Etsie and Me: Floor/Kitchen Renovations

Well, it all started when our half bath downstairs flooded. The toilet leaked and ruined our hardwood floors. Six weeks later and lots of money spent we had new floors. It was a stressed strenuous time and, of course, we had to move out of the house for a week. But it all turned out well.

Phase 1

In addition to the downstairs hardwoods, we decided to go ahead and have our two flights of stairs and upstairs hallway done. They took up all the carpet in those areas and laid the hardwood. It looks amazing. So glad we did this. Below are a few of the pics.

Den flooring before renovation at 29 years old

I have also painted the back walls of the built ins in Admiral Blue from Sherwin Williams. In the pic above and below it's a strawberry red. It really looks nice now and more up to date. Sorry for the darkness of the pics.

New finished den flooring

Upstairs looking down from hallway

Phase 2

This all began when I realized that our kitchen needed some updating. We had replaced appliances about 14 years ago and probably need to look at replacement of a few of those. But since they are all stainless, look and operate great, we won’t have to do any of that anytime soon. And our cabinetry still looks fantastic. It’s solid oak. Now I know some of you are saying “OAK”!!! Well I have had numerous painters look at them and all say I wouldn’t paint those cabinets as they are solid and look new, so we changed the hardware on them all. Now they look great! We had the carpenter add bead board behind the kitchen sink along the back side of the cabinet that was originally the oak. We painted that white.

Then we decided that we needed to have some storage installed and wasn’t sure what color to paint it. We decided that the white would go well with our counter tops and the bead board behind the sink, so, the new cabinetry began. We started with a plate rack I have been wanting for some time. I have an abundance of white dishes as that is one of my fetishes and have been collecting a long time. They were falling out of my kitchen cabinets and needed a new home.

Below is the finished plate rack between the bay window seat and the pantry door.

New plate shelving/rack between bay window and pantry

My favorite finishing touch - A little greenery

Below is the picture of the second additional cabinetry install. We had this master carpenter build and install all of it. This is was put on a blank kitchen wall. I could not have been happier.

New Plate Rack after completed

New Built In Baking Cabinet before completion

This second install was another plate rack that holds all the rest of my white pieces as shown above and the plate rack holds our daily Mikasa Italian Countryside china plates. This has freed up space in my cabinet to be able to spread out a little. It was getting so crowded. You never have enough space in your kitchen, no matter how many cabinets you have.

The bottoms are the third addition but still part of the second addition. It is my new baking cabinet. This bottom cabinet holds all my baking goods such as flour, sugar, etc. I was able to put them in matching jars and arrange them on the shelf, labels to come from Amazon later as they are back ordered. The bottom two drawers hold dish towels and all the small handheld appliances such as cookie dispensers, cheese graters, etc. But it’s also deep enough to put my food processor in for easy access for baking.

New Built in Baking Cabinet with lighting

The cabinet top is wonderful for my mixer and utensils to use to bake. The top will match the cabinetry that has white quartz on it. I have still left to order that. But when it comes in it will tie all the cabinets together.I’m very pleased with how it turned out.

Phase 3

But now, on to the next project, the pantry. The carpenter is putting a new French door on the pantry. He is also replacing the wire shelving with hardwood. I will be painting the closet hopefully this weekend. It’s not been painted since we moved in the house 29 years ago. A fresh coat of paint will look great. I already had organized the pantry with black bins about 4 years ago and the organization was wonderful! So, won’t be worried about keeping a clean pantry as this method has been awesome. He will be building the same amount of shelving with one additional lower shelf as I will lose my door shelving that hung over the door. So that will hold all the smaller additions to the closet. I am looking forward to having my kitchen back soon! Hopefully in two weeks!

Part of Phase 2

Before all of this took place I had the electrician come in and replace my under counter lighting with a wall switch. He also installed the lighting above the new cabinet above with a wall switch as well. That was a blank wall before starting. It really added a lot to have this done. Plus it has brightened the kitchen up. The picture below is without overhead lighting on and of course, before I cleaned my cabinets off. Notice the cabinet over the door to the den. My great Mr. Hubby did that about 10 years ago and has really been valuable for all my cookbook storage. Another collection fetish that I have.