Evolution of my Kitchen

One of the best parts of blogging is keeping a journal of the progress of my home.

When I look at this before picture it brings back so many memories. This was how the kitchen looked when we walked through the house before we bought it. I remember standing in the kitchen thinking "wow, this kitchen is HUGE" I didn't absolutely love this house the first time through but I didn't immediately check it off the list, because I loved the kitchen. Afterwards my husband and I went to lunch and he said, "I want to put in an offer on that house." I was a little freaked out, this house was out of our price range, but it had the top things on my wish list a big kitchen and living space, great location by family, a nice sized yard. It needed a lot of work so we decided to offer them a lower amount and after A LOT of negotiation we finally came to an agreement and we moved on in.

We had been living in my in laws basement which allowed us to save some money to put into the house. The first thing we did was put granite and a backsplash in the kitchen. I also repainted all the walls to a lighter calmer color. This was the first time I had decorated with tone on tone, and I lost a few hours of sleep over it. After we put the granite order in I went back to the granite yard several times to make sure everything would match. But I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I love how light and bright it is now!

After the Granite and backsplash were in the decorating began. I wanted to add a little bit of color and some character. I made my eat sign out of pallets and stained them with Early American by Miniwax to match my floors. I started searching for barstools I could paint I couldn't find matching ones but I love the mismatched look.

And here is my kitchen today! Last weekend my husband and I took down the China cabinet and replaced it with open wood shelves. The china cabinet came out at an angle over my bar and I always felt the space under the cabinet was wasted, and if someone sat on the barstool on the other side I couldn't see them.

I am so surprised how much bigger it makes my kitchen feel and believe it or not there is more storage on my shelves! I love how the wood shelves compliment my big eat sign.