An Unexpected Kitchen Renovation

I mentioned in my last post that I went away for a weekend to visit one of my very best friends, Lauren.  She and her husband are getting ready to undergo a renovation to their beautiful 800 square foot cottage in Orlando, FL (follow their journey at Lauren's blog, This Little House).  I vaguely remember saying to her that it was really fortunate that they were doing this reno now, before they have kids, because I would HATE to do a reno while juggling a family (particularily a toddler).  Famous. Last. Words.    I then came home to my moldy mess. LOL. 

Since we were having to tear out a lot of our kitchen anyway, we decided to do some updates that we had previously planned for next year.  It wasn't really that we hated the look of our kitchen before, but that it just didn't feel like our style.  Also, please excuse the crazy countertops in the below pic.  That was from the time of baby bottles, aka cluttered counters.

A "before" pic of the kitchen, from last Christmas to be exact :)

In our kitchen, we painted the cream colored cabinets a bright white.  

Our kitchen "after"

We then changed the old light green walls to Paper Craft, a cream color by Sherwin Williams.  

My goal here was to brighten up the kitchen and make it feel larger, since we don't have an open floorplan, and the kitchen is kind of separate from all the other rooms.  Previously, we had a short granite backsplash, but I have wanted a tiled backsplash for a long time.  To me, tiles are so much more functional, because you can easily wipe off any splashes from the sink or stove, rather than having to deal with splotches on your painted wall.  I chose a white subway tile with a charcoal grout.  I am SO happy with the way it turned out.  Our kitchen feels light and airy, and the backsplash gives our kitchen an upgraded, "finished" look.  

I still have a couple of things to do, like changing out the hardware on the drawers, but I'm pretty pleased with the result so far.  What do you think? Stay tuned for posts about our DIY open shelving in the breakfast nook and chalkboard wall!

An Update and a Big Thanks!

About 3 1/2 weeks ago, I came home from a wonderful weekend in Orlando, FL, to a HORRIBLE smell in my kitchen.  To make a long story short, this is what happened:

-smelled horrible smell -thought maybe it was a dead squirrel in the wall (gross, I know, but we have a creek and we do have a lot of critters running around our property) -called Pest Guy -Pest Guy traced smell and...... WABAAM! Problem spotted.  The wall behind our stove was soaking wet and moldy.  Apparently we had a slow leak that was in just the right place to go unnoticed.  

Our kitchen during the demo process.

View from the living room.  We had 6 fans, a Hepa filter, and a dehumidifier going constantly for over a week.

All of this resulted in many weeks of living out of our bedrooms and playroom, since we lost the use of our kitchen, dining room, and living room once we found the issue. I am happy to say that we are now mold free, and our house is back to normal.  Thank GOODNESS, because this clean freak was literally losing her mind!!! We also made a few decorative changes along the way that I am excited to share with you very soon!
This was a really stressful time for us as a family, but we were so lucky to have so many people that helped us out during our time of need!  We want to express our sincere thanks to all the people who brought us meals, welcomed us into their homes, and helped us with childcare.  We love you guys!!!

Parker did enjoy getting to eat breakfast at Bojangles once or twice (ish)!