Kitchen Reveal!

The kitchen is finished! I haven't decorated or accessorized it or the adjoining dining and living spaces (think lots of mirrors, family photos, TV, baby clutter, a rug) but I wanted to show it to you today.

We are LOVING it.

My resident photographer is at school right now, so my unedited cell phone pics will have to do for now.

• Tim's favorite part is how open it is.
• Margaret's favorite part is the homework/breakfast bar.
• My favorite part is how much more light we get, even on a dreary day like today.

View from kitchen into Living Room:

More realistic, cluttered picture:

Living room sitting area. I would like a comfy sectional here for nursing and hanging out. We also hope to buy a new TV which will hang on the long LR wall, but just have to agree on size first.  Sectionals are expensive, and I just missed one on our yard sale site. Will keep looking. Bird chair from Target.

Breakfast/Homework Bar in LR. Stools are from Target and are gorgeous and comfy.

We didn't go for a lot of bells and whistles like wine fridge, etc. but we did get these spice racks built in:

AND one of my favorite parts, these two appliance garages, one for the microwave, and the other for the coffee maker and toaster. Now you see them:

 Now you don't:

This leads right into the dining room area. It is pretty small and I haven't quite figured out how to decorate it yet, but it feels brighter and more open than ever! It was cut off by a small doorway and slatted doors.  Remember, we how we switched our foyer light out and put it in here? I really like it, and the much bigger fixture looks great in the foyer. 

 Here are the new sliding doors. The dogs are loving running in and out of the house this way:

 Huge foyer light fixture:

I am looking for a narrower farmhouse-type table to replace this thrift store one, but there is no rush. I will either make a gallery wall of mirrors around my Grandpa's china cabinet, or replace the china cabinet with a white sideboard I have upstairs to make room on the wall for even more mirrors. My mom had a wall of mirrors when we walked into our house growing up, so I've had one in each house since then.

This shallow cabinet next to the breakfast bar is to store Margaret's homework stuff as well as arts/crafts supplies for the baby. Wish I'd made it one inch deeper so binders would fit better. When I find her things sitting all over the counter, I shove them in the cabinet.

View as you walk into kitchen from the rest of the house:

We did keep this narrow wall between the foyer and kitchen. Tim doesn't like it, but I'm cool with it:

And when you walk in from the garage. I love the range hood and the wavy, extra long subway tiles in light gray:

Here's the close-up of the countertops, Calacutta Grey (I know it's spelled funny, but that is the name) by Quartz Masters. This is the decision that sent me reeling, but I'm super happy with them. We have already spilled stuff on them, and Margaret got Sharpie on them within the first 10 minutes,  so it's good to know they are super durable. 

Sink view. We went for an inexpensive, $150 stainless sink with no divider. Looks plenty big for bathing a baby.

Breakfast nook right off of garage. This is where you will see family pics and a bulletin board when I get around to it. Oh, and a high chair!

We replaced the built-in desk area with a pantry because of all of the upper cabinets we lost. Instead of fancy pullouts, we opted for plain, adjustable melamine shelves to save space and $$. Our builder just took a fridge cabinet and added doors to it. I kept the phone jack and plugs in there for charging. Love it!

Even though I lost sunlight before taking these final shots, you can get the gist of the whole space here:

And of course, after all of the stress of small details that loomed large, plus living through, and then paying for, the renovation, it's good to have a reminder of what's REALLY important. 

I ordered this from Wall Words, just as I did 13 years ago in the old house. Makes me happy that the new baby will see these words every day just as Jack and Margaret did: