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Home Improvement and DIY

New Kitchen and Dining Room Progress!

Hello friends! I am happy to share that our new house is coming along! I know you have been interested in seeing how things are turning out, but  I have been so swamped with real life renovations that it has been hard to take the time for weekly update posts. I did  however snap some pictures on my phone recently to share a short post from the last two weeks’ kitchen and dining room progress.  They aren’t the most “bloggy” pictures, but I am excited for you to see some “befores,” and I didn’t want to keep you waiting!

 

 

Here’s a view looking in from the living room into the kitchen which used to be a traditional dining room. Can we take a moment to enjoy the beauty of our DIY restored century old floors? I love them!  The living room has been furnished and decorated since I took this photo (see some updates here.)  There’s only about two weeks left until we have a functional, useable kitchen too!  It probably won’t be completely “finished” until late summer because we still have some trim and molding details to add and a full ceiling makeover. I am going to save the “final” kitchen reveal for my fall home tour. 

 

The Great Dining Room-Kitchen Swap!

As soon as we realized we wanted to put an offer on this home we knew we wanted to open up the wall between the kitchen and dining room.  After we finally got possession of the home and started working, we came up with the idea to  swap the rooms since the dining room was much bigger and would allow us to have more modern kitchen.  The new kitchen is so spacious and will be wonderful for entertaining! We also wanted a huge island and space for our son Liam to show off all of his cooking skills when he comes home to visit from Culinary sschool!

 

Everything in the kitchen and dining room has been custom built by my husband, William, including the island and faux finished European style copper range hood (he’s an amazing artist!) He created the look of a ten thougsand dollar range hood for a just a few hundred dollars! My brother also helps out with most of the electrical and plumbing. Between the two of them there’s not much they can’t do!!!  I am blessed to have two handy men to make my visions a reality!

 

 

The cabinets are just builder grade Oak from Lowe’s that William dressed up with trim and paint (more about that in a later post.)

 

Here’s an earlier photo before the kitchen walls were painted or the refigerator and pantry cabinets were installed. You can see the beautiful columns and header he built for the opening between the dining room and kitchen. You can also see the board and batten walls in progress in the dining room in the background.

 

This is the view down the hallway from the foyer looking into the dining room. The gorgeous board and batten has been primed and ready for paint. What color???? Oh boy, decisions, decisions!  I was going to go with a historic blue or moody green, but once the walls were primed the light was phenomenal and I am back to thinking I want to keep it light and bright, with a feeling of continuity and openess from the kitchen where we took out the wall.  It would be stunning both ways, so I am actually very stumped on this one! Color is on trend, but I am not a follower of trends, yet like to keep things updated, so I guess I do follow some trends!  However, color is also historic and looks phenonmenal on built ins, trim and moldings. Any thoughts? 

 

 

All the new columns and moldings are a “theme” we have carried throughout the home during renovations.  They were inspired by the beautiful newel post in the foyer and at the top of the wonderful, turned staircase which you will see on a full home tour. Since taking this photo we have painted the  foyer walls, trim and moldings in Dover White by Benjamin Moore and it’s so bright and pretty!

 

 

You can see how William mimicked the newel post molding on the island too. So pretty! This week he is building the wood countertops. Here you can see the plywood base for the oak slabs.

 

We actually had it in our budget to do a quartz  top island, but in the end we kept gravitating back toward wood  (not butcherblock) since most of our house is off white and the kitchen is white too. We wanted to warm it up with some wood tones, as in this inspiration photo. Years ago William built gorgeous wood countertops for the kitchen in the little cottage we lived in prior to the yellow brick home, and I loved them. He has learned so much more about woodworking in the last 15 years so I know the new ones will be gorgeous too!

 

 

As I mentioned, the kitchen used to be a traditional dining room, so there were some challenges with the layout for a kitchen. This set of three  long windows prevented us from being able to do cabinets or countertops along this wall.  Still there was a lot of space, so I came up with the idea to do a window seat. I knew I would miss my window seat in our current kitchen so I am thrilled to have one at the new house too! It will have extra storage under the bench seat which is great.

 

 

Here is the view from the dining room (original kitchen) looking in to the kitchen. The doorway to the right is a walk in pantry! EEEK, so excited!!!! On the floor are two cabinets for the china cabinet built in that my husband is building. I wanted it to be similar to the one in my current kitchen that I am sad to leave behind, especially since the kitchen is just a little over two years old.

 

 

He designed the new cabinets so I could  bring my wavy glass doors with cremone bolts  to our new house. I had spent almost two years searching for them when we were designing our kitchen at the yellow brick home, and they are just so “twenties” they will work perfectly in our new 1926 American Foursquare too. I do have some glass door to replace these 1920’s wavy glass doors when we put the yellow brick home on the market in early fall.  I will miss this kitchen view, but I think the new dining room built in will be just as pretty, if not prettier!  (It might not be white though!)

 

How do you feel about built ins with pops of color? I LOVE the look, but still undecided as to whether I want to live with it. I have to make some choices fast! We have about a week on the dining room left! 

 

 

I just want to say how blessed and thankful I am that my sweet husband has worked from sun up til sun down to make all my house dreams come true.He knows that interior decorating and beautiful homes and gardens are my life passion, and he goes above and beyond to do make just about any of my ideas come to life within our budget. It’s his artistic talents that really make these dreams into reality. He’s a keeper!

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the kitchen and dining room in progress! Check back in soon for more or our new house updates. We’re almost “home!”

Thanks for visiting,

Amber

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4 Comments

  • Reply Debra@CommonGround

    It’s gorgeous, I’m drooling. He’s done an amazing job. He’s a real craftsman with all that fab woodwork. I cannot get over those wonderful floors.

    July 13, 2023 at 12:18 pm
  • Reply Julie Briones

    Wow! It is really coming together! And you know me… I’m all for light/bright/airy! But that WOULD be a big change for you! Excited to see what you decide… it will be lovely no matter what!

    July 13, 2023 at 1:57 pm
  • Reply Michelle | Thistle Key Lane

    It’s going to be amazing Amber! Can’t wait!!

    July 21, 2023 at 11:03 am
  • Reply Barbara Chapman

    Oh my goodness, Amber! What a great kitchen!!! Can’t wait to see how it all turns out. I’m glad you are taking your glass doors with you! Funny, from our first house, we took our 2 mos. old microwave and swapped it with the one from the new house (our Big House in California), and took our closet.. Funny how we have to have some things that move with us. 🙂

    Enjoy deciding upon cabinet colors,
    Hugs,
    Barb 🙂

    September 16, 2023 at 9:28 pm
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