The kitchen!

Since this is our first post to our blog, we are going to tell you a little bit about what we have planned.  We plan to show you what we have done to our house so far and take you along for the journey as our house continues to change.  It is amazing what you can do to your home when you have determination, patience, and some tools!  We bought it in 2009 and got a really good deal.  It was built in the 1950's and hadn't been updated since the 1980's.  Almost every room had wall paper from floor to ceiling (ARGH!) something we weren't used to dealing with but we discovered a few tricks that I will tell you all about later.  It was a pain in the patooty, let me tell you, but we got through it!

Let's start with the kitchen because it was one of the biggest projects we've tackled or have almost tackled, we aren't quite done!  So far we have tiled the floor, replaced the backsplash, painted the countertops, yes, we said painted, replaced a few appliances, installed new lighting, replaced the back door, stripped wall paper, and painted the walls, oh and painted the trim!  Phew, I fell exhausted after that list.  WOW, we have done a lot!  Currently, we are working on staining the cabinets a red mahogany color.  We can't wait for it to be done but with all the other projects we have going on right now, it may be awhile!  Bummer!  So here are a few BEFORE pictures....

 Like that linoleum?  How about that stove?  You can't see it but the back splash had little bundles of wheat on them.  I know I grew up on a farm and all and have even driven a combine (for those of you who are going "a what?", a combine is the big machine that farmers use to cut wheat) but please, leave it out of my home decor!  

This is the old man river oven and microwave that didn't even work!  It seriously weighed like 5,000 pounds.  Not kidding.  I think it may have been the first microwave ever made!  You can kinda see the old door with some CRAZY curtains to the right!

You'll have to excuse the photography; I was in a hurry and just trying to capture as many details as possible.  We didn't own the house yet so I felt weird taking the pictures.  That is Ryan on the right!  I love him!  Back to the kitchen, the wallpaper was beautiful, peaches, and pears, and strawberries, oh my!  One thing you'll learn about me is that I can be very sarcastic at times.  That wallpaper was a jerk!  It did not want to come off!  Luckily, I have some wonderful family members that were wallpaper warriors!  We fought tooth and nail and finally got it all off!  Oh, check out that nice fluorescent box light.  It’s hard to see but it's in the upper left corner.  I love a nice green hue with my breakfast, sets the mood!

This is a view into the hallway.  The hallway had green slate that was not in very good shape and yes, more WALLPAPER!  We may have to have a most hideous wallpaper contest! The kitchen had some pretty good contenders!  Its hard to tell but....that hallway wall paper is PINK! 

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!  Duh ta da duh!  Here is the almost done kitchen!

See our new tile.  Guess what!  Craigslist!  That tile goes all the way into the hallway and covers the foyer!  It cost us $200 but if we would have bought it from the store it would have been well over $1000!  We are thrifty shoppers baby!  Oh and the back splash....CRAIGSLIST!  I think we paid $200 for it as well and we have some left to do our fireplace too!  The stove is Jenn air, would have cost over $1000 at the store.  We paid $60!  $60 people!  No, we aren't thieves!  We got it from the amazing Habitat for Humanity Resale store!  It was missing the knobs but when I saw it, I knew it was the one I had been eyeballing online.  All we had to do was buy new knobs and VOILA a new stove!  The dishwasher is the same but I bought stainless steel contact paper and recovered the bottom part!  Can't tell, can you?  The refrigerator was a Black Friday special and we LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  We used to have a side by side and those do not even compare to the freezer bottom!

This picture was taken during a snow storm.  Doesn't it look nice out there? HAH!  BRRR!  I forgot to mention earlier that we replaced the sink too.  I love the new door!  It brings more light in and shows off our deck.  I got both the interior door and the screen door at....can you guess?.....Habitat for Humanity, folks!  I loaded that sucker up all by myself, squeezed it in my CAR, painted it, and had it installed by the time my husband was home from work!  Can you say Wife Of The Year?  I can!  The interior door was solid wood, no paint, no pre-cut hinges, and a few gouges so I spent a butt-load of time filling, sanding, painting, and chipping out the hinge cut-out thingys.  Some of you may be wondering what the square cut-out is on the island.  Well, we think it is a phone book holder.  I hate it.  Anyone got any ideas of what else we could use it for?  I'm stumped.  Well, I think that about sums it up for this post.  Hope you enjoyed it! :)