Dining Room Before and After

I am happy to say the dining room is complete...okay there are still some small things I want to do in here decorating wise, but the big things are finished. There was not a lot of work to be done in here, but the updated paint color and new window treatments really make a huge difference.

I realize now that I didn't take very good before pictures of most of our rooms. Oops. If I could go back and do it again...wait I don't want to go back. I will just do it better next time.  Lesson learned.



This wonderful furniture and rug have been in my family for years.  My mother's mother made the original purchase.  And I added a couple of pieces that were not here before.

All in all I love the way the wood (floors, furniture, trim) work with this updated cranberry color.  I relocated this gold circular mirror from the living room.  I love it in the dining room.

This antique secretary makes a great cabinet for crystal.  Currently it is holding three generations worth...mine, some of my mother's and some of both of my grandmothers'. 

I am very sentimental about all of the pieces in this room.  I absolutely love having dinner parties in here.

I found my candle centerpieces and the drapes at Pier 1.  The drapery rods and tie backs I picked up at Bed, Bath and Beyond; and the paint is Sherwin Williams.  I would still like some tall thin lamps for the side board to complete the room.

I think this transformation is kind of wow, so I am linking up over at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays.



There was only one photo bomb committed during the picture taking for this post.  :)

Hi Bird!

Have a lovely Wednesday!!

Kitchen Before and After

Yes, it is the long awaited kitchen before and after post.  We started on this journey at the beginning of this year.  If you have been reading the blog a while you know that the husband and I took over my mother's house...also the home I grew up in. 

Over Thanksgiving last year, my sister, mother, and I cleaned out the house and separated generations of awesome treasures between the three of us, other family members and donation.  In March we started tearing out the kitchen and at the end of April we moved into the house without a kitchen.  We had this big dream that we could do all the kitchen work ourselves.  We are big dreamers.  We did do all the demo and the husband did lots of prepping, sanding and tiling and then we finally caved in and called contractors to give us bids to put everything back together.  Smartest.  Decision.  Ever.  It also helps we found an awesome contractor with great prices.

The house was built in the 1930's and has been in my family for a very long time.  My grandparents bought it originally and my mother lived in it for a short time when she was a child as well.  My parents eventually bought it from my grandparents when I was a baby and I grew up there.  The kitchen that we tore out was the kitchen that was there when I moved in as a baby 30-something years ago.  It should not shock you that the kitchen needed updates.

My plan for the kitchen was to maintain the feel of an older kitchen, but bring in the updates that were needed.  Here are a couple of posts about my planning:

House Ideas
It's Friday, Let the Work Begin
Kitchen Shopping

Now let's get to the good stuff, shall we?

We kept the foot print of the old kitchen, but moved some appliances.  You can see that the dryer was in the middle of the room.

Not anymore.

We moved the washer and dryer into the nook inside the back door where the water heater was.

Oh, look there's Sammy...weird.

The water heater is now tankless and no longer in the kitchen.  The washer/dryer was a new purchase and I love them.

The other side of the kitchen where the stove is was also packed with appliances and had a useless vent hood above the stove.

We removed the vent hood, put the freezer in the garage and added a pot rack and an additional counter top.

Heart.

We decided we would use all the existing appliances to cut cost and only replace the washer and dryer.  Well, we also ended up with a new refrigerator.

The new fridge comes with a great story that you can read here: Coming Together

The cabinets to the right of the fridge were old ironing cabinets.  The top one is where the ironing board would fold down from and the bottom is storage.  They are very shallow cabinets and my project for these is to add shelves, turning them into my new spice rack.  I can't wait.

The kitchen also has an adjoining breakfast room.

This is without a doubt my favorite part of this transition.

Love, love, love.

Here is a view from the kitchen into the breakfast room.

And from the breakfast room to the back door.

I do have a few things on the list still...my spice rack and window treatments are at the top, but I am so pleased with how everything turned out.  I think it is pretty wow.




Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!