Kitchen Makeover - REVEAL!

The day has come when I can finally show you what we've been working on for the last 3 weeks  

{and what's been percolating in my head for 2 years!}. 

I'm kind of in LURVE with it. I hope you like it too.

We still have some finish touches {under-cabinet lighting, area rug, wall art, curtain, etc}, but I can't exactly show you a finished product every post - I need time to curate...and build up the war chest again! Haha!

Without further ado, here's our new kitchen!

 So...what do you think?

Here's a "Before" when the previous home owners lived here.

NOT our stuff. NOT our style. And that's not even my arm either! Haha! Very dark, cocoon-like and "Tuscan".

Now you're asking what did we do to make it so lovely?

Well, my amazing husband did a lot of the work {remember, I'm the brains behind the DIY. Oh, and I'm also the Mummy, so I look after the kidlets...for the most part, ahem.}.

PAINT

 Big A took down the cabinet fronts to paint.  We used Benjamin Moore's OC-15 - Baby Fawn. 

It's a light, bright greige. It's perfect to match our granite {which we were NOT going to change!} and it also complements the floor tiles - which I don't like, which is why I need an area rug for the kitchen. 

Big A used the paint sprayer to get good, even coverage on the cabinet fronts. His paint sprayer is set up in the basement. I should really learn how to use it. While the paint was drying, it was time to tackle the backsplash.

BACKSPLASH

Most people would think the tumbled marble cobblestone-y backsplash is nice enough...and it is, but it's just not the look I wanted for my kitchen.

We found cool tiles for the backsplash at Costco of all places and planned to tile right over the marble. But Big A decided he didn't want to do that. He wanted to remove the current backsplash and do it right the first time. You can't argue with that!

So when you remove a backsplash, most of the drywall comes with it so he had to replace the drywall - something he's never done before. Actually, he never tiled before either. But he accomplished both tasks with great success and relative ease, as far as I know anyway!

A close up of the Costco backsplash tile & the granite. I really like the colour of grout we choose - it's called "Antique White" and it really brightens and punches up the backsplash!

Another gratuitous photo - I love my new kitchen!

After several days of very hard work, we he completed the big stuff and my kitchen became usable again, and oh-so-lovely!

Here are some "Before & Afters" to compare.  

Please ignore the poor quality of the "Before" photos, my camera was acting up - so I borrowed a camera from my dad for the "Afters"!

Thank you to the friends who let us borrow tools {from trowels to tile saws!} to help us complete our Kitchen Makeover on time & budget!

Linking up to:

Not Just a Housewife's Best DIY Project of 2011

Somewhat Simple - Strut Your Stuff Link Party

Beneath My Heart - Best DIY Project of September 

 


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