She's Ready for Her Close-up!

It has taken a while, but our kitchen is pretty much ready for her close-up {yup, our kitchen is a girl}!  I have been dyingggg to put a post up showing off our kitchen overhaul, but while I was installing our new cabinet hardware, I realized that nine pieces of hardware magically disappeared from our house during our renovations.  Talk about frustrating!!  And since I am all about saving money, I found my hardware at a wholesale store online, so I couldn't just run out and pick up the remaining pieces, with the same savings.

Begrudgingly, I decided to head to Home Depot in hopes that they'd have matching hardware, and then the kitchen would be D-O-N-E and crossed off the list {even if it meant I'd be spending way more than I wanted}.

I was able to find bar handles that were very similar to the ones I purchased online {not surprised...it's a pretty generic and popular choice}, but of course they were special order only, and crazy expensive.  The original 10.39" handles I bought online were $3.90 a piece, and at HD they were more than 4 times that price!  I also found the small t-bar knobs off-the-shelf, but of course, those were obnoxiously expensive as well.  Online, I paid $1.30 a piece, and in the store, they were basically $6.00 a piece.  Such a ripoff, but of course, I was in a jam and so I spent $18 on three small knobs.  {At this point, I didn't know what patience was.  I just wanted to finish as many projects as possible, and not put things off for another day.}

After I got home, I installed the three small knobs and placed an order online for six more bar handles.  Within a couple days they arrived, but unfortunately, I was under the weather with a nasty sinus infection.  That meant that nothing house-related got accomplished for a few days.  Instead, I happily broke in our new couch, and prayed my antibiotics would kick in and heal me ASAP.

Luckily, by the time this weekend rolled around I was feeling about 90% better and I tackled putting the final bar handles on the cabinets.  Now I can finally reveal our kitchen’s transformation!  Woo-to-the-hoooooo!!

Here is a little reminder of what we were dealing with before...

View from the living/dining room towards doorway #1 into the kitchen.

 View from in the kitchen towards the door to the screened-in porch and doorway into the dining room.

View from the screened-in porch door towards doorway #2 that leads to the hallway.

Cabinetry that backed up to the "restaurant booth" seating.

Close up of the solid wood cabinetry in the kitchen.  Worn and ugly!

Restaurant booth seating bolted down to the floor...must have been the hot ish at the time!

And again.  Check out that linoleum!

View from the doorway to the hallway towards the dining room doorway.

View from the stove toward the dining room.

Yup that's right...our kitchen window used to have wallpapered shutters.

Our window, minus the shutters.

Old stove and hood.

Horrible backsplash tile...including tile on the sides of the cabinets.

View from the sink towards the doorway to the hallway.

View from in the hallway towards the kitchen.

View from in the doorway.

View of the ceiling...showing off the old exhaust fan and high hats.

And now, after lots of painting, demolition, new countertops, new floors, new appliances, new lighting, new sink, new faucet and new exterior door...

View from the living room, which was impossible before our reno.

View from the dining room, which was also impossible before our reno.

Another view from in the dining room.

So much more bright and airy!! 

Shiny new appliances.

Re-purposed island cabinetry...no more restaurant booth seating.

View from the hallway...definitely not possible before our reno.

Brand new curtain made just for us by my wonderful Mom! 

 And here is one last picture to 1) remind you of the aqua color we painted on the inside of our cabinets and 2) remind you of just how high our contractor placed our microwave to begin with {discussed here}.  Yes, that is my Mom standing underneath the microwave, with an inch or two to spare!



I hope you guys enjoyed our kitchen's transformation as much as we did! :)