After nearly 6 months of a major renovation roller coaster ride I am sooooooo excited to say that we have finally finished our kitchen makeover!!
Out of all of our renovation projects in the 3 houses we've revamped, this was definitely the hardest one we've tackled - and yes there were tears! Apart from Symon only having time to work on it on his days off, the major issue was trying to refit and revamp a second hand kitchen into our space (last time it seemed to work fine!). We wanted to try to save money, so found one online with a lovely granite bench top and great appliances. A couple of breaks in the bench top (and replaced appliances) later we realised that this little project was going to be a rather big one.
This whole kitchen felt like a giant problem solving adventure with issues at nearly every turn, and the final product is not quite what we set out to achieve... but I can honestly say that I absolutely love it.
When I look at my fondly named "Scandi Wooden Kitchen", I don't just see an amazing space that I love cooking and entertaining in, but I see the hard work, the tears and the tonne of love that my amazing guy put into this space.
I'm so excited to be able to share our before and after photos - they never quite portray the true difference, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.
Here we go...
The original kitchen space consisted of a kitchen area that was closed in by a corner pantry and false wall where the fridge and a shelf sat. Our first goal was to remove this false wall (after checking that it wasn't structural of course) and allow the natural light to flow through to the rest of the house.
Symon was just itching to knock out this false wall and pantry from the moment we bought this house... but I made him wait right up until after he had recovered from his knee surgery in April, then finally released the Kraken!
You can see the pure joy in his face....
And the demo didn't stop there... lots of things got ripped right out. It made me appreciate floors, kitchen benches, taps and sinks so much not having things like that for quite a few months...
But we got there. With every obstacle we kept pushing forward and promising not to give up - and we finished (when I say we, I hardly did much apart from the odd bit of painting and styling... Symon is definitely the hero in this story).
Before...
After...
Note our black floors - a bit daring but I love them. We needed something to contrast the wooden cabinets and I'm in love!
The other side of the kitchen area was originally the dining room, but as we wanted to convert the third lounge (I know that sounds weird, but this old bungalow had 3!) into a dining room and we needed the extra space for cupboards, we wanted to utilise the low-set folding windows into something unique. Originally we wondered if a nook style seating area would be fun, but then had the genius idea to turn the windows into a cafe bench space. I did wonder if putting a slab of wood across windows was too strange, but after a bit of research, discovered it wasn't too strange at all - so many cafes do it, so why couldn't we!?!
This would have to be my most favourite spot in the house. As you sit in this space you can feel the stress melting away. I love it - best idea ever!!!
Before:
After:
And our pantry and fridge sit on the other side of this space...
I love the openness in this space now that the wall has been removed and also the ceilings painted...
Before...
After...
Before...
After...
So, I'm in love with this space! I love it's openness, the black floors, the photo wall that reminds me of the adventures our family has had in the past year and our amazing family and friends. I love love love the window cafe bench, my coffee island and the wooden cabinetry.
Most of all I love my guy who kept persevering even when we both realised that we made a bad decision buying this kitchen. I love that with every single problem that came up (and believe me, there were many) he kept on problem solving and persevering when most people would have given up.
I especially love that in the eleventh hour (right before family arrived to spend Christmas at our house), when I broke one of the cabinet drawers he stayed up late on Christmas Eve fixing it and told me he still loved me to bits, even though I have broken an awful lot of things this year.
I seriously love and appreciate this guy.
Next renovation on the list is the dining room - but I'm going to make sure we have a good break in between!
Room Details:
Walls = Dulux Half Haast with Okarito ceiling and trims.
Floors = Amazing black floors by Ed's Floor Sanding in Whangarei
Accessories = Wooden slab for cafe bar sourced locally at The Renovation Warehouse, Concrete/wooden Light shades from Bunnings, chrome inset lights from Mitre 10 (on special for $6 each). Coffee Wall art from Trademe, Green rabbits from Junk & Disorderly, Blinds ordered online from Easy Blinds (super great price), photos printed via Social Print Studio, faux skin rug from Kmart.
To see more/all of our renovations, click here.
5 comments
It looks stunning, hope you spend many a happy family time in your kitchen and have a very happy new year!
ReplyDeleteJust amazing! What an inspiring and beautiful space xx
ReplyDeletelooks fabulous! i'm the daughter of the last renovator (a good 25 or so years ago!) :) This house has sure seen some changes over the years and many many renovation tears and joys! Those concertina windows originally came from Whangarei Girl's High School (approx 1992?) and were a whole $10 a window from memory! :) It looks amazing! you've done an incredible job and it must be so much brighter and lighter now with that centre wall gone!! I have amazing memories in this house. Well done you guys!! Amazing amazing job!!
ReplyDeleteJust wondering how you displayed all of your photos like that? Are they printed to a certain size, on a poster, or bluetaked to the wall? I want to do a similar thing at our place. Thanks - love your blog BTW. Very down-to-earth, and homely. Bless you all.
ReplyDeleteHi. Thanks for your comment! Yes I printed 4x4 square photos from my instagram account with Print Studio. Many company's will do it for you. I just used blue sticky does to attach them to the wall. Have fun!
DeleteThanks for your comments... I love hearing from you!!!