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Several months ago MyHandsomeHusband and I were hanging out on the couch pondering our situation. Pondering our life and our house and all of the people living here. Our situation was pretty good. Pretty nice. Pretty fortunate.
Pretty darn good. I really can’t say it wasn’t. Our house is an ample size for 7 people. There is space for everyone to live life and function pretty happily. Everywhere but the kitchen. The space we had there worked well when we moved in and only had three tiny kids. Now, my kids aren’t so tiny and there are more of them. We were getting in each others way. Everyone wanted to stand right…
Here. All of the time. Not really big enough for 7 people to stand together, is it. There were a lot of things being said like…”Scoot over, don’t stand in front of the silverware drawer, excuse me, MOVE out of the way, and ALL CHILDREN STEP 5 STEPS AWAY.”
To put it politely.
What to do with a situation like this?
Well MyHandsomeHusband is a thinker. Can’t really say he’s not. It’s one of his best qualities. The man got to pondering and plotting and scheming and came up with a little plan.
Why not move BlondeEmily down to the basement, take out the wall to her room and give ourselves more space in our family room. Then we could use some of the family room space for kitchen space.
This was his plan.
A few short weeks later (after more pondering, and plotting) BlondeEmily’s wall came down. My TeenSonMark would like you to think that he pounded it down with his “guns and ab-tasticks”. I told him I would be sure to let you know.
And there it was, a big hole in the wall.
And a mess to clean up. And walls to fix, and mud and tape and paint.
And then it turned into this! To be honest…it took a while to turn into this. We had a bit of a bad experience with a certain harvest colored paint swatch. For some reason I though a beautiful burnt orange color would be delightful. It was so beautiful on the card. Not beautiful on the wall.
This part of our family room became….
……Dining Room.
After that is was out with the old.
In with the new.
More space. More elbow room. More counter top to spread out on…and make a mess……and feed people…..and make some more mess….and bake my little heart out. (Without anyone standing in front of the silverware drawer…..ok, they only stand there sometimes now.)
We opted to stay with lighter cabinets against the wall….
….and a darker finish for the island and hutch. The space in the kitchen is fabulous. I am in love, love, love with it everyday that I am in it.
I’ll let you in on a little secret…there aren’t any days that I’m not in it.
Blessed. Really, really fortunate. And really blessed.
Now….what should we cook?
That looks fantastic!! I am so loving that island with the dark cabinetry on it (and the more counter space…who doesn't love more counter space?)! Great job!
I don’t think I would actually do it for myelsf, but I think its a cool look and in recent years have seen some drop dead gorgeous kitchens with dark cabinetry. Its all in the lighting and other materials!
It looks so beautiful Jamie! You must be delighted that it's finished. What a great job you all did.
You did a awesome job, you and your handsome husband, and of course all the little/big muscles on the side! lol ….it came together and opened it up so well, love, love, it!
The rooms look fantastic. Enjoy!!!
Love your rennovation! And how wonderfully handy your husband is to design and construct it. I know you will enjoy it for many years to come.
Sharon
Love it!! Looks great.
Beautiful new kitchen!! I am so impressed with your creativity 🙂 Aren't you grateful for Utah basements? Where in the world would we put all our children otherwise? Love it and I continue to LOVE your blog :O)
Great pictures! Wow, you have an abundance of what we see. You are so blessed to have those treasures.