14 September 2008

Kitchen: Before and After

The kitchen is, quite possibly, my favorite renovation in this house.

BEFORE:

The walls were this weird green color. During the day, they were a pretty sage-y green. At night though, when the lights were on, it was this glaringly minty-blue mess. Yuck. So as much as we enjoyed the daytime green, it really needed a new color. Plus Nemmie always wanted a yellow kitchen ;)

On top of the odd color, we had the same problem as the bathroom - ugly cheap 70s cabinets. And the weirdest of the weird - the corner pantry area. The narrow pantry area had this recessed wall next to it, and a big block of a door that slid side-to-side to get to the pantry. It just seemed awkward and in the way and not right for our kitchen (kinda 80s looking). I didn't get any pictures of it before we worked on the room, and it's almost a shame. That thing was just not right.

Observe - greenish-blue walls with 70s cabinets:






AFTER:

We painted the walls a warm yellow, and the cabinets went white. I love painted cabinets, but beware - it is ROUGH. A good sanding and 5 coats of paint later, they were finally looking okay. We added new hardware to some of the cabinets (replaced pulls with knobs). It is amazing the change in the room:



Oh yes - those are fresh-from-the-oven cinnamon rolls you see on the counter (check my other blog!).

My extra-special baking corner, with all my flours and sugar on the counter (and baking pans, bowls, goodies in the cabinets, and special tools in the drawers...):

Here is the other side of the kitchen, where our pantry and spice shelves are. The little cabinet comes from Scott's mother's side of the family, a great little antique. It's filled with cooking magazines, newspapers, and our other cooking stuff like aprons etc. The pictures on the walls are all my favorites from the food blog.

The pantry. We took the big bulky door off, then painted the recessed area with chalkboard paint. It rocks, and is one of my favorite little corners of the house.

7 comments:

rebecca @ older and wisor said...

Linking over from Better & After - beautiful! A bazillion times better.

Treasia Stepp said...

Coming over from Better & After blog. Your kitchen turned out very pretty. It looks three times the size of the before picture.

fleurcottage said...

it's lovely, lovely!

Natalie said...

saw your kitchen over at better after also. great job! love the pantry and your spice cabinet is so cute. I was curious what you did for your window treatment?? i have a really similar window in my all white kitchen and need a new solution. yours look so much better without showing the top of the window??? you can see mine here... the all green window treatment in the first after pic is the one! thanks!!

http://centsiblychicsisters.blogspot.com/2009/09/nats-kitchen-remodel.html

Nemmie said...

Thanks girlies!

Natalie: I basically used the valance instructions from this link (http://www.bhg.com/decorating/window-treatments/window-projects/simple-window-project-ideas/), only made the longer fabric in front rather than in back... And hung with a basic white CHEAP curtain rod thing (like this: http://www.draperyandbedding.com/images/uploads/curtain%20rod.jpg). Hope that helps! Love your brown kitchen!

Jacinda Vandenberg said...

We just painted our cabinets white too! They looked pretty much identical to your old ones. Same new hardware as well (looks like it anyway.) :) Nice!

Anonymous said...

Also here from Better After. Can I just say I love you because I have the same cabinet doors (actually, mine are uglier) and I think you just saved me $2500 in new doors by proving that yes, I should just go ahead and paint what I have and it will look great.

Well done!