We bought the house we currently live in just over 5 years ago. It was foreclosed so we got a great deal on it. It has a ton of space but had a lot of problems that needed to be fixed. I never cared much about decorating up to that point, but when we put the offer in on the house, I began pinning ideas knowing that all of the rooms needed work. After brainstorming ideas for how I wanted each space to look, I was ready to get started on all the improvements! As soon as we moved in, I went strait to work and took all our cabinet doors off and began the arduous task of painting the oak cabinets white. It was a huge improvement! I also painted the main floor walls (kitchen, living, & dining) a nice light neutral color. A year or so later we installed butcher block countertops. I was pleased with how it turned out, however, after living there for a few years, entertaining friends for dinner, having family stay, and hosting small groups, I began to see how the layout offered some challenges in the way we used our home.
(Here is a shot of the kitchen from before we moved in).
I began to share my desire for a more functional kitchen layout and open floor plan with my husband. After some time (and me wearing him down a little lol) we found a contractor who gave us a great price on installing a beam in order to remove the wall and pass through in the photo above. What was once three small spaces became one large space! It looked amazing.
While this was a major improvement, having a staircase in the center of the kitchen layout had its challenges as well. A few months after having the beam installed, we hired a contractor friend of ours to move the stairs over next to the other staircase going to our upper level (just on the other side of the doorway to the right of the refrigerator in the above photo). It's now a configuration more common to split level homes and gave me a 15 foot uninterrupted span of cabinets, appliances and worktop space! So much more functional!
We had the stairs moved just over a year ago and that was the final piece to creating the layout I always felt maximized the space. Now we have room for an island and can fit a large dining table. We also had our contractor friend move the refrigerator so we could take down the wall between the living room and kitchen.
We were able to do these projects very affordably for the scope of work, but we still have a very tight budget (which is why the projects have been spaced out quite a bit). Because we knocked out the walls and moved the stairs, I wanted to rework the cabinets we already had. I've always loved shaker style doors and even priced cabinets but all new cabinets was just too much. I decided I could reuse our current boxes, resize the ones I needed to resize, and build new doors, drawers and drawer fronts. There was a lot of trial and error and a few "what was I thinking" moments, but after finally settling on full overlay doors and concealed euro hinges, it was just a matter of building all the doors and drawer fronts and getting them painted and installed. They are by no means perfect, but I love that we have the look and style I wanted for a fraction of what new cabinets or even buying new doors would have been.
Over the summer, while still getting the cabinet situation figured out, we installed new flooring throughout the main level. We had been living with 4 different types of flooring in a 700 square foot area and so I was very excited when we were finally able to get going on the new floors. I have always loved the classic, timeless look of natural hardwood but it is pricey. I looked at laminate, engineered and solid wood options and finally settled on a budget friendly, solid hardwood that is slightly thinner then the standard 3/4 in thickness so it was much more affordable. It was more work because a lot of the rejected pieces from a premium floor ended up in this flooring but we were patient enough to sort through it and were creative with where we put some of the boards and now we have a beautiful, solid hardwood floor that I absolutely love!
We had to do quite a bit of work to the subfloor in the portion of the kitchen that was added on before everything was supported and level enough to lay the hardwood. The french doors weren't properly sealed and the subfloor had a lot of water damage that needed to be replaced.
Seeing your husband and brother-in-law in your flood can be a little distressing at first lol. They got it all figured out and now everything is structurally sound, dry and level.
For a while we were using a cool old table as an island to help me feel out the layout (I'm very visual) and for extra prep space. As pretty as the table was, I knew I wanted the functionality of an island with storage and seating. I actually found some brand new shaker cabinets with soft close doors and drawers and a pull out trash/recycling bin that matched the doors I already built at the Restore so we snatched those up. The pull out trash can is a game changer for sure! It's so nice that its all integrated and we don't have a trash can just sitting out in the kitchen! We got the cabinets installed and I built the island out to accommodate an overhang for stools, wrapped the island in shiplap and got everything painted white.
We are currently using our butcher block tops until we are able to get a marble look quartz. The butcher block is all bowed but we are hoping to cut it down and repurpose it as open shelving.
Well that is about it for now! Our next project is building and installing the custom range hood and then once the countertops go in its the backsplash, open shelves and then finishing touches! After almost 2 years into this, I can't believe how close we are! Once the rest of the kitchen projects are done I'll post more before and after photos including some shots of the entire space! It's been an incredible transformation!
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