I just wanna hug it...

Hello All!

We have almost completely finished our kitchen remodel. There are still just a few more things to do, but I couldn't help but be excited to share it. Back up a few months. Ok, how about a year and a half. When we bought this house we fell in love, but one thing we didn't love was the kitchen. It was as if the navy blue fairy had thrown up in there. Blue tile floor, blue counter tops, and blue backslash.... yuck!

This was from the day we did our walk through. See that ugly light on the massive useless bulkhead? Just not our style.

Well we talked and dreamed about changing the kitchen when we bought the house but  we didn't know when and how. About a year ago (New years eve 2011) We (I should really say, Eric and his dad) replaced the blue floor tiles. Man, was that a job!

I was so excited! The tile was amazing and it made the counter tops look less ugly! And less blue actually!

So now, go back to November 2012, our 4 year anniversary. After I presented Eric with his awesome new pajama pants (I know, lame) I opened a strangely heavy box.  I pulled out a beautiful scrap piece of granite. Eric had been scheming the last few months on pricing and picking out some granite. Now he reassured me that if I didn't like that piece I could go pick something else, but I didn't want to. He had picked the perfect piece!

Over this New Year's Eve (apparently we like to do projects to ring in the new year) we officially started demoing the kitchen. There was an ugly bulkhead that divided the kitchen and the dinning room and Eric took that out, added pot lights (ahhh! unexpected dream come true) and repaired the ceiling and wall.

Then it was time to take off the old counter tops and laminate back splash. Oh, who ever created laminate backslashes in the 90's was evil! That stuff was not super easy to get off and the back wall was two layers thick! No clue whose bright idea that was!

The next day the beautiful granite came! I just wanted to hug it... and might have.. many times. ;) Then we went through a few (too many) colors and finally settled on one that was actually Eric's dad's pick. So, after painting, putting up backslash (which my AMAZING husband did all on his own!) and some other little touches and FINALLY some styling. Here are some before and after shots.

Before shot. Standing almost in the living room. Notice the massive, ugly bulkhead. 

  Almost the same shot. No bulkhead! And look at those beautiful lights!

Messy before picture.

After

This is our family verse... got us through some difficult times last summer. Still clinging to it now.

I couldn't get really good lighting to show these off. But I saw a group of white plates and pinterest and I wanted to kind of copy it. But I had these bird plates (from pier one) that I had displayed before the remodel and I liked that they threw a bit of color into the mix.

So that's it. :) I'm madly in love, and cooking is so much more fun!! I'm still looking for some lighting. I think I know what style I want, it's just finding the right ones and pulling the trigger. There will eventually be two pendant lights hanging over the peninsula, a matching one over the sink, and a new chandelier over the table.