Can we talk renovations?

[katespade]

Because this is what we're thinking about for our kitchen (but with a butcher block counter):

[estrellita]

I like it! Personally I'd prefer the bottom cabinets to also be white though, but that's just me!

[katespade]

estrellita - See, and the cabinets are the part that I like the most! I think it's because it adds some color without committing to all of the cabinets being that color, which may be overwhelming. Plus, the white lightens up the whole room.

[estrellita]

I could see that. Just not my style I guess I do really love that backsplash. When we have the money for it we want to get similar ones, just darker to match the currently black cabinets (we could repaint them, but I don't want to other than some touch up lol). Like these except I swear the one we were looking at had more grey and white in it:

[ewall]

I'm with estrellita - I love the look of all white cabinets.

My renovation is going to involve digging up the driveway and garage floor to fix the basement. Picture big yellow construction equipment in the front yard. And dollar signs. Lots of those.

[estrellita]

I think if we were to do everything we wanted with this house we would:

-Refinish the cabinets and add a backsplash. Ideally I love the look of darker cherry wood, but I'm not sure exactly what we'd do.
-Replace the carpet and add carpet to the bedrooms. It's obvious there was carpet previously but the wood underneath is actually pretty decent. However, the floor is super creaky, uneven and cold, so I'd really like some carpet to help offset that a bit, haha.
-Add a bathroom somewhere upstairs. There is a random closet behind where the chimney is (you really wouldn't even know it's there it's so hidden) that could easily fit a toilet and sink at least. There's also a fair amount of space to work with if we really wanted to get into it. The upstairs is one bedroom on one side, a sort of open area outside the bedroom, then both sides have crawl space with doors and carpet. We could play with it if we wanted to and add a bathroom somewhere else, we would just have to figure it out!
-Add walls to create a laundry room, then maybe finish the rest of the basement with carpet or tile or something. There is a "root cellar" or coal storage type room we could maybe fix up and use as a bathroom or something, otherwise there is another room down there with a door that just has the sewer line in it. We'd have to dig a window well to make a bedroom down there but we have to fix the grading anyways along the sides of the house...
-Replace windows. They're fine for now but will probably need replacing at some point.
-Maybe add a retractable canopy over the little patio sort of area we have. Or continue to use it as parking for visitors. Not sure!
-Lots of gardening. There are some bushes and rocks, the usual, but I want to add some flowers and stuff to make it our own!

Ok, that got a bit long. There are so many things we want to do and I don't know where to start or how to do some of these things as cheaply as possible!

[pooh8402]

I love the inspiration pic!

[Deleted]

I really like the inspiration pic. In this case I think the upper and lower cabinets being different colors works. One thing I would not do is have a chalkboard over the stove, though.

Cosmetically I like how our house is, but there are a few things I would change. I would like a top-loading washer and stainless steel appliances that don't show fingerprints. In the next few years the house will need a new roof and a new garage door. Also, the front step is sagging really badly, so that could stand to be fixed.

[bk1]

I love the after pic! I really like the two.different color cabinets. Love love love!

[estrellita]

Ohh @moonbeam reminded me I also want to replace appliances. New fridge and stove, then also get a dishwasher (where we'd put it I have no idea) and a chest freezer for the basement!

[katespade]

@moonbeam - Yeah, we definitely won't be doing a chalkboard! The microwave is over the stove in our kitchen, so that wouldn't really work even if we did like that part. I mostly just love love love the cabinets. Haha.

[amaranth]

I love it! The backsplash is similar to ours, which is my favorite part of our kitchen. I also am super into two-tone cabinets so I think that's great.

I agree with not putting the chalk board there though. It will be hard to write on, and get splashed with grease and stained. I suppose if you wanted the same look you could just permanently paint a chalk board with the correct colors of paint so that it's easy to clean often. Basically make it a sign.

Will you be doing the work yourselves? Will you be redoing lighting and the floor? What about removing any walls?

[katespade]

amaranth - We will be doing the work ourselves. We shouldn't need to re-do any lighting or remove any walls, but the floor does need to be redone. Luckily, H has experience with all of the kinds of things we'll need to do. There are other areas of the house we want to make changes to, but we're thinking the kitchen might be first because it would be so much easier to do before we move in and the floor needs to be redone sooner rather than later.

I agree with you on the chalkboard. Imagine a microwave where that is in the Pinterest picture. Haha.

[travelbug]

I love it!!

[amaranth]

Oct 7, 2015 22:11:57 GMT -5 katespade said:

amaranth - We will be doing the work ourselves. We shouldn't need to re-do any lighting or remove any walls, but the floor does need to be redone. Luckily, H has experience with all of the kinds of things we'll need to do. There are other areas of the house we want to make changes to, but we're thinking the kitchen might be first because it would be so much easier to do before we move in and the floor needs to be redone sooner rather than later.

I agree with you on the chalkboard. Imagine a microwave where that is in the Pinterest picture. Haha.

Awesome! I wish we had done our kitchen before we moved in instead of while living here, so I whole heartedly agree! You won't regret doing that room first. 

[melsamoony]

Love it.

The only real renovation H and I want to do is to replace the counters and backslash in our kitchen. It is on our to do list...idk when it will get done though.

[Deleted]

I love it! I think the different colored cabinets look great. I would never think to do that.

[rockinrobyn]

After scrubbing my white bottom cabinets last night I would definitely do the different color on the bottom. Shows less dirt and dog hair. I do have to agree that I do not love the chalkboard above the stove.

[MrsMB]

Very Pretty katespade