my almost finished vintage white kitchen

So here's my kitchen, and although it's still a little bit of a work in progress.. the bulk of what we planned on doing with the remodel is finished and I've been LOVING it, even with some of the old lights missing and the wires hanging out of the ceiling!!!

What still needs to be done to finish what we started:


*some electrical changes & install new lighting
*paint top portion of wall above cabinets
*order the scalloped edge pull down blinds for windows above sink and side bay windows
*frame in and dry wall a top section of the wall where the desk used to be to accomodate the sliding hardware system for the old barn pantry door
*sand over wall repairs where the desk used to be and repaint
*buy and install curtain rod above sliding door and hang curtain


That should wrap up phase one of the kitchen remodel but in order to look at the whole thing and say it's completely finished, I still have another phase of bigger projects that I want to have done (wood planked ceiling, painting my wood floor and replacing my sliding glass door with double dutch doors!!!) Even know that's only three more things, they're all pretty big things to have done in and of themselves so I'll just have to try and be patiently waiting while we save for and do them when we can!


Just for the fun, let's take a stroll over the years through some random photos of my kitchen..


This is what it looked like when we bought our house back in 1998. All oak cabinets with brass fixtures. YUK! Eewww.. and those ugly stools!

In 2002 I'd had it with all the oak, brass fixtures and white walls everywhere, so I jumped on the paint-everything-dark-band-wagon and painted the entire house in dark earthy colors, started adding lots of black furniture and in 2004 right after my youngest was born, I had our kitchen cabinets painted red, replaced the brass with oil rubbed bronze and painted a faux brick backsplash.

Then a few years ago I felt my style shifting in a big way and I found that turquoise tea kettle in the photo below and that's what started my planning of a white vintage farmhouse kitchen with turquoise and yellow and touches of red.

Slowly... I started weeding out existing decor and furniture, giving it away and selling it and using the money to replace what I'd sold with new things for my still un-remodeled kitchen. I'd been dreaming of lightening everything up for so long, but I knew we didn't have the money for a big kitchen remodel yet so last fall 2010 I repainted the walls in my family-kitchen-dining area and painted over that darn faux brick backsplash I'd grown to hate with a passion.. and between that and my new white dining table I'd gotten a few months before, it carried me through until we were able to start the big remodel this spring!

And now... I have my new almost finished white kitchen and I'm swooning over it everyday!

Here's some links to posts about the remodel:

post #1

post #2

*I'm linking up to Jennifer Rizzo, whose kitchen transformation was a big part of my inspiration!!! My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia's link party, love her blog too! And..

click here.

kitchen re-do in progress...

This is what our kitchen looked like a couple of months ago.. with lots of stuff all over the counter. We had finally decided, or I guess I should say.. we finally had the money to move forward with remodeling the kitchen. I'd known what I wanted to do for a l-o-n-g t-i-m-e already. 


The first photo is not a true "before" photo because I'd already painted over the faux tile back splash and darker wall color above the cabinets back in the fall, and started accumulating the bright colored decor I wanted for when everything was finished, but that is where we started from.

First, the painter came and removed all the cabinet doors and drawer fronts and took them to his shop for painting. Then we had a good friend of ours come in and make the modifications I wanted to some of our cabinetry. This part made a big difference in the overall look of the kitchen and I love it now! It's exactly what I'd envisioned in my mind.

Once all of that was done, the painter came back and taped us out of our kitchen for almost a week to spray the inside cabinets. This was definitely the hardest part, not being able to get into the pantry, the fridge or any part of the kitchen for that matter and having to eat out EVERY meal of the day, all day.. everyday... It sounds a little bit fun at first, like ooo.. where should we go out to eat now??? but it gets really old, really fast when you're going out to eat because you have to. Anyway, we survived and I'd totally do it all over again to get where we are now!

After the painting and the cabinet modifications were done, it was time for that long endured formica countertop with the wood trim edge & the old chipped sink that was rusting & rotting around the edges to finally come off and get hauled to the junk yard. YIPEE!!!! 

 OUT with the OLD.. IN with the NEW!!!

Next in line to be installed was the subway tile back splash, another thing I've wanted for a really long time... Once that started going up, the kitchen began to take on a finished look. It was so exciting!!! I could finally clean everything off and start putting all the colorful goodies back on the countertops! I still need to seal the grout though.

The painter came back in between tile installation and grouting to hang all the doors and drawer fronts back up with all their new hardware!

And then the kitchen remodel took the back seat for a while. All the big stuff except for my sliding pantry barn door & new lighting had been completed and  my sister and her kids came into town, I had to switch focus and finish painting Sydnee's new room so we could get her moved and we had more family come into to town & stay with us for a big family reunion that just ended yesterday. It's been one thing after another.. and it's all good!

Now, I need to get back to work in the kitchen and..

*order my new lighting/get some electrical work done/install lights

*get the sliding pantry door built and installed 

*rip out the old desk area/touch up paint/finish off new waterfall dresser nook

*seal the grout 

*find and hang curtains

*all over finishing touches

*last.. and maybe even a while later... do a full inside pantry makeover with new shelving and paint

Oh! and..

*take an "in progress.. almost completed... kitchen re-do" photo to post, since I know the rest of my to-do list will take some time to completely finish and cross off. 

The big before -n- after reveal with the kitchen totally finished will have to wait just a little bit longer.

I think I fell off the blog-wagon and got lost in kitchen-redo-ville..

So much stuff has been happening as I've been trying to pick out countertops, tile, sink, faucet etc.... and finalize decisions on what I want to do with our kitchen-redo. I've barely been able to keep up with all the normal-everyday-things.. let alone blog about events come and gone and blog about the kitchen-redo process. I don't know how so many people do it.. but I'm glad they do because all my ideas have come from the many posts out in blog-land that I've carefully saved in my "kitchen dream home" file. 


Thank goodness for people who can do it all!

(Here's a messy before picture with countertop samples all over, sonic happy hour drink, lamp project in progress, etc.)

We're kind of in the middle of everything right now..


*The cabinet doors and drawer fronts were painted a few weeks ago and have been curing since. I chose Benjamin Moore's White Dove for the color of the cabinets. I can't wait to see them all finished!!!!
*All last week, we had a good friend of ours work his craftsmanship on our cabinets. I didn't want to change the cabinetry when those that we already have are in great condition. I just knew that I wanted them white, and that I wanted to do a few modifications to make them appear more customized and decorative. He did such a good job.. now I can't wait to see them all white.
*Monday our painter came to start prepping the new wood modifications & painting all the permanent cabinetry. I've been taped out of my kitchen since Monday morning, my kitchen is totally out of service. I can't get in the fridge, can't get in the pantry, can't get to the garbage. LOL We've been eating out every meal since then and I just want a home cooked meal. Can't wait 'til it's finished.  It's Wednesday now and we're hoping he'll finish today! Of course, we'll have to let it dry and cure for a couple of days before he puts all the doors back up but at least we'll be able to get into the kitchen. If the neighbors see me doing cart wheels in the front yard they'll know why! 
*We FINALLY were able to find what we we've been looking for in the way of countertops and who we're gonna go with to do the job! I'm so excited.. He came to make the template last week and we should be getting them installed on Friday or Tuesday! (It all depends on when the painting is finished and dry enough to be working around). He'll also be doing the white subway tile back splash for us after the countertops go in!!! 
*We also were able to find one of my all-time-favorite-have-to-have items for the kitchen-redo, a farmhouse sink!!!! At first we were going to get one of the ones that Ikea offers but the big one was a little bit too big for the angle that my sink sits on and the smaller one was too small. We went to Standard Plumbing and found one right in between that will fit great! I was also able to find the kind of old-vintage looking faucet that I wanted there too!  
*I bought new vintage glass knobs from Anthropologie and Martha Stewart brused nickel pulls from Home Depot. 
*I bought the new silver track lights to replace the hideous ones I can't believe I've lived with for so long at Home Depot and I'm replacing the two recessed lights above my sink with old schoolhouse pendant lights! They are also from Home Depot, I still have to order those online though. 
*I ordered my new vintage industrial looking stools from Overstock and they came last week!!! We've been living without stools for a couple of months since I sold our old ones. It'll be nice to sit around the peninsula again. 
*Right now we are living amongst a big fat mess everywhere & eating out for just about every meal, but I just need to hold on for a few more weeks and then we should be done with all the big stuff and will be able to start cleaning up and putting things back together. Oh how I can't wait...

(This is how we've been livin' since Monday morning.. everything is taped off in there, the fridge, the pantry, the sink, everything...)

I took a little peek inside..

 Can't wait 'til all the tape and plastic comes down..

Should be sometime tomorrow!

Now it's time to get caught up with some bloggin'...