Kitchen: Before and After

I have about a billion blog posts I want to write, and never seem to be able to actually do them. It's not that I don't have time, I just don't have time and the ability to focus at the same time, I guess.
Plus, someone likes to wait until he sees me on my laptop then come over and touch everything that he knows he's not supposed to touch (and I have a touch screen laptop).

But, I thought I'd write this one right now before I have time to forget it or do something else (also my house is moderately clean right now, so I don't have to feel guilty about typing instead of cleaning...except for the four baskets full of clean laundry that need to be folded and put away :/ ).

I was looking at my Timehop app today, and came across some pictures of my kitchen four years ago on the day after we moved in...or rather moved up because we had already been living in the basement. I was shocked at how much the kitchen had changed. I mean, I know we did a ton of work on it, but it was all done a little at a time, so the change now seems so dramatic. The pictures clearly aren't professional grade, and my kitchen isn't perfectly clean, but you can still see the difference.

 

 We still want to change the counter tops, particularly the island (you can't see it in these pictures) which is still pink. I really want butcher block counter tops and maybe and under mount sink, but that's WAY down the road at this point. Almost all of the changes we've made so far have been relatively inexpensive. Obviously we painted. We also put the new backsplash up which is actually pvc laid over the old backsplash.

We bought the new cabinet hardware from Ikea and the new faucet from Home Depot. Most of the plates come from Target, Pier One, and my (and my mom's) cabinets. I covered the switchplates with scrapbook paper, and it's one of my favorite updates. I know that sounds silly, but it adds the pop of color I like. You can't tell in the picture, but the design is little kitchen appliances and utensils. I think the only other update is the dishwasher which we just recently bought. The one we had was ancient, and although it worked decently the springs had broken on the door and it very easily fell open if we didn't keep it locked. We thought we had fixed it, but then it fell open one day and missed Cai's head by about two inches. That's when Steve decided we needed a new one. And we were able to get one that had everything we needed and was deeply discounted! Also not pictured, we replaced the ceiling fan above the center island with a cheap light fixture from Walmart. We made the switch right before we listed the house on the market two years ago, and picked something that was modern but inexpensive (from Walmart). It's probably not exactly what I would have picked had I known we wouldn't be moving, but it's a major update from the fan (which we didn't really use).

I love that even though my kitchen isn't perfect, it's a bright and sunshiny place that I enjoy cooking in.