SOCIAL MEDIA

Friday, February 12, 2021

Our Kitchen: Before and After

 Hi there friends and happy Friday! We are slowly but surely moving back into our home over here and it feels so good to be back! We moved out on September 1st and back in on February 5th-- 5 months of a renovation. We had almost every room in our house changed in some way or another, and now that we are back our house is unrecognizable. It feels like a totally new house, yet still in the area we love so much. Today I want to share with you our kitchen before and after pictures. My plan is to share a different room every couple of weeks as we start to get things pieced back together. Grab a cup of coffee and settle in for today's look at our kitchen!

 

Now just in case you weren't aware of just how small and outdated our kitchen was beforehand, here is a look:


And remember a couple years ago when I had done the marble contact paper to cover up the counters? This is what the counters actually looked like underneath:



Here's another look from the marble countertop post I wrote a couple years back:

 We had the dishwasher replaced since then, but otherwise it was still a very outdated kitchen. The cabinets had seen better days, and there wasn't a backsplash. 

 The biggest problem with updating our kitchen was that it was going to be a lot more complex than just updating the appliances. Yes, that would've helped, but honestly it would've been a "lipstick on a pig" situation because it still would've been too small and poorly designed/not functional. We used to joke that we never had a "took many cooks in the kitchen" problem because it was impossible to fit more than one person in there at a time while cooking. 😀

After 7 years of saving, countless hours searching Pinterest and Zillow for inspiration, and several planning sessions, we finally had a plan. We met with several contractors and found one we really liked, who sent us this as our initial drawing:


 We moved the staircase out of the way, and were able to open up the kitchen to make the space feel bigger and more open. 

So when you first walked in our front door, your view used to be this:

 

 But now it's this:

 

  Just a little bit different huh??

My plan is to add some fun, festive items to the floating shelves around different holidays. Right now I only have a red towel out for Valentine's Day, but to be honest we are still unpacking from the move so "festive decorating" is literally the last thing on my mind.

 

This cabinet here folds up and slides back to open. It has our spices, mixer, and some other less commonly used items.

 

Here's the view from the side. You can see where we moved the stairs to!

One of the questions or comments I'm getting the most from friends and family is about the lights above the island. A couple years ago when Devin and I went to Bali we saw these woven seagrass lights everywhere. They were in our AirB&B, in restaurants, in shops, etc. We loved the look of them and kept saying "I wish we could do something like that at home, but it would probably look weird since Charlotte isn't a tropical place". Well fast forward two years later and we still never found anything we liked more or felt more "us". Everything we kept stumbling across felt kinda stuffy, which we are not! Life around here is pretty casual and relaxed and we wanted our home to emanate that. We finally came to this realization of "we like these the most by far, let's just do it!". 
 
The ones we ended up buying were from a small shop in Bali that works with local artisans to support them. I love looking at them and knowing they were handmade by someone in Bali, which brings back memories of one of our favorite trips. The shop has a bunch of other cool stuff if you want to check it out online here, and they gave me a 15% off code if you end up purchasing from them: dontmindthemess15

Thanks so much for reading along today! I hope you all have a nice weekend!

Today I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites. Have a great weekend!

32 comments :

  1. Oh my goodness. This looks SO good!! I am in awe. What a major transformation!! The self’s, the hood, the backsplash, the countertops...It looks AMAZING!!!!! I LOVE the blue island!!

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  2. I just love your kitchen transformation!! It looks amazing!

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  3. Your new kitchen looks amazing. I can’t wait to see the other rooms. Those light fixtures are beautiful...I want one in my laundry room. Have a great weekend!

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  4. This is so pretty! Your kitchen update is wonderful, and I do love your lights.
    I'd love for you to share this at my link party, too--- Sundays on Silverado

    Niky @ The House on Silverado

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  5. Love it all! Charlotte is tropical to me, hahah. It's all relative. I think you made the right choice with the light fixtures.

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  6. Looks amazing! Can you share more about your staircase and how/where you re-routed it

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    1. Yes! Once we get that area more "finished" I will be sure to share. We moved the stairs along the wall by the window and it opened up our space significantly. Stay tuned for more pictures and an update!

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  7. OMG - I love it ALL. that cabinet to the right of the stove that folds is GENIUS! Come design my dream kitchen too lol!

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  8. WOW!!!!! Beautiful--- love those lights... and the floating shelves!

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  9. I absolutely love love love the blue island! We are thinking of painting our dark cabinets white, and I've been toying with the idea of painting our island a different colour too!

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    1. Thanks! Blue is such a peaceful, calming color and I loved the shade of it. It fit perfectly with the look we were going for. Are you thinking blue for your island?

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  10. What a huge difference! It looks amazing!! I love the floating shelves by the stove. Ahh, I love it all!

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  11. What an amazing transformation! The light fixtures are my favorite feature.

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    1. That makes me so happy to hear! We debated them for way too long. We should've just know they would work out!

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  12. What an amazing transformation! I love it and I love your lights.

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  13. The colors... the floors... the.. EVERYTHING! That is one beautiful kitchen girl! We just finished painting our kitchen Saturday night. And we still have so much more to do. But wow you are inspiring me to get in there now and go broke LOL

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  14. Amazing! I wish I had taken more pictures of our kitchen renovation!

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  15. Looks great. Where did you get your cabinets from?

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  16. Taking out that wall and moving the stairs made a HUGE difference. It seriously looks like a different house. Gorgeous! Thanks for linking up with Hello Monday! Tanya - The Other Side of the Road

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  17. You kitchen makeover turned out beautifully! Thanks for sharing it on Sundays on Silverado. It will be a feature on tomorrow's link party!

    Niky @ The House on Silverado

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  18. New reader here and this is the first post I’ve read of yours... I LOVE the renovation you guys did to your kitchen!!!! So beautiful! Gives me hope for ours as we dream, save, and think about what we want to do.

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  19. The kitchen is the most pivotal piece of your home, so making this room engaging and pleasing to work in also as pragmatic can be basic.
    interior

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