Where I Live Wednesday: The Kitchen

Let's start with some before pictures:

The theme of our house seemed to be layers upon layers of dated wallpaper and let me tell ya- our kitchen was no exception! Removing that was no fun.

While the wallpaper was terrible, the bones of the kitchen are great. Nice cabinets, decent counter tops, new-ish back splash,  decent appliances, etc. 

One of the first projects we tackled in the kitchen was to install new lighting. I hated the old oak light box. My Dad helped Mike install a ceiling fan. It does a wonderful job of keeping the kitchen cool while I cook.

Here are some recent pictures:

I love the little spice cabinet:

So far I've:

• removed all wallpaper and painted it Restoration Hardware's Spanish Moss
• installed new vinyl flooring (all by myself!)
• replaced old white fridge with a new black fridge

Still to do:

• replace stove and dishwasher

New Kitchen Floor

I hope you guys aren't getting tired of all my home improvement posts!

I'll share the before pictures one more time:





As I said in my last post, I decided to tackle this project last weekend while Mike was in Memphis. This was a pretty big project for me to take on by myself (hello, I moved our refrigerator and stove...all by myself!!) but I am so glad I did it!

I decided on a faux travertine tile:



I used Cryntel's ItaliaStone Travertine vinyl tile. I think vinyl tile aka peel and stick tile has changed a lot over the years-- this stuff was hard as a rock! Each tile really mimicked stone- in texture and weight. So cool! I was under the impression that vinyl tile was cheap, shiny and not very attractive. This stuff definitely changed my mind. :-)

I started the project at around 8 pm on Friday night. One of the benefits of doing this while Mike was gone- I could set my own hours! haha! I headed to Lowe's, picked up my supplies and got to work. I'll keep the instructions brief- I basically had to find the center of the room and dry fit (lay the tiles out without removing the protective backing) to make sure I didn't have to make any adjustments before I started "sticking" them. Here's a picture I grabbed with my iPhone while I worked:



I quit at around 1 am Saturday morning (I said I set my own crazy hours!) and was about 80% finished. I slept in Saturday, started the project again around noon and finished at about 1:30. All together about 6 hours to complete the floor. :-)

Here are some shots of the finished product:













The most difficult part to do were all the crazy edges. Our kitchen floor has some weird angles and it was kinda tricky to cut the edge pieces. It was also not so fun to move the fridge and stove- but I did it! (and I got to clean behind both- the previous owners were gross.) The most interesting things I found behind our appliances: a huge neon orange crayon and an expired pizza coupon from 1994. :-)

I loved surprising Mike when he arrived home Sunday evening- he was THRILLED!!

The Details:

• the materials used: Cryntel's ItaliaStone Travertine peel and stick tile & a boxcutter
  
• total project time: about 6 hours
• total cost: about $100 for 80 sq. ft
  

A sneak peek

of my weekend project!!

Eventually we plan on having hardwood floor throughout the living room, dining room, kitchen and office- but the gross kitchen floor was killing me! So, while Mike was out of town this past weekend I decided to do something about it:

old flooring:





It's difficult to see, but it was off white with purple and gray flowers- hideous! LOL

and here is a sneak peek of the new flooring:





It's just vinyl tile- but it looks soooo much better! I'll post tomorrow with pictures of the finished floor and all the details. I'm so pleased with the change!