My Kitchen Before & After - The Short Version

Here it is..  I've been meaning to post these for quite some time.  I hope to follow up with some detailed shots, but this will get me started.  We completed our kitchen, at least from this viewpoint, a little over a year ago.  I kept delaying with the post because I wanted to get more done.  Alas, that has not yet come to pass!  Oh well, on with the show.

First the before...  a tragic, 1968 kitchen.

And the after, my beautiful pride and joy!

Doing my happy dance!!

Divine DeVine!

It's divine..  truly it is!  What am I talking about?  Well I  recently made a quick trip to my happy place with a friend and our boys.  I'm speaking of Walt Disney World, of course!  This is the first time I did not visit all the parks as we only had 3 full days to work with.  So we chose to play only in the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom.

The treat I wanted to share was seeing an attraction that's not always there when you go.  In fact, I haven't seen this in my last several visits and I was so happy to have seen this again that I wanted to share it.

Do you see it?  Can you see what's in the vines??  Look carefully....

How about now...

Okay, surely now...

Her name is DeVine!

Bamboo or Hardwood?

As with everything, we have contradicting information.  The flooring people said that there would be the risk of diminished resale value, specifically we would reduce the number of people who'd want to buy our house, if we went with bamboo.  However, a quick Google of the topic tells me that bamboo is the hottest thing and actually adds resale value.

Now, we have no intention of selling any time soon, but it's always good to keep these things in mind when making choices.

The other quandary is whether the bamboo is too contemporary looking.  If we went with the light color, I have no doubt it's very contemporary looking.  We are interested in the caramelized color.  It's where they heat up the bamboo and the sugars in the wood caramelize.  How cool is that?  Almost poetic for a kitchen, don't you think?

That said, there is a perfectly wonderful honey colored traditional oak that we are considering as well.  It has a wonderful warm tone and will go well with our existing oak flooring.

Which do you like and why?

Bamboo

Honey Oak

A New Year = A New Kitchen!

We've lived in this house 5 1/2 years and it's astounding to me just how much stuff we accumulate.  I always say that if you want to get rid of stuff, pretend like you're going to move.  And getting ready for a renovation is just like moving -- EVERYTHING has to be packed up!  As we put the kitchen back together, I intend to simplify -- one of my New Years resolutions -- yet I can't throw much out yet until I know how I will work in my new kitchen.  Sound like procrastination?  Shhh...  don't tell me.

The new kitchen.  Oh what a lovely sound those three words make in my heart!  I can't wait.  I'm scared.  I'm excited.  I'm overwhelmed.  I'm hoping I've made good design decisions.

In the coming days, I'm going to post some pictures of the before and after layouts and some beginning pictures of the demolition.  I would love any thoughts you have.  Sound fun?  I hope so!

A New Year

Last year, my resolutions included posting more on my blog.  Drat.  Missed that.

This year, I'm going to try again.  And this should immediately prove to be a challenge as we are getting ready for a major remodel -- oh yes, I'm getting a new kitchen!  And then, just before that all begins, my son and I are abandoning my hubby for a trip to see the Mouse.  SUN!

So far, everyone has liked my post about the table re-do I did.  I'm going to attempt to do more projects like that.  But I think I will also have to include the kitchen renovation experience.  Everyone likes tales of a new kitchen, right?

So Happy New Year everyone.  I hope to be a more interesting read for you in 2011!

Ghost in a Jar

I caught a little halloween spirit... in a jar!

A shout out to Mad Vintage Life for the awesome idea!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!

Chalk it up!

It had to happen sooner or later...  chalk paper or chalk paint.

I resisted.

I gave in.

And I have to say.. it was fun.  :-)

I especially love the chalk paints!  Must play more with those!!  Chalk it up to fate.  Pun intended!

So this is a grateful shout out to Thrifty Decor Chick for this most excellent idea.

I love the containers in my kitchen.  And I love that I am not stuck with the label -- I can make it whatever I put in to it.  Sweet.

Oh...  Notice my whole wheat flour is about to expire?  Got any great ideas how I could use it up rapidly??






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