Hi Friends, happy Thursday! Today I’m sharing another kitchen update. Outside of work, our trip to Italy, and getting ready for the holidays the kitchen is pretty much the only thing I’ve been working on. We’ve narrowed in on the scheme and I’m feeling really good about it. And in terms of getting to work, at this point we’ve gotten quotes from Ikea, Home Depot, Lowes, and we’re waiting on one from a custom cabinetry maker. Once we have all four quotes in hand we can compare them and figure out who we’re going to go with. If we go with Ikea the project may wait until the spring, because we’ve been told they have a big kitchen sale in March, which could end up saving us a significant amount of money. If we go with any of the other options then we’ll probably get started as soon as we’ve finalized all the plans and material choices (hopefully late January or early February).

If you’re interested in previous kitchen posts you can read about the design development here, the scheme we’ve selected, and the most recent updates. Since I last posted, I’ve been working on kitchen inspiration mood boards so we can nail down the aesthetic. This is important because it will be the central place with most of our material choices. It’s a way for us to get a clear picture of what everything will look like together before we start building or buying. And, to be honest, I’m actually struggling with it a little more than I thought I would. I’ve had this vision in my head and thought it would translate very easily to “paper” but it’s a bit more muddled than I realized. So the plans are taking longer than I thought.

I’m going for a more sophisticated look that also has a mix of materials, textures and colors which Xan and I both like in our home. I don’t want it to necessarily feel like it fell out of the pages of a catalog, but I do want a more glam and sophisticated look than we’ve gone for in the past.

Kitchen Inspiration Mood Boards

Right now I’ve got these two kitchen inspiration mood boards which are largely similar except for color and a few smaller details. When I started I was certain I wanted a grey and white kitchen. But then, not long ago, I saw a photo of a navy kitchen and for some reason it really resonated with me. I like that navy is a bit bolder, because bold colors and patterns are two of my favorite things. So I decided to make a mood board for both, in the hope that it would make a decision clearer. And you know what? It actually just made me want to make ONE more. Haha. It’s kind of feeling like this is having the opposite affect! But, let me explain myself. After visiting Ikea I came away feeling surprised at how much I liked the flush front cabinet options they have. And in terms of Ikea, the thing I’m struggling with the most is the cabinet face. I can’t get the shaker style I really want (a narrow rail) and so I’m feeling on the fence about it. Even though I really like the features they provide. So I think I’m going to do one more version with flush fronts as the cabinet style and see what I think. Stay tuned!

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I’m back! And an update on the kitchen renovation.

Wow, it’s been such a long time since I’ve been here - almost been a year since I was last posting regularly. A lot has happened in that time, and while I’ve really wanted to keep up with the blog, it just hasn’t happened. Between doing the entire kitchen renovation ourselves, starting a new job, some international travel, a death in my family and Xan’s, and some mental health changes, I just haven’t been able to get to it.

Tips for Installing Ikea Under Cabinet Lighting

We’re currently knee deep in the kitchen renovation and things are really starting to come together. We’re working on a lot of the little finishing touches, and we’ve had some issues with the tile that we’re trying to solve now. So, I’m not really sure when we’ll be totally finished. The latest project we worked on was our under cabinet lighting (for the upper cabinets). For some reason we both thought this was going to be a piece of cake. The instructions and all of the parts seemed very simple, but we still encountered some issues that could have been easily avoided knowing what we do now that they’ve all been installed. So, below are my tips for installing Ikea under cabinet lighting.

Kitchen Renovation Update

Well, it’s been a while since I was last here with a kitchen update. And let me tell you, we’ve made so much progress!

Small Kitchen Remodel: Budget and an Update

The kitchen remodel is officially underway! We’ve made a timeline and a preliminary budget and I have some progress to share with you also.

Kitchen Renovation: Layout and Final Mood Board

ou guys! I can’t believe it’s finally here, but we’ve actually decided on a kitchen layout. I cannot tell you how many times we thought we were close, only to discover a kink in the plans. Like…that we accidentally drew the refrigerator too small in the initial plans, or that we then had it right next to a wall, or that we didn’t have anywhere for trash, or the microwave placement. It’s been such a long process, but I’m really glad we took the time to think it through very carefully.

Kitchen Hardware Ideas

Right now, we’re at a bit of stand still with kitchen decisions. We have a few meetings scheduled and can’t make too many decisions until those are done. But, one thing I’ve been thinking a lot about is hardware. I’m trying to finalize our design plan and what color palette we’re going to go with so I’m still not sure what finish will work. But, even so, I’ve been exploring several options. I’m sure we’ll end up mixing metals throughout the kitchen for a more eclectic look, but the hardware will probably all be the same.

Kitchen Inspiration Mood Boards

Small Kitchen Remodel: Budget and Design Update

Hi Guys! I’ve got another kitchen update for you. Last time I posted about it we were pretty sure of the design direction we were going in, but that was about it. Since then we’ve been pricing out materials, figuring out colors and combinations, and going to look at things in person. We’ve gotten quotes from Ikea and Lowes for our cabinets and counter tops and even took a trip to Ikea (which is 2 hours away from us). During that process we made slight tweaks to the last design I showed you. Nothing major, just little changes based on cabinet sizes and things like that. You can see we swapped the position of the tall pantry cabinet so we wouldn’t have so many changes in depth along the upper cabinets. We also mirrored the base cabinet and countertop layout around the stove.

Small Kitchen Remodel on a Budget

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Mine was great, we got lots of stuff done around the house, and didn’t have too many plans, which I always enjoy.One thing we did a lot of was talking about and planning the new kitchen. If you’re interested in what’s been happening up until now you can find that post here. This weekend we used the Virtual Reality equipment at Xan’s office to walk through each of our 3 schemes. It sounds kind of weird and techy, but it actually helped so much. We both went in thinking we liked one scheme in particular and were pretty sure that was it, and ended up leaving feeling the complete opposite.

Kitchen Remodel: Design Progress

Hi, friends! If you remember back when we bought this house you may know that we had plans to remodel the kitchen. Well, we haven’t forgotten about it. Quite the opposite, actually. We probably think about it every day because of how small our current kitchen is.