Home Improvement

 This has been a year of remodel for our house. It is about 25 years old and many parts needed a facelift. 

We started with our master bathroom and bedroom. The shower was leaking and that was the catalyst to get us on the remodeling effort. 

The brown paint and outdated gold trim made it feel outdated. 

I love this hexagon floor tile! So much better than our builder grade square tile!

Many thanks to Jeanne' for helping us with the design! The shower is bigger, has a bench, and the tub has a lovely surround that works great as a bench! 

We gave our bedroom a refresh too! We treated ourselves to a new bed, which took a while to arrive, but I absolutely love it!

With that project behind us, we started to think about the kitchen. Everything in it was original, except the island that we changed out a few years ago. 

Since one thing leads to another, we opted to get rid of all the old and start over. The footprint stayed mostly the same, but the island was moved.

Moving everything to the basement was a lot of work!

Last glimpses before everything came out!

Taking out the old was hard work! The floors were laid up to the cabinets making it hard to get the cabinets out. It turns out the counter top was sealing the dishwasher in, so that was fun to get out!

The cabinet that housed the microwave and oven was huge and so heavy! I thought we might never get it out and finally had to get out the saw to break it up. 

Did I mention that Dad did the bulk of the work? We cannot thank him enough for taking this challenge on! He worked with the contractors and oversaw everything. Plus, he installed all the new cabinets himself! That was no easy feat as an older house means settling and nothing is perfectly level or plum anymore. He patiently leveled and fitted each cabinet to give us the best look possible. 

The rough in for plumbing and electrical took some time, then we finally got to see the cabinets going in. "It's beginning to look a lot like a kitchen!" became our theme song!

Once the cabinets were in, we had the hardwood floors refinished. We love the new finish we chose (the one in the middle) and it looks so good!

With the floors finished, we could come back in the house. Thanks to mom and dad for letting us stay for a week! Then, it was time for the countertops. 

I fell in love with the look of soapstone, but knew it would not be durable enough for a family. After going around to multiple stone yards and a lot of research, I picked a granite called negresco. It has veining similar to soap stone and the honed finish gives it a casual look. I was so excited when they were installed! I picked the granite and had to really push to find the one I wanted, so I was anxious to see it in real life. I am so happy with it and very pleased that Aaron is happy with it too! 

Then, it was time for the backsplash. We opted for an elongated hexagon tile in a deep blue grey color. The darker grey grout gives it a cohesive look and lets the tile shine. 

I love how it all came together. So many decisions and some  anxiety provoking moments. 

Changing the layout gives us great functionality! We now have a bar area where the kids can sit.

I love the cute pendant light we added over the sink and the under cabinet lighting makes everything shine!

The kitchen took just over 6 weeks to finish. I think with me as project manager and Dad as general contractor, we got this finished really fast! 

We finished up just before Christmas. I was super excited to have it finished, but a little scared to start using it and possibly mess it up. We got over that fear and did a lot of Christmas baking and cooking in it! Having 2 ovens that can cook at separate temperatures has been really helpful just like we thought it could be!

We added cabinets on this wall to give us a place dedicated to charging electronics and storing kids' backpacks! Jeanne' helped us so much with the design of this and it is completely custom for our space and our needs!

In the background you can see the large white cabinets. These are not that deep, but go floor to ceiling. They are perfect for storing spices and oils. Cooking is much more fun now that it is easy to see all the spices and get to what we need!

While we waited for the cabinets to arrive, Dad customized our pantry for us. Our pantry used to have deep, wire shelves that made it easy to lose foods. We had 5 jars of peanut butter at one time simply because they kept getting pushed to the back where the kids couldn't see them!

 The side area used to have wire shelves that due to their placement you couldn't stand in front of and had to lean in to reach anything. 

I came up with the designs based on the food we eat. 

 The top racks hold our baking pans and the pullouts below hold small appliances and foods like baking ingredients. This has proven so easy to use!

We now have pullouts that let us take advantage of the deep space and still be able to see all that we have. They also make it easy to put things back because we have one for salty snacks and one for sweet snacks.

The decorating is still a work in progress, but the dining room received a refresh with fresh paint, new chandelier, and new curtains. New artwork is in the future. It takes time to pick stuff out. 

I am so excited about this gallery wall on the stairs! Sweet pictures of us and the kids through the years make me smile each day!

Our powder room also received a makeover. Thanks to Dad for doing all the plumbing work. It now has new toilet and new vanity. Aaron changed the light fixture and towel holders to get rid of the old gold fixtures and we got rid of the chocolate brown paint to give this room updated style. 

Our family room received a makeover too. After more than 4 months to arrive, we finally received our new sofas. The great thing about them is each end has a recliner, so all four of us can put our feet up as we watch TV! The updated decor was fun to put together too! Over the summer our TV went out and I decided we should go big with a 75 inch screen! That led to a new console table and bookshelves to help balance out the look! I love the way it looks now and the big TV is awesome!

In addition to the inside, we put in new windows, new shutters, new garage doors, and new gutters to give the outside a fresh look. 

We never could have done it without Mom and Dad here each day doing, offering advice, making sure the contractors did a good job and making meals for us so we didn't have to live on fast food. Jeanne' helped us get our designs in place and made our spaces so usable for us! So grateful for the help of family.