and after pictures of the cabinets for you. Well, lucky for you, I found one!!! This picture makes me laugh because of our two crazy beagles...they absolutely LOVE hanging out under my vanity.

This picture does not even do our original bathroom complete justice, as we had the standard sheet mirrors in our bathrooms before this picture was taken. They were all super old and stained, so we decided those needed to go right away! We found our current bathroom mirrors at Kirkland Homes for super cheap! I think they were about $20 a pop.

Before: Yucky oak-ish looking cabinet drawers and my mismatched light wood stool from IKEA.

& After:
Why did we wait so long to do the bathrooms? I have NO idea, but I'm sure glad we did because I wouldn't have been able to follow this tutorial! The instructions were very easy and the Dunn Edwards English Brown paint is seriously amazing. It really looks expensive and it doesn't appear to be painted. I mean c'mon, take a look at this exact vanity after we updated it!

Although I don't have anymore before pictures, take a look at all of the after pictures of our master bathroom. We were amazed with how nice everything turned out!!

After: Master Bathroom

We are pretty sure that the wood paneling around our tub was "hand crafted" by the people that owned it before us. The wood was very a very light oak color with so much water damage that it was basically peeling apart. Look at it now people! It looks luxurious!

We actually bought this hardware and installed it before we painted the cabinets. Again, I really have NO idea why we waited so long to paint the cabinets.

I tried to get a shot of the full master bathroom. The tub/shower is to the left, then our sink basin, and my vanity to the right. (Please mind the creepy door handle! This picture was taken before we updated them here).


We do have a MAJOR project coming up soon! We will be starting the kitchen renovations this weekend! I CANNOT tell you how much I have been wanting to do this!!

Have a lovely day!
 
Natalie