Kitchen Make-Over

Long time no post!

Life was a whirlwind the last couple of years and I am happy to report that I finally found my home sweet home and I will be celebrating the one year anniversary on August 5th.

It's not a farm house, not even really my dream house {it has the potential to be though!}. I wanted to be able to purchase a home and shop with enough land for a mini farm in cash and not ever have to worry about a mortgage or rent. Which means beggars can't be choosers right?

So I dumped all of my savings into a very sturdy 100 year old Craftsman style home that came with land, gardens, mini orchard, and a very large 2 story brick building near by that is perfect for a store front.

This left me with very little cash flow left for improvements so it has been slooooow going, trying to save money when and where I could. 

The first project on my list to tackle was the room that I spend the most amount of time in....the kitchen! I love love love to cook and with a large family I'm always keeping them fed.

It is just me and my dad trying to complete things in-between 3 kids, cats, goats, taking care of the gardens/property, markets, sales, social media, website upkeep, and a couple of health issues. I thought we would never complete it, but here we are!! 

There are still a few things I would like to do but cost and time is currently limiting us. I want to do something about the flooring in the little bump out where the appliances are, and get new counter tops and sink.

Here are a few before and afters so that you can see what we started with:

The previous homeowners grandfather built the cabinets. I love that they had a history so we decided to keep most of them. We took out the ones above the stove so that I could put the fridge over there and not block so much of the window because the kitchen was VERY dark. 

I bought new handles and knobs {Menards for around $30 for all of them} and used Rustoleum in Linen to paint the cabinets. 

 The wallpaper stripping was INTENSE! There were somewhere around 5 layers of wallpaper and once we got down past all of that there was linoleum half way up all of the walls. The process took months, and then drywall mudding to cover up the dings and holes.

 I'm in love with the subway tile. Would you believe it is peel and stick and took less than an hour? They are from a company called Smart Tiles. I choose the Metro Blanco, because I liked the simple classic look. 

This was such a simple solution for us since we were doing it on our own and not hiring out any contractors to save on costs. 

I was even able to hang a vintage painting on the tiled wall {by myself!} with nothing but a hammer and nail. 

 I found this rug at Home Goods for in front of the sink for $12. I like how the colors play well with the room.

The most expensive part of the make over was the ceiling. It was around $400 for all of the bead board, trim, nails, and caulking. It was well worth it to hide the bumpy wallpapered ceiling. Oh yeah...did I mention the ceiling was also covered in wallpaper? After a couple of months of doing walls we gave in and decided on the bead board. I'm glad I did. I love it and it adds so much character and charm.

 The lights above the sink and kitchen island are also from Menards, and were fairly inexpensive {I think under $30 each}

 My kitchen island was a $50 yard sale find. It belonged to a sweet old ladies husband and had been his work table in the garage before he passed away. I painted it with my most favorite paint color EVER Hurricane from Country Chic

For the top we sanded it down to bare wood, and I mixed Hurricane with some water and gave it a wash then waxed. 

For the walls I used Bistro White from Lowes. The trim on the windows was a random mis-tint from Menards. I'm calling it "mushroom". I chose to paint the window trim because it was not original to the house and looked cheap compared to all of the other trim. 

Since we took out the cabinet above the stove we needed a new spot for dishes. I had this metal rack on wheels that fit in the spot perfectly. {spot the Tim, he likes to model}

I scored these cabinets from Facebook Marketplace. They were previously built in's in an old farm house. 

My dad striped them, we added bases and painted with the Linen White. One stores all of my mason jars and canning supplies and the other stores all of my apothecary goods. 

All in all I am SUPER pleased with the kitchen make over. Now it is light, bright, airy, and better organized.