The Kitchen Remodel
When we bought our house in August of 2020, we loved the character of the home but knew that this was going to be a fixer upper. Other than painting the walls and windows on the main floor (twice, because the first color was not great), we decided that the kitchen had to be our first major project for a couple of reasons. 1 - we use our kitchen a lot and the layout, along with many of the appliances, were just not very functional. 2 - it was going to be the biggest project and we wanted to get it out of the way.
The first part of the remodel was making the design decisions. I’m very drawn to a bright, airy, natural and minimal aesthetic so that was a must. Keeping everything light also helped to make the room feel bigger which was another goal of ours. I pulled my inspiration from the kitchens of Shea Mcgee, Maison Blonde, and Grace Start. I also had the help of my friends at Prestige Iowa when it came to measuring the space, telling me what the possibilities for the layout were and helping me choose the finishes to achieve the design I wanted.
The layout was probably the biggest challenge because we have an old brick house and were trying to design around the window placement that already existed. Some of the biggest changes to the layout were flipping the directions of the stairs from the back door leading into the kitchen and building a new wall, as well as totally changing the location of the sink and opening up the doorway into the dining room (another favorite feature of mine - helps give a semi “open concept” feel and lets in a lot more light).
My husband, Jon and his dad did the entire project themselves which still amazes me! It took a solid seven months from start to finish but I would say it was well worth the wait. I did my best to strategically place “before" photos right below the “after" photos of the same angle to give you the best concept of the space and the changes made (and it pained me to do so because although I am a professional interior photographer, I made the mistake of not taking my own photos and only have the images from Zillow, haha). I also linked what I could as far as hardware, decor, colors and other design details at the bottom of the post!
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Kitchen Details & Links
Photography: Alexa Karen Photography
Cabinet color: Woodmont antique
Custom cabinets: Cabinet Boutique
Wall color: Alabaster by Sherwin Williams
Countertops: Vicostone Misterio Quartz