Monday, November 23, 2015

Kitchen reveal + Christmas cheer

So I started to record the process of our kitchen renovation more than a year ago… is anyone out there wondering if we’re still living with plywood counters and unfinished walls? Thankfully, we finished off the renovation last December, just a little shy of our due date deadline. Then we promptly took “after” pictures, documenting the completed kitchen with a dash of Christmas decor.

But between our new baby and Christmas festivities, I didn’t have a chance to post the photos on the blog until the Christmas season had passed. So I’ve been holding them until now when they’re once again in-season. So without further ado, a much-belated reveal of our Wild Oak cocina!

We brightened up the room with tile going all the way to the ceiling on one wall, using tumbled marble on the sides and a patterned porcelain tile over the stove (which resists stains better than marble). I also love the pretty pencil edge tile that separates the two. Yes, that’s a real baby in the pot, we couldn’t miss a moment to document our other masterpiece of 2014!!

Last year we spent a week in southern Spain for my sister’s wedding and were inspired by the gorgeous tile patterns and rustic roomy elegance of the European version of a country kitchen. Hence the vintage chandelier, farmhouse sink (ikea), and brass accents. We were delighted to find marble at a cheaper-than-corian price point and used it on the counters (danby marble from Vermont).

Opposite the newly enlarged window is a vintage chalkboard (craig’s list) hung above our former upper cabinets (now reused as lower pantry cabinets).

Facing the kitchen is a smaller family room space, with our sparkly tree and other Christmas touches.

Now let’s look back to when we first moved in to see how much things have changed! By selling the old granite and appliances, reusing cabinets, and buying used appliances and doing the work ourselves, the whole project came in well under our $10K budget. Most of the cost was for the wood flooring that we installed in both rooms, but what a difference that made in tying them together and flattering the stone fireplace. Here is the old view toward the sink.

And an old zoomed out view of the living space and kitchen (we removed that partial wall).

The expanded kitchen has become the hub of our home and it’s almost hard to remember it any other way, or the awkward but promising partial renovation stage. It’s such a fun space to decorate for the holidays, and I’m looking forward to pulling out our Christmas bins again soon!