A Dreamy Kitchen

So my original plan was to wait until our whole house is finished to "reveal" the finished product.  I've recently come to realize that if I do that it will be next year before you all see another blog post.  My new plan is to post room by room as we slowly get things finished.  That being said...we officially have a KITCHEN!!  Before you see the new pictures I just want you to remember what this place looked like to begin with.  It was bad.  The floors, the cabinets, the countertops...none of it stayed.

Side note:  Look at that sweet baby sleeping in his carseat! Where did that baby go??  Now he runs around this kitchen like he owns it.

We ripped out all the cabinets and floors, took out the soffit above the cabinets, got rid of the old appliances and opened up the wall going into the living room.  

Here it is!! I'm so so pleased with how everything came together.  Changing the layout has made the biggest difference.  It feels like there is twice as much space as there was before.  Taking the cabinets to the ceiling helps the room look taller and the white cabinets and neutral colors make everything so open.

I love all of the details of the kitchen but let me tell you...all of these decisions were not nearly as easy to make as I thought they would be.  (Especially when your husband makes you stick to the budget) :)  The countertop was probably the hardest decision.  Carrara marble is the most beautiful countertop that was ever created but apparently its a terrible idea to put marble in kitchens...even though everyone on HGTV does it.  So we ended up using quartz in a color called Lyra and I LOVE them.  

The color we used on the walls is called Watery by Sherwin Williams.  And since we're going for the "classic" look we had to use subway tile for the backsplash.

This island is amazing.  As soon as we get some stools I will spend all of my time right here.  When I was growing up, I remember spending hours and hours sitting at my grandmother's bar in her kitchen.  I learned to cook without even realizing it because I sat there so often to talk with her, do homework, maybe because I was in trouble a few times.  So, when we started planning the kitchen remodel one of my non-negotiables was some type of bar where kids (or anyone) could sit.  This will no doubt be the center of our house.  

I just couldn't have a brand new kitchen without a farmhouse sink.  I've loved the look for so long and now I love it's functionality too.  It's size makes it easy to wash lots of dishes at once...or to at least "store" lots of dishes until the dishwasher is empty.

I'm so happy to finally get to share a little slice of finished product with you all!! Hopefully before too long we'll have a few more rooms complete and I can share some more!!

Finally! Floors!

Here they are! We've finally finished laying all of the floors in our house!  Keep in mind that it's still somewhat of a construction zone and that it's hard to keep everything clean.  The floors clearly aren't polished and waxed but I couldn't wait any longer to share these pictures.  You can at least get a good idea of the different floor types that we chose and (hopefully) start to see what the finished product will look like.  My goal was to keep a fairly "classic" look throughout the house while adding as much character as possible.

The entire main floor of the house (kitchen, living room, and dining room) are covered with a "machine scraped" hardwood.  The "machine scraped" effect adds lots of texture to the floors and helps it to seem much less "perfect" and a little more "worn".  I love the personality that this feature adds to the floors but I'm especially glad that it will help hide most of the dings and scratches that are inevitable when raising a boy....and a husband. 

In the family room we decided to lay carpet.  I know, I know...not very "classic".  Sometimes you just have to put all of your design dreams aside and go with what will be practical.  This will be the area where Isaac plays and where we will spend lots of family time together so we wanted to make sure it will be a cozy space.  Isaac is already in the process of staking his claim on this room with his truck and blocks...what else does a boy need?

After giving up a little bit of character in the family room, I decided that we needed to redeem ourselves and do something different in the half bath and laundry room.  I decided to go with these brick pavers and to have them laid in a herringbone pattern.  I love how they turned out!  These floors will continue to gain character over time as they become a little worn in and not so perfect.

After much debate, I decided to extend the hardwood upstairs into the hallway and master bedroom.  It's hard to imagine what a big space will look like covered in floors that you've only seen in a sample thats a few feet wide.  These are even more beautiful than I imagined they would be when we ordered them.  Also, it's hard to take pictures and keep babies out of them once they start walking.  He makes the room cuter though, don't you think?

  

THIS is my favorite feature in the house to date!  Trying to stick with the classic style, we decided to cover the shower in white subway tile and the floors in white hexagon tile.  The black grout was a leap of faith but I love how it makes the patterns pop!  Once this is really scrubbed down it will be such a clean look...and clean is what you need when it comes to bathrooms!

The guest bedrooms and Isaac's room are covered in the same carpet as the family room.  Once again, practicality won out.  I will say, the rooms have a very warm, welcoming feel already because of the carpet.  Also, the pictures make the color look a kind of brown, they are actually gray.

We hope you've enjoyed another look around the house!  Once all the trim is finished we will start putting in vanities, toilets, washer, dryer, and other details.  By the end of the month the kitchen will start coming together too.  Check back soon for another update!