Fixin' My Kitchen : The After

{see details and sources here}

This might be a little anti-climactic since, yes, it IS almost a year since we started this renovation but this is honestly the first chance I have had to take pictures and post about them.  I actually took pictures a month or so ago, but I am no "stager" and ended up cleaning the kitchen a little too well and the pictures just looked so stark - and sad - and unlived in - and not real.

I'm not going to take pictures with dirty dishes in the sink or anything but I much prefer real life pictures.  So here is a brief synopsis of the kitchen, followed by pictures, refrigerator art and all {my favorite}.

If you have been following my kitchen renovation, here, here, here, here and here, you might have seen that the renovation not only changed the layout of the kitchen, but of the back entry/laundry room as well.  Where the back entry used to be through the laundry room, now we have a back foyer space.  This is where 99% of people enter our house so this was a very big deal to us.

There was a large area of wasted space in our Master Bedroom that we reconfigured and created a combined pantry/laundry room.  I love that the entry to the Master {who is still in great need of completed-decoration} is in the same hallway space as this room - so practical for laundry purposes.

{pantry/laundry is door on the left, kitchen is directly behind the picture}

Overall, in the clearly materialistic sense of life, this kitchen has been one of the most wonderful things we have done for ourselves.  Our evenings are so much more of a joy, sharing the space between the kitchen {where I usually am} and the den {where Stephen usually is}.  Everything has a specific space and use and function.  I have more than three drawers total {in fact, almost my entire kitchen consists of drawers now!}.  There are still areas left to tweak - rug/runner between sink and range, back door to be painted, bench cushion to be made for back entry, art to be hung - but we are loving every minute in this new space and how it has transformed everything from food preparation to cleaning to storage to entertaining.  And yes, we both LOVE the open shelves.  I don't think I will ever go back. :)  I hope to follow up this post with reviews on different items/finishes/products we used for this renovation.  No promises as to when that will be, so for now, here are the pics!

DEMOUY BEFORE AND AFTER

Oh lets not talk about how I don't blog anymore.  Each post I randomly write addresses this fact and I still don't do anything about it.  So no promises, but I really do NOT plan on giving it up.
I thought I would change course from kid updates to work updates.  I DO promise that, when my kitchen is done, I will post about it.  No fun showing you an unfinished project, right?? :)

So here is a project that IS finished....

BEFORE:

Old old historic house that has been added onto a number of times.  The kitchen was odd shaped and inefficient.  With a BATHROOM in the middle.  No lie.

Through these doors is the front door.

Stepping back a few steps, here is the door to the bathroom. You enter the kitchen from either opening on either side of the bathroom.

Gorgeous old window, not so gorgeous old floors



The island was in the middle of the kitchen, with much of the "working" areas around the door to the breakfast room, making it quite a pain to access that room.


The refrigerator was in a corner and the pantry/storage space ran in front of it and across the back wall

Here you see the backside of the random bathroom



The big task was working with a narrow space, that had to be "walked through" to get to the breakfast room.  Also, the family has four children and the space had to be usable for eating/doing homework/etc, since the kitchen was also the "walk through" space to get to the bedrooms and the rest of the house.
When I design kitchens, I like to think of the space in "zones"... zones where more than one person can use the kitchen and not get in each other's way.  Someone can be emptying the dishwasher while someone else is cooking dinner.  Refrigerators and garbage cans can be accessed without making someone move out of the way.

I love it when clients take my advice to take "risks" and do something a little out of the ordinary.  This was definitely a fun kitchen to work on and my first time specifying caesarstone.  I loved it so much I almost put it in my own house!  Enjoy

AFTER:
{I always realize when I try to do these posts how terrible my pictures are.  There is a REASON photographers make the big bucks to do this stuff the right way.  I always forget to capture a very important angle or detail!}

Changes that were made: Large range replaced sink between two windows, with a downdraft behind it.  A small simple island with knee space at the end replaced the old long huge island.  This small island gives workspace for food prep as well as divides the working area of the kitchen from the "passing through" area.  A tall pantry cabinet, serving counter, and refrigerator are placed on the wall where the pantry cabinets used to be.  A penninsula eating bar closes off the kitchen, defining the space and providing counter height seating and a location for the sink and dishwasher.



I wish I had thought to remove some things from the counter, but I was rushing to pick up the kids from school and only had a few minutes to snap some pictures.  ONE day I will take "real" pics of my work.  One day...

Doorway to breakfast room beyond



Looking back where the wall of pantry cabinets used to be


The cabinets really change color in the light - sometimes looking dark gray blue, other times blue green


Custom counter stool cover...ticking stripe + box pleat = true love




Loved this white ostrich-look vinyl


In the hallway that passes through the kitchen, I encouraged my clients to consider a custom piece of furniture to serve as a "catchall" for all the items you tend to drop when you walk through the back door....keys, purses, kids backpacks, etc etc.  It would also serve as a focal point when looking back through the kitchen.  Designing furniture is one of my favorite parts of the job.  I don't get to do it a lot but love it when I do.
Here is the only full shot I have of it, before finishing touches:

Small benches on either side reveal hinged storage beneath.  There are four tall cabinets with hooks inside for backpacks/bags along the bottom, one for each child.  Small drawers in middle for things like pens, paper, batteries, etc.  Glass cabinets serve as a sort of china cabinet and open shelves hold cookbooks and other knick knacks.
This old instagram picture shows the relationship between the main area of the kitchen and the furniture piece






The kitchen was completed right before Christmas and then on Christmas night a huge horrible tornado tore through my clients neighborhood, completely destroying one wing of the house.  Thankfully the whole family was safely in the basement and the beautiful historic areas of the home, including the brand new kitchen, were spared.

I can't imagine living in a construction zone for months with four kids, just to finally have everything back together and then seem to be thrown right back into it all over again.  Kind of puts things into perspective!!

I hope you enjoyed the little tour, and I realize I am completely lacking a "whole kitchen" shot.
Shoot!

***all construction by BW Construction - if you are local and need a fabulous contractor, Bernard comes highly recommended!!! He is one of the best ***