Inspiration
A few days after I graduated in May, I rewarded myself for all my hard work by "binge watching" the home improvement show 'Fixer Upper'. I love Chip and Joanna's farmhouse style. I immediately wanted to transform our home. After mom and I visited a friends beautiful new home, we started talking, and you know what happens when two women start talking about re-decorating their home don't you? The ideas start flowing and the walls come tumbling down!
I started the changes one Saturday afternoon by buying a gallon of paint and in a few hours, my bathroom had a new look. The picture below shows what the bathroom looked like before. The walls were a light sage green.
This is the after............
I love the cocoa walls with the white trim. You can see in the top photo, the old enamel topped cabinet that I found in the basement and painted a few years ago. It matches the walls perfectly now.
Two days later we started the kitchen. The very first thing we did was.....
Set up a coffee station, of course!
Seriously, though, here is a look at the kitchen before we began. When we bought the house 10 years ago we removed the wallpaper and painted the walls a warm cinnamon color. You can see it was basically a "U-Shaped" layout with the fridge opposite the stove and the sink between.
After choosing paint colors etc. Mom and I started painting cabinet doors and walls. Dan and Kate (the daughter of a dear friend who is like a niece to us) started taking cabinets off the wall and moving the fridge, re-routing electric, and moving the water lines. Then it was time.......
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| Left: Abi takes a shot at it. Top right: Britni takes over Middle: Kate takes a whack. Bottom: Little Belle with a little hammer. |
Demo day!
The wall is finally coming down! Even little Belle got in on the action. The wall we took down was the wall that the fridge was on in the "before" pic. We all worked tirelessly.....making and installing a base footer( to sit upper cabinets that were on this wall under a new counter-top), putting up bead board ( I settled for this, I really wanted shiplap) installing new lighting and tile back-splash (guess who learned how to grout it all by herself...thank you Youtube!)........and after weeks and weeks........Here is the moment we have all been waiting for..................
Now you know, as Dan was working his magic in the kitchen with the construction, I couldn't just sit around doing nothing, so the living room and dining room got a new look as well. Mom & I started by painting the walls a steel grey color and painting the trim a crisp white. We painted two armoires, six chairs, and a piano black. We re-arranged all our art-work etc. and came up with this.............
This is the foyer
These pictures from the living room don't really do it justice but you can get the idea. There was a pass through over couch, but it was only half of this opening. We extended it up to the bulk-head and removed a shelf that stuck out into the room over the couch.
And last but not least, the dining room. I don't think the pictures give the full effect that you get in person. We love the new look and are looking forward to entertaining over the next few months so we can share it with family and friends in person.
Thanks for touring our home.
