Rylands Family: The heartbeat of the home: The Kitchen!

So if truth be told, this kitchen was my least favorite part of this house when we first looked at it. In fact, it was one of the reasons that I didn't have any interest in this home at first.

My husband and my mother had an easier time looking past all the cosmetic stuff, but I really struggled with the kitchen.

I hated the cabinets, so I immediately went about the task of pricing new ones.

Yeah, that didn't end well. :-)

So, realizing that we didn't have an extra $13,000 lying around for new cabinets, we went with plan B: Decorate around them.

Step one: New Paint

If you read the Dining Room post, you already know how I felt about the soft yellow...

So, to offset the darker gray in the dining room, we went with a pale, cool gray (with blue undertones) in the kitchen and laundry.

Step two:New knobs

Simple was the best plan and since the appliances were stainless, we opted for the brushed nickle knobs.

Step three: New floors

We replaced the older, outdated wood of the foyer, the carpet in the dining room and the roughed up laminate of the kitchen with a gorgeous bamboo flooring.

I really like the consistency of having the same flooring from room to room.

Step four: New Counters/ Sink

The laminate counter tops were peeling off and around the island it kept grabbing anyone that walked too closely and snapped at them.

I was very glad to get rid of them, but getting them off the counters was not as easy or intuitive as we thought!

We didn't want to pay any more than absolutely necessary, so we (and by we, I mean Tom and my Dad) took the counters off ourselves.

Then, once the old counters were off, the workmen arrived with our new counters and seamless sink.

They marked the holes for the drains and the faucet and drilled them right in our driveway.

This fine gentleman was our key worker on this project.

And these two characters... well, they did the heavy "looking on"!

Tom enjoying his coffee with my Dad as they watched the men work.

But look at how pretty!

Next step?

Getting my Dad, our favorite plumber, to install the faucet and hook up the disposal.

Ta-Da!

Step five: Decorative Tile

So, neither Tom nor I have ever laid tile before.
Never.
But, how hard could it be?

I started my border pattern of stones at the end of the counter and worked my way along...

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

This pattern ended EXACTLY where it needed to! Not off to a bad start, if I do say so myself.

I stopped for the day after getting this border all the way around.

Once the border was all the way around, I started working my way up the wall.

I was pretty proud of myself since I have never, ever laid tile before!

Once I got all the tiles up on the wall that I could do without cutting, I was at a standstill until we could get a friend over to help.

Thankfully, just such a friend came by after Thanksgiving and blessed us with 6 hours of hard work, cutting each little square one at a time! He was a true angel!

So, once all the tiles were in their place, it was time to try my hand at grouting!

This was a BIG JOB, but I was up for the challenge!

It took me about 3 hours, but the grout is finally done!