The Kitchen. is. done.

It seems only fitting for the final kitchen 'before and after' to come directly following our 2 year anniversary post - sort of an homage to the journey we've taken in our marriage during that time.  Of course, this condo has taken quite a journey itself!

Some of you knew what our place looked like before I moved in.  And the fact that you're still friends with us speaks volumes.  I kid, I kid!

But most of you haven't been privy to the little - ok, MAJOR - transformation the kitchen has undergone.  You'll be innocent no more.

So, without further ado, I give you our kitchen - before, during, and after.

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Before

Wow.  Ok, so.  Upon initial glance, it doesn't look so bad.  This is actually the cleanest I had seen the kitchen in the 3 years we dated, mainly because I can tell that Hubs was making beer in these pictures.  But let's take a deeper dive, shall we?

Notice the hen border along the top, and the striped wallpaper that actually contained hearts and flowers. Theresa, Braddy, and Whammy painstakingly removed every inch of this wallpaper the week before the wedding.

Observe the chipping acrylic (or whatever it is?) on the cabinet doors.  I'm sure these cabinets were nice at one time, but they had clearly seen their day.  And what's with the fluorescent light above the sink?

Ah, the refrigerator kegerator.  As you may recall, Hubs and his roommate drilled a hole into the fridge to attach a tapper, hooked up to the keg inside.  Unfortunately, they removed all the shelves and threw them away. (???)

If this doesn't scream 'bachelor pad,' I don't know what does.  Observe the bleach on the kitchen floor, along with Jameson and Coke.  And lots of beer making equipment, a whiteboard full of formulas, and the 'Family Guy' Stewie clock with moving eyes (fortunately, that belonged to Brian).

And finally, note the yellowed linoleum floor that was always sticky, no matter how many times you washed it.

:: SHUDDER ::

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During


Phase 1 was clearly the most impressive - ripping out all the old cabinets and countertop and replacing them with brand new ones.  All of this work was done by Hubs and his dad the week of the wedding.  I still can't believe what they accomplished.  I was clearly nowhere around (and probably freaking out about something wedding-related), so I don't have any pictures of the work being done, only pictures I had from various times thereafter.


This picture was taken on my birthday, around 2 months after the wedding.  You can see the new cabinets, and also the paper floor.  Yes, paper.  Hubs started ripping up the linoleum before we had a game plan for the flooring.

To be fair, it did make cleanup so. much. easier.

Then the big fluorescent light fell down one morning, pushing the replacement of it to the top of the priority list.

Given that the hole in the ceiling was off-center, we were forced to get flexible track lighting.  I absolutely love it now.

Doing dishes by hand was becoming quite tedious, so we replaced the "potwasher."

Next to go was the fridge. I could only do so much without shelves.

And since one can only live so long with a paper floor, that was next to go.

Then came the stove and the microwave.

And in an unplanned turn of events, we decided to add a tile backsplash.

Next came the knife rack.

And then the very unplanned corner cabinets, tile countertop, and shelves.

Followed by cabinet hardware (Daddy, I did almost all these by myself too!)...

And FINALLY by baseboards. (HOT!!)

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After

We went from this:

To this:

I cannot. believe. we turned this kitchen into such a beautiful room by ourselves (and family, of course)! Yes, it took a longggg time.  But it was SO WORTH IT.

Now, if you'll excuse me while I go bake something in our super hot kitchen...

{Check out all the pictures here}