House before and after

Our house had these really large red cedar trees. Cool, but too close to the house and we just weren't fans.

So we had them chopped down. Let's be honest, Steve was up in the tree, chopping down branches until his little wife got scared and requested he not go any higher. I felt 16 feet up was high enough.

I think the house looks much bigger now. I like it a lot more.

Now to sell the trunks. Supposedly, they are worth a lot of money.

Come on, Big Money.

yes, too much Wheel of Fortune at our house...

Finished

It's finished. And we're certain of this because we paid the final bill. Ouch. Not really, as far as kitchens go, and what ours had to have done to it, but still... ouch.

But let me not revel in the pain of the payment, but instead the beauty of an amazing kitchen. I'll try to show before and afters... if I can. And blogger cooperates.

Same view. Only fridge and stove/oven are switched. And new cabinets. And tiles. And lighting. But it's still green and white. Only before it was cream. And really, really bad. And it wasn't our intention to keep it the same. Except the cabinets had to be white. It's a requirement of the time period. There were more before. But they weren't accessible or good. The one in the top picture by the dishwasher (which didn't work) was actually just an open hole with an extension cord hooking the dishwasher and the garbage disposal up to something in the basement. No, that's safe. It's not a problem. And you can see that we have drawers and cabinets on either side of the fridge which weren't there before.

So these may be difficult to understand. The top is the view from the same side of the kitchen as the first, but different angle. And then two closeups of odd features. An old dresser, converted into drawer space (thanks for the effort) and a "bump out" which is actually the staircase going down in the basement.

                                                

The top two pictures are what replaced the bump out and the dresser. It's a wall of pantry. The cabinet over the bump out features the coffee pot and mixer, and hidden in the pantry is the microwave. And I LOVE the red granite I wish pictures did it justice.

 Another view of the sink side, etc. Yes, stainless steel. It scratches. Easily. But I guess it's actually supposed to. That is NOT a black cat sitting in the corner. It's knives.

 SO SO SO love this sink. Farmhouse. Nothing else ever again if I can help it. And windows that open. BRAND new windows that open. No gel caulk sealing them shut.

 This island doesn't really look like much.

But boy, is it handy. I can roll it right over to the stove top, if I need it.

Or over to where the MIXER is. So, I load it up from the baker's pantry, and roll it over to the mixer. Seriously. Amazing.

I made this narrow pantry the baker's pantry and place for tall things that don't fit in other spaces. I love working on this particular slab of granite, because the trash can pulls right out, and one can slide trash right on in.

Cool, huh?

 There are two of these pendant lights. One for over the sink, and the other over the granite by the trash can. That window looks into the TV room. Steve likes to wave to me from there...
The light in the window reflection is the main light in the kitchen.

This is a little tall for me, but I can reach them when I need them. Although, I may put something else there, eventually.

This is in the corner of the sink side counter.  The butter churn is the one my father used on the farm in North Dakota, when he was growing up. Cool. huh? And I love these coffee cups and especially how cool they really are, and to me, how cool God is. My friend Gayla gave them to us for our Wedding. I liked them, but didn't have a place for them. No counter space to spare and didn't really match. our OLD kitchens, that is. But GOD knew we were getting a NEW kitchen. And they are perfect. And I LOVE that.

Close up of the vent hood. So glad we chose this instead of a big microwave.

Cool faucet. THis was before the backsplash was added.

View from the back door.

 Big drawers. Good for holding things.

Cabinets

Pendant light in front of the window that looks into our TV room.

Matching one in front of the window over our sink.

Possibly my favorite part of the kitchen. This is the cabinet where my fancy mixer and the coffee pot (French Press) will go. And they will be plugged in AND on a roll out stand. Yes....

Cookbooks were supposed to go over our fridge, but it's not quite tall enough. So some will go there, but not all.

We were given permission to put things into our new cabinets. Yippee!!!

We now have a light in front of our kitchen door on our back porch. Imagine the thrill!

This is what our dining room has looked like since mid June.

And this has been the lovely entryway/living room.

More dining room. Nice, huh?

Every. Where.

This is all that's left to go in. Not too shabby.

We are making progress. Still no sink/countertop. Been put on a two week delay. Excellent...

Down to Bare Bones

SO I thought I'd give you a walk through From where we've been to where we are.
This is how it used to look. I know, it LOOKS cute... That square think only has two baby drawers. It's the space over the stairs leading into the basement. Does that make sense? Apparently, originally, that square thing was part of a butler's pantry and the kitchen was in the next picture down.

You wouldn't have been able to see that window from where I was standing, when the house was built. There was a wall blocking it off. The kitchen would've been along the wall with the sink and the little square area with the hanging light. (Which would have made that light make a lot more sense)

That's Jerry, our amazing contractor. So, they knocked the wall down and added those cabinets, and probably thought that bump out thing was a bargain, considering  how much space they gained.

Doors are off, everything (including the dishwasher that's been broken since we moved in) is still there.

That's an action shot.

And when you peel off the top painted layer of wall paper... there's MORE!

All gone!

And now the side ones are gone, also.

And now the bump out is down to nothing.  By the way, our entire house is made of outer layer of brick, wood and plaster (as shown below) and inner layer of brick or solid plaster.

Steve and I removed the wall paper. Ourselves.

Cabinets coming in.

More cabinets and drawers and pantry type items.

And there you have it. So far, so good. Quicker than I thought. Yeay!