Kitchen/Living Room/Basement Bathroom Remodel

Disclaimer:  I want to remember all of this because I have found that my memory stinks.  You will probably think it's really boring and way TMI.  Just skip to the pics if you just want to see the end result. The people who lived in our house before us did some really awesome things that we probably would not have had the guts to do.  We live in a typical split entry home, but the reason we bought it is because they had knocked down the wall that makes a typical split entry kitchen so small and used half of a bedroom to make the kitchen larger and add a large pantry.  We loved the size of the kitchen and didn't hate the updates they had done to the kitchen.  They weren't really our taste but they weren't bad.  We knew eventually we would redo it but were totally fine with how it was.  The basement bathroom had been redone with all slate and it was really dark but not bad.  When we decided it was time to do the kitchen I kind of talked Dan into just redoing all the spaces I didn't like with what I liked and just stay here forever.  So, we did the kitchen, bathroom, and living room and downstiars (just paint and decor) all at the same time.  Once again, we are so in love with the final result but it took way longer than we thought and Dan did most of the hard work himself and it was horrible and we fought more than we ever have and were both so burned out that it was almost not worth it.  But, of course now that it's over and we like each other again, we are really glad we did it.  I feel so lucky and spoiled to have a kitchen like I have always dreamed.  We have really bought into the whole idea of a fixer upper.  There is no way we could afford a house with all of the finishes that we like and everything laid out like we want if it was a new build.  So, it has been a great investment and we love our home so it has all been worth it.

Once again, I spent so many hours designing what would function best and be the best use of space and be super pretty too.  I knew I wanted brick somewhere but wanted it light and bright.  We ended up with dark solid wood Ikea cabinets and then painted them white and light greige.  So, Dan put the cabinets together and installed them and the installation was pretty much a nightmare for him because he is a perfectionist who is not a carpenter.  But, they turned out really awesome.  The painters messed up our cabinets and had to buy a bunch of new ones and repaint them.  That part was so beyond stressful as I felt bad telling them that the cabinets were horrible and they kept trying to talk me into keeping them and then I wanted to curl up in a corner and cry because they weren't even kind of keepable.  The breaker in their shop flipped and the fans stopped and so all of the cabinets were drippy and so so bad.  Then they dropped some and knocked the corners off a few and tried to repair the damage with spackle...on brand new cabinets...yeah, it was not a fun time.  So, we ended up getting way nicer cabinets than we could have otherwise, but the stress may or may not have been worth it.  Going at it again, I may have waited until we could just afford for someone to do it all for us, but now that it's done and we didn't have to wait and didn't have to go into debt for it, I think it was worth it.  So, here are some of the before and afters.

Note the oven in the island that we had issues with because it took up our big spot of counter and the kids always wanted to help at the counter but if the stove was on they couldn't. We wanted to solve this problem.

 After we painted everything gray instead of green

The original before we moved in

 The original green that we actually liked and repainted for awhile and then got sick of and painted over with gray.

 Basement bathroom Before

Before and After of the Kitchen

 Dining before we moved in

 I like to joke that that $5 board and the 7 hooks are the most life changing part of the remodel...Dan doesn't like it when I joke about that ;).  But, really, all of that stuff you see there was just hanging on the bannister or on the back of the couch and it drove me insane.  Now, there are never any backpacks or coats on the floor because everyone has a hook of their own and it's almost as easy to put their stuff on the hook as it is to drop it on the floor, so they actually do it.  It has been amazing!!  Then, I found these prints of some things that are really important to our family, blew them up and I absolutely love that the first things you see in my home are the things that mean the most to us. 

 Dan made that vase on the table in high school.  I love it!

Before and after of dining

We had a map just like this in my home growing up.  It was in the basement but I just love it here.  It is sentimental and pretty and cool and it takes up that huge wall. It was an exiting day when I saw a map on pinterest and realized what I had to do. It's one of my favorite things in my house.

 Hall Bath all done

Hallway Before and After

This is one of my favorite parts.  Pretty much everything I love and that is important to me has a little spot on this wall and it makes me happy every time I walk down it.  It's not quite done but it's about there.

Basement Bathroom before and After

 The towel hooks really are life changing

 We painted all of the walls Amazing Gray (SW)

 I'm madly in love with my 33 in one basin sink.  I use a lot of sheet pans and washing them has always been annoying but it's something I don't even think about anymore.  It's pretty dreamy.

 Although you can't see the color well in these pics, we ended up with white on top and worldly gray (SW) on the bottom.  They are very close in color but just enough to be different.  This is probably the thing I debated the most for the whole remodel and I absolutely love what we ended up with.

 I didn't realize I had a small fridge but it was always stuffed and now I have so much space.  I am madly in love with the two bottom drawers so I can divide up the freezer stuff. 

 I had been dreaming up the kitchen for a solid 2 years before we did it.  This little area, that was previously where we had a microwave cart, was my favorite thing to daydream about.  I just knew it was going to be cool and it was wasted space before.  Dan completely redid the pantry shelving so the microwave would fit and so the space was used more efficiently so we could get rid of the microwave cart and make all of my dreams come true.  

 I have always loved brick but I also love practical so I knew I didn't want brick as a backsplash all over.  But, I had to have some.  Previously this space was just totally unused space.  We moved the pantry door over a few inches so we could fit some cabinets and move the stove out of the peninsula. I really debated putting upper cabinets all along the back as well but, in the end, we decided we just wanted it open.  It's not very often that design wins over practical for me, but it did here because we don't really need more cupboard space and I loved the idea of just all brick.  

 Dan did all of the lighting.  We got rid of the huge flourescent light and went for mostly cans and a little flush mount above the sink.  We love them all. He even did a little eyeball light to shine on the pot rack and shelves and I absolutely love it.