October Updates - Kitchen

October is the month where I begin to realize that we are drawing closer to the end of another year.  Recently, I’ve taken a big break from blogging about our life and also from reading blogs in general, but I know I’m going to be sad when I look back at my blog for 2014 and realize that I didn’t document ALL the things we did and accomplished in the past year.  So this month I’m going to try and catch up on updating about the things that have happened to us in 2014.  Most of it has to do with our house renovations, so there will be lots of before &; after photos!

So let’s start back at the beginning!

In January 2014, I finished up our Phase I Kitchen Re-do.  It is crazy to think I was able to stand it for 3 months, but when you’re a one-woman workforce (who also works full-time), progress sometimes goes much slower than you think.  So, let’s take a look back at how the kitchen & butler’s pantry looked when we first viewed the house:

The huge kitchen and glass-fronted cabinets are what made me fall in love with this house.  I knew on first glance that it was going to take some convincing to get Ryan to agree to buying this fixer-upper, but I had big dreams for this kitchen from the start.  We have had SO many compliments about how spacious it is, and I'm already loving the ability to actually have company in the kitchen with me while I'm cooking or cleaning.  (Our old house definitely had a one-butt kitchen -- as in, only one butt could fit in it at a time!)

And here is the kitchen today:

Changes include: No more wallpaper!! Repaired plaster new paint in Sherwin Williams Stucco, all newly painted white trim, cabinets painted in SW Big Chill (upper) and SW Grays Harbor (lowers), new cabinet & drawer pulls from House of Antique Hardware, new appliances from Sears, new table from Nadeau and chairs from Amazon, new light fixture from The LiteHouse, and new blinds to block the lovely view of the laundry porch. 

Here's a Top & Bottom Before & After for the full effect of how much has changed!

More dreams in Kitchen Phase II Re-do include:

-          New Countertops, Sink, Faucet & Garbage Disposal

-          Tiled Backsplash

-          Replace the Flourescent Light Fixture

-          Rug for Sink/Stove Area

Also in January, we had our first snow of 2014.  We had several bitterly cold days, which are so rare in South Carolina and experienced our first ever frozen & busted pipe.  Luckily it was outside in our laundry porch and not inside the house.  The plumber was able to get over in record time and make a quick repair.  We’ve now added extra insulation to the exposed pipes on the porch!   I’ve heard that they’re calling for another cold winter, so hopefully we get by without any more damage this coming year!