Before & After: Our Real-life Kitchen Renovation

If you’re somewhat addicted to HGTV like me, you’ve seen more than your fair share of kitchen remodels.

At the beginning, the show host, contractor or homeowners stroll through the room, eyeing all the so-called problem areas with noses slightly turned up, and deem the project a “total gut job.”

Thirty to 60 minutes later, the kitchen—and very often the entire house—has been completely renovated and everyone is ecstatic about all the entertaining they are now able to do with their open-concept floor plan.

For most do-it-yourselfers on a budget, of course, home renovations are nothing like that. They cost less, take a lot longer and are not nearly as expansive.

What happened in our kitchen last fall and winter was real-life remodeling, plain and simple. And while the project wasn’t captured on video for a national cable audience, the end result is something we enjoy every day.

This is actually the second time we’ve given the kitchen a facelift. Not long after we moved in nine years ago, we painted the walls, added a light fixture above the table (strangely, there was none there before) and replaced the cracking tile countertops with laminate (a perfectly acceptable counter covering, despite what the snooty homebuyers on HGTV say).

Over time, we also replaced the ancient refrigerator with the leaky ice machine, the dishwasher that was louder than a freight train and the wall oven/microwave combo that was warm to the touch even when it wasn’t on.

We ended up with a functional kitchen that met our needs for several years. As I wrote last week, though, it was time for a change. And I think the change has been good.

Before, the kitchen seemed dark and heavy. Now it’s light and bright. Somehow, it just feels better.

Although I didn’t realize it until I started taking pictures for this blog post, one of the things I love the most is the way we incorporated the old in with the new. I’ll use the pictures to explain more about that. But before I give you a tour of the new kitchen, let’s take a quick look back.

Our home was a foreclosure, and we bought it knowing we would likely refresh or redo almost everything eventually. Here’s what the kitchen looked like when we moved in.

Next, the space after the first round of updates.

And here is the kitchen today, including a few closeups of some of my favorite features.

I’ve never been a big fan of gold-toned hardware, and when we moved into our house, I wanted to replace all the original brushed brass cabinet pulls (55 in all). We never found ones we liked that fit our budget, though, so we just left them in place. I love how they look with our freshly painted gray cabinets.

Speaking of gold tones, at some point during the last several years, Molly heard me say I needed a new filing system. For the next gift-giving occasion, she gave me a gold file folder rack and a package of gold-embossed file folders. They sat on the floor in the dining room for months, but they’re now the perfect accessory for my desk.

Our kitchen table was pretty beat up from more than a decade of kids’ crafts and homework, meals and even an occasional woodworking project. We couldn’t find a replacement that we liked, so Randy decided to refinish the table. I touched up the chairs, and just like that, we had the “new” table we wanted.

We never used the old trash compactor next to our sink, so Randy took it out, shuffled the cabinets around and installed shelves for baskets. Now we have a designated spot for recycling and all the shopping bags we use as garbage can liners.

One of my favorite parts of the kitchen is the under-counter plate rack that Randy installed during the first remodel. It was a creative way to fill empty spots where old appliances had been, and it’s still a handy way to keep my favorite dishes within reach.

The overall color scheme in the kitchen is pretty subdued, so the light fixture we originally installed above the table brings a much-needed pop of color and ties together all the art and accessories.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Our kitchen renovation didn’t cost nearly as much as the projects you see on TV, but it goes to show that with some wonderful new finishes and surfaces, along with a lot of hard work, dramatic DIY transformations are possible (and perhaps even more satisfying).

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Before we end this little foray into all things DIY, please feel free to share about your most memorable home improvement project—large, small or somewhere in between.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with Purposeful Faith, InstaEncouragements, Let’s Have Coffee, and Grace & Truth.