The Kitchen - Back to the Future Style

If you venture over to my Home Tour page then you'll get a little glimpse of our kitchen.  What I haven't posted are the before pictures.  Dun Dun Duuuuun!

When Jon and I bought this house back in 2007 we never dreamed we'd renovate so much.  We thought...some paint here, some paint there...some new carpet...  WRONG!  

We renovated.  We renovated a lot.

Below are a couple pictures of our kitchen around move-in day.  

We saw potential - high ceilings, cool beams, lots of light and an open layout.

The first thing I knew I wanted to do was to paint the cabinets.  My mom came over and we sanded and painted our little hearts out.  It was a long process, but it started to come together.  The cabinets had a fresh look and the space had a crisper feel.

Jon and I were pretty content at this point.  We actually didn't think we'd renovate the kitchen after this...well not for a long time, anyway.

It was cute and it was functional.  Also, the previous owners left all the appliances!

Two years went by and Jon and I started to dream.

What if we had hardwood floors?  What if we had an island?  What if we moved the dishwasher over by the sink?  What if, what if, what if?  

I drew up a few sketches (which I still have to this day) and as you can see, I'm by no means a kitchen designer and I definitely didn't own a computer design program.  ;)  However, the sketches gave us a general idea of the design of the kitchen and how we wanted the space to function.

We used our huge muscles...ahem...basic knowledge to begin the demo process!

It was a long process from gutting the rest of the house to finally gutting the kitchen.  Fortunately, we had another, old kitchen in our basement.  We lived in our basement for about a year.  

It was crazy.

We found these one-of-a-kind window treatments...

Classy, I know.

Eventually, hardwood floors were installed throughout the house (January 2010) and we had some drywall repair work done.

We ordered our cabinets (almost an entire year after we had began the demo process) and waited for their arrival.

In the summer of 2010, we also found out about another arrival...I was pregnant!

It was an exciting time.



Aww...baby belly!

12 weeks pregnant

Back to the kitchen...

In the fall of 2010, the cabinets arrived and it was a beautiful sight!

Here we are today - 4 years, blood, sweat, tears, and 2 kids later, smudgy cabinets and all... ;)

Just keepin' it real, folks.  :)

So there you have it.  A little before and after for ya!

As you can see, our kitchen still has the open concept that we originally loved and the function of the space continues to work well.  I'd love to add more decor to this space.  Perhaps a couple rustic/aged diy projects up above the cabinets and some cute decor on the countertops?

What do you think?  Any suggestions?

Do you have a fun before and after project that you've done?  I'd love to see it!

Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

Marie :)