House Renovation - Kitchen Facelift!

Happy Monday Everyone! I am finally going to start doing some posts about the work we've done on the house! I have a feeling these posts will go on for at least a year! 

This made me laugh! 

We bought a 1936 craftsman/cottage in Ty's hometown. It had been added onto in the 40s and 70s and the kitchen was updated in the 70s. I may have said this before but I was being very particular about where in his hometown I wanted to live & I am so glad we waited, instead of getting impatient and buying elsewhere. The little area we live in is full of tree lined streets and old houses. It's just so charming! I love the history and the character in the houses. 

Ok, back to business. Here are some before shots of the 1970s kitchen we walked into...

(I know this picture is blurry but it's the only one I could find of the whole kitchen!) 

I know you have curtain envy right now.

Don't lie.

Wood, wood, and more wood (and lots of Formica). I love me some rustic wood but this was straight out of 1970 and it made me cringe. Those are wonderful sturdy cabinets so everyone begged me not to replace them (and we're working on a budget people!) so I decided to just paint them. I researched painting cabinets quite a bit but luckily the old owners had left some old cabinets in the garage so we got to play with those extras a bit before we tackled the whole kitchen. 

We were extremely lucky that the sweet owners let us get in the house before we closed (the house was empty) and start doing some renovations so we painted the whole kitchen and got new hardware before we ever moved in! It was such a blessing! We didn't have to empty cabinets or anything, which would be such a pain! 

Sherwin Williams was having a sale so I picked out one of their whites (Snowbird was the name) and decided from our trial and error on the extra cabinets that we would need to prime the cabinets first, then do 1 or 2 coats of the paint (we ended up doing 2 coats). We bought some high end primer so we didn't have to sand & got to work! 

We didn't take the cabinet doors off, and it worked just fine. Yes there is paint on the inside of some doors/drawers but does it bother me? Nope. 

We also didn't paint the inside of the cabinets and it doesn't ever bother me! I figured if it bothered me I could go back and paint the inside but I have never thought twice about it!

Our sweet parents helped us paint and we primed, and painted 2 coats of white paint in one weekend! And managed to take a trip to the lake while the 1st coat was drying!!!

Was it a mariculous job? 

Yes. 

I won't lie.

But was it worth it?

Absolutely! 

I think it makes SUCH a big difference. So much brighter and looked bigger!

Here are some after shots! 

My little sister helping me unpack the kitchen on move in day!

Our fridge and microwave are new. Both of my ovens are straight out of 1970 but for some reason they don't bother me much. I like that they're vintage looking! I will use them until they bite the dust and then we will get new ones. I absolutely adore having two ovens! It's so convenient!

I about had a meltdown in Home Depot trying to find the right hardware but I finally settled on some new knobs and handles and I LOVE them! I went back and forth between silver or bronze but decided to go with bronze because it looks less contemprary and more rustic. 

And here is my favorite kitchen inspiration  picture...

Dreamy.

I love it because it's our exact layout & I want to copy it. :) 

So next up - new floors (I think we are going to go with hardwood tile - have y'all heard of that? It's tile but looks like hardwood!), new tile backsplash, a farmhouse sink, and new countertops! Should we do Butcher block like my inspiration picture? Or light granite? I don't know I keep going back and forth! This may not happen for awhile but I can live with it for now. :)

Thanks for reading along! I'll be back for more!