By the time we purchased this house, I thought most of the design decisions had already been made, and that things would go so quickly and smoothly…it would be a lot of work, but it wouldn’t take very long, right?? Wrong. 🙂 As everyone says, home renovations take much longer than you expect, and be prepared for the worst. Well, I can gladly say we did not have anything happen that would qualify as the worst, but it did take much longer than anticipated. Between both of us working full time jobs, traveling and hosting for the holidays, figuring out home insurance (and what to do when they cancel on you!), and having renters/family members move in, we were up to our ears in things to do.

Anyways, back to the kitchen. As much as I thought the design decisions had already been made, it does take some compromise and changing things on the fly when you are remodeling an old home on a budget. There were a few features I had originally planned on having (concrete countertops, copper sink), but because of time and money constraints, we opted for more affordable things that didn’t take as much time to install. We had our cousins moving in right after Christmas and needed to move into our upstairs kitchen before they moved into the basement. With a lot of help from Alex’s parents over Christmas, we were able to move into the kitchen just before the new year, and in time to host our first house party!

Here are some of the photos of the inspiration for our kitchen, as well as before/almost-after photos (there is still MUCH to be done, but it’s usable).

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Kitchen Inspiration Features

Top left: white cabinets, butcher block countertops, pendant light above the sink, farmhouse sink

Top middle:  clear glass pendant light with exposed bulb, black sink fixture

Top right: vintage lockers for storage

Bottom left: exposed bulb for mood lighting

Bottom middle: white scalloped tiles

Bottom right: deep green to bring out a rich, vintage vibe

 To view this board, and others for inspiration, visit our Pinterest page.

BEFORE

DURING

(almost) AFTER

As you can see, we still have a long way to go, but we’re getting there! We will post a full post once we’ve finished the final pieces, as well as figured out what to do with that floor. Lots of hours are ahead of us, but we’re forging on!