Before & Afters: Kitchen & Living Room

The past few years have been a series of 'befores': kitchen, dining, flooring, upstairs attic room and then the Airstream bathroom...

whew.

Call it a can of worms, a series of fortunate events, a big ol' mess...

THE KITCHEN

The house is dated 1928 and was about 945 square feet-tiny, but it worked for years. The dining room was maybe six feet by eight feet: tiny. The kitchen was still original and was made for very petite people.

We took the wall out between the dining room and kitchen, re-worked a little here and a bit there until we got a much more functional space.

For a while we were able to set up a temporary space to use,while work was happening all around us.

Open shelving or cabinets? A bit of both! After laboring over which brackets to use for shelving-some were too ornate, some too small-the mister decided to custom make floating shelves. This created a more clean look, with so much else going on.Oh this ol' fridge! We loved this little guy. Though we hated to see it go, luckily a great young couple down the street adopted it!For a while, we moved the kitchen into the living room.
Ta Da!! We made it to After!!

We have cupboards and drawers on the left dedicated to baking, flowers, and tea making. To the right is the misters department 'the command center'. It's wonderful!

We were able to keep costs down with a bit of craigslisting, the mister trading service for product, and by saving for what we absolutely wanted: reclaimed flooring and the doors and windows. 

One of the items the mister wanted was the Sub-Zero fridge. There was one on Ebay and when he saw that it hadn't sold, he contacted the seller and made an offer: it was accepted! It had been used as a second fridge and only for drinks, otherwise brand new for a quarter of the price! Lucky us.

Last step, my dream item: reclaimed barnwood floors. The mister was willing to go along as long as we could find a company to tongue and groove them.  We did, making us both happy!

LIVING ROOM

And again, TA DA!!

We moved a small round table into the living room for sometimes dining, sometimes puzzles-although, when friends come over, we tend to bring a bunch of stools around the kitchen island. Before the remodel, the front room was much more floral, when I brought the Satillo serape we threw on the back of the couch, the vibrant flea market art naturally followed. Now, we can easily change out linens and art when we want a new feel, and keep the base pieces!

With the new year, we plan on enjoying more impromptu meals, gatherings, and most of all, glamping and camping!