If you’re anything like me, I LOVE perusing beautiful pictures on Pinterest of dream kitchens. The ones with gorgeous light splashing thru a spotless lens — where you can imagine how peaceful, fresh, clean, and relevant you would feel in it. Not to mention how delicious everything would be being prepared in such a dreamy space! The reality of having a space like that seemed a far off lofty notion. It also seemed way too expensive, but when my hubby, myself and our three boys moved across town, I had the perfect opportunity to try out some designs I had been dreaming of!
This kitchen seemed… sad honestly. It was closed off from the main areas, and needed a little TLC. While I have MANY ideas, Kurt, my very handy husband kept me in what was actually affordable and doable. I knew we couldn’t mess with the footprint of the kitchen, and I’d have to keep the tile floor, appliances and cabinets. Those things weren’t in the budget for us at this time, so we’d have to work with what we have. So with the parameters set, we got to work!
The vision was easy for me. I knew what I was drawn to, and wanted to create. I wanted minimal clutter.. I wanted light to stream in. I wanted white everything! White subway tile, white countertops, white sink. It had to feel comfortable and efficient. I wanted our 3 boys to relax and enjoy it with their friends, and not be scared to mess it up. Even WITH the white! I also have champagne taste on a beer budget. Not even good beer type of budget… I’d have to get creative, all the while practicing contentedness.
The first thing to go were the walls that closed it off from the rest of the house. They also blocked the gorgeous morning light that could carry thru the house.
While we wanted to open it up completely, we ran into some plumbing venting and electrical issues we had to work around. Because of this… I was worried it would look too dorky from the living room looking into the kitchen, so we installed faux shiplap to wrap around on the living room side. THIS WAS A HUGE WIN! I loved how it turned out, and highly recommend this to anyone wanting to make an affordable upgrade to any wall. {Kurt ripped 1/4″ plywood into 5.5″ wide planks and nailed/glued away.} This was a good reminder that when doing a reno on a tight budget, the house stipulates what you can and can’t do.
After ripping out the upper cabinets, next was electrical. Kurt installed some remote controlled dimmable lights for the opening, and made it so we could fix them into the open shelving. Lighting in any design is a step that is NOT to be overlooked! Great lighting makes or breaks a room.
After much research and many samples, we were able to afford a white quartz. The company had a great promo on one that made it fit my budget after install. You can read more about that on houzz.com. While waiting for the install to happen, we turned our attention to the open shelving along the one wall and selecting tile. My handy father in law welded me some steel brackets that we screwed to the studs, and Kurt built some amazing wooden shelves that slid over them giving us the floating shelf look.
While we patiently waited for the counters, I bought my sink, faucet, and cabinet pulls online. Although I dreamed of a white farmhouse sink with a front apron, I quickly discovered they were way out of my budget and settled on this beauty. I haven’t had a moments remorse, and love how deep and wide it is!! The faucet is minimal, and I LOVE how it can spray and pull out without having extra holes in my sink and counters. I had been envisioning clean straight stainless steel bar pulls. No knobs. This is one of my most favorite decisions! You don’t have to mix knobs and pulls people. Going all pulls has a bigger impact here.
After counter install came tile backsplash. White subway tile from the counters to the ceiling… and all the way around. Honest moment. That was not fun… we hated the tiling part, but man it turned out magical!! I went with white grout because I knew over time seeing all the lines would make me crazy.
Lastly, we painted the existing cabinets. The lower ones are all still water by Sherwin Williams, and the uppers over the oven are alabaster white by Sherwin Williams. I was a bit skeptical of going so “colorful”, but maybe THIS is my most favorite decision of the kitchen!
It turned out better than I had dreamed up in my head! It’s so dreamy, I catch myself daily thinking “this cannot be MY kitchen!” I absolutely LOVE it!! You can hear me chat with my design partner for more details on kitchen renos over at By Design Podcast.
All the finishing touches were made possible by Marshalls, my mom and mother in law for the dishes, Muddy Handshake Pottery, Ikea, and some special grandmas with the vintage finds. I’d like to thank Bryan Buchelt for taking the amazing after pics, and my darling husband who puts up with all my harebrained ideas!
