4.09.2013

Remodeling Our Kitchen {The Plan}

Something about our vacation made us want to come home and start remodeling our house! I am sure part of it is also the spring weather. We decided that we really needed to start doing some of the remodeling and updates to our home now since we don't know what the future holds for us. We could stay in Wyoming for years or we could only be here a few more. Our kitchen and bathrooms have to be updated if we want to make any money when we go to sell our house. Since we spend so much time in our kitchen we thought it would be the best place to start. Here are a few photos of our kitchen the way it looks currently...

Our Kitchen BEFORE

Our appliances are all almond/off white colored and will be replaced with brand new white appliances.
We plan to donate them to the Restore American thrift store.
Goodbye fake brick wallpaper,...you will NOT be missed.

Our Kitchen BEFORE

We plan to paint all of our cabinets a crisp white with the help of this tutorial from Young House Love.
Counter-tops are still kind of up in the air. We are leaning towards wood counters stained a darker shade.
We believe there are hardwood floors underneath the tile. *fingers crossed*

Our Kitchen BEFOREOur Kitchen BEFORE

When it comes to decorating and designing a kitchen I tend to like ultra modern ones. I love all white kitchens with clean lines and chrome accents. Our house doesn't really have an contemporary feel. Since I have to think about resale I don't want to over do the modern style. I am still going to put modern touches but keep it simple. I am thinking about pale gray walls and decorating with chrome and turquoise accents. I want the space to have a bit of a 1950's vibe since the house was built in 1953. Here is my design board for my kitchen....

Kitchen title Kitchen Design Board
LINKS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

I feel like everything I picked out goes well together, but I don't really know if it's any particular style? I love the big glass canisters! How cool would they be filled with coffee beans? Plus I can reuse jars that I have or find some thrifting and just buy chalkboard labels. The "Make Tea Not War" print I designed on Photoshop. I thought it would add a cute touch to the room. I am also leaning towards doing maybe artwork that is vegan related instead. I have so many ideas!! You may have noticed that there is white subway tile in some of the photos of the kitchens. I love white subway tile used as kitchen back-splashes. I think it's so classic and it never goes out of style. The paint color on my board is more of a beige gray. It may work better in my house since the living room (located next to the kitchen) is bright yellow. Here are some photos that I found inspiring...

Kitchens pic1
LINKS
1 2 3
I love the contrast of wood counter-tops with white cabinets. The wood adds such a great warmth to the space. Plus if we do have the guts to tear up the vinyl flooring that is currently in the kitchen the counters would match the wood floors. I decided on painting the cabinets because they are in great condition. No need to tear them out and go buy new white cabinets. I am glad that we can reuse what we have. We also plan to revamp our current light fixture and maybe even the fan. We plan to do the kitchen remodel in this order:

Step 1: Tear down all wallpaper, patch walls and remove chair rail.
Step 2: Paint baseboards, window trim and walls
Step 3: Paint the kitchen cabinets
Step 4: Install new kitchen counters
Step 5: Do tile back-splash

We may replace all three windows as well. If we do the floor it will be later on. Appliances will be purchased last due to cost. Our stove and fridge work fine. I'm all about waiting to get something on sale or in the scratch and dent section if I can. Our new dishwasher is coming this week however! Since we cook a lot, the dishes really pile up on us. Can't wait to not have all the clutter laying around!

Our Kitchen BEFOREOur Kitchen BEFORE

So what do you think? Any advise or suggestions? This is our second kitchen remodel so we are pretty excited!
See my Kitchen Inspiration board on Pinterest HERE.

18 comments:

  1. Oh if only I had the brick walls in your kitchen. Can you send them to me?!?!

    Looks mostly like our kitchen with all the wood. I don't know why but I hate wood in the kitchen. It should be inviting and well, its nauseating that we'd have to work around wood to make it "look nice" since there is a lot of it. Funny how your kitchen looks a LOT like ours (http://tinypic.com/r/x4nfxt/6) with a mix of the trailer I lived in for the first year of Zak's life (where the refrigerator is).

    Yours and Cody's restyle of the kitchen is DEFINITELY something I want to see more of and I cannot wait for what it will look like. Makes me excited for when we get to move out of this house and into another so we can actually decorate!

    OH, and I want to come over there to visit one of these days once we are able to and it'd be cool if you came over here (just once we're moved into our new home and decorated it a bit - like maybe next year? that'd be cool!). We could be the new Elycia and Kaelah blog besties! ;]

    As far as suggestions, add what you and Cory like when it comes to trinkets. That'd make the kitchen look cute! :]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't wait to start decorating and adding all the personal touches. That's what bums me out right now, is the kitchen is so not us. It's ugly! I hate lots of wood as well. Some wood is pretty, but my cabinets are just cheap and cheesy looking I think. It's not even a pretty shade of wood. It will be so nice for you to have your own place to decorate. That's why we moved off base and got our own place. I was so sick of renting!

      Delete
  2. So we painted our cabinets from a wood like that to white! It's a great change and works really well. I love all of your inspiration - reminds me of our old kitchen a lot!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Katherine! It's amazing how well paint can really change the look of a kitchen.

      Delete
  3. Oh wow. You're going to have fun doing this, but you will also have to be strong! ;o) We had our kitchen remodeled 3 years ago, it looked a lot like yours to begin with, and now it looks a lot like picture 1. I designed the layout myself and picked the cupboards and appliances, but we splurged and paid somebody to do it. It's mow my favourite room in our house. I especially like that I am facing the dining table while cooking, so if we have guests over I can actually be part of the conversation instead of turning my back to everybody. Also: a cook book shelf. Those would be my suggestions. :o) Good luck to you with this project!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are being really careful about our cost. I hope to stay on track! hahaha I would love a cookbook shelf! I love that look. I love the layout of our kitchen. It's not huge, but it's open! :) Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

      Delete
  4. WOAH! That looks like a lot of work. My suggestion is drink lots of coffee. I can't wait to see it all finished.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahaha It will be hard to fight the temptation of coffee during the remodel! :)

      Delete
  5. Having watched your remodeling of your atomic ranch, I know this is easily within the scope of what you can accomplish. Can't wait to follow along. I love bright white kitchens. I also love subway tiles!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't wait to get started on our kitchen!! The subway tile is actually not going to cost as much as I thought it would either. :) It's so beautiful!

      Delete
  6. I love all of your ideas, including all of the colors! Would be very appealing to anyone should you have to sell in the future, too! The only suggestion I have is regarding the wood (butcher block) counters -- they are very expensive!!! And they have a tendency to stain (they absorb stuff). Alternatively, I think Corian is great, as well as granite (I had Corian before, and currently have granite). However, if you are on a budget, go and take a look at laminate (formica), it comes in a lot of various nice patterns, etc., these days, is extremely durable, and very affordable. I've also had formica countertops and they are so easy to maintain. Something in a grey faux-granite pattern would look great with what you are considering. Anyway, just my two cents' worth! ~ Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Suzanne! Our second choice for counters is laminate in a darker shade of gray. I just can't seem to find a color that I love. I know wood counter tops can be scary and I do worry a tiny bit about it. But I have found some great posts done by some other bloggers that gave them good reviews. So we may chance it and see what happens. If we do go with wood, we will treat the heck out of them! hahaha

      Delete
  7. I like turquoise for a kitchen. I personally like stone counters and white cabinets. And a little steel and aluminium in between :p I'm all for modern, especially in a kitchen. And light! It will probably turn out great!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our second choice for counters is something gray (laminate). I just can't find the right shade. That's why we are leaning towards the wood instead. I can't wait to get started! I love modern kitchens. Someday when we stop moving I will have a super modern kitchen. :)

      Delete
  8. Absolutely love this style. I really like the wood counter tops like in your inspiration photo, but I would worry how they would stand up to repeated food preparation on them. I am a big fan of subway tile and I don't think it's too expensive. It would be awesome to discover wood flooring under the tile. I love white with wood tones right now and I think teal is a perfect accent color.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I was worried about the wood counters but I found a great post that a blogger had wrote about her IKEA counters. She made me feel better about it. Plus I plan to ask the IKEA kitchen staff questions also. We just don't like anything else. I just think we have to find a way to make it work. Take care of them and treat them however we need to! :) I really love them. I was surprised at how affordable the subway tile is. I may do it in our bathrooms as well!

      Delete
  9. Can't wait to see it all go down! Remodeling is one of my favorite things to do, the last project I worked on was installing crown molding throughout my in-laws house, it's been way too long though, and you're making me itch for something new!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Home improvements are so rewarding. It is so much work though! We are working on removing all the wallpaper in our kitchen right now. Soon I will get to paint the walls! YAY! I have never installed crown molding, but I love it. It's so beautiful.

      Delete

HELLO! :) Thanks for taking the time to comment! I love hearing what you have to say. I do reply to comments through email, so make sure you are not a no reply blogger so that I can indeed email you a response back. :) Not sure what a no reply blogger is? Read about it HERE.