Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel

Farmhouse Kitchen Remodel

Back in May 2014, we moved into our house built in 1859.  Unfortunately, the kitchen was a 1950's eye sore and didn't match the rest of the beautiful house.  We decided the boring, flat cabinets and drop panel ceiling had to go!  Boy...did we find a hot mess hiding under it but the history of the house was revealed!

We did everything in the kitchen ourselves, with the exception of refinishing the floors.  They have survived this long...we didn't want to destroy them!

Including all new appliances we remodeled the kitchen for under $5,000!  

Before

A lot had to happen in this kitchen to make it functional again!  4 layers of ceiling had to come down...a drop ceiling, leftover ceiling tiles, oil cloth and the lath and plaster.  Whew!  

And here it is...Almost all finished...

We just couldn't wait to show it off!

After

The floors were buried under 5 layers of linoleum and inlaid hardwood floors were found!  

We torn down the upper cabinets and replaced them with open shelves.  The lower cabinets were used but we added wood to the fronts and replaced the hardware.  We also added the two smaller cabinets next to the stove.  Since they are different we decided to feature them in red.  

The color of kitchen was determined by the original color we found on some oilcloth from the original walls.  We fell in love with the color immediately!

We still have a few more projects to work to work on, so stay tuned for the railroad cart island, the pantry with a few unique twists and a surprise stairway to nowhere turned into something fun!

 

So...what happened to the floors?  Many moons ago, the floors that were hiding were covered up.  After 5 layers of linoleum and underlayment were taken up...this is what we found!   Beautiful inlaid hardwood floors that match one of the bedrooms on the main floor.  In the background you can see the other amazing inlaid patterns in the dining room and living room.    The only thing we didn't do in the kitchen was refinish the floors.  With the top nailed floors, we didn't want to take the chance of ruining them with sanding.  

It all paid off!

How could you ever cover up this amazing woodwork!

The picture below shows the one main stain on the floor.  I guess after 150 years, there is plenty of character in this floor.  We believe they had a linoleum "Rug" in this area and it must have gotten wet under it.  We found some odd, large patterned linoleum in this area when tearing up the floors.

 

Here is a sneak peek at our next project...the island made from a factory cart we found.  Scott is building a beautiful top for it.  Watch for the reveal, coming soon!

Quirky Farmhouse Pantry

Quirky Farmhouse Pantry

With our newly remodeled Farmhouse kitchen almost finished it is down to the little touches.  Among them was our little pantry, which I will admit...I was not in love with!  

Now...I am in LOVE!

Many years ago, the pantry was created by taking some of the porch to make a small 4x4 area.  Along the way, someone put linoleum over the plywood and lined it with cedar.  

This dark, dungeon of a space was just not working for us!  But...fear not...I had a vision.  Ok...inspiration from Pinterest!

First thing first...

Light!  

Before Photo of the Pantry...Dark!

Then I removed all the shelving and started painting the cedar with a primer and then white semigloss paint for easy washing.  And then...I put the shelves and everything back in.  

With 4 kids at home, this process had to be done quickly so no one starved to death!

Now...I would recommend this next step be done before the shelves get put back in but because of the risk of starvation, as mentioned above we did it after the shelves were back in...making it back breaking work.

We glued the pennies, down to the plywood and then grouted over them.  We used liquid nails in a squeezable tube form instead of caulk gun.  This was personal preference.  I found the caulk gun too messy.

We chose to mix the heads and tails of the pennies but you can do anything you want with them.

For the Screen door...I was so excited, I forgot to take pictures.  We had to made a custom sized door since it was only 23 inches wide, but you can buy a basic wooden screen door at most home improvement stores for about $20.00 and then add the fun details to it.

 

An old bent fork was added for the handle....

And Red Paint...

Now...the pantry is more like a work of art than a boring, hidden closet!

If you missed the Before and After pictures of our newly remodeled Farmhouse kitchen, 

check them out ...

Join the Party!

Hi everyone...

Its been so busy around our house I've taken a break from blogging but I'm still sharing my creative adventures on my Facebook page.

Please come like Through My Creative Mind on Facebook to see what I have been up to!  Also,  see the progress on our kitchen and 1859 house!

Through My Creative Mind Facebook page

Here are a few pics as a sneak peek of the new kitchen!

 

 

Chalkboard Obsession Catchup!

It's been a while since I've updated the blog I guess.  We have been a little busy remodeling our kitchen and just with life in general.  Here are a few new Spring chalkboards I did for a local shop and a few belated Winter chalkboards.

 

 

The Perfect Hutch Makeover

Before the Makeover

Scott after sanding in the garage...Yikes

Now that our new barn wood table is finished (see earlier post) our 90's honey oak hutch needed a makeover.  So Scott started sanding it down, removed the mirrors and glass from the doors.  His goal was to have it done by Christmas and sure enough, he
made it!

The hutch was sanded, painted with a primer, then painted white with a satin paint.  Turqouise and red paint were painted randomly in splotches.

Elmer's glue was painted in random areas (for crackle effect) and then another coat of white was painted over everything.  Finally, a stain was painted over the entire piece.  The leaded glass panels were removed from the front doors and chicken wire replaced it.  The mirror was also taken out of the back and bead board was painted in the same process as the rest of the hutch and placed in the back of the hutch.

Come join the Link Party on...