Are you ready are you ready? Of course you are, duh. I’ve taken way too long to get to these After photos posted and for that, I am sorry. These past few months working on the kitchen have been nothing other than a rollercoaster, but then again, that’s life for ya! Plus, we’re pretty smitten with the end result.
I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking for me.
To jog your memory, here’s some before and after comparisons:
From the dining room
Before
Midway, after the wall was down
After
Another Dining room view progression
From the back of the kitchen
Before
Midway, after the wall was down
After
A look at the sink side
Before
After
And the (old) cabinet side, now home of the range
Before
After
And here’s some more shots of the space and some little details:
Remember that sneak peek a while back?
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CORBELS!
And that other sneak peek..
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CURTAINS 🙂
Here’s a small cozamia framed print along with Vito’s MeatFest (It’s an annual rib smoking competition) trophy.
Since we apparently now have a pig theme going on, I got my CB2 bookends from my inspiration post as a birthday gift:
Shoutout to Giada – does anyone else’s man love her? She really does have the best recipes…
Here’s a shot of our undermount sink. We wen’t with a granite composite sink and Moen faucet
Lights, also from my inspiration post are from IKEA. I painted the cord that hangs down gold with some acrylic paint to make them look a little more special than with its original black cord. Old school filament bulbs also make them seem a little nicer.
Here’s a close-up of our beveled subway tile and dark grout. This grout turned out MUCH darker than I had expected (I was going for only a slight contrast with a mid-gray color). We had purchased it a darker color based on reviews (with pictures) that indicated it dries so much lighter. Not for us! I think it had to do with our application technique due to the beveled tile. Anyway, I was upset about the color at first, but it’s kind of growing on me..
And here’s one of Vito’s most creative ideas yet!
It’s near the top of the wall – guess what it is? It’s a new cover for our doorbell! He was skeptical of his suggestion to use this cuban cigar box, while I was jealous I didn’t think of it first. He just cut a slot out of the back to slide on top of the doorbell insides, drilled a few holes in the front of the box to allow the sound to escape, drilled the whole thing to the wall and called it a day. So far, it’s been a great conversation starter. (What is that? Why is there a cigar box on your wall?)
So, what do you think? I’m loving getting used to a new kitchen. It’s been fun to throw stuff in the cabinets and then get a real feel as to how each new drawer and cabinet should be used, so that’s a work in progress. I’m also happy we kept most of the serious things neutral. Now, each random item I have, like my bowls or teapot, has its place among the eclectic style and I can easily update the colors when I want. It’s still not 100% complete, but I’m OK with checking this project off as D.O.N.E.
A few things I’m going to add:
- A chalkboard on the small wall below the doorbell cover
- A new rug in front of the sink
- A solution to the big black mass that is the side of the fridge (I loathe that the eye is drawn to that as soon as you look into the kitchen)
Since it’s all small, we’ll take it slow and fill in those spots when feeling creatively inclined 😉
What have you been working on lately? Isn’t it the best feeling when that huge project (home, work, or life related) is complete?
Till next time xo,
Malorie
What a great transformation! I have the same ceiling lights in my kitchen 🙂
Thank you!!
Mal,
While we paid BIG bucks to have our kitchen overhauled – I LOVE YOURS! And, you did it yourself. Next time we have a big project….we’re calling the “VITOMAL Team”!! Congrats to you both. See you in November.
You guys are awesome, thank you so much! It was definitely worth all of the labor and was also so much fun because we got to design it from scratch. I’ll be over at your place any time you need us! xo
Weeee looks amazing lovey!! I CANNOT WAIT to see it!!
(and because we’re like the same person — I chose the samee IKEA lights for our staircase when we redid our upstairs haha)
So funny! I remember seeing them and being like OMG we just bought those haha! Thank you thank youu
Can’t wait to see it in person it’s amazing! Do
You love the floor??
We love the floor! It’s so great under foot 🙂
beautiful! love the shelving and the lighting! so pretty!
Thank you so much!
Wowzers!! Your kitchen is FABULOUS!!! Geez, am I jealous…I love your cookbook collection on the little shelf. Shout out to Sushi and the Sri Racha cookbook. ;D
Thank you so much! My husband is the sushi maker, he’s gotten pretty good 🙂
First thing I noticed were the tiles they turned out AWESOME. Very nicely done.
Thank you! They were definitely a gamble but we love them
Holy cow, that’s an amazing redo! Just lovely. Was that a load bearing column in the middle of the room (the brick sided one)?
Thanks so much Sue! It wasn’t a load bearing wall and the column was actually a chimney that was connected to our old heater and how water heater. We had to replace both of those with high efficiency versions so that we could vent them an alternate way, but we’re so happy we did!
Oh my gosh just based on this makeover I’ll be your newest follower! This is stunning(including the dark grout!)
Thank you so much Sarah!!
On the side of my fridge I’ve got a bunch (25 ish) of magnetic silver jars like these http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?sku=13335656&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&device=c&network=g&matchtype=&gclid=COHVit3M8rYCFQHNOgodDmAAUA
They look really cute with all the colorful spices in them. People tend to freak out when they see them. Also, The Container Store sells spice labels that are clear to put on the lids so you don’t mistake your paprika for cayenne! It was a bit of an investment and took a full day to fill everything with the spices, but worth it! 🙂
That’s awesome Tara! I love that idea. You’re getting some ideas churning here
In love with this kitchen! Partial to the pigs and love the counter! Great job! Would love for you to share at the Give Me The Goods Link Party{1 party, 5 blogs}!!
Ha, thanks Amber! Sounds good, would love to share at the Link Party
Totally gorgeous! I am drooling here! Just a couple of questions; You knocked out the wall between, what did you use to make the place structually sound? I can’t see any beams over head. Did you use a steel I-beam in the ceiling cavity? Did you get a structural engineer in before you started? I love it so much I want to copy it! Great job.
You’re too sweet Maria! My husband is an engineer and we also got a couple opinions and since it wasn’t a load-bearing wall we didn’t need to add anything once we took it down. Our home is an old bungalow so we have one main load-bearing wall that spans the length and so long as we don’t mess with that, were safe :). Let me know if you have any other questions!
You made that into such a beautiful space!! I would use everything in this room as inspiration for our continuing remodel (and will).
Wow, thanks so much Maria!
Your kitchen is absolutely gorgeous! xo
Thanks girl!
Wow – what an amazingly beautiful kitchen! I would never want to leave the house 🙂 I am in love with your counter tops. Can you please tell me about them? I made my husband get up from watching TV to see them and he agreed that they are awesome! I look forward to checking out the rest of your blog!
Your kitchen is amazingly beautiful…I would never want to leave the house if this was mine! I am especially enamored with your counter tops. Would you please tell me about them? I made my husband get up from watching TV just to see them, and he agreed that they are awesome 🙂 I look forward to checking out the rest of your blog!
Thank you for your kind words! The counters are butcher block from Ikea that we routed, stained and sealed ourselves. Here’s a link to that post: http://frazzledgrace.com/2013/04/09/kitchen-overhaul-thats-a-lot-of-wood-2/