It's 6 am on a Friday morning -- I've been up since 4 -- Thats what being 31 weeks pregnant will do to ya!
I've been so excited to share our kitchen renovation that we have worked so hard on... Yes, it took 8 months. Whoops! Laughing at myself now when I thought it would take 8 weeks -- HA! But, in our defense it has been a functioning kitchen for 4 months, we just had to do all the finishing work.
Demo started in December - we hosted our first Christmas on plywood floors and opened up walls. The kitchen didn't function until the last week in March. Whew those morning sickness months were FUN. Crawling to the basement where we had a temporary kitchen set up for a cheese stick and a water. GOOD TIMES. Our basement kitchen actually makes me think of being morning sick, haha. Not that I have intentions of cooking gourmet meals down there now that we have our brand new one, but even walking past it just gives me the dry heaves.
It took 4 months to do all the demo and work behind the walls. Tearing out the tile took triple the anticipated time. Basically, everything took SO much more time than we had initially thought. We also relied on my Dad to show us the way, so we really only worked Saturdays and Sundays for those 8 months. And we took a few weekends off here and there :) Once the drywall went up in March things started moving! On August 23, 2017 we put up the last and final piece of trim and the project was DONE! Just in time for our maternity photos that we had taken at home last night. And our baby shower that we're hosting tomorrow!
I was going to make a list of all we did, however when you look at the before and after photos I think thats pretty obvious! It was A LOT. We changed the entire footprint of the kitchen and gutted everything. And learned SO MUCH along the way. Our cabinets are Diamond white shaker, appliances from a Lowes Black Friday deal, wood shelves, island top, and barn door all from a farmer who does woodworking on the side - Whiskey Joes, Kohler farmhouse sink, Moen faucet, lights, table and chairs from Wayfair, solid hardwood flooring from Floor & Decor, countertops "minuet" quartz from Langstone, dining room and sink light from World Market.
We are so happy with the finished project! There were definitely stressful moments along the way and I questioned why we even bought this dark old house... But I am so glad we saw hope here and gave this little house some new life. It really is becoming our dream home. There are tons we still have hopes to do -- like add a master bath this winter, update and paint the garage, renovate the barn, landscaping for days -- but right now we are looking pretty good! Take a look at the before photos first! Hard to even imagine it that way anymore!
And here it is!!! Our perfect white and bright humble kitchen.
And I of course wanted to share some photos of us working along the way. Super fun to relive all of the steps we took to get here. Definitely didn't pop up overnight. Such a labor of love. We are so grateful for the help we had from our family and friends and just so grateful we were able to do this. I literally cannot believe it, but we did it!!
XOX - Ashley