October 13, 2009

Before and After Home Improvement-Kitchen

WARNING: Picture overload. I apologize in advance!

A lot of my local friends have personally seen the transformation of our house slowly take place, but when I saw DIY Show Off post a Before and After Home Improvement party, I felt obligated to join and share some before/afters of our house. We bought our house in May of 2008 and I love every minute of personalizing it and making it 'our' place and our home, but I do feel the work is never done!

Before we even moved into this house the first thing we did was transform the kitchen and dining area. Now, don't get me wrong, the before wasn't bad (so if any one of you have this same color or style, I'm not judging, it just isn't us), but the space before felt a bit dark and drab. I seriously felt I was walking into a Duck Head commercial kitchen with the forest green and the wood cabinets...I felt any moment I was going to turn the corner and see a deer head hanging off the wall--that is just what the color palette felt like to me, personally (again, no offense to anyone with this color palette!).

I wanted natural light to shine in and a more soothing color for this space that people often congregate in--so we took action in creating a brighter, more open and inviting space:

Before: Kitchen

Before: Kitchen
Before: Dining

(not our furniture, previous owner's)

Before: Primed Dining

Before: Cabinet Doors Off
(prep for painting)
Before: Primed Kitchen
After roughly 2 weeks of working on this project, the following is exactly what we did, which wasn't much, but made a great transformation to our kitchen and dining. Again, amazing how paint makes a world of a difference!
  • Walls: taped, primed, painted
  • Cabinets: sanded, primed, painted, new hardware, accent lights above cabinet molding
Below are some after pictures. The kitchen/dining are still not completed, as I previously said, I feel my work is never done. When time and money permit I would love to put up a tile back splash and crown molding, and maybe redo our counter tops....ahhh to dream!

After: Kitchen

After: Kitchen
After: Cabinets

After: Dining

17 comments:

Roeshel said...

WOW KIM! What a transformation! I love the fresh and brightened look. LOL at your comments on the before pictures! You crack me up!!! Your kitchen after is gorgeous! I love white cabinets and the paint color is so pretty!

Thanks so much for adding your inspirational project to the DIY Show & Tell! I LOVE it!

Roeshel

Kimberly said...

WOW! Amazing transformation! Great work!

My DIY is posted here: http://foreverdaisies.blogspot.com/2009/09/scrapbook-room-remodel-revealed.html

Moore Minutes said...

Oh, this is gorgeous! The colors you picked are so pleasing. Well done!

michelle@somedaycrafts said...

I like the after much better. I will sleep better tonight knowing that you have a gorgeous kitchen!!!

Heidi said...

looks great! love the color!

Mama Thompson said...

Your kitchen looks great...I am looking to paint my cabinets white...but I am struggling with what color white to choose...what did you use?

Anonymous said...

I love your cabinets! It looks like they are the same builder grade oak cabinets that came with our house. We are in the process of painting our cabinets too, but we can't seem to cover up the grain of the the cheapo wood. What did you guys do?

Holly @ ReidAllAboutIt.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the help! We are not so much worried about the look of the grain, but it seems to be "bleeding" through a bit. Wish us luck! We are sanding the primer back and putting on the first coat of latex tomorrow!

Beth@The Stories of A to Z said...

It looks fantastic. I have dark wood in my kitchen and I constantly think about painting it white. I love the way yours turned out. Nicely done.

Ashlee said...

This turned out beautiful! I love the wall colors and the accents of blue!! Thank you for signing up to follow me, and for the sweet comment! I didnt see where I could sign up to follow you, but I will stop by often! Take care!

jen @ the inspiration studio said...

I love the make over! The blue walls and white cabinets are so calming! I have been contemplating using a similar shade of blue for our master bedroom...after seeing how gorgeous your kitchen looks, I am pretty much convinced! great job!

amybluestar said...

Yay Kim! I'm so proud of you. BLUE!!! you know I love it. . .

Linda@Coastal Charm said...

Lovin' the WHITE cabinets...great makeover you have done here in your kitchen.

Blessings,
Linda

Infarrantly Creative said...

Wow it looks so much better! Brighter, fresher, classic, what a difference a little paint makes eh?

Anonymous said...

It's so much lighter and fresher now. Great transformation!

Unknown said...

I was looking at kitchens on DIY Showoff and had to come visit your blog. Love the cabinets and the layout is similar to what I want to do to our kitchen. What is the square footage of your dining area?

Frugal Home Designs said...

I LOVE the white and blue combo. Awesome. I am just about to jump into painting mine. What shade of blue did you use?

Post a Comment

I appreciate you checking out my blog. I welcome any comments and ideas! Remember, these ideas I share are just a thought...a polka-dot thought! Thank you.

Related Posts with Thumbnails