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Thursday, July 5, 2012

Accidental Kitchen Remodel: Before & After




I went back and looked and it turns out, this whole kitchen kerfuffle started on St. Patrick's day. That's almost three months to the day from start to finish. If you'll remember, we were in a super hurry to get this all wrapped up by the David Bazan house show on June 15th. Not bad. Not bad at all. So, let's get to some real deal, wide angle, whole room pics, shall we?

First up, the cabinet side of the room before. One door pulled off, saggy ceiling tiles, perpetually dirty floor, etc.


A similar perspective, once most of the floor was gone and the ceiling was gone.


a little better...


even better...


And after!


Here, I made this neat little gif to show you the difference:

A little bit of a different perspective


Next up? The stove/fridge side of the room

Before:


And after!




One more of that beautiful fridge for good measure. Oh, fridge! I love you so!


Here's one of my most favorite thing ever, the reclaimed, basement wood shelf!


Wanna see another neat-o gif? Okay! Here ya go!



Also, like I mentioned before, I tallied everything up and have a grand total as well that I will post tomorrow along with a few more pics.

Thanks for reading about our Accidental Kitchen Remodel you guys and thanks for all of your opinions, encouragement and just generally awesome comments. Gold stars for everyone!

34 comments:

  1. Wow, Katherine, this is really amazing! You managed to make a huge difference with (I think) a pretty small budget. Inspiring!

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    1. Thanks! I think it's a pretty small budget, too. Considering that somewhere I read the average kitchen remodel is somewhere over 10,000 dollars. We are coming in at a fraction of a fraction of that : )

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  2. OMG, i just LOVE it!!! it turned out amazing but after your bathroom photos i knew it had to be stunning. and that fridge is just eye-candy...

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    1. Eeek! Thank you so much! Yeah, it's funny that the simplest/cheapest thing -the fridge- turned out to be such a standout in the room.

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  3. Looks amazing! I love the ceiling. And the gifs. They're perfect for us lazy people who don't like scrolling up and down over and over again!

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    1. Thanks! A friend of ours was visiting last night and also said that the ceiling was the best part. Again, just a simple, almost free thing that made a big difference!

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  4. Removing the ceiling tiles made all the difference. It's a stunningly vintage room. I love it so much more than I do those $30k new cabinets & granite countertop kitchens.

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    1. I totally agree! Thanks so much! "stunningly vintage" stop! I'm blushing : )

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  5. Simply Fabulous!
    You have completely convinced me to pull up the peel and stick tiles in my kitchen/front foyer and attack the floors with the cheap harbor freight belt sander.
    I've been considering it for over 2 years, but I could not find ANYone who had used a hand held sander... all touted the big boy rental that I simply am not interested in.
    Thank you thank you.

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    1. Thanks! Good luck with your floor! The habor freight sander was cheap as all get out but it did fine for this one job. If it's just one room, I totally think you can avoid renting a sander.

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  6. This is absolutely amazing. I particularly love your snappy before and after gifs! It makes it all so clear just HOW much y'all have done. Well done.

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    1. Thanks! I'm so glad I learned to do that! It really helps with this kind of thing.

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  7. Question regarding your gas stove. How are you able to get by without a hood? Is it hidden somewhere?

    Naja

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    1. No, there's no hood hidden anywhere. No magic hood hider-y here. We get by fine without it. I would like one someday, though since it would eliminate some of the grime that ends up on my pretty glass dishes on top of the cabinet.

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    2. There's also a carbon monoxide detector close by--just in case.

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  8. How did you paint the fridge?
    Kirsi

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    1. With a paint roller if I remember correctly.

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  9. The walls could use some color. And shouldn't the fridge be rotated so that it doesn't open in the doorway? Other than that, I quite like this. Cheers.

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    1. White is every color. :)

      Unfortunately there isn't really a good place in the kitchen for a fridge, sounds weird but it's an old house after all and wasn't really designed for one. We had the fridge facing the other direction for a few years until I realized that we were wasting a lot of floor space having it face that way. Katherine walked into the kitchen, and her mother and I were halfway done with rotating it. She sort of just shook her head and let us do whatever we wanted.

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  10. Love your fridge! How in the world did you do that?

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    1. Bucket o' chalkboard paint and some rollers.

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  11. I like the floor much more that way - it doesn’t look like a chessboard anymore. The color is also elegant and creates a beautiful contrast with the white cabinets, walls, and ceiling. You have a very spacious kitchen, too, which will allow you to move freely while cooking.

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    1. It is spacious. We'd actually like some sort of island, but we haven't really hit on a solution that works for us yet...well, one that fits our admittedly small budget anyway.

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  12. I think it’s the floor that created the biggest change in your kitchen. Just look at how elegant it is now! It’s very different from the old kitchen, with the black and white floor. And the new ceiling structure and light add a tasteful twist to the overall design of the room. Well done!

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    1. I agree! The floor is usually the first thing people remark about.

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  13. Love what you've done with your kitchen, but love your puppy even more.

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    1. Don't tell the cat, but he's pretty much the best.

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  14. Thank you for taking the time to show us this amazing transformation! LOVE IT!!! We are currently pulling down ceilings and exposing lath and loving the look but it is A LOT OF WORK but as you have stated it is a very affordable makeover with amazing results!

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    1. You're welcome! I'm glad it's working out for you.

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  15. How do you like the functionality of your stove? Did you restore itself or buy it. Any downside. I have one but don't know if would be worth restoring. Any thoughts? It's looks amazing.

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    1. Well, we bought it for $45 at a yard sale, and the guy that sold it to us said he had used it for a few years but put it in storage for awhile when he got a nicer one. The only thing he said had given him any trouble was the oven. It turned out that the thermostat was busted, and getting that fixed was quite an ordeal, which I think is something that Katherine has always intended to write about. So yeah we fixed it ourselves more or less, but I would hesitate to call it a restoration. All in all I like cooking on it quite a bit, but the oven is a lot smaller than modern ovens, and we don't leave the pilot lights on because they make the stove top extremely hot, which naturally means we've always got a grill lighter handy. Initially it felt pretty primitive, but after living with it for several months it's just another stove to me, and it really is the focal point of the room.

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  16. I came over from Apartment Therapy to ask where the rug is from? I love it, and great job with the re-do!

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    1. Hey! The "rug" is actually a saddle blanket loaned to us from my mom. She got it at a farm supply store we have here in Kansas called Atwoods. I think she said she bought it for $15.

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    2. That is GENIUS! I live in Chicago but am now planning a trip to rural Illinois to find a farm supply store... thanks!

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