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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

the kitchen chronicles

I know I’ve been virtually M.I.A. lately, but with good reason.  I am getting ready to undertake a major project.  My kitchen is about to receive a well deserved facelift.  Since I am not hiring this work out, it is going to take me some time to complete. 
Rather than take a before picture and then magically come up with an after picture, (it’s just all too much work to be reduced to a couple of pictures)  I thought I would chronicle the process.
Let’s start right from the beginning shall we?  Here is the ‘BEFORE before” picture.  I call it that because this picture was taken when I purchased my home almost 3 years ago.  This is the entire kitchen as the previous owners had it.  (Their kitchen table, not mine).  See this blue room in the forefront of the picture?  
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This room was used as a sitting room off the kitchen. (WHY ?  I don't know!) …………….. But I had a vision.  This room was about to become a larger part of the kitchen.
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Here is a shot of the kitchen from another angle.  Keep your eye on the pantry cupboards in the right wall.   Now lets move on!
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Let’s start by ripping out the parquet flooring in the blue room and remove all the ceramic tiles in the kitchen area.  As a matter of fact, we removed all the flooring on the entire main floor.
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Unblueing the blue room.  You can also see the new subfloor that has gone in and in the process I decided to widen the entrance between the blue room and the kitchen. 
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SO… out comes the pantry and some walls.  The opening between the blue room and front hallway was also closed off. Now for the fun part!
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In goes a beautiful archway to open the kitchen wide up. You can see the wall being built to close off the blue room and hallway.
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The entry to the kitchen (beside the fridge) was also widened. You can see the hardwood flooring making it’s way down the hallway.
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The arch with a little more detail. The popcorn ceiling in the blue room was also scraped off a few days later to match the smooth ceiling in the kitchen area.
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This island was put together with cabinets bought at Home Depot, then covered with finished plywood and MDF.
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For a little added punch, I painted the island red.
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You can see the new place for the pantry (to the left) where the entry was closed off.  I can also stop calling the blue room “the blue room”, as it’s currently a nice soft yellow/gold. My little kitchen table appeared totally lost in that area and has since been replaced.
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So here is a shot of the arch, all finished. All previous tiny baseboards were replaced with 8" baseboards.
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There’s a story behind this interesting ceiling mount for my pendant lights.  When the old owner had their kitchen table where the island is now, they had a medallion and a chandelier. As hard as I tried I couldn’t scrape or sand that glue off the ceiling once the medallion was removed.  How to hide the hideous glue ?  Build 3 squares in an interesting pattern.  It hides the mess and looks like it was meant to be!
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So believe it or not……. here is where my renovation STARTS.  This is the kitchen I have been living with now for 2 years.  What you HAVEN’T seen is the dreamy plywood cupboards and tile countertop I’ve also been living with for 2 years!!!   Auughhhh!   Well their time has come.
This is where the KITCHEN CHRONICLES begins……  Stay tuned!!



19 comments:

  1. What an undertaking, I am impressed! This makes my kitchen face lift look like a walk in the park.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving the nice comment regarding my Framed Monogram. If you hadn't stopped by, I wouldn't have gotten to feast my eyes on this tranformation. Love.

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  2. Cool... I'm so watching! I can just about taste the drywall dust. :D

    That archway is AMAZING.

    Donna

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  3. Mmmmmmmmmmm...........I love that arched opening.......what a fabulous idea....Now, am I missing something? This is the OLD kitchen? YIKES....it alllll looks wonderful to me!

    Warm blessings,
    Spencer

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  4. That was quite the transformation already, I can't imagine how beautiful everything will be when done. I'll be watching.

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  5. Simply G"O"R"G"E"O"U"S... I love the detail on the archway. Can't wait to see more.

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  6. Wow! That is a major undertaking!! I also love the archway ~ Cannot wait to see the end result!!

    Shellagh

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  7. wow, I can't believe all that is the before. I like all the layout changes you made - they seem to really improve the house and I'm in love with your archway - I hope that is staying!!

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  8. So beautiful! I love the island! The red looks amazing. Beautiful archway as well.

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  9. How impressive! I just love the archway and the pantry/cupboard. Great Idea for hanging the pendant lights too!

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  10. WOWEEE KAZOWEE! I agree with everyone but I must say...I LOVE THAT RED ISLAND! Wow. Everything looks wonderful and I love the color combinations. This really is amazing...you must be sooooo happy with how it is turning out!
    Blessings,
    Debbie

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  11. Wow! This is amazing. Loving that arch.
    And I really love the punch of red on the island.
    ~Amy

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  12. That archway is fabulous! Did you actually do that or did you and the hubby or what? I am totally in awe if you did it and would love to know how. LOL, i am only allowed to use hubs drill and that's with his permission. HAHA

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  13. How crazy! We are in the process of doing our kitchen and I am hoping it will look somewhat similar...cream cabinets, black island, and granite. I love yours! We are right now ready to glaze our cabinets, but I was wondering the type of glaze you used, was it oil-based? Any info would be helpful! Thanks!

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  14. That is an amazing change......you should feel so proud. I love your island as well!

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  15. Where did you purchase your black and white curtain?

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  16. Love your kitchen! I have been working on a kitchen remodel and I would love to find out how I can get the garden window covering. I would love to order one!!! Kathy - saltgrl1@yahoo.com

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  17. Love this kitchen!!!! Where can I get the window treatment???? It would fit perfect in our garden window!
    Kathy saltgrl1@yahoo.com

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