Kristin's Kitchen

Short post tonight.  I'm supposed to be sucking all the living life out of these last precious summer days by camping at the beach for one last hoorah, but it's been pouring all day and I have lots of sign orders to tackle, so I thought I'd swing home and check some things off my endless to-do list.

Last week I met with Kristin- a passionate teacher, an incredible artist, mother and young grandmother and someone with so much drive and energy it puts me to shame. 

We had met for the first time last year as she and her husband were about to tackle a main floor remodel. 

They were also in the midst of helping plan their daughter's wedding. We discussed the direction of the project and I helped choose new colors, suggested trim painting, and offered other advice for kitchen updates, walls and furnishings. 

I was called back several months later as they had made a bit of progress with demo, but needed further direction in moving forward.
That second meeting is when I snapped these before/mid-project pics.

 This wall below divides/defines the living and kitchen areas.
Sorry these pictures are sooooo bad! Waiting on my Iphone 5.

 As you can see, original oak doors were taken down to get a fresh new coat of creamy white paint. They had debated at the time whether to paint existing doors and cabinet boxes or have the doors rebuilt and painted. They opted to buy some time and save some money by repurposing the existing cabinets. 
You'll see the paint color options laid out on counter, along with the wood looking tile choice we landed on.

 Dining area adjacent to the kitchen:

Below: Half bath/laundry as you enter from garage into the  back entry before walking into kitchen:

 
 Now for the before and semi-after-(we have wall art, window treatments and new chairs to tackle yet, but you can hopefully appreciate the transformation).

Before kitchen:

All oak trim throughout before Ben Moore's Ivory White made an appearance:

Can you even believe it's the same house?

(Confirmed my decision to FINALLY paint all the dark trim in the front half of my house. Stay tuned for that this fall).

 And some other random angles:

 Last week we also confirmed our decision to add the light taupe colored glass subway tile to add a little bling to the space.

 The Victorian looking settee (on the far end) is only there temporarily. We are looking to replace it with two club chairs with nailhead trim.

 In this pic below, you can see the oak dining table.  We're looking through different options for that as well.  Painting vs. buying new. She may want to get through a few years with the young grandkids before replacing so painting might be the fix for now.

 LOVE this sofa style. 

 Some of Kristin's original artwork below in the pirate themed main floor boy's bath and bedroom.

Such a fun visit to see all the progress they had made.  They're super happy with the updates.  She did mention that she wished that they had just 'bitten the bullet' and paid to have the cabinet doors replaced after seeing how beautiful the kitchen turned out. But I assured her this could still be done in a few years without altering anything she's done so far.  

Are you inspired now to bust out a can of creamy white? I know I am. 

Enjoy the last days of summer, Champs. See ya back here soon.