Kitchen :: Before

My kitchen is not finished. Not even close. I just finished priming the walls & have not even started on the cabinets. And this is just phase 1. Phase 2 will come at a later date (and probably not even the same time, so Phase 2 & 3) & will include new floors, counters, backsplash, sink & faucet. But I thought it would be fun to look back at what was here when I bought the house... so here we go:


Wooooo! Look at that wallpaper (+ border)! This is the dining area of the eat-in kitchen... check out that chandelier! Fancy. Nothing says 1959 ranch like a chandelier w/a pineapple center! Also... biggest phone ever. And that weird black strip on the door? That's weather-stripping done wrong.


I noticed all my photos are from this side of the kitchen (ha)... here you can see the back door, the doorway to the living room (check out those curtains... hot!), where the fridge goes, the counter stovetop, & the some of the cabinets. And the off-white counter (yuck). Oh, and see that chair rail? Yeah, they just put it up & painted over the wallpaper. That was a fun discovery.


More cabinets, they're in good shape. I like that they have flat doors. But I'm not a fan of that orange wood. You can also kinda see the sink/faucet although they blend in very well w/the counters as they are the exact same color. The composite granite sink sucks. And there's the backsplash... peach w/a brown border. Ugh.


Pretty much the same view though you can see the wall oven off to the left. And there's a great view of the floor. Not the most horrible thing I've ever seen, just not my style.

So, there you have an idea of where I started... the house is a ranch built in 1959. It had one owner before me. Old man chic. Haha. It's a nice big space, tons of cabinets + a pantry (which I don't seem to have taken any before photos of). But it was really lacking in the pretty department. Like I said before, Phase 1 on the kitchen was removing the wallpaper & painting the walls plus painting the cabinets (white). But there are always surprises. In this case it was 3 layers of wallpaper over unfinished drywall, some of which was literally crumbling & being held together by the wallpaper. Took FOREVER to remove it all & then there was fixing drywall, skim coats, sanding, etc. Yeah, I have no patience or attention span so I stopped and started many times. But I'm determined to have Phase 1 done by the 1st anniversary of buying the house... and that's approaching fast.

Preview for visual types: the cabinets will be white, the kitchen walls pistachio green, & the dining area white. White trim, of course. I have a new light for the dining space & a killer plan for a table. No plan for the backsplash yet, but I'd really like either white corian or butcherblock counters, a slick stainless sink w/a faucet like this. And the floors? Thinking plywood, either painted or just sealed.

See? This look back was a good motivator to move forward... :D