Completed Kitchen Reno

Well, the moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived!  My kitchen reno is finished, YAY!  It is perfect and I need to give a big shout out to my handyman Filippo for doing such an amazing, meticulous job.  Honestly, I couldn't have asked for more.  If any of you are looking for someone to do some work for you in the West of Toronto region of Ontario give me a shout and I will pass along his number.

There are soooo many parts of this kitchen that I absolutely love, but lets start with my number 1 favourite....my countertop.  You may recall my last post where I talked about changing my mind about my countertop and that I was keeping it a secret.  Well, the secret will now be revealed.

Aren't they gorgeous?!  They are called Silver Travertine and although they look like stone they are actually a new product from Formica called 180fx.  I love, love, love them!  This product is so durable and a fraction of the cost of the real thing...an excellent compromise on my part.

Another area of this kitchen that I am totally in love with speaks to both my heart and my caffeine addiction.  It is my new pantry/coffee centre.

Mmmm....I can smell the coffee brewing now!

There are lots of other great things in this kitchen, like the hardware which is incredible and the spice drawer which keeps things so neat and organized.  I love my new pot drawers and corner cabinets because they add so much storage, which I had been desperately in need of.  

Now, here are a few before and afters for you to enjoy!

Here you can see how we've managed to great rid of a lot of the countertop clutter because now we actually have places to store things.  You may also notice there is more landing space between the stove and the sink and that's because we decided to downsize the sink from a double bowl to a bowl and a half.  I feel like this was a great choice not only because it gives us more space but also because I scored an amazing deal on it! Gotta love that!

This is the view coming into the kitchen from the living room.  I love how sleek and clean it looks with the over the range microwave.  It is so nice to have it out of the way and now I can actually reach it!  In this before and after, you can see how the removal of the wall beside the stove opened up that space and allowed us to have those great pot drawers and spice drawer just to the left of the stove.

And last, but certainly not least, the view in the dining space.  Just look at the difference here, isn't it amazing!  The space has been totally opened up and it feels so much bigger and brighter.

Well, that's it.  The completed kitchen reno.  Now comes the fun part, the decorating and accessorizing.  I thinking peacock blues and apple greens...new chair covers...new dining light fixture...maybe some window treatments...........

Cheers,

Lisa

Almost There...

We are one week and 2 days into the kitchen reno now and it is coming along very nicely. By Friday, we had some of the upper cabinets installed and our new pantry wall was started which previously had no cabinets at all.

Over the weekend, we, well it was really just me with some help from my little munchkins did some painting.  Hubby decided it would be a good time to power wash the deck?! Really?!

I managed to get most of it done.  It is so much easier to paint when you don't have to worry about dripping on floors and countertops etc.  I had to tape off some of the cabinets but mostly it was the easiest painting I have ever done.  Here are some shots of it after it was painted this nice warm, creamy colour.

Our contractor wasn't in on Monday but boy did he ever make up for it today.  These are all of the cabinets installed.

Of course there is still a lot of finishing work to be done, but it looks so fantastic already.  I can't believe how much bigger and brighter it looks even with the dark cabinetry.

The floors will be installed on Thursday and Friday so stay tuned for that update.

Cheers,
Lisa

Kitchen Update

Well, it has begun.  The kitchen renovation is well under way.  I know in my last post I said there would be a new post by Monday but I came down with a nasty stomach bug and couldn't even manage to drag my laptop into bed with me.  So, here we are on Wednesday and I have some exciting reno shots for you.

The cabinets arrived on Friday and were conveniently placed inside my garage so that I could have full use of my kitchen for the weekend.

On monday, while I was spending the day in my bed, this is what was happening one floor below me.

Uppers and tile are gone!

Flooring gone....and yes, this is how it looked at the end of the day.  Our amazing contractor Filippo is so great at cleaning up, he even put our appliances back in place so we could use them that evening.  

Day 2 is when things really started to get crazy but I don't have any pictures of the kitchen ...because I forgot to take them, since I spent another day sleeping off this virus.  It's pretty easy to describe though, it was basically...empty. The rest of the cabinets were gone and the stove and fridge were moved out of the way.   

Since I didn't have any other pictures from Day 2, I took this one to show you the real, down and dirty (literally) way a family survives living in a small space during a renovation.  I feel like I should put a disclaimer on this, so prepare yourselves...

Ugh! Gross, I know, but this is real life.

Day 3, things are looking up in more ways than one.  First of all, I was finally feeling well enough to return to work and second of all, this is what I came home to.

Wow, I love it.  They look amazing.  The wall beside the stove came out and the cabinets that we've added to the other side look so perfect!  

Filippo is hoping to have all the cabinets installed by the end of the week, yay!  I will update you again on Friday. 

Now, we just have to decide on and order our countertop.  I thought I had the one I wanted all figured out, but after reviewing the manufacturer's website, I found another one that I liked even more but I'm going to keep that info a secret for now.

Cheers,

Lisa

They're Here!!!

I can't believe it, they are finally here.  

My kitchen cabinets have arrived and work on my new kitchen will begin on Monday!  Yay!

I have been desperately trying to not think about the kitchen so I have immersed myself in as many other home improvement projects that I can think of.  Of course they have all been started but not a single one has yet been completed....sigh!

I give you my word however that there will be a new post about one of these many projects by Monday.  In the meantime, please enjoy some of my favourite kitchen eye candy by my favourite designer of all time - Candice Olson.

 Ahhhh.....if my kitchen ends up looking even a fraction as good as these do, I will be in heaven!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Lisa

Kitchen Reno Update

Since last time I posted about my kitchen reno, we have made some changes....big surprise right?!  We are no longer using the fancy designer and reconfiguring our powder room, the expense just didn't justify itself.  Instead we decided to keep our current layout (for the most part) there will be a couple of surprises when I post the final result, but other than the layout pretty much everything will be different.  New cabinets, flooring, back splash, sink, counter tops and appliances.  Yes, aesthetically it will be much more pleasing but we are also adding more storage and more functionality - like full reach corner cabinets...YAY.  It's amazing how the little things can be so exciting!  

Anyway, here is a reminder of what my kitchen looked like before

.....and here is a sneak peek at some of the finishes we will be using...

This will be the flooring, it is a porcelain tile from Regal Tile in the colour Royal Crema.  Our tiles however will be 12" by 24", which I think is a really great look.

And the Piece De Resistance - my back splash.  This is my splurge item, it is Travertine Limestone by  Regal Tile.  I can not even wait to see this on the wall!

These will be our cabinets - they are Fabritec Expressive Helios in the colour Autumn Brown.  Love them!

Ahhh....these are my counter tops.  No, they are not quartz they look like they are, don't they?  They are actually Formica laminate.  I love these counter tops, we have had them in the past, you will see them in the pictures above and they are amazing, so durable and beautiful and a lot less expensive than the real thing.

Well, I can't wait.  We will probably begin the demo around the end of February.  Stay tuned as I will be updating you along the way.  Inside the world of a real life renovation, not the kind you see on TV that's done in a day.  

Cheers!
Lisa