project update: kitchen remodel

I last updated you on our kitchen back in June when it was still a hot mess. We are mostly finished with the first round of kitchen renovations, so I figured it was time to share some pictures!

After two months of waiting, our pantry door finally arrived. You can see how we updated and organized our pantry in this post.

I still need to paint underneath the cabinets where we removed some fluorescent lighting. I've been avoiding this because it is caked in grout from the tile we removed!

Our first DIY plumbing project was installing this faucet. I'm happy to report it was a success!

Still on our to-do list:

- update flooring

- new windows

- paint underside of cabinets where we removed lighting

- remove stick-on toe kick, replace with wood, paint to match cabinets

- remove blinds above sink window and replace with roman shade

- hanging plants in window above sink

- baseboards in pantry

- built-in island when we replace flooring

- create breakfast nook (post on this coming soon!)

1 >>delaney hardware cira polished chrome lever<<

2 >>cb2 bell white flush mount lamp<<

3 >>garden barstool in blue<<

4 >>ranarp pendant<<

5 >>danze amalfi faucet with spray in chrome<<

And just in case you need a reminder... this is where we started with this project! 

I'll be back later this week talking about the specific updates we made and how we did them on a fairly small budget!

living room update

Here is what our living room looked like when we moved in. We had cream walls, baby blue ceilings, and white beams. The owners before us were going for a contemporary look, but it just didn't feel right to me. They also put in these new wood look tiles, but I'm not a huge fan and we will eventually change them out. I've had my eye on tiger striped bamboo or dark wood flooring in a herringbone pattern.

This is where we're at so far in the living room. We painted the ceilings Behr Ultra Pure White, the walls Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray, and are currently in the process of painting the beams Benjamin Moore Nightfall. We also covered up most of the floor with a new rug and I'm waiting for my new white Moroccan pouf that will go in front of the fireplace. I'm still on the hunt for the right coffee table and the art on the mantle was just placed up there quickly when we moved in, so ignore these as they will also be changed around a bit. 

If I had my way, I'd take out all of the brick surrounding the fireplace and put in millwork and marble tile similar to this:

[source]

Since I could never convince Charlie to take on such a large project, I'll settle with painting out the fireplace the same bright white that we used on our ceilings, and the mantle will go the same color as the beams. I think it will really brighten it up in here, because right now it's feeling a bit cave-like with the wall of brick.

I've hesitated until recently to paint it because I'm trying to think ahead to when we're ready to sell the house, and there are many people that dislike painted brick. Since we're the ones living with it for the next few years I've decided to take the plunge - I'll keep you posted on the progress!

project: pantry makeover under $100

I've been eyeing inspiration for our pantry makeover lately, and when I saw this image of Caitlin Wilson's gorgeous pantry, I knew I needed a shelving system that had pull-out drawers.

via Rue

I also knew I wanted it to be all white. 

via Lonny

Our pantry was a nasty beige color that made it look so dirty that I didn't even want to put our food in there. The layout was pretty much identical to every other pantry I've had, but this color really bothered me.

The beige mixed with the yellow shelves felt old and dated and it had a weird musty smell that freaked me out. It also had plastic stick on baseboards which are just... no.

The walls got a good scrubbing and two fresh coats of white paint. We painted our living room ceilings in Behr Ultra Pure White, and used the leftover paint we had in here.

I had been planning on using the Elfa system from The Container Store, but once I started pricing it out I looked for other options. I ended up finding the Algot system from Ikea for less than $100! The Elfa system was going to be at least triple that, and since I'm weighing everything I do in the house to how much we'll get back in resale value, I decided it wasn't worth it to spend the extra money when this system would work just as well.

It took Charlie and I about an hour to put together, and would have been easier if we had the recommend suspension rail on top for spacing. We purchased one, but when we got home we realized someone had opened the hardware box and taken out two of the pieces we needed to hang it! It was a Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend when we realized this, and you couldn't pay me to go to Ikea at that time.

We're almost finished, but still need to add new baseboards, paint the kitchen walls and trim white, and hang our new door and hardware. Our door is on backorder so we'll be doorless until late August, but I don't mind - It feels so good to walk by everyday and see the transformation.

We have a small guest bedroom closet that needs a major makeover, and I like this system so much I'll be purchasing another to use in there, too!

UPDATE: See our updated kitchen and pantry with it's new door in this post!