Good Friday morning to you! As promised, I randomly chose a winner for the new VeggieTales DVD, The Little House That Stood this morning. Congratulations, Laura! I'll get your DVD out to you right away!
************
Now, it has been almost a year since we remodeled our kitchen and I realized that I never took any "after" pictures to show you the difference. So since I was in a cleaning mood the other day and scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom, I thought it would be a good time to get those after pictures. :)
But first let me show you the kitchen we lived with for about 14 years ...
Now it wasn't this bad the whole time. It deteriorated over time. We probably would not have bought this house had it looked like this at the beginning.
All the things I disliked about our kitchen ... lack of counter space, which is why we put a desk back in the corner ... only three electrical outlets - one of which was behind the refrigerator - you can see the other two ... ugly, dark fake wood cupboards ... white textured walls that were impossible to clean because they would rip apart anything you tried to clean them with. The range was here when we bought the house so no idea how old it was. It still worked though.
Oh, and once upon a time there was a window above the sink that opened out to the front room which is now my "office". (I call it that for lack of a better word. It is where I have my laptop, all my scrapbooking stuff, sewing stuff, photography stuff, etc.) Anyway, we assume that at one time it was an outer window and that the front eventually got closed in. But the window opening stayed. You can see the back of the drywall that is now a wall in my office.
All the things I disliked about our kitchen ... lack of counter space, which is why we put a desk back in the corner ... only three electrical outlets - one of which was behind the refrigerator - you can see the other two ... ugly, dark fake wood cupboards ... white textured walls that were impossible to clean because they would rip apart anything you tried to clean them with. The range was here when we bought the house so no idea how old it was. It still worked though.
Oh, and once upon a time there was a window above the sink that opened out to the front room which is now my "office". (I call it that for lack of a better word. It is where I have my laptop, all my scrapbooking stuff, sewing stuff, photography stuff, etc.) Anyway, we assume that at one time it was an outer window and that the front eventually got closed in. But the window opening stayed. You can see the back of the drywall that is now a wall in my office.
We had to buy a new refrigerator about 6 years ago, so it is fairly new.
My husband needed to rip part of the ceiling away so he could install insulation and drywall on the outer wall (since there was none and you could feel every breeze that blew). It stayed like this for quite some time. Ugly and gross. And embarrassing. Ugh. If you walked in the front door and looked up, this is what you saw.
The panels in front of the sink fell off and we couldn't ever get them to stay back on, so eventually we just gave up.
The floor was coming up in several places. Plus look back there by the cabinets. That is a shirt stuffed in the hole in the wall to keep the cold out. Since Doug couldn't get to that part of the wall without ripping out the cabinets, we improvised.
Why did we leave the kitchen like this for so long? Well, we don't do debt. So we had to save up the money to remodel the kitchen. Kitchens are pretty expensive, so it took a while. Especially when you still have other emergencies to pay for that take away from the savings. Oh the joys of home ownership. :)
Looking at these pictures makes me so very thankful that our kitchen is now done and looks like this ...
I love it! We have oodles of counter space now, a microwave, and a dishwasher! After hand washing dishes forever, the dishwasher is my favorite appliance. :)
I left all the papers, etc. on the refrigerator because that is what it typically looks like ... school lunch menus and calendar, husband's work schedule, kids' artwork. I love it! It reminds me of how blessed I am with having a family. Nick jokes that Alex's winter tree picture looks like a hand coming up out of a grave. The Walking Dead, anyone?
Doug installed under cabinet LED lighting which is great for when I am working in the kitchen. They are all controlled by the switch, but you can turn them each on and off individually and have as much or as little lighting as you need.
We have sooooo much cupboard space now too! The old cabinets had about 10 inches of wall above them. The new ones go all the way to the ceiling. We had to buy a little kitchen ladder to keep handy to reach the top shelves.
Off to the right you can just see the message board cupboard. We couldn't find a better place to put it, but it turns out that it works very well there.
I love our back splash. It is sparkley! And some of the squares are iridescent and change color depending on your angle. Lots of greens, pinks, purples, and blues.
The range and microwave are now where the refrigerator was. Kind of. We now have that small counter top on the left.
Deep sink basins. LOVE!
No more gross ceiling or floor coming apart. Our only issue was putting the refrigerator where we did. It covers the window just a little. We looked into getting a fridge that was only as deep as our counter top, but they are really expensive! For less room! So, for now, our refrigerator is fine.
I plan to attempt to make curtains soon. I'll let you know how that goes. :)
And the best part of all of this is that we still have no debt (except our mortgage)! We paid for the entire kitchen when we worked on it, so we can truly enjoy it without worrying about how to pay for it.
Linking with Photo Story Friday and Friday Photo Journal.
Why did we leave the kitchen like this for so long? Well, we don't do debt. So we had to save up the money to remodel the kitchen. Kitchens are pretty expensive, so it took a while. Especially when you still have other emergencies to pay for that take away from the savings. Oh the joys of home ownership. :)
Looking at these pictures makes me so very thankful that our kitchen is now done and looks like this ...
I love it! We have oodles of counter space now, a microwave, and a dishwasher! After hand washing dishes forever, the dishwasher is my favorite appliance. :)
I left all the papers, etc. on the refrigerator because that is what it typically looks like ... school lunch menus and calendar, husband's work schedule, kids' artwork. I love it! It reminds me of how blessed I am with having a family. Nick jokes that Alex's winter tree picture looks like a hand coming up out of a grave. The Walking Dead, anyone?
Doug installed under cabinet LED lighting which is great for when I am working in the kitchen. They are all controlled by the switch, but you can turn them each on and off individually and have as much or as little lighting as you need.
We have sooooo much cupboard space now too! The old cabinets had about 10 inches of wall above them. The new ones go all the way to the ceiling. We had to buy a little kitchen ladder to keep handy to reach the top shelves.
Off to the right you can just see the message board cupboard. We couldn't find a better place to put it, but it turns out that it works very well there.
I love our back splash. It is sparkley! And some of the squares are iridescent and change color depending on your angle. Lots of greens, pinks, purples, and blues.
The range and microwave are now where the refrigerator was. Kind of. We now have that small counter top on the left.
Deep sink basins. LOVE!
No more gross ceiling or floor coming apart. Our only issue was putting the refrigerator where we did. It covers the window just a little. We looked into getting a fridge that was only as deep as our counter top, but they are really expensive! For less room! So, for now, our refrigerator is fine.
I plan to attempt to make curtains soon. I'll let you know how that goes. :)
And the best part of all of this is that we still have no debt (except our mortgage)! We paid for the entire kitchen when we worked on it, so we can truly enjoy it without worrying about how to pay for it.
Linking with Photo Story Friday and Friday Photo Journal.
