Updating The Old, On A Budget And A Few Years!

In my opinion, …..

……and you know I always have an opinion…

…my kitchen was very outdated when we bought this house almost 8 years ago.

Today, I am going to show you how far we have come, what mistakes we made and the few other items that are still on my list of “yet to do’s”.

But you be the judge, take a look at the before picture as it was listed in MLS.

The Captain on the other hand…liked the kitchen and thought the honey colored cabinets and the 12 inch granite tiles on the countertop AND the backsplash looked pretty good.

Of course he did.

You know, and I know, many times “they” (and you know who ‘they” are) tend to look at the budget costs for a new kitchen and suddenly the “old” kitchen looks pretty darn good to them.

But……

I would go into my kitchen with the thought to roll out noodles or cookie dough and I would look at those granite tiles and run my hand over them, feeling the un-even-ness of an asphalt road with Semi-Truck grooves.

As you can see from the Real Estate pictures above….the walls were red.

Yes, bright red, your eyes are not deceiving you.

This Spanish/Mediterranean house had bright red walls which, in my opinion, did not help the honey colored cabinets and brown multi-colored granite TILES on the backsplash and countertops.

And see that corner “garage”?

Yep, the garage with no garage door.

That had to go.

And those countertop edges were nothing but dirt catchers.

Ugh!

I loved the open lay out of the kitchen, but not the surfaces.

I talked the Captain into removing the tiled counter tops and replacing them with a granite slab.

I chose dark chocolate granite which actually looks and is black.

And since we were removing all the granite….the garage went bye bye and the cooktop island was expanded by about 4 inches.

I did not like the little 5 inch “railing” along side the countertop closest to the pool.

I didn’t know what it was for.

It was too small to place any plate on and only served as a divider the same height as the bar.

I got rid of that too and leveled out the counter top which added much more work space.

I received a lot of suggestions from friends and family as to why I should keep that obnoxious little ledge, but I am glad I listened to my inner self.

That was a good move.

We also replaced the sink, it went from a 50/50 stainless steel outside mount to a 60/40 stainless steel drop down inside mount.

The granite people wanted to put that little 4 inch back splash to match the counter tops, but I said no, I wanted a travertine tile back splash, up to the bottom of the upper cabinets and under cabinet lighting.

I picked a rustic variegated tan colored travertine, that went well with the honey cabinets, repainted the walls to a beige to pick up colors in the back splash…but I really didn’t like it.

It is only paint, said the Captain and can be repainted.

Beige walls were a BIG mistake.

It didn’t look awful…it just was not the look I was going after.

The kitchen remained pretty much the same for a couple years.

However, as I said, I never really liked those honey colored cabinets, but I was stuck with them due to cost….until…

Until…. we decided to replace them with white cabinets.

Loved, Loved Loved the white cabinets. 

They really opened up the kitchen even more.

I kept telling myself that the travertine tile would grow on me.

That I would end up loving it.

WRONG!

Every time I looked at that tan travertine between the black granite countertops and the white cabinets, I would cringe.

The under cabinet lighting didn’t help.

It gave the tiles an almost yellow hue.

I mentioned to the Captain that I thought white subway tiles would look very nice in place of the tan travertine.

I also thought white french doors and a new kitchen window would also be more to my liking.

After all, we had replaced the dark mahogany plantation shutters with white AND we re-painted the kitchen a pretty grey.  Agreeable grey to be exact and I loved the look. We also repainted all the dark woodwork to a bright white.

Things were looking up, until I looked down at the tan travertine backsplash.

And then…..

I got the brilliant idea of painting it.

What????? Paint the backsplash?

 

Yep, and that is what I did.

Someday, we will replace the painted travertine tile with white subway tile, but until then…I am loving the look of the backsplash.

I will let you know how it holds up, but as of right now… it is doing well.

It takes an epoxy enamel at least a month to “cure”, so I have been very careful not to bang it or chip it until the paint has cured, nor have I added the white bead of caulking….under the cabinets and at the base of the backsplash…so don’t look too close. I was just so excited to share the backsplash…

I will post later of the process I used and the reasonable cost of a quart of paint later.

Let’s look again at the “before” we moved in…

And now, several years later with a slow change in paint, the cabinets, the ovens, the stove top, the microwave, the dishwasher and the wine cooler, counter top and now the backsplash!!

For now, I am very happy with the way the kitchen looks.

Well, almost.

I would sure like to replace the floor tiles with hardwood flooring.

Hmmmmmm…..perhaps the money I saved on replacing the backsplash will give a “count” towards the flooring!

More to come…

Have a great and blessed day.