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Monday, January 9, 2012

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! :)

67 comments:

  1. Gabbi! Your kitchen is absolutely stunning! You made great choices and ended up with a bright and inviting space. I love how open it is. The details like the pendant lighting and the shade (yay for Moms) really make it for me. How does your hubby like it? Was he involved in picking finishes or did he let you go wild? Either way, this kitchen is perfection!

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  2. It looks so great! Love the counters and the turquoise accents. Such an improvement!!

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  3. I am in LOVE with your kitchen! What an amazing transformation!!! Can you please come redo our kitchen??

    By the way, did you ever do a budget breakdown? I'd be very interested in that. :)

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  4. OH MY GOSH!! This doesn't even look like the same kitchen! Or house! You guys did such a phenomenal job!! I'm in love with this!

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  5. I am speechless! I can't believe the transformation! The fact that you reused the horrid cabinets and made them beaufitul is amazing!

    Seriously, I'd like for you to come and redo my kitchen as well!

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  6. Seriously, you guys all really make my day! I can't thank you enough for your super kind comments! Xoxo!

    Diana, a major yay for Moms! Both of my parents have been so helpful in our reno process. And my hubby totally loves the transformation! For the most part he just let me go wild with things, but I'd always keep him in the loop with the direction I was going and make sure he was on the same page as me.

    Thank you, Erin!!

    Regan, I'd love to be able to do your kitchen for you hehe. And we definitely had an original budget (we had to for the bank), but I know we went under on some stuff and over on other things. I'll definitely try and put something together for you to show how we got from the "before" to the "after".

    Ashley, my Mom said the same thing. Even though they saw the house before and saw it after...to see the photos next to each other just floors her. It's crazy how far we've come in that kitchen!!

    Brandi, we definitely had to reuse the cabinets. We had zero dollars to replace them...but luckily they were solid wood, so we made them work as best as we could! And, I'd love to be able to do your kitchen too. ;)

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  7. You guys are amazing! Wowza! Everything turned out beautifully. ;)
    I do love that restaurant seating though!
    I just realized those are the same cabinets. They look new!! You must be soooo happy with it!

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  8. Wow, that's a big change! It looks so light and bright and big now! Great job!

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  9. Thank you so much, Kelly! Don't get me wrong, that booth served it's purpose for us...because for a very long time...it was the only seating in the house while we worked there on the weekends! My Mom was trying to get us to keep it and put it in teh basement for when we have kids. She said it'd be a great place for them to sit and color and do puzzles, etc. And yup, those are the original cabinets!! I'm shocked at how different they look! :)

    Thank you, Ellie! I'm so glad you stopped by! :)

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  10. I cannot get over how great your kitchen likes. I show my hubby and kids your updates and even they are amazed. You have motivated us to do our kitchen. You really did a great job.

    Love it,

    Kim

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  11. Thank you so very much Kim!!! You have to come see the house...feel free to bring them family if you want. :)

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  12. You are living my dream of rehabbing a mid-century ranch!!!! I just spent the last 30 minutes getting caught up and I can't wait to read more. I'm your newest follower!

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    1. I'm so happy to hear that! Thanks for following Emily! :)

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  13. I'm collecting pictures for inspiration. You are people of incredible vision!

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  14. Popped over from Better After, just had to see the aqua inside the cabinets. Your reno is absolutely stunning. Unbelievable that anyone could live in that kitchen before....it was awful for sure. It looks gorgeous now. So open and bright and, well, lovely. Way to go!!!

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  15. Your floors are very pretty. Can you tell me what type of wood and finish they are? I've spent over a year hemming and hawing about what type of floors I want!

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    1. Thanks! They are the original oak floors, sanded and stained Minwax's Jacobean...in a satin finish. We are in L-O-V-E with them!

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  16. Here from Better After.....WOW! What a transformation. So cheery, bright and open. Love your accent color...and the inside of your cabinets. =)

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  17. Here from Better After. Love your kitchen reno. It is absolutely beautiful...and motivating me to get started. Great work.

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    1. Thanks so much, Katy! Good luck on your project...it's worth it in the end! :)

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  18. Visiting from Better After, love the blog and house transformation. Did you think about mounting the cabinet door hardware horizontally on the trim piece?

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    1. Thank you! I answered your question in a Q&A post here...

      http://retroranchrenovation.blogspot.com/2012/02/q-quickie.html

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  19. love how you opened up your kitchen and it just might be my answer with my kitchen!

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  20. Love this kitchen! AWESOME. Found you from betterafter.blogspot.com. Where oh where did you get those awesome aqua lights over the island?

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  21. I am in awe of all your work. It's beautiful. What process did you use to paint the cabinets?

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    1. Aw, thanks so much!!

      I answered your question in a Q&A post here...

      http://retroranchrenovation.blogspot.com/2012/02/q-quickie.html

      So glad you stopped over!

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  22. Beautiful job! It is so much lighter and brighter. What is the name/brand of the blue paint and the gray paint(I'm always on the lookout for the perfect gray)?

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    1. It definitely is!! I answered your questions here...

      http://retroranchrenovation.blogspot.com/2012/02/q-quickie.html

      Thank you for stopping by!! :)

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  23. Seeing is beleiving ,awesome colors ,it looks like a brand new home !!! Now its my turn to tackle the painting of my ranch home kitchen cabinets ,I know now once my hubby and friends see your before and after they will not think I am so crazy to paint all the original wood cabinets and trim plus add me some crown molding around the top of our bare cabinets to totally bring it into 2012 !!!

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    1. Aw, thank you!! Doing all those things will definitely bring your house up to date! Good luck with it all!! :)

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  24. That ice cool aqua is my favorite color ever. Never would have thought of it for a kitchen but it's beautiful. What an awesome transformation. Enjoy!

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    1. Thanks! Yea, it is a different color for that room, but it's one of my favorites!

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  25. I love the touches of blue, especially inside the cabinets. What color/brand did you use?

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  26. LOVE everything about it! you did an amazing job! where did you find the turquoise pendent lights?

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  27. Just beautiful, great job!

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  28. Holy cow this is an amazing transformation! It is so opened up now. I just revealed our kitchen at my site www.tranquilabode.com. I see so many similarities. Fortunately, the wall between great room and kitchen was removed before we got the house. But we repurposed cabinets and worked hard to do it all on the cheap. You reminded me I need to post and show the inside of my cabinet doors. I painted them a blue green. So fun to open them up and see that little surprise, huh? You all should be so proud. It looks beyond stunning.

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    1. Thank you so much! And your kitchen is looking wonderful!!! Thanks for stopping by!

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  29. I'd also love to know more about your floors! Love it, aqua rocks.

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    1. Thank you! We love them. You can find more info here...

      http://retroranchrenovation.blogspot.com/2012/02/q-quickie.html

      Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

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  30. Can't even IMAGINE how much work this would have been! You guys are awesome, this is one amazing transformation! Love everything about it - even painted the inside of the cupboards, wow. I would LOVE for you to share this over at our Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday party over on Kammy's Korner! This was truly a trash to treasure!

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  31. really pretty! I love all the aqua touches. Having gone through a kitchen reno recently ourselves, I know how much work can go into it!

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  32. Oh my word!!!!!! amazing would love for you to link up http://www.getouttamyheadplease.com/2012/01/show-it-off-9_29.html

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  33. You guys did an amazing job! I recognized the light fixtures right away! I used the same ones in my daughter's reno...they are so styling in both kitchens! You can see your twins here :)
    http://www.cre8tivedesignsinc.com/2010/11/kitchen-remodel/

    Very good use of unused space, you guys should be very proud! It's just beautiful

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    1. Thank you so much, Stephanie!! :)

      And your daughter's kitchen reno was gorgeous! Great job!

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  34. Please tell me where you got those glass fixtures, I have the exact same one but not blue, did you paint it?

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    1. I got them from Shades of Light. I didn't paint them. They came in aqua, green and clear.

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  35. I came over from Better After a while back and added you on my google reader. I love your blog, especially because I feel a sort of kinship - we, too, have a ranch we're redoing and our kitchen was heinous as well. Here's our kitchen reveal: http://www.makinitinmemphis.com/2011/04/kitchen-renovation-reveal.html

    I'm totally jealous of your open space!! Our layout didn't work for totally open. Great job!!

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    1. I'm so happy to hear you added me on your reader! I just checked out your kitchen reveal and I love it! What a transformation! We totally have a kinship because of our ranch renos! :)

      And, thanks so much!

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  36. What an amazing transformation! Very inspiring for those of us still on the "before" end of a kitchen reno. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. I'm glad I could be some inspiration for you! Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  37. i have no idea if i've already commented here, but this is absolutely stinking amazing. that was an...interesting before. for sure. i looove the blues and the open plan. super jealous, i want this in my house!

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    1. Aw, thank you so much for your comment! That was so nice to hear! I'm glad you stopped by!

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  38. I've never commented on a blog before. This is one of the most inspiring and amazing transformations I've ever seen! Beautiful job!

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  39. Wow! WHAT a difference!! It looks fantastic!

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  40. I just came across your blog from Thrifty Decor Chick...your kitchen is stunning! I can't believe the transformation!

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    1. Thank you so much, Monica! I'm glad you stopped by! :)

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