Kitchen Before and After

Well we did a little mini makeover to our kitchen. Just some paint and new lighting really. There is still a long list of things to do but I thought I would give you a little sneak peak. We all remember the before of ugly wood cabinets, hideous fluorescent lighting, oh and of course the flower wall paper! 

After
We removed the cabinet doors. I love love the open shelving. I was a little unsure at first if I could do open shelving but now I may never go back. Unloading the dishwasher is a breeze and when you have company over no one is asking where the plates or the glasses are. Just set up the buffet line in the kitchen and everyone grabs what they need!

 We installed corbels from Home Depot under the cabinets for a more custom open shelving look.

  A few details....
~ upper cabinets are painted Alabaster (Sherwin Williams)
~lower cabinets are Useful Grey (SW)
~ trim Alabaster
~walls Natural Choice (SW)
~ hardware Martha Stewart (Home Depot)

This little spice area had doors but I took them off and got these great little spice containers at Ikea.

  New chandelier from Overstock.

New small school house light from Lowes.

You can also see in the above pictures we replaced the fluorescent lighting with recess which made a huge difference. All in all this mini makeover was just under $2000.... not too bad.

Still to do.....
~ curtains for the big widow over looking the back yard.
~ bamboo shades for the other window.
~ lighting above the sink.
~ new rug for breakfast area
~  paint chairs for breakfast area

Long term to do's.....
~ pull up linoleum flooring and refinish hardwoods underneath
~ rip our lower cabinetry and replace to make a true galley style kitchen
~ oh and of course Carrar marble countertops
...... one day!

Bookcase Before & After

Well I have been doing a little work on our office lately. We had these old bookcases..... I gave them a little update with some high gloss navy. Here are the before and after.

Before

After

 

Sorry not the best pict!

A Lamp Revamp

I wish I had a before picture of the base of these lamps (but I forgot to take one.... oh well). They were a pair of brass lamps from the 80's my mom had sitting in her attic. With a little spray paint primer and gloss white spray paint.... what a transformation!

Now for the shade.... I bought these shades from Target

This trim from my favorite Lewis and Sheron

And now I have great lamps for my guest room for under $30 for the pair!

Backyard Before and After

As promised here is a little before and after of our backyard. There is still much more to do (patio furniture, window boxes,etc.) but here is a little bit of what we have done so far. Might I say we are very lucky to have inherited a beautiful yard from our previous owners so there is not a lot to do but we have enjoyed making it our own.

Before

After

Mirror Mirror on the Wall We have a New Use for you After All

This is the before picture of our half bath (more after picts to come once it is finished). Notice the mirror above the sink (sorry I don't have a better before picture). It is too short for the space. It has since been replaced with a mirror that is more appropriate for the space. Therefore we had an extra mirror (that I didn't love) and no place to put it. So after a fun little weekend project...


and a little of this...
We have a delightful new chalkboard for our kitchen!