Before and After Remodel Pics

When I look at these photos I realize what a big transformation this really was. Our kitchen was covered in white and green tile so I decided to buy a bunch of Talavera pottery and deem it a "cocina." I did some Mexican-inspired painting on the ceiling fan and made a clock to match the tin metal art pieces. It worked for a while but then the tile, grout, cabinets, appliances, sink (everything!) started to fall apart.

Even though we had the room to expand out back, and our kitchen isn't large, we decided against it. Our kitchen layout worked quite well. We also got rid of the soffit so we gained a lot of cabinet space up high. There are still some projects to complete (window treatment, paint details, etc.) but we're nearly there.

Here's the before:



I let Jia and Willa draw all over everything before we gutted.



Here's the after:



I was thrilled that we were able to salvage our hardwood floors (original to our 1926 house). They were hidden under the tile. We had them salvage some extra wood from covered areas and lay it in a diamond pattern between the rooms to replicate the diamonds in the backsplash.

The backsplash is Italian travertine. I like it because it is slightly rough so it makes a good contrast to the traditional cabinets and stainless appliances.


When I was a kid I collected rocks and knew all their proper names. So I knew from the start I wanted a granite countertop. This granite is from India and is 570 million years old. It is like having my own agate right in my house. There is so much movement to it. It reminds me of a warm sandy beach and I love it.




We added seeded glass in the cookbook storage area (and there is seeded glass in the pendants too).


Thanks to the ladies in New Orleans for helping me choose these Fleur de Lis at a French Quarter market for over the big window.


Now for the mudroom. Living in Minnesota you need outerwear about 85% of the time. And often that outerwear is snowy or sopping wet. We also do not have much closet space in our old house, and our back door opened into our small stair landing, with no space for coats or boots.

We were lucky in that we didn't need to lay a new foundation for the mudroom. The mudroom foundation came from a ceiling to a secret room Joe found in our house a few years ago. He was poking around in our basement storage room and found a false wall with a room behind it! It was original to the house, but was outside the main square footprint of it and was hidden under our deck. We're not totally sure of its use but we know it's not a root cellar or bomb shelter. Anyway, it came in handy to us now!



Was all the hassle worth it? YES!