Kitchen Redo

About a year and a half ago my husband and I bought a home in the Albuquerque, NM area. If you’ve ever been to Albuquerque, you know that the predominant style of home is the flat-roofed Spanish-style stucco home. Which just happens to be my least favorite home style. Ever.

To add insult to injury, our home is about 30 old, and up until we bought it, really hadn’t had any major renovations done. So perhaps you can imagine the decor we found inside. In case your imagination isn’t powerful enough to conjure up the salmon-pink floor tiles, dull brown cabinetry, hideously dated lighting, and carpeted bathrooms, allow me to share a few pictures.

The kitchen, as we found it – needing lots of love.

The kitchen eating area – also lacking in the love department.

The living room area – dark, dingy, and depressing.

And last, but not least, the oh-so-lovely master bathroom. I hope you’re appreciating that stained glass window over the bathtub. My neighbor was aghast when I removed it. And threw it away. Also please note the fully carpeted floor (which went all the way up the front of the tub. More pictures of that beauty in a later post!).

Is that enough pictures to give you an idea of just how ugly this house was? If not, I’ve got plenty more where those came from!

Well, it’s a year and a half later, and we are just about done with our whole-house makeover. Hallelujah! Today I’ll share with you the kitchen area.

Here’s a quick comparison of the kitchen area, pre- and  post-renovations:

 

And a quick before and after of the eating area.

Not looking too bad, huh?!

Now to give you some of the details. We started out by basically gutting the kitchen entirely – out came the salmon-pink tiles, the ancient appliances, the ugly brown cabinets, and the dated light fixtures. We installed clean, bright white cabinets (purchased from Lowe’s), cream marble countertops, new appliances, new sink, new faucet, and a new dark-stained wood floor.

Perhaps my favorite element in the kitchen area is the tiled backsplash. I had (what I thought at the time was) a brilliant idea to save money by buying the inexpensive white mosaic tiles at Lowe’s. Unfortunately, the white cabinets, light cream countertops, and white backsplash were all a little too white for my taste. So, my next-best brilliant idea was to buy a few sheets of brown glass tiles which were on sale for $9.99 at the time, separate the tiles into individual glass pieces, pop the small diamond-shaped white tiles out of the white mosaic, and replace them with the brown glass. I love how it came out, and although it was a little labor intensive, I think it adds a nice pop to the backsplash and the entire room.

I found the square-ish silver knobs and handles on closeout at Lowes, and I think they add a nice hefty feel to the cabinet doors and drawers.

My favorite area of the whole room is the eating/dining area. I painted it a sage green, and with the pantry doors and all the trim and shutters painted white, I think it makes a nice contrast to the dark wood floors. I also love the drum shade (also from Lowe’s), which was super cheap (I think about $65). It doesn’t throw much light, but it does add a nice touch of style to the space. Can’t have everything, I guess (at least not on a budget).

We’re really enjoying our nice, bright kitchen. Next time I’ll show you how the previously hideous bathrooms turned out!