Boy– it’s that time of the year — busy, busy around here with yard work, so not much time to post. And that covert operation put me behind in the leaf gathering job. THANKS for all your wonderful comments about my little job. Several of you asked whether TheManoftheHouse was pleased — I think he must’ve been as he brought me these beautiful roses the next time he went shopping. Happily, I don’t have to build a retaining wall every time to get pretty flowers!
I’ve also had several questions over the last few months about whether we ever finished the kitchen re-do. The backsplash tile was FINALLY finished yesterday. There are still a few little things to do (new drawer pulls, under/over cupboard lights, paint touch-ups) but if we wait until those jobs are done, we’ll probably never be officially done! So, here are a few before and after shots.
The stove wall. Before with microwave over the stove. Our kitchen was never vented to the outside and that was one big change that I really wanted. Luckily, there’s a linen closet on the second floor, just above the stove area, so they ran the venting through the kitchen ceiling, the back of the linen closest, the attic and then the roof. As daunting as it sounds, that was probably the smoothest, easiest job of them all. Here’s the before.
And the after. The tile guy was a case. I told him I wanted those little four patch tiles put in a random pattern. He told me he didn’t do random very well and I chuckled. I was off doing something else, and when I came back in the room, the little four patches on the left were all lined up in a row. So, I made him move them and I showed him where I wanted the ones on the right. When I checked again, he’d laid the ones on the right out in the same pattern as the left — which doesn’t make them very random. {Sigh.}
Here’s a shot of the old sink and ugly green tile. The old sink was porcelain (I think?) and was chipped in a few spots.
So, we went with stainless for the new sink. And that’s one of those spiffy touch on/touch off water faucets. I LOVE it. When I have messy chicken or meatloaf or something on my hands, it’s so nice just to tap that faucet with my elbow and have it come on. And look! No. Tile. I can roll out a pie crust or cookies on the countertops – what a treat!
Here’s a shot of the inside of the sink. The left side is big enough to set a (dirty!) 12″ skillet with handle flat on the bottom of the sink. The jury is still out on those grate things on the bottom of the sink — I think they’re more of a nuisance than anything else.
Here’s the only shot I could find of the old tile floor.
We replaced it with wood, which is sort of hard to see with the window glare, but I LOVE it!
One of my very favorite things is the bookcase we had added to the end of the cabinets. My cookbooks used to be in the family room and now my favorites can live in the kitchen.
When I was planning the kitchen, NoBlog Ina sent me some pictures of her gorgeous new kitchen. In the process we discovered that we had the same oak windsor chairs. I mentioned to Ina that I would be painting mine black and she asked to see a picture — so this one’s for NoBlog Ina. I love the chairs painted black, although, they show a LOT more dust.
So. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the new kitchen, although it’s a lot of brown. I think I need to spend less time on Pinterest, drooling over the beautiful white kitchens. I just couldn’t see throwing out our perfectly good cabinets, so we worked with what we had. At any rate, the Patisserie Dome seems to be MUCH happier.
Even if she has to sit empty ’cause there’s no time to bake this week!
Thanks for sticking it out to the end!
XOXO,
Anna
WOW it’s beautiful Anna. I love it all. Now you can do some serious holiday cooking.
The kitchen look great! Mine is still not finished – need a plasterer and a tiler. The joiner is coming back this week to work out how to move the door on the cupboard in the hall onto the kitchen since there isn’t a door…so at least that’s some progress!
GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS! I love it. I would love to have a redo like that. Enjoy!!!
Drool, drool. I’ve got a 40 plus year old original kitchen with matching bathrooms! But yeah, our new front door is getting installed tomorrow!
I struggle with random too so I understand your case of a tile man! Your kitchen is gorgeous. Does the bookcase go all the way to the floor? Open storage for my cookbooks in the kitchen is a must for when we remodel.
Anna it’s wonderful! And you know, Brown is a really good thing…LOL! ENJOY your new kitchen. LOVE, LOVE the floor!
Looking good!! When we (ie Malcolm) refitted our kitchen a couple of years ago, we just ignored the fact that the tiles don’t quite go with the cupboards – it would just have been to big a job (never mind expensive) to replace them.
Good looking kitchen! I like the new counters and tile and the warm wood flooring! I love wood flooring best. Venting — so important.
Question: How deep is your cookbook bookcase? That is something I want to incorporate into my kitchen update. Well done!
Your hubby is a sweetie to give flowers.
Love love love your new kitchen. It’s just perfect! I completely agree about how much the dust shows up on black furniture. I guess it will force us to clean more often? Hmmmm, maybe not! See you Thursday. Woo Hoo!
Love the redo!
Your kitchen is beautiful!!! I am so jealous of the automatic faucet. I have faucet envy. Can you disclose the brand and was it difficult to change it out for the old one? Hmmmmm….I see a new project!!! I think both ends of the couple living in your house got very lucky. You make a great team. Flowers and a retaining wall. Sounds like a good trade to me.
Your kitchen look fantastic! Enjoy! :-)
Your new kitchen is beautiful! My mother-in-law recently painted her brown cabinets white; it’s a whole new kitchen. I envy your pie-rolling areas. My counter tile is even smaller than yours was – more grout lines :(
Everyting looks really good. I LOVE the wood floors. I want to put those in, but I’m pretty sure they would not survive this horde of pets we have. LOL And if your heart is really set on white, you could always paint the cabinets you have……
Your new kitchen looks great. I love the stainless steel sink and countertops. The flooring looks really nice, too.
You must be so happy it is just about done. I’ve never experienced a room renovation, but have heard from others that it really disrupts your life.
It is gorgeous Anna! I hope now you can find the time to enjoy it!
(pretty flowers too – and you definitely deserved those after all that hard work!)
I was debating that touch faucet for our new kitchen re-do (to start Jan 2012). Do you really like it, Anna? It’s a beauty of a kitchen. Love your sink too. We currently have a white, well used to be white, soapstone sink and I hate it and I can’t wait to replace it with stainless steel. I think the sink you have, I have been eye-balling online as well. Love the shape of it. All in all, it’s a wonderful kitchen re-do. Can’t wait to start ours!
Nice flowers, ManoftheHouse…good thinkin’! I love the new kitchen, you must be pleased. :)
Well done! It’s a beautiful kitchen. Now you just need to fill that glass dome!
your new kitchen is lovely, lovely, lovely … i have a wood floor in my kitchen, too, and i really, really like it … i do miss the green tile – maybe i should replace my formica counters with green tile and then i’ll have an GOOD excuse for using Marie Callendar’s pie crust, huh?
Looks awesome – I am loving your sink!
Oh I do love your new kitchen… drooling over the granite and stove top. I have wood floors but have got to get my DH to buy into my moderate redo plan…lol. Oh and I love the cookbook touch, very nice to hvae your favorites right their at hand.
Your kitchen reno looks great. I like the idea of the bookshelf at the end of the cabinets.
It turned out great. congratulations!
wow..what a great NEW LOOK!!
& themanofthehouse scores big…beautiful roses!
enjoy & have many happy hours BAKING (& cooking) in your new kitchen!
Beautiful kitchen!! Love, love, love it! :) Nice work! And the roses are pretty, too! Your hard work on the retaining wall was worth it-the retaining wall is great! :)
Dude! Love it. Hope the pain of renovating becomes a distant memory real soon. ;)
Ok, NOW I’m starting to pack. Credit Card … check. Clean undies … check. I’m good! :) (Oops, forgot toothbrush.)
Oh yes, I loooovvvveeee the redo!
OMG Anna! I love, love, love your kitchen, can’t wait to see it up close and personal. I have so many questions regardinng the floor as you know I am trying to get a new floor in my downstairs.(actually I would love it upstairs as well)… :) Your Hubby did a great job with the flowers too! They are beautiful. I bet you are loving baking and cooking in your new kitchen. xoxo
Lov-er-ly!! You did a fantastic job in your kitchen. Now, when would you like to come do mine? Ahahahahahaha!
I love you Miss no-twitter Thimble Anna! I heart your beautiful black chairs that would look AWESOME in MY kitchen. ;0
I’ll make a deal with you Miss no-twitter Anna, send me those beautiful chairs and I’ll start a blog…deal? ;0
Have an AWESOME time in Houston and give Kristyne a big hug from me. ;0
Your kitchen updates are fabulous!! You must be enjoying every minute in the kitchen.
I have a SS sink too and love it.
I also have wood floors and love them too –
thanks for sharing the update – enjoy~
Wow, what a transformation. I love it. I know what you mean about the tile guy. We sort of have the same thing only in a little biger size tile. I wanted to add these little slate tiles random into the travertine. I would have done it much differently than the tile guy but it is ok. Yours looks great. It is amazing the difference a kitchen redo makes to the whole home. Ours was a forced redo from a big kitchen sink blow out water pipe while we were on vacation but looking back it was a blessing. I love my wood floor. You’ll like yours too. The cat does already! The roses are very sweet. You’ve certainly transformed your home in and out!
Looks fantastic! Bet you’ll be baking up a storm in there especially with the holidays on the way :o)
What a gorgeous renovation! All looks fantastic. Love the new counter top and tap. And what a great idea for your cook books! Love it all!!
Your kitchen looks great and I love the new banner – the thimble eyes are just pure genius!!! Lucy xxx
Looks wonderful! Didn’t see the red warning knobs on your new stove! ;o) Hey, any peach and blueberry crisp left? I haven’t gotten my piece yet! Thanks for sharing!
As someone who has a white kitchen, I can say you are better off. My cabinets are ALWAYS dirty!
Excellent choice on your counter tops!
The kitchen looks great. I think I have your same oak cabinets. My kids are trying to talk me in to painting them. I’m not sure I’m ambitious enough right now to take that on. I also Have your same oak chairs. I Have black bar chairs and decided they are too much work to keep clean with the grand kids. They show everything. I love having my granite counter tops too.
We had to cut down two giant trees at my parents cabin this summer…pine bark beetles killed them. You couldn’t pay me enough to do what those tree guys did. CRAZY scary.
Ooooo, Anna, very nice! I especially like the black windsor chairs (we’ve got some as-yet-unpainted ones), and the bookcase. Gotta do that, so my cookbooks have a home.
And as for cabinets . . . paint those puppies! White, cream, whatever your heart desires. (Paint is lovely that way . . . change it when you want it.) And there are different ways to paint cabs now that don’t require removing doors, sanding ’til you want to cry, etc.
Can’t wait to see your new pulls! If you’re a more conservative type, you can check out my favorite (no affiliation) hardware shop: CabinetHardwareDesigns.com. Love that guy.
It’s looking gorgeous…..well worth all the anguish and hard work. Chairs look great!
Gorgeous! I love that sink. And sorry I haven’t been around, I’m working WAY too much. Hope you are well!!
Wow Anna, what a differnce, it looks wonderful. Makes me want to cook!! Clarice