How our DIY kitchen renovation is holding up (1 1/2 years later!)

Hey all! Hope your weekend was great! We had so much fun -- family stayed with us most of last week through Sunday and it was fun to have a full house. 

My plan this morning was to take new photos for this post -- but then we had thunderstorms and it looked like nighttime outside. Too dark for pics! So this post is a combination of photos from recently and over the past couple of years -- if things don't match from photo to photo that's why. (And now of course as I write this the sun is coming out.) 😐

I finished our kitchen renovation a year and a half ago and I get a lot of questions about how things are holding up and how I'm liking changes I made. I wanted to follow up again to let you know specifics on some of the bigger changes I get asked about the most.

It's hard to pick a favorite thing in this kitchen...I'm just so pleased with all of it. But extending the island was one of my best decisions for sure. It is SO wonderful to have a larger space to prep/cook/bake on. And when we entertain we can now fit all of the food on the island 😊: 

If I remember right I added about three feet to the island -- almost doubling the size. If you have the room I highly recommend doing this. I built on to the previous island and added wine storage, a spot to hang towels and other items, storage at the end, a spot for the microwave and room for a third stool on the other side.

One of the questions I get asked most is about our microwave in the island and if I like it after all this time: 

I LOVE IT. One of the best things I've done in the house, let alone the kitchen. I love that it's not the center of attention anymore (it used to hang above the stove). It took a little getting used to having it down lower, but now it's no big deal at all. My husband had a harder time getting adjusted than I did -- I loved it right off the bat. ;) 

We look through model homes all the time for fun and microwaves in base cabinets are definitely becoming a trend. A lot of them are actually lower than ours (but are nicer versions with a drawer): 

You can see how I built the island here and how I built in the microwave and allowed for venting here. 

We only updated one appliance when I remodeled the kitchen and this trash compactor in the island  is the only one that doesn't match the rest of the kitchen: 

When we built I went with a combo of black and stainless appliances (wish I gone all stainless) and that's the last black one...and it's still doing just fine. I'm sure it will be years before we need to replace it with a stainless version. You can see more about that trash compactor and why it's my favorite appliance here. 

We splurged on a slide in range -- it had always been my dream to have the clean lines of this type of oven and the hood on the top: 

We bought the KitchenAid slide in and I LOVE it. We've only had one small issue with it -- two times now the display has gone out. The oven works but you can't see what you're setting the temp to without the display. Thankfully it comes back pretty quick (within minutes) but it's annoying when it happens. 

I think the question I get more than any other project I've ever done (EVER!) is about the planked/shiplap backsplash. I used cement boards specifically because we had a slide in range and I wanted something that would be heat resistant. Plus it's a fraction of the cost of tile...and way easier to install. 

I didn't leave much of a gap between the boards because I knew I'd want to caulk between them anyway (who wants grease/food in there). It's sometimes hard to see the boards in pictures but they are much more obvious in person. They are virtually care-free -- splatters wipe right off. They look just like the day I installed them! The only change I may make is to paint the backsplash a lighter color sometime this year. You can see the details you need to know when installing a cement board backsplash here. 

Years ago I thought I may not like a stone countertop but I'm so glad I changed my mind. I love our counters and love the deep sink: 

 

The counters were sealed well and we still haven't had any issues or had to reseal yet. It's supposed to hold up for years I believe. Often with granite you can see that the color changes around the sink over time and we haven't had any problems with that. I wasn't sure I'd like a shiny countertop surface but I immediately loved it when they installed them. The room needed that little bling! You can see which granite we went with and the company we used here. 

I like the look of a farmhouse sink but didn't think the cost was worth it -- especially when we loved our deep sink (the dark gray works perfectly in here). I have mentioned that you may want to reconsider a deeper undermount sink if you are tall. It took some time for me to get used to that (it dropped another 1 1/2 inches when undermounted) and I'm 5'9" and my husband is 5'11".

Another project I'm SO GLAD I tackled was taking down a few cabinets and then extending the other ones to the ceiling: 

I'll link to all the before photos at the end of this post but we used to have a few cabinets on the stove wall and I took those down. It opened up this room a ridiculous amount -- such a good move. If you are considering this I don't think you'll miss them:

I built in the area around the fridge and later built the cabinets up to the ceiling. Having them go all the way up makes the whole kitchen feel so much more custom: 

And of course the biggest change was painting the cabinets! I am asked about these a ton too -- and they have held up SO WELL. I'm honestly a little surprised at how well. I did a follow up about them a month after I finished the kitchen and you're considering painting make sure to check that out. You MUST let them cure for a couple months before the finish is truly ready for wear and tear. 

I shared the whole process of how I painted them (and how they look like they were sprayed professionally) in this post. You do NOT have to sand the finish off of your cabinets if you want to paint! Of all the changes I made in this room, painting the cabinets was the most dramatic and the biggest bang for the buck. (I saved thousands doing them myself and they've held up better than some professional jobs I've seen.)

I did take away some storage in this room by taking down cabinets, but more than that was added back in the form of the upper cabinets (I use all of those baskets for seasonal kitchen items), the storage at the end of the island and a ton of space in the new window seat:

I still get the heart eyes every single day when I walk in and see that seat. ;) 

The only project (so far!) that needs to be touched up is our kitchen table -- you can't see from photos but I need to repaint the top: 

It gets a lot of use so I need to sand it down, do a couple more coats of paint and then put a protective finish on it. 

Whew!! I've said it before but it's so true -- living with this space for years before tackling it and doing the reno over nearly a year (I would do one project at a time) really helped us to make great decisions about how this room needed to be set up. It functions so beautifully -- I don't think I could ask for much more. I'm so very pleased with how well everything has held up so far. It's fared better than I had even hoped. 

I tried to touch on the projects that I get the most questions about, but if there's something I didn't mention that you are wondering about, please let me know! 

You can see the full reveal of the room with tons of before and after photos (my favorite!) here and I went into more detail about all of the sources and projects in this post. 

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Adding some COLOR to the kitchen!

Hello all! Hope your weekend was wonderful! Our weather continues to be oddly warm and is supposed to be near 70 this weekend! I can't remember a weirder winter in Indiana. It's been awesome, but I do wonder if the winter weather is going to hit in March. 😬

I've mentioned a few times I've slowly adding more color into our home lately. I was craving it in the new year and have been making small, easy changes to do just that. One spot in our kitchen was calling out for it -- the window seat (one of my favorite spots in our home):

You can see all of the details on how it was built here. I have dreamed of a window seat in my home for most of my life, and now we have two! :) 

As you can tell, I love the color blue. I knew this would be a lovely spot to add in a little something more. I went shopping, not sure exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I wanted more color. I wish I had the patience to order fabrics online -- if I planned better I think I could do it but most of the time what I do fall in love with is CRAZY expensive anyway. 

SO. Went shopping. And found a combo I loved: 

The left is called Cove End Palm (Robert Allen) and the right is Gem of the Sky Indigo (P. Kaufmann), both from Calico Corners. Although the print still had a lot of blue, it had plenty of other colors to pull from too. I wanted to mix in one more fabric as well but didn't find anything I loved.

When I got home and got the pillows finished up, I realized two sets of the previous pillows worked great with the new ones. I ended up keeping all of them: 

The blue stripe was previously a larger pillow and I cut them down and made them smaller to match the rest. 

When I saw them all together I was in love! I still have my blue but with some more color thrown in too:

And I can easily add something else with more color if/when I find another fabric I love. Pillows are SUCH an easy way to change up your decor -- whether you make them or buy! I think they are one of my favorite decorating accessories. 

I also love having more pillows on the seat -- it feels like I should have always had this amount because of the size: 

Their similar size works much better too. I know many of you want me to put a cushion on here and I will eventually -- it's definitely the plan. A friend was going to make it but with the shape of the seat she didn't feel confident. She recommended someone else but I know it will be an investment. Now I'm considering trying it myself. We'll see. :) For now I don't mind it without. 

I had to laugh because when I made the first few pillows for this seat years ago I had green mixed in. The fabric was slightly more modern and I used lumbar pillows, so I ended up switching to the square sizes. I absolutely LOVE green and blue together! It's such a lovely combo! 

The blue with the pinstripe is fabric from Joann's (they still carry it) and the white with the large stripe were made from West Elm napkins. Here's a photo with our Valentine's banner up. :)

New throw pillows are an easy way to update your space, don't you agree? When I'm craving a change that's my first stop. 

I've shared a bunch of easy pillow ideas over the years! Check out the link below each picture to find out more!

Easy and inexpensive seasonal pillows

Pottery Barn pillows for cheap

Basic pillow sewing tutorial

DIY placemat pillows

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How to easily organize awkward pans above the fridge

Hey there! It's Friday, the sun is (kind of) shining, the weather is supposed to warm up (a little) and we have a fun weekend planned. It's a good day! 

This is organizing project is something I've been meaning to tackle for months. I think of it every time I reach for something in the cabinet above our fridge. I've never organized it because I wanted to see how we used it first:

When I built that cabinet over the fridge I initially planned to DIY something to hold our long and awkward pans and items. I thought I would want something with wood at the top and bottom of the cabinet to make slots I could slide everything into. 

But because we have extra storage behind this cabinet (I left our original cabinet up and reused our doors -- see that post linked in the paragraph above for photos) I thought I'd want to use that back space behind it for rarely used items. I wanted to make it easy to access things back there if needed. 

Fast forward to this week when I finally decided to tackle this project -- when I cleaned it out I realized there were plenty of items (some that were pushed all the way to the back) that we just didn't use or need: 

Do you all have those random metal shelves from the refrigerator (or who knows where else?). We haven't used them and years and never will. :) 

I got rid of about a third of the items and decided to grab this Variera organizer from IKEA I've had in storage for awhile: 

Years ago I used it for a DIY rolling rack in our island, but since then we've purged/organized them differently and I removed it:

What I love about this organizer is it's like an accordion -- you can pull it out for larger items or push it together for skinny ones. I wanted it to hold a lot and span the whole cabinet so I pulled it out pretty far:

And what do you know...everything fit perfectly!:

The area off to each side was the perfect size to slip in another item. WHY I waited so long to do this I have no idea. It took all of ten minutes!

When I used this before I secured it to the bottom of the cabinet to hold it in place, but I've found that with the weight of the pans it stays put just fine. It's super easy to pull things in and out:

This little rack is only $6 and totally worth it! If you don't have an IKEA nearby you can find it here online too. 

SO. MUCH. BETTER. And I'm still kicking myself for not doing it sooner:

Have you used this rack in your home? It can be used for so many things in the kitchen -- lids, pots, pans, plates (I use another one for dishes in our built in storage in the library). 

Here are some other helpful posts on projects from this area of our kitchen: 

DIY soft close doors

Building cabinets to the ceiling

Building in the refrigerator with cabinet on top

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My favorite hidden storage in the kitchen!

Hello and happy weekend! It's Friday the 13th, the full moon was yesterday and we're expecting an ice storm tonight. Good day to stay inside I say! 

This is one of my very favorite little details of our home and I can't believe in nine years I've never shared it with you! At least I don't think I have? I've been at this a long time folks! 

This organization idea is hidden away and you'd never even know it was there. We have them in the kitchen and master bath: 

Any guesses? I don't even remember picking these out when we built our house -- if I remember right they came as a nice surprise to us when we moved in. 

They are called tip out trays and they allow you to use that small space behind those upper, faux drawers: 

They work with nearly all drop in or undermount sinks. And of course with sinks that sit on top of the counter in bathrooms. When we installed this sink years ago with our old countertops I couldn't use the trays because there wasn't enough room. But when we got the granite they must have moved the position of the sink back just a bit because they work fine again! 

They are absolutely AWESOME for the little stuff you need to access daily:

We used to keep our sponges in there until I found these that I love -- they won't fit inside. But regular sponges fit fine and tons of other random stuff will as well. 

In our bathroom we use them for our toothbrushes, toothpaste and flossers: 

We each have one in our bathroom and I plan to add two more when I work on this room sometime in the next couple of years. They are so convenient and easy to access! 

It wasn't till about seven years ago or so that I noticed they had started selling them in the store -- I've seen them at Lowe's but the best price I've seen for them is on Amazon. (Make sure yours come with the hinges if you buy online!) You can also just buy the trays -- when ours didn't fit with our new sink I just took the trays out and attached them to the back of the cabinet doors. Still great storage! 

If you're handy you can install them yourself, but they do take some patience. To install them where there are none, you'll need to lay inside the cabinet to remove the drawer front and then install them. :) I had to remove the kitchen trays when I painted our cabinets and took photos of them to remember exactly how to reinstall them. 

I highly recommend these hidden storage trays for little stuff you use every day -- I think they're especially helpful in the kitchen! Do you have these hidden gems in your house? We love them and plan to add more! 

Have a great weekend and if you are getting the ice as well, be safe!

Affiliate links included for your convenience! 

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My favorite Christmas spot in the kitchen!

Hey all! I hope you all enjoyed our favorite things round up last week! I found so many new cute items for my Christmas list! 

How was your Thanksgiving week? We spent most of it in Disney World and had a blast! Disney has such a special place in our hearts -- we really disconnect and just focus on having fun as a family. It makes me so sad to leave, but then I'm always happy to get home too! 😊

Between running through Disney nonstop, flights, and now trying to get all of our Christmas decor up in just a few days, I'm exhausted and sick. EVERY year I say I'm going to start decorating earlier and every year...I don't. I don't know when I'll finally do it -- I'm already swearing it will be next year, ha!! The first room I finished this time was our kitchen, and this spot was a little self serving because I needed the hot liquid to sooth my throat. ;) 

I think this is one of the cutest Christmas vignettes in our house so I thought I would show you how easy it was to put together -- because everyone needs a hot chocolate station this time of year! 

I added a bigger tray to the island this year so it holds everything perfectly. I always add a couple festive mugs and then put the packets of hot chocoloate out in a bowl for easy access: 

I'm not a big peppermint fan, unless it's during the holidays. I absolutely LOVE it in hot chocolate!

Usually I keep the peppermint Hershey kisses handy and drop one in, but then I found these peppermint sticks at HomeGoods instead:

How cute are those? Perfect! Of course you need the tiny marshmallows! And I know, I know. Nobody drinks hot chocolate with a straw, but they are cute, right? We do use them for margaritas and there are a few of those made this time of year as well. 😉

I found this hot cocoa sign at Hobby Lobby and it looks pretty darn cute in the kitchen as well: 

It took me less than ten minutes to pull it all together! It's my favorite spot in the kitchen this time of year! I go through my stash and find Christmas jars and containers for everything, so it doesn't cost me much. 

By the way...the hot chocolate station is such a fun and easy gift too. You can see how I pulled that together last year here. 

Because we really do drink a lot of it right now, this tray is as functional as it is cute! That's my favorite part: 

I'm really trying to simplify my decor this year. A friend and I were laughing last night at how we say that EVERY year but this time I mean it! I love how the hot cocoa station feels so festive but doesn't take a lot of time or effort:

It's also nice that this doesn't need to take up much space in your kitchen! It would be a cute addition in a butler's pantry or on a buffet too! Have you added one of these to your home? 

Now...any tips for getting rid of a cold FAST? I'm heading out of town again in a few days and flying with a cold is pure torture. I'll take any tips you can offer! 

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My pretty new light fixture in the kitchen!

Hey there! I'm back today with some lighting updates around the house. I found a GREAT deal on a beautiful light a couple weeks ago while we were in Cincinnati. Our routine is usually to stop by IKEA, then head over to Kings Island for our son. This time I took a super quick trip into the Ballard Designs outlet store on the way to the amusement park. 

If you aren't familiar with this outlet, it's minutes away from IKEA in West Chester and it's a large store with Grandin Road and Frontgate as well. They usually have some fantastic deals but it had been years since I had been in. 

Luckily for our boy (who was totally over shopping at this point), I found a gorgeous light within two minutes of walking in. I get weird feelings about stores sometimes -- it's odd but it never fails me. I just knew I'd find a light I loved that day and so we went. I get that vibe about random stuff and it my intuition is almost always right. I wasn't even really looking for a new light, but something was drawing me to the store. I tell my husband it was meant to be when it happens. ;) 

The light was the Hadley pendant and it was big, but I knew had a number of places I could put it. I really want to change out our stairway light and our foyer light, and at first I thought I would put it in one of those spots. 

But we got home and I had a better idea…over the kitchen table. I knew it would look so good in there for a number of reasons, but was a little worried it would be too big. I measured the old light fixture (you can see it here) and turns out it was way wider than the new light and actually taller too. I was surprised because the new one seemed larger. I think because it's the same size uniformly, unlike a chandelier. 

Anyway, I got it up and was SO THRILLED:

Most of the lights in our home have stayed the same or maybe moved around here and there, but I don't change them out often. But the kitchen table light is one that I've probably changed out four times now over ten years. None of them have ever felt 100 percent right till now!

I absolutely LOVE IT: 

It works because it's so "light" feeling -- you can see through it completely so it doesn't feel like a heavy fixture. It's normally priced at $300, they had it on sale for about $230 and they had even more of a sale that day so I got it for $130. Score!! 

Our old chandelier had eight lights bulbs but it got so bright I changed most of the bulbs out to 40 or 25 watt -- so even with half the lights at 60 watts, this one lets off similar light at night. We still use our dimmer most times with it anyway: 

So of course you change one and something else feels off, right? I hate when that happens. I had a couple lights from Joss and Main in my cart online for a week or so, and I knew they would work so much better with than our current lights in a couple nearby spots. 

This one in our family room was one I've wanted to change out for awhile. It just felt really heavy to me and that spot is supposed to be more of a flush mount light anyway: 

I went ahead and got the Marceline flush mounts from Joss and Main and absolutely LOVED the lights, but they were such a pain in the butt to install. 

I have to preface my rant by saying I absolutely LOATHE installing light fixtures. Lighting is by far my least favorite DIY project -- there's always always always something annoying that happens when I install a light. All of the screws and junk have to be just right for everything to hang correctly and it drives me absolutely crazy. 

These had me cussing and sweating. I hated them with a burning passion. Flames…flames on the side of my face. (Name that movie!) If you purchase these know that they are beautiful and lovely but you need to purchase longer screws before you try to install them. Just a warning. But I loved them!: 

I don't want that family room light to be such a focal point so I'm so happy with the look of this one, and it's higher too. 

Another annoyance with these is that the glass is permanently smudged. I have tried absolutely everything to get them clean…and they are clean. But the glass is damaged in a way that when the light is on they look dirty: 

When the light is off you don't see it. I'm emailing Joss and Main to see if they'll send new glass because it's really not good. I'm still not over the anger from the installation yet so they are staying up. :) Too much drama to even consider taking them down right now, ha!

I replaced another light with one of these too -- five years ago I added a $5 light from the Habitat store to our small hallway by the stairs:

This was an area that could take a little more presence but I didn't want it to hang any lower than the old one. 

I just love it here!: 

I think the new kitchen light looks so great with these and I like that the two flush mounts match -- they add some consistency we were needing: 

This one was also a pain in the butt to install and also has the weird glass problems, but I still like the lights a lot. These are a GREAT option for "boob" light replacements. They don't hang down too far and look great. Just be prepared to be annoyed when you install them. :) 

I got all three lights for the price of what the Ballard light is originally priced at -- not a bad deal at all! Have you been eyeing either of these light fixtures? The kitchen light is my new favorite and I throw heart eyes at it every time I walk in. I just love it. 

Tell me I'm not alone in the installing lights thing -- is it the worst job ever or what? I'd rather drywall and that's saying a lot. 

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