A Year Later: Kitchen Update

It is crazy to think that mid-June of 2015 Rusty and I started demo on our kitchen. Most of you know about our home but for those who don't: we bought a 1980's ranch from my grandparents. It had two other owners before them with the second one expanding onto the back of the house with a large, private master suite with two bathrooms (a his and hers).

Our home is in a quiet cul-de-sac and our neighbors are now use to Skip dropping in whenever he wants. ;) They are actually starting to keep a snack drawer for him. When we bought the house from my grandparents I was hesitant. It is a big house (3,400 sq. feet) and every square inch needed to be touched. R is not handy at all and I knew a lot of the repairs would have to be outsourced which can quickly get pricey. Regardless, I loved the history of our home (our family has been in it for over 20 years now). The size is big now, bigger than I prefer but when we have kids running around it will be nice and it is exciting to make a house just how we want it. We bought it in January of 2014 and have been working on it ever since.

Things we have done: stripped wallpaper (in EVERY SINGLE ROOM), ripped up old floors and put down new ones in part of the house, completely made a new kitchen, painted, laid tile, bought new furniture and art and decluttered a million times over. We have probably done more but those are the biggest things. We still have a ton to do but we will get there. It takes time and money and we are okay with that.

More stats on our home: 4 bedrooms with 3 of the bedrooms on one side of our home and the master on the opposite side, 4.5 bathrooms that we took down to 4 and eventually will be down to 3 (combining the 2 master baths), beautiful big porch and large front yard, small backyard (which isn't necessarily my favorite) due to adding the large master bedroom by previous owners, a gorgeous window filled sunroom, a two living rooms with one being a man cave that is part man cave/part playroom, a two car garage plus an office/storage room off the garage.

My thoughts when writing this post is to show you before and after photos. First a full before so you can see how boxy and closed off this kitchen was to the whole home. Then a side by side comparison to now. We still have a few remaining things to check off our list in the kitchen as to why this is titled a kitchen update versus a final reveal. We are still lacking: a large rug for under my kitchen table, a vent hood which we want exposed, quarter round to complete the floors and eventually I want to take the dining nook and add batten board and a photo ledge. Here is an example in case you can't picture it.

When we designed our kitchen our thoughts were light and bright, open it up to the living room and an island that took up a ton of space. And in case you want to see kitchen progress posts throughout demo last summer, you can  here, here, here and here. I will also try to explain what each photo is of so you get a better understanding. Stick with me because this post is long and full of photos (i.e. my favorite kind of posts)!

The day my grandfather moved this is what the dining nook looked like. I told you wallpaper was legit in every cranny of the space. Big bay window and a cute chair rail. We wanted to make the space bright and light.

dining nook again

Ready for it? This was the entire kitchen (your back is now to the dining nook). This tiny square was the functioning kitchen. While everything worked and was in great shape it was so closed off. Things we knew we wanted to change: get rid of soffits, no more fluorescent lights, knock down the wall on the right and straight in front of us where the pass through is, new cabinets, new floor, new matching appliances, new island, open floor plan, keep all wallpaper (ha! just making sure you are alert). To the right was a hallway that had a large pantry, entry from the garage and a half bath.

Left side of the kitchen. Again, the dining nook is behind you.

Right side with the hallway leading behind it. Hi baby Marcy!

We knew that financially we could start making little changes even structurally to make the space better and help us save along the way versus thousands of dollars all at once. The next few photos are our progress photos/the in between before we started knocking down walls.

The door to the right is the entrance from our garage. It is was the heaviest door known to man and didn't let a lick of light into the space. You can also see the hallway with the first door being the pantry.

Hallway shot again. First door pantry and second door half bath. And a baby Skipper watching SportsCenter. Totally normal in our home.

Progress shot of the kitchen. We removed the wallpaper, painted and took down the backsplash. We took the doors off two cabinets to have exposed shelves. We wanted open shelving somewhere in our kitchen so this was out trial run to see if it was realistic for us. As you can see it is still dark.

Ignore the clutter prep space. We were getting ready for a baby shower. 

Dining nook with NO MORE WALLPAPER and matching drapes!

This was the back side wall of the kitchen. You can see the pass through. We wanted to tear this wall down completely and have it to where you didn't walk through a hallway but rather 100% open to the living area.

You can also see to the right a bar area. We love this bar. We have plans for it too including a wine fridge for mommy. 

One more progress shot.

Now for our 92.8% done kitchen. I just got really nervous because this space we designed 100% by ourselves and we love it. We actually made our dream kitchen and space! So before and after time it is y'all.

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After:

Before from the opposite view:

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Can you believe this is the same space? Me neither! Seriously, I love this room. Our home flows now and when we entertain we can see everyone and talk and be merry.

Next week I will put a post together on all our sources, products plus who helped us. And possibly a post on all the things we learned during the remodeling process. Thanks friends for going on this journey with the Farrin's! We think y'all are grand.