Our Kitchen Reveal

"Part 1"

Finally, I am here to show you our kitchen update. I've been avoiding it, because there were still a

couple of big things I wanted to finish. But if renovating our own home has taught me anything, it's that

a home is never really "done", so here we go!

These were the photos that I saw on Zillow of our soon to be kitchen.

Clearly, it's dated.  But the one thing that I did like about it, was that there was only a half  wall

between the kitchen and living room. So, that meant it would be pretty easy to open that bad boy up.

The second thing that I liked was perfect placement of the upper cabinets on the right side. They would

be really easy to remove and we could have open shelving. Which we were really wanting!

And thirdly, I was pretty grateful that since we would be taking out the wall and cabinet, it would

become a necessity to remove the countertops, and sink. And I really didn't want to put it off. On top of

which, look at all of the original General Electric appliances! Wowza!

Here are some actual photos from the first couple of days that we were here. Clearly Little Cesars is 

essential before taking on a kitchen renovation. And any other fast food that keeps you sane. 

Also, obvious, look how dark it is in here. It definitely needed to be open up. So the first thing we tackled with the kitchen was removing the half wall. Which, let's just take a moment, what the heck is going on with this little half wall? It's kind of like they wanted privacy, and then changed their mind by putting in the window. Why even have the wall?! It makes no sense! 

So, away it goes!

When we first moved in, I thought I was being real cute by painting a J&K 2015 on the wall expecting 

it to get done immediately. But alas, it stayed there for a good 6 months, just mocking me. 

In case you were wondering, it became less cute month by month..And the next thing was to take down 

the cabinet doors, and drawers. 

Next was spraying down all of the doors and drawers. As well as covering all of the things we didn't 

want painted with papers, and tape. That part wasn't fun, but it definitely made our cabinets look so 

much better. And let me tell you, this sprayer saved our booties a number of times. 

My dad helped Justin and I frame in all of the cabinet doors, with flat trim wood, and a nail gun. It gave 

our doors a nice shaker style, which we loved. And then we just painted the drawers. 

So, i'll be honest. I really really really wanted to buy gold hardware. But when all was said and done, 

there was just no extra expense for $200 worth of hardware. Honestly, it was such a blessing that the 

cabinets already had the silver version of the kind we wanted. So I decided to take matters into my own 

hands and paint them.

I have had to repaint a couple of them, but other than that. It's worked out splendidly!

I'm pretty thrilled at the way they came out!

So, here's a "let's be real" moment. It's all well and good to see peoples instagram, and blog photos of 

how quickly renovations are getting done. But on the real side of things, our cabinet doors sat up like 

this for a good month or so before we were able to hand them back up. So don't loose heart if this is 

where you are at! Go get some gelato, and get back in there girl!

After hanging them, it was time to address the real eye sore. THE COUNTERTOPS. 

By the way, your eyes are not deceiving you, these counters are not a dream. They are very real. The 

purple, the pink, the sponge effect. It's all real. And although we picture someone at some point in our 

home's life thinking, "yes! These countertops are IT!" They definitely did not have that effect on us. So 

out they go!

Removing countertops are not for the faint of heart. But it's what I like to call the break up phase. 

Painful, goes until midnight, tears, and leaves you a little bare. But it's all for the best!

And then before you know it…There they are. And its like they were always there. 

I'm very happy to say that the infatuation phase with these countertops has still yet to fade. And I'm also 

happy to say, that all photos of me laying on our counters, hugging them, have been destroyed. 

One of these days, i'll walk you through our long love story. How we found each other, how we were 

kept apart for so long, and the joy of when we finally were abled to be together. But since this is getting 

a little weird, let's move on. 

You may not believe this, but we actually found these brackets in the garage, and a long piece of wood 

that we cut in half to make these make shift shelves. 

The next big project that we tackled was the wall that had been exposing wires, and that large unseemly 

pipe. Justin told everyone we were going for an "industrial" look. But let's be honest, we weren't 

fooling anyone.  

My wonderful Unlce Jay came over and knocked this out in a matter of a couple hours. And his work 

is always immaculate! 

After removing this, he put up a new thing of drywall, and then my dad came in and framed it in to 

match our cabinet doors. It is seriously one of my favorite features that we have added. 

And that's where we left it for a good 9 months. 

Until inspiration struck, we finally decided on a tile to put on the backsplash. We probably looked at a 

dozen or more. We decided on a plain white ceramic subway tile from Home Depot. And just decided 

on making it look more modern by lining it up. And not doing a subway style. You can see below that 

after taking out the cabinets there were a lot of imperfections on the wall to cover up. 

And we decided to do the whole wall, and i'm actually glad that we did. Especially now that we've 

seen the finished product. 

Part 2 of the kitchen reveal to come in the next couple days, with where we are now, all of the info on 

where we bought everything, and plans with what is still left to do!

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