Kitchen Progression

So, this last week, with my MIL's help since she was here (Thanks, Carol!), we tackled some big jobs in the kitchen. I don't know if you remember what it looked like, so here's a reminder!

The yellow looks bright and sunny in the pic, but in reality it was harsh and garish... YUCK! You also can't see the horrible stick-on copper tiles done as a backsplash over the counters and covering two walls! Double YUCK!

And then, there were the floors...

I know... I'll wait while you puke.

Finished?

The previous owner had ripped up carpet (who puts carpet in the kitchen? DUMB!!!), but hadn't gotten any further with the renovation (that happened with A LOT of things in this house). So, this is several layers of linolium (and yes, that is the correct spelling. If your spell checker says otherwise, you may want to get a new one) with carpet adhesive that is no longer sticky (a.k.a it's so full of dirt and crud it can't possibly stick to anything else). GROSS!

So, we pulled all of the linolium up.

Now we had hardwood floors covered with the adhesive for the linolium. Of course, we would love to refinish the hardwood floors, but, um... IT'S A LOT OF WORK!!! Anyone willing is more than welcome to tackle the task for us! William said (after 5 weeks of work on the hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms) he's not touching anymore hardwood flooring projects for at least a year.

Anyway, after cleaning up the wood foors, we laid down new tiles, and now we have this:

Ahhhh... pretty, huh?
(Notice, I also painted! Much better!)

We also decided to rip out a few (stupid) cabinets that didn't make much sense where they were.

Yeah, I forgot to take the "before" pic until William started taking it down. But, you get the idea. A coat closet in the middle of my kitchen. We took it out...

To make room for my Hoosier Cabinet knock-off (designed by me and built by hubby!).

We also removed this little number:

Stupid placement... it covers most of the door frame! We plan to cut it down to counter height and make a little nook for all the mail, phone, phone books, etc.

So, I know there I don't have a whole lotta "after" photos yet, but I'll get 'um. It's a work in progress, but at least I can walk through my kitchen without feeling like I need to borrow William's combat boots!