Kitchen Facelift

Apologies for the quality of some photos here! They were taken on my boyfriends super fancy phone (ahem, not!) and it is all we have. But you will get the idea!

     So this looks a little different then the last photo, right? After we took out the hall closet to widen the kitchen, we knew we wanted it to appear more open. Well, we removed a low hanging soffit, cut the wall back as far as it could go on the left, and lowered the wall so we could have one huge countertop. We also moved the entire wall opening to the left to make the pass through much wider. I love how open we were able to make this room appear, while having to deal with all of our restrictions! 

     While the guys were working on the renovation of the kitchen, we got to work on assembling the Ikea Cabinets in the living room. I know the boy will make me have a disclaimer here, I didnt build any. I was totally sick this weekend and had to stay home. But they did a great job!

     Here is the kitchen after the drywall had been put back on and the electrical had been installed! We put in recessed lighting and all new outlets in the kitchen. I was adamant that the outlets be sideways instead of up an down to mimic the pattern of our tile and I got it! Sometimes it is the little things that really make a big impact!

     As you can see here, we have a solid wall where the door to the closet used to be! This allows us to have a large double pantry inside the kitchen that I think we will use more then just putting some coats in a closet. I wish the entry here was wider, but we didnt want the refrigerator door or pantry door swinging out into the hallway so I will have to live with it as is. I think it is still 4 inches wider then before. 

     And here is the first (blurry!) glimpse at our cabinets being hung along the back wall. We went with the Beech finish at Ikea because it perfectly mimicked the golden tones in the hardwood floors. It seemed warmer then the Birch Veneer and I was afraid going any darker would make the space seem closed in again. I am really happy with our choice!