Long Awaited: The Kitchen Reno!

So, if you know me, you know I LOVE to spend time in the kitchen... not only to bake cookies or cook dinner, but more often than not, I'm in there to eat. So, it's no wonder why this project topped the charts for my "Most Wanted Renovations"-- yes, even higher than our master bath that has carpet and a doggie-door sized hole in the door... 

But ladies (and gentlemen), you have to understand my reasoning. You see, the kitchen is my home, my gathering place for friends, and, despite how gross the bathroom is, let's face it, people don't hang out in there! So, on New Year's Eve we started demolishing our icky kitchen that I've put up with for over two and a half years! 

This will not be missed:

We began by tearing up the counters-- which actually began when I dropped the blender out of the cabinet one night and shattered a whopping SIX tiles! But, as it would turn out, we had more trouble tearing them out when we actually got started... All in all, it took about seven hours to tear out the tile and remove the concrete to make way for our new IKEA counter tops.

 

In my head I envisioned a creamy white cabinet, a walnut stained counter, dark floors, recessed lighting, and white subway tile backsplash. But, I soon realized cream cabinets that matched our other painted cabinets (in the living room and entryway) would clash with subway tiles, so the search for a new blacksplash was on! 

image via Pinterest via Simply Seleta

image via Pinterest via BHG.com

I played with the idea of adding some fun mosaics, or even making my own mosaics from glass beads, but when we started tearing off the existing backsplash it became clear we would be replacing A LOT of drywall if we went with tile. So, I started looking through Pinterest.com (click here to see my boards!) for ideas and it suddenly clicked that EVERY kitchen I loved had a beadboard backsplash. Off to Lowe's we went! 

Plus, as an added bonus, beadboard is very affordable, easily installed, and I could paint it in any color. 

Brandon installed the beadboard and I was in charge of putty. I also was the lucky one that got to sand ALL the cabinets and doors ("Yay, I get to sand cabinets!"--said no one ever...).  

 

Meanwhile, Brandon cut and fit our IKEA Numerar counters that his mom had delivered for us from down south. Without having to pay shipping, our counter-tops came to $450 and were gorgeous! Which is awesome if you ask me. He also installed our new stainless-steel sink. 

 

I stained them in  Miniwax "English Walnut" after some light sanding (I'll post more details later). 

Anyway... here is the most recent photo! I ABSOLUTELY love it. Now I just cant wait to tear down that light, paint the walls, add trim, and get rid of those SUPER ICKY cherry-wood floors!

 In case you wanted a flash-back-- ew.

I guess I should stop here to apologize and explain this post is a SUPER-fast summary of our work over the last 21 days without many photos because, to be honest, I've only snapped photos here and there on my iPhone rather than taking genuine, "professional quality" photos to share. There will eventually be more to come, but I'm just trying to stay up to date on the blog :-)

So, here are a couple other random tidbits...

Behind one of the cabinets I found this note left for the previous owner's hubby AKA "Bumble Bee"... if only we didn't know that he used to grow marijuana in this house and that he beat the same wife that wrote this note... bastard (pardon my French).

 

Moe really likes to help too... so much in fact that we think he's attracted to loud noises!

Oh yeah, and we got another cat... Meet Lily-- once again, I'll explain later ;-)