Kitchen: Before & After

The above pictures were taken during our house inspection. We loved the bones of the house, but knew it needed some updating. Over the past seven years, we have SLOWLY made the changes happen. Some have been costly (refinishing the hardwood floors and buying new appliances) and some have been labor intensive (painting walls and cabinets), but all the changes have been worth it. Our first big change started the day we became the owners of the house. Every wall (except the ones covered in wallpaper) and every ceiling in our house were painted a creamy apricot color. The inside of our house was a giant muted peach! The day we moved in, the painting began in the kitchen. The cabinets were a light bleached maple color, along with the floor, so we decided that a brick red would be great. Here is the first after:


We kept it this way for a while. A year and a half after moving in, we had our first child, and he and his brother (who came along just 15 months later!) pretty much halted all home improvements for a while. Then, we decided in the fall of 2007, that our hardwood desperately needed refinishing. So we picked a darker color. And when it was finished, we began to hate our cabinets and the red walls. And one by one, our appliances began to die. So one by one, we replaced them with stainless. In October of 2008, I finally painted the kitchen a light apple green. At this point, I also knew that I would be painting our cabinets, but had no idea when that would happen. I knew I would never get it finished with a three and four year old around! Thankfully, my in-laws kept the boys for the week after Easter, and I finally painted the cabinets after putting up beadboard patterned paintable wallpaper on the ends of the cabinets. Here are the green walls with maple cabinets. They look more peach than ever!



And here is the kitchen after painting the cabinets!




There are still things we would like to do in here. Black granite countertops would be great, but they will have to wait on the budget! I also would like a tile backsplash, but keep flip-flopping on what kind of tile. I have narrowed it down to some kind of slate (either subway or diagonally laid square) or white subway tile. Any suggestions?