One wall at a time. Kitchen post #2

This post doesn't scream kitchen but it eventually will. These pictures are taken from our living room looking into our breakfast nook with our galley kitchen directly behind the left built in shelf.

When we first moved in, there was an array of colors. A sliver of yellow, to green, to red, to blue all in one room. Maybe some hot pink and salmon in the bedrooms but nothing a little paint couldn't fix. Sometimes a little TLC is all a home needs. Back in the 60's and 70's, a lot of individual spaces in a home was a common theme. The open floor concept wasn't a thing yet. We were determined to make this place catch up with the times.

We painted everything a neutral sandy color and filled the shelves and called it home:

Then one day I said "hey hun, you want to bust down that wall for a date night?" The hubs replied with a "definitely!" ...and this folks is how it all happens every.single.time. A whole lot of crazy. So we cleaned out the bookshelf and got to work. No turning back.

We thoroughly enjoyed our new opened up space. Phase one felt complete.

Fast forward a year (give or take...can't remember) and we were finally ready / had a wild hair to demo the other bookshelf in the living room that would fully expose the kitchen to our main living area. This was a little more technical and time intensive because of wires, more wall to remove and some finishing work. This felt like a really big deal to Justin and I. For the first time we were able to be in the kitchen and see another part of our home. To see the kids playing and running around the house and watch them on the deck was so exciting and it virtually cost us nothing. Hosting felt that much more special. I could see and talk with our guests while cooking. The only downfall was losing half of my  cupboard space but we both decided it was worth it. My crockpots found a new home in the dining room.

Here is a series of pictures of opening up our galley kitchen to create a peninsula. Goodbye cupboards!

Oh hey living room! I see you!

I'm pretty sure this was Valentine's day. If I remember correctly, we demoed this wall and then played a game of racquet ball which I became overly competitive in. We're super romantic like that.

Always a helper on the construction site:

Happy kids, happy wife, happy life.

Our kitchen stayed in this state for about 2.5 years. Tomorrow I will be back with the full demo of our kitchen and all our construction steps and design decisions! Thanks for being a apart of our journey!

Love,
The Officer's Pin It

2009. GALLEY STYLE. Kitchen post #1

When we bought our home in 2009 in needed a lot of work. That's probably an understatement. The downstairs would flood because of the way a concrete patio was poured sloped towards the house. Insert face palm. Even with the state our new to us, previously banked owned, abandoned for years, house was in, we saw potential. Well, I saw potential. Home was written all over it for me. Justin, not so much. He must of been sleep deprived because he let me make an offer on this place before he even stepped foot in it. What a trusting man! He possibly thought I was a bit crazy when I showed him around but once I pointed out to him all the beautiful details, potential and my vision, we dove in head first together.

We spent our first 7 years here tackling each section piece by piece, room by room. We did bathroom remodels. Two in fact and one more to go. Tile work in the laundry room & cement removal outside. We forked out a chunk of change for a new furnace, new flooring downstairs, fresh carpet, buckets of paint and much more. Talk about a work in progress and some true sweat equity. The kitchen was something we always knew we wanted to re-do but were fully aware it was going to be awhile. Eight years later to be exact. We are SO glad that we waited. We had all that time to decide what layout & what style truly represented our family. Plus, plenty of years to watch YouTube videos on how to do it all!

The pictures below give you an idea of what it looked like when we moved in with little upgrades already in place. I really wish I had a picture of the original paint color (a fine pink) & the counters (yikes)! Pretty much a narrow and short galley style kitchen. We put in a few used, inexpensive appliances to keep it functioning till we were ready to start over fresh. We also removed white tile countertops that were pretty icky & unsalvageable & replaced it with charcoal colored laminate counters. A great option to hold us over for those eight years. I truly was never discontent with this space but often frustrated with its dysfunction. The cabinets were original to when the house was built in 1969. As much as I love old & re-purposed items, there is nothing more frustrating then drawers that cover your kitchen items with saw-dust when you open and close them. The tracks were spent and had done their time. I went years not using specific drawers & rinsing items from the ones I did use. Kind of a pain but I was fully aware that these were #firstworldproblems. So, we carried on. Enjoy these sweet old pics circa 2009. I cherish each and every one of them.

We hosted and fed a multitude of people in this space. I will always hold the friends near and dear to my heart that ate meals with us here and always saw us through every project with either helping hands or words of encouragement.

 I can't wait to show you through a series of blogposts, our slow kitchen transformation! I'll be back tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by!

Love,

The Officer's

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Sweet dreams.

Just a few more of my favorite pillowcases. These past 3 years having an etsy shop have been a lot of fun for me. Besides decorating my home, this has been a great creative outlet as I am on year 8 of staying home with kids (my favorite job). Though my shop is on hold right now, it's a whole lot of fun to look back and reflect on all that was created, requested, & purchased all over the United States. To my surprise I have had over 200 sales. Who knew!?!? My favorite part of this whole endeavor is receiving pictures of my products in clients homes. Real people. Real joy. Thank you all for cheering me on in this journey. It's been special.

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Banners!

Some of my favorite banners I've created over the years:

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