Mar 11, 2010

Our Kitchen: Before & After



As promised, our kitchen re-do.  You may remember my recent post about my love for white kitchens {and white trim; in my opinion, the more white, the better}.  When we were looking for houses, we found very few {in our price range} with a white kitchen.  So my hubby said, "babe, if you want a white kitchen, we'll get you a white kitchen," or something like that.  How sweet, eh? {He also said I could make a "new house" look as "old as I want," but that we weren't going to buy an old home}. :)

This redo has been pretty budget-friendly.  The biggest project (but worth every drop of sweat) was painting the cabinets white (thank you, thank you, thank you to my parents for the help).  It took two weekends.  After sanding off the shine, we painted two coats of primer (we used Kilz odorless oil-based primer) and then two coats of paint (Behr semigloss in swan wing).  The walls are the same color of white, except in egg-shell finish.  We also added some stainless steel hardware (all bought at Home Depot).  And the countertops were formica with this oak trim on the sides.  We would like to {eventually} replace them, so in the mean time we tried a new countertop glaze, Rustoleum's Countertop Coating in the color putty.  They've held up pretty well...they are supposed to be scratch- and chip-resistant; there are a few minor chips but I could probably touch them up with more of the paint.  The worst part of the using the countertop coating {besides the smell} was waiting three whole days for it to dry before using the counters.  Oh, and how can I forget about the light fixtures?  We actually spray painted them in a metallic "brushed nickel" spray paint {they were brown before}. It's amazing what a few coats of paint can do to transform a room. 

Here are some pictures.

BEFORE:



If I remember right, this picture was taken before we actually owned the house.  It's my hubby (right) and our realtor

And AFTER:





One other thing we did was we got the cabinet doors routed out {by a carpenter} and then put glass in them.  It cost about $25 for the pair plus the cost of glass.  Besides the white paint, this is probably my favorite change to our kitchen - I'm planning on doing another cupboard door or two as well.

The bamboo shade was from Target.  I might put another one of the patio door (on right) because the morning sun is super bright. 

















Have you ever considered putting a lamp in your kitchen?  I love, love, love lamps on kitchen counters...they give such an unexpected glow in the kitchen (above).
My new basil plant (above).  I'm making a caprese appetizer for Kiley's shower this weekend, so I will be using this plant (bowl is from Crate and Barrel a few years ago).












I like to call this Phase One because there are many more things that I would like to do to the kitchen in the future.  What are they?  Glad you asked.  I would REALLY like to get black granite countertops and a white carrara marble island countertop.  After that, it would be fun to put in a white subway tile backsplash, a "new," "old-looking" bridge faucet, some crown molding on the kitchen cupboards at the top, and of course stainless steel appliances, if they are still in style by the time we get to that! And the lighting could use a litle re-arrangement and a few new fixtures. To be specific, I would like to get some stainless industrial-looking lights above the island. 


Can you spot any of my thrift store finds?  The chairs were all from a thrift store - I painted them black and reupholstered the fabric.  Also, the mini-glass/marble cake platter on the island is second-hand.  The chalkboard above the desk as well.  Oh, and the white pitcher holding my wooden spoons is Le Creuset, I think I bought it for $2!

Oh, and don't comment on how clean my kitchen is...it rarely looks like this, and I just moved all the junk from one room to the next for pictures! 

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Ummmm...you have a gift for decor and bargain hunting. I wish I could change my woodwork, it is so refreshing!! Good job, girlie!

Mari Bryant- Marks said...

Its stunning Neely!

Holmfamily said...

BEAUTIFUL NEALY! I just love it!

Kristina said...

What a beautiful kitchen! It is inspiring to see what a little hard work can do to a room.

Cindy said...

I was wondering when you were going to put a before and after picture up. But you know it's never really AFTER....it's an always in progress!

Kiki said...

It looks really pretty. I especially like the glass in the cabinet door.

Painting the cabinets sounds painful.

How do you do all this bargain hunting? Take Callie with you? I guess I could have done that when Sage was a baby. Now, it is my worst nightmare to go to a store like that with all 3 boys!

Maybe there's some sort of paint for those appliances!

Jessica Berreth said...

Love it! I never realized how great a white kitchen looks. I love the changes you made. can't wait to see it "in person!"

alan and steph said...

LOVE it!!!!!

Juliet Mock said...

BEAUTIFUL!! You have inspired me to use some of your techniques while we also go room by room in our house decorating and updating! One question, what thrift store did you go to to get the items in your bathroom redo?

Nate and Natalie said...

It turned out beautiful Nealy!

peter marie said...

Looks awesome! It's such a drastic (And beautiful) change from the "before"!

Stephanie said...

Looks awesome!!! I love it. It was fun seeing you a couple weekends ago.

Amber Gilchrist said...

Wow!! I can't believe the before and after pics...nice job!!! Beautiful!

Laura said...

Beautiful job Nealy! It's gorgeous!!! We're getting ready to redo our kitchen too, so I'm taking notes. Thanks for the inspiration!

Anonymous said...

Absolutely stunning. I love it all and I admire you painting with the oil base primer -- what a pain. I've been doing the stained woodwork in my house with that same primer and it's a very SLOW process. I am also thrilled with your countertop. The color is perfect. I absolutely love everything about it. By far -- one of the best makeover's I've seen.

Lou Cinda @ Tattered Hydrangeas said...

This looks FA-U-LOUS!!! I just painted my oak cabinets this past weekend a creamy white color and I LOVE IT!! I don't know why I didn't do this sooner!

Your countertops look GREAT! We are going to do something to ours, hopefully this weekend! I suggested taking them outside and just spray painting them black and then spraying on a coat of poly. We will see...

Love yours! And I also LOVE those chairs!!

I am a follower!

Lou Cinda :)

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