Beautiful Country Charm Kitchen And Dining Room!

Beautiful Country Charm!  

Kitchen And Dining - Before and After 

Submitted by It's a Wannabe Decorator's Life

Hey all, this is Cassity, I just wanted to share this kitchen with you from Erin. I love the details she added and the bright happy feel of the space.  And who wouldn't love this amazing antique ladder rack, that she used, I wish I had a place for one in my house!!  Tell me what you think of all her amazing hard work!

Here she is, in all her tract home glory! You probably have these same cabinets too. Stained oak! To me, yuck!!  Now, some people really like this look and if you do, I hope your not offended that I don't.  Everytime I walked in my kitchen, the grain in that oak just screamed at me!  

In my home, you can see the kitchen from the living room, and I hated that! Because those cabinets were awful to me!

I tried to add some charm by bringing in my great Grandmother's table that I painted.  It helped, a little.  I just couldn't help feeling that those cabinets needed a dose of pretty.  I wanted so badly to paint them!  But, I was scared to death of that task.

But, I conquered those fears, and went for it!!  I won't lie, it was a monumental task!  But they are beautiful to me now!  Painted cabinets just make me smile!  Everytime I walk in my kitchen, I get this feeling of joy and pride that I did that!

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Budget Friendly Kitchen Remodel

Budget Friendly Kitchen Remodel by Ritajoy

Thank you, Cassity, for inviting me to do a guest post on your {amazing!} blog.  I feel incredibly honoured…
I’m Ritajoy and my blog home is Harbour Breeze.

I’m a wife and mom, and am so blessed to be living and working at a camp on the West Coast of British Columbia, Canada.  After spending all my growing up years on the prairies of Montana, the waterfront view out my kitchen window still takes my breath away.
One of my passions in life is creating “home” out of a house…and doing so on a very tight budget!:)  That is the subject of most of my blogs…{with a little sprinkling of family,  recipes, and photography, too}.
Our latest  reno venture was our kitchen.  As with any project I start, the changes were prompted for some specific reasons:
1.  I’m short!~ I could only reach the bottom shelf of my (hung too high) upper cupboards. It seemed a shame to have all that “prime real estate” in the cupboards unused most of the time!

2.  The whole look of the kitchen didn’t fit in with the charm of this old, historical house. (And it wasn’t really my style, either…)

I pulled $100 out of the air as my personal budget challenge.  The entire amount was spent on the first trip to Home Depot.  Yikes!…
It turned out to be the best thing ever.  It helped me to “think outside the box” and use things that I already had sitting around…
An old window and repainted dresser turned into our message center:

Curtains made out of painter’s drop cloth became “cupboard doors” for some thrift store cabinets.  (And I love them so much I don’t think I want doors anymore!)

A few coats of paint and  new hardware (given to me by a friend) completely changed the look of the European cupboard doors…

Beadboard wallpaper (doesn’t it look like the real thing??) and “As Is” Ikea shelves turned an unfinished wall into a finished one…

A scrap piece of wood and some craft paint became a “vintage” sign…

And the upper cupboards that started this whole makeover?…We lowered them,  took the doors off, added in extra shelves…and “crowned” them!

Now I can reach up to the third shelf without standing on a chair!!
Here’s the whole thing…
Before…

And after…

In the end, the project totalled $159.00…
I’m so glad I got to chat with you today.  Feel free to come over for a “blog visit” anytime!:)

Social Retargeting by Chango

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New Ikea Kitchen Island

New Ikea Kitchen Island, By Meredith

Hello fellow Remodelaholics! I'm Meredith Heard from Welcome to Heardmont and I'm thrilled to be here today. I guess you could say remodeling is in my blood - I've watched my parents renovate homes for the past 25 years, so naturally when my husband and I bought our first home 3 years ago it had to be a fixer-upper! We nicknamed our house Heardmont before it was even ours, and the day we signed the papers we tore out a wall.

We've done 99% of the renovations at Heardmont ourselves. Three years later, we have learned a little about a lot of things, from installing can lights to remodeling bathrooms, and we get better and better with every project we do. One room that required a lot of attention when we moved in was our VERY 1980s kitchen. Here's how our kitchen looked before we lifted a hammer or paintbrush.



And here's how it looks today!

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Major Kitchen Overhaul: Island, Cabinets, Floor, Windows, Etc.

Major Kitchen Overhaul: 

Island, Cabinets, Floor, Windows, Etc.

contributed by Pink Satin Sashes

These kitchens shots were taken the day we looked at the house with the kids. It was our second viewing before we made our offer.

I have lived in many houses but this was owned by a bachelor and let me tell you the inside of those cupboards were the worst I had ever seen.  BLACK thick grease and grime. Gross.

Around the sink it was warped and rotten. It was like rolling hills.

Nice green artisitc flair with those horrid aluminum windows.

Ok so this is a long post.  I thought it would be inconsistent of me to not share this with you all considering I aired all my dirty laundry with you already...so you might as well see the kitchen to where it is today.  I still have stuff to do but I might as well let you see now or you might wait forever.

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Kitchen Renovation: Stained Wood to Beautiful White

Kitchen Renovation: 

Stained Wood to Beautiful White

contributed by Simple.Beautiful.Home

With the recent house crashing post, it got me thinking about my own kitchen renovation.  And although I kept you updated on the steps throughout the process, I noticed that I had never done a full start-to-finish post; a true before and after.  [GASP]  I know, I know.  I'm a slacker.  I guess I'm still new at this whole blogging thing.  Rookie mistake....
So without further ado, here is a quick recap of the full kitchen transformation:

February: Here is what our kitchen looked like on move-in day.  Purdy, huh?

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From Dresser To Kitchen Island

From Dresser To Kitchen Island

contributed by Binkies and Briefcases

Remember this u.g.l.y dresser? (Ok, not this actual one, I stole this picture from ebay, but it's the exact same dresser I bought from ReSource York, except mine didn't come with the hutch.)

This was the best before picture I could get of our actual dresser in the awful light in our garage.

I wanted to turn it into a kitchen island like I saw Jonni do at House of Johns.

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Kitchen Remodel With New Floor, Wall, Island, and More

Kitchen Remodel With New Floor, Wall, Island, and More

contributed by A Whimsical Bohemian

Well it's been a 2 month process but we couldn't be happier with the outcome of our kitchen makeover 2010.  I am beginning this post with some "before" and "after"s of various elements that went in to the makeover and ending with full kitchen shots. Click on photos to enlarge them...some may not be as sharp or well lit as they should be but it took me forever to just get these.  It's really hard to tell in photos but although we did NOT enlarge one square inch of the space it seems WAY bigger now. It feels warm and comforting and over time, as we all do, bits and bobs may change around and it definitely needs a plant or two and some real flowers on the table. Soon we'll be adding a bit of Christmas in there as well.

At the end of this post I've listed some product information you may or may not be interested in.

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I call it our "Urban Farmhouse French Italian Eclectic Kitchen" (quite a mouthfull, eh?) Just don't call it "country".

So to start with we earlier began by replacing the large sliding window.....long before we began anything else we had that done. That thing nearly broke my shoulder everytime I tried to open it.

Old window....cluttered and the colors looking like an easter egg.

Changed to two double hung, energy efficient windows installed through Sears....AND new pendant lights BohoHandyman installed with can light conversions.

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White Kitchen and Ikea Island; Before and After

Now this is a before and after!  I wish I had more picture to show you but  you will just have to run over to Completely Coastal and ask Maya if she has anymore.  Check out the total change:



The before and after of our kitchen remodel. The messy process is behind me now, and I couldn't be happier. The space turned out exactly how I had envisioned it. The black stove top blends in with the granite, so does the faucet. And I didn't expect to find the perfect kitchen island at IKEA. That was so easy! Removing the load bearing wall and those lovely vintage tiles not so much. The two things you can't see in the picture are the fridge which is to the left from where I was standing when taking the photograph, and the closet that hides a stacked washer dryer next to the dishwasher.

All the way to the left, you might recognize my Seashell Door. Lindsey of Casart Coverings posted it together with their Trompe L'Oeil Shell Door that I had featured here. The two are almost twins! 

It makes me tired just looking at it!

Don't you love the after?

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From Oak Kitchen Cabinets to Painted White Cabinets

This kitchen update is pretty great, the kitchen was actually a good space to start with, but the freshening effects of the white paint, new hood and architectural details makes all the difference.  Check out what Jennifer of Southern Inspirations had to say about it:

This is a "before" shot of my kitchen - can you hear it screaming for an update??? (please excuse all the junk sitting around - I really should have cleaned!!)

When I built this house in 1987 and was so very proud to have solid oak kitchen cabinets.  Boy, did I learn to hate them!  Not that there is anything really wrong with oak, it is a nice wood with lots of grain and it was very popular in the 80s. 

So, not being brave enough to take on painting oak myself, I hired a professional.

 And this is what it looks like today.  Big change, huh?  Let me show you around...

Cabinets were painted BM Navajo White then slightly distressed and glazed with min-wax provincial stain mixed with a glazing medium. We updated all the hardware to oil rubbed bronze and replaced the old green laminate counter tops to granite.

Anyways, this is my new microwave hood - we love the dimension it adds to the cabinets! I think the coloring in some of these pictures is off because the cabinets are more creamy white than yellow.

Do you see the feet underneath the cabinets?  We think they add some character.  Also you will notice the old scalloped thingy over the windows has been replaced with this straight one.

We had this cabinet built and used the granite remnant from where they cut out our sink.  (By the way those two pics hanging to the right of the cabinet - I painted those myself!) I love the little feet on this cabinet - see close up below. 

Aren't they so cute!!

That's our pantry to the left of the dining room door.  We wanted it to look more like furniture so we had a furniture type molding added to the bottom.

This is a close up of the pantry molding.

The side of our pantry and some of the cabinets were very plain so our cabinet maker/painter guy added these bead board end caps. He also added a bead board back splash for us.

I took this pic from the sink area so you can see our breakfast nook. By the way we painted the kitchen BM Decatur Buff - a color I will most definitely  use again.  I also updated the rug to one with more of my most favorite color red.

By the way, this is the original island - can you believe it?  We added a new spalted maple top, corbels, new drawer pulls and the cabinet painter guy painted it black with copper glazing. I could have kissed him!!!  Take another look at the before below.  I really didn't think the "before" island was so ugly until it was updated and I looked back at this pic! I love that the top is longer now so I can pull up a bar stool (if I ever get one!).

We also had this little drop down door added beneath the stove.  When we replaced the stove several years ago it left a space at the bottom. Now I can use it to store trays!  Yippee - more storage space!

So, once again here is the before and after shots.

I love to wake up in the morning and stroll into the kitchen for a cup of joe!

We still have some work to do - I would love to add recessed lighting and replace that ugly fluorescent fixture with a hanging one.

Now a question for you - would you add a window treatments???  I sometimes think with all the hard surfaces a little soft fabric might make it more homey.  My husband disagrees.  What do you think?  I really appreciate your feedback!

Looks Beautiful!!

What is your favorite part?

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Small Table Kitchen Island Redo! Guest

This party link up shows what a little patience and work can do!  Check out what Cha Cha from Sit, Relax and Read did to this steal of a deal Kitchen Island Cart.

While I was writing about my thrifty find I remembered that I had never shared my new Kitchen Island.

I had been wanting one for years but space is very limited and I need it to be small with open shelving and be able to roll around so that I could stick it where ever I was working at the time.

I few weeks ago we went to Ikea and I picked out this FÖRHÖJA

I liked it but it was a little longer than what I wanted and it was $100 which isn't bad if it is what you want but since it wasn't just right I decided to pass. 

Thank goodness I did because look what I found when I was out junkin a few days after that.

And do you know how much they wanted for it,

of course you don't but I am going to tell you

$20.00

That is it $20.00

And guess what it was shorter

It had some signs of wear but I didn't care because I knew what I had planned for it.  So I got out my sander. paint. brushes and stain and went to town and this is what I ended up with.

Boy am I ever glad I waited and found this one.

I just love the towel bar on the end, I collect dish towels and this gives me the perfect place to show them off

and maybe use them.

Now I just need to find some kind of baskets to put underneath

But that is for another day.

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I really love the way it turned out painted white and I love the color of the butcher block!

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