September 2008 Weddings
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: open house- kitchen
And, since I missed yesterday, here's the dining room - old shots show the room, then I have shots of the new table, chairs and hutch from last year!
We re-did our kitchen last summer. I'm sure most of you have seen it. Major additions were: added a dishwasher, overhead microwave, replaced all the cabinets, and added some on the one side of our kitchen that had none; replaced the flooring.
Before (well, sort of during! Our house had all the drawers when we bought it)
After:
Before:
After, but before the tile was done.
After the tile backsplash:
Better shot of the flooring, which we carried into the back entry.
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ETA before:
not terribly exciting. If we were staying, we'd open up the wall between the kitchen & dining (pass-through counter w/ cabinets) and remove the weird wall thingy next to the fridge, and put in cabinets to the left of the stove.
View looking in at our bar area (that we never use)
I'm in the process of chaning out the artwork but I was so sick of what I had before I'd rather have nothing up there.
Books read in 2011: 111
Books read in 2012: 100
my read shelf:
Our kitchen is big. I love the layout and size. Don't like the finishes. Our next big project will be updating the finishes. Hopefully we can do it this year if I get a big enough raise. We want to change out the cheapo floor, get new counter tops (they are bubbling at the seams), and install a tile backsplash. Out cabinets are in great shape, but I don't love the color. I don't think they are solid wood, though so I don't think we can stain them. We might replace them if we can get a good deal.
View from the door to the garage.
View from the dining area. The white door goes to the garage. The brown door is out utility and laundry room.
View from the living room.
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haha.....no.
It is good ole vinyl. It fit our budget, and it looks more like tile (or slate). Vinyl has come a long way since our parents houses!
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When we first bought the house:
Looking from the dining into the kitchen ... holy red!!
Nothing special, but it has potential:
New paint color (the dining area is taupe) and old counters:
New granite counters:
New tile back splash & new light fixture:
Other views:
This is the "before"
Not our stuff and the table is gone. There's a white kitchen cart to the left near the pipes and P's kitchen is up against the peninsula. There is another cabinet and counter and the fridge is to the right. If you turned around, there is a wall where we installed wood shelves to serve as the pantry.
View of just right to the stove:
To the left of the first photo:
Don't mind the curtain to the right and the plastic - it's the old door and the window pane cracked and I need to replace it. I wanted to show the old door for when I explain my plan.
I am NOT a fan of lavendar. I will hopefully be painting this summer. I already bought white mini-subway tile to put behind the stove and to make a backsplash for all counters.
The wall color will be "jamaican sea" which is a turquoise. The doors (there's another one that is solid next to the fridge that goes to the basemement) will be painted a cherry red (like the color of the mixer). My inspiration was the red mixer and turquoise colander I already own. I already have the fabric for the curtains; windows will have the red beater print, and the door will have the white mixer print.
We're not doing anything to the cabinets (they're actually really nice wood, maybe I'll paint them some day) or the counters. If we end up staying here long term, I would do a complete reno involving moving pipes and radiators, and then I'd consider upgrading the counters. I wouldn't want to put it in to rip it out later, and our neighborhood isn't really a granite countertop type of place so we wouldn't really get the return for our investment. So I'll only do it if we can enjoy it for a long time!
I also plan to build ledge shelves for the wall with the window because storage is a problem and I'd like to get some counter space and cabinet space back. Plus I think it will add interest to the wall. I'm also toying with painting that back wall red, too (think floor to ceiling small white ledge shelves to break up the red).
When we bought the house almost 3 years ago, I immediately went to HD and got paint chips, and circled a color. But I just couldn't pull the trigger and then P was coming and priorities changed - so the project got shelved. A few months ago, I went back to HD, got about 2 dozen more paint chips and taped them to the wall, and I ended up picking the exact color I had three years ago. So it's go time!
ETA: I should say, I'm not a fan of lavender for this room in this house. Pastelly doesn't go with the other bold colors. However, if you look in my new work wardrobe you'll find mostly shades of purple. I think I've been hanging out with my purple-loving SIL too much lately
2012 Reading Challenge
Claire, love the new table!
Mary, the white & black looks terrific!
Jules, love the new countertop!
Jo - I bet a new countertop & backsplash would make a big difference. That's an awesome kitchen (nothing in our price range has that kind of space, much less a good layout). I'd also consider adding some hardware and maybe taking out the soffet if you don't want to change the cabinets.
Our kitchen is open concept with the dining area and living room. Our house is a split entry so when you walk in and go up you are in the kitchen with the dining area to the left of it and the living room at the front of the house adjacent to the dining area.
View from the living room:
Whole kitchen:
The door way you see at the very right of the picture is to the bathroom (back corner of house). Across from kitchen is the stairwell. The front right corner is our office.
That's pretty much was we plan on doing, plus the floor. I think the floor is vinyl. The kind off a roll. It is beat up, torn up, and ugly. Has been since we moved in, but we've lived with it. We love the space and layout. In a perfect world I'd get new cabinets, but it more than likely won't be worth the money. Adding hardware is a good idea though to spruce them up.
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Thanks, we have a friend in the business so we only had to pay for the slabs and the sink - so no labor costs which made it completely affordable for us and we couldn't say no!
I pretty much love everyone's kitchens. Especially the upgrades! I have to admit, you ladies and a couple of "how-to" videos from lowes have convinced me I can do the tile myself!
I'd love to change out the floor, probably with some vinyl like Mary's - looks amazing! - but that will have to wait.
2012 Reading Challenge
Mary - I don't typically gravitate toward white cabinets, but I love your ktichen. It looks great!!
Jules - Your backsplash and counters made a whole lot of difference for that kitchen. I love them!
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You can! It's way easier than it sounds at first and you can get good tips from Home Depot (or similar). I love your colors that you are going to go with! I think it will turn out fantastic and I love your fabrics!
I'm actually surprised that it's vinyl. Our vinyl is gross, but it is probably as old as the house. Materials sure have come a long way.
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Thanks! We basically made one change at a time over the past 2 years and each change made it better (or at least we think
)
Our house is a shoe box - but that's what our price range was for the area we wanted ... so the little things that we could and can do to make it more appealing the better.
I am just glad I could get past the red when we first looked at the house!
I can play this game in like 2-3 weeks
right now, my kitchen looks like this:
Thanks! If our house had a more normal color scheme, I would totally copy your kitchen, by the way! I love everything about it.
My dad is coming down next month and my mom says he wants projects to do with me, so I think the kitchen might be on the list.
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Ours is in good shape and it is definitely not the original, but there are these tiny blue flowers and it is obvious that it is vinyl. Plus, I just found a whole roll of it up the the attic! Bonus. Like I want more of the stuff!
2012 Reading Challenge
I'll catch up with my living room and dining later!
Sarah B's kitchen and coffee bar!!!
How cute is this?
Planning bio My DIY blog The Maine Bio
2012 Reading Challenge
Aww thanks! I am so glad I waited and saved for the tile I really wanted ... we almost went with another (which would have been fine) that would have saved us about $150, but I just think the split-face tile works better in our kitchen because it's so small.
That's awesome that your dad wants to come down to do projects! Take advantage of that, haha!! I think you're right though, with the other bold colors you have your new color scheme will fit your house much better! I am excited to see the changes ... you'll have to post updates!
My kitchen:
Planning bio My DIY blog The Maine Bio
2012 Reading Challenge
He's retired, and I think the long winter in central Maine got to him since he can't work outside right now! There's only so much he can do to their house.
2012 Reading Challenge
Here she is in all her kitchen glory! We'll be painting the walls this year. The color swatch is in my purse, we just have to pick up the paint. The color is going to be Pale Honey UL150-12 by Behr Premium Ultra (a light yellow). I'm making sheer curtains for the sliding door and solarium windows. Not yet sure on the valance colors- I bought sage fabric, but with our new red couch in the adjacent FR it might now work.
View from the FR-
View from the solarium-
View from front hallway (open doorway seen above. FR is on the right.)-
View from Formal DR doorway-
Closer view of kitchen area (Formal DR is doorway on the left)-
LOL, I love it! :P I can't wait to see the before and after shots with those beautiful new cabinets.
You ladies have inspired me to look into a tile backsplash for our kitchen vs just painting it. Now, to get the husband on board...
Planning bio My DIY blog The Maine Bio
2012 Reading Challenge
OUr downstairs is a big "L" so I'm tring to show you how the other rooms fit in to the "L"
THis is the before. We had laminet, vinyl and carpet when we first moved in.
One day while H went golfing, I was bored so I ripped up the laminet wood flooring. He was in complet shock when he came home.
These are the afters. We still need backsplash and a cabnit to replace the botcherblock thing. And the pillar is a hated thing, we just can not move it b/c of structual issues