life

So life has gotten in the way of my little blog.  I took time this summer just to be with my family and enjoy not having a routine or so many obligations.  My sabbatical then, unintentionally, stretched into fall.  Oops!

We have made a life changing decision for our little family.  We have to sell our cute little farm house before we can make it all happen.  So... some renovation was in order!

We have wanted new kitchen cabinets since we bought this house (6 years ago).  We debated about moving the kitchen to another room but it was just too much money.  We would have had to add all of the plumbing and some electrical and it was just going to be too much.  So when we spoke with the realtor and she said we had to update the kitchen it was the motivation we needed to just do it.

My awesome brother in law offered to help Doug with the demo so that I didn't have to do that but otherwise Doug and I did it all ourselves.  Doug built the cabinets and I painted them.  We made concrete counter tops and I LOVE them!

I had fully intended on taking before pics.  The guys needed snacks and so I ran to the store.  When I came home, I came back to this...

We didn't have a sink or dishwasher for about a week but it wasn't that bad, kind of like camping.  :)  Now I have this beautiful, bright kitchen!!!

I know the pics aren't the best but you get the idea.  All of my cabinets close!  I have SO much more storage!  It feels so luxurious after making do with our old kitchen.

We added 4 feet of counter and cabinet space too.  Doug took out a window that looked into our neighbor's yard and was shaded pretty much all day.  We really didn't lose much light and the extra space is so nice.  It's amazing how much difference 4 feet makes.

We wanted to keep the country kitchen feel and make it more modern at the same time so we kept the upper cabinets open and put bead board behind them and as the backsplash.

We also wanted a cabinet that looked more like a piece of furniture.  I wanted it to be different and stand out but still fit in with the feel we were trying to achieve.  Doug milled down some of the old floorboards from our barn to make a cabinet and a friend gave us a beautiful piece of heart pine for the top.

That wall used to be covered from floor to ceiling with open shelving.  It was convenient but no matter how much I organized it always looked messy.  It also closed up the room.  I like the black cabinet so much better.

Now we have our house on the market and are anxious for it to sell so that we can embark on a new adventure!  I will tell more about that when our home sells.  For now, I hope you can all forgive me for my long absence!  I promise that I will post about sewing summit!  It was awesome!!!  I just have to steal some pictures from Vanessa!  :)