Mountain Cottage Kitchen Reno 2.0

WHAT?

Our kitchen was one of 3 interior rooms that was completely finished. It took quite a few projects/years to get it to look like this: plank ceiling, custom range hood, installed cabinets, fabricated and stained countertop, vintage pantry, fabricated and installed open shelves, tile backsplash  and banquette. 

It took us several years to do the kitchen projects' the only thing left to do was the floor.

It was pretty wasn't it?

Especially, considering how it looked when we bought the place.

Last month, we arrived at our mountain cottage and found there was water on the floor. Turns out the faucet had leaked into the cabinet, under the flooring in the kitchen, under the flooring in the adjoining bedroom and even into the encapsulated crawl space. Thankfully it didn't reach the banquette.

Mr. DIY cut a hole in the bottom of the sink cabinet and, yes, it was wet and all the bottom of the cabinets were damaged. 

The next day, I called our State Farm agent. They called Emergency Restoration Experts who arrived two hours later and sprayed the kitchen with an anti microbial and turned fans on.

I cried when we left after a couple of days and then I got to work redesigning the kitchen and looking at LVP flooring.

Here's what I came up with:

This design shifts the refrigerator to the right and gives us a little more counter space (13 more inches), gives us 3 more drawers and more wall cabinet space because they go to the ceiling. We'll be getting 2 rollout trays in the 24" cabinet to the left of the range. 

The current cabinets are by Kraftmaid. The reason why we chose Kraftmaid the last time was because I wanted a pullout pantry. I tell you, THAT was an expensive cabinet. The problem with having a cabinet there is that it got hot during the summer because that corner of the house gets afternoon sun and we don't keep the AC on when we're not there. 

This time, I think we'll chose Shenandoah cabinetry (American Woodmark). They're good cabinets and offer a good selection. For this house, even the in stock cabinetry would be good enough, but in we need a 39" blind corner cabinet and they don't offer that size. 

More thoughts as I was deciding on a design:

The only time we use the 24" dishwasher is when we stay there a week, but we didn't want to not have one,  so we think an 18" dishwasher would be perfect. That gives us 6 extra inches for a cabinet. . I also don't feel that we needed the 15" pullout pantry (for the reason mentioned above) or the 1 1/2" refrigerator panel. Because of the extra space an 18" drawer bank would fit perfectly. Plus, there's 5+" space to the right of the refrigerator to stick a broom in and a folding step stool.

 

I think we'll have a quartz countertop installed. Mr. DIY is still working on the bathroom, so we'll be having the cabinets and countertop installed. 

The only project he will do is re-installing the range hood and possibly the backsplash, but that's it.

Mr. DIY is retired as of March 1st, but he already has enough projects.

The current flooring is sheet vinyl and it's throughout the whole house(except for the bathrooms), so all the flooring has to be replaced. We're going to choose Malibu Wide Plank French Oak in Alturas finish from the Home Depot. We'll have to order extra to finish the stairs and the upstairs bedroom. 

Malibu wide plank French Oak Alturas from Home Depot

What do you think? Anything I forgot? Anything to add?

Thanks for stopping by,

Pam

Perry Kitchen Makeover

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I work with a very talented friend who renos houses in Colorado. I'm in North Carolina, so it's a rare treat when I get to see one of the kitchens I've designed fully finished. My friend sent me a link to the the house is currently up for sale in Denver Colorado. I'll link the house on the Realtor's website below.

The house didn't start out so pretty:

There's another closet just past this doorway, so I decided the pantry is where the refrigerator would go.

The kitchen is the tiny room with the tiled floor. Much of the dining room wall was opened up to make it appear larger.

Here's a top view of my design with notes for installation.

...and the Design Concept perspective of the new kitchen from the dining room:

And the after MLS photos of the kitchen:

Wall color is Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace. Cabinetry by J&K Cabinets. Hardware is Top Knobs Ascendra.

The space didn't allow for a 15" trash can cabinet, so I this stainless steel with a foot pedal would fit nicely on the adjacent wall and not be in the way.

                                          Link HERE

I felt the kitchen really needed cabinets on this wall to increase the kitchen storage . Placing the refrigerator in where the pantry was really made the kitchen seem so much larger.

*see that heat register? Something my friend had to deal with since it was in the way of installing cabinets on that wall. 

You can see how beautiful the house is on the Realtor Steve Kinney's listing HERE

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam

*this post contains affiliate links...which means I'll make a small commission should you purchase something after clicking on a link.

Before photos taken by 

Steve Kinney RE/MAX PROFESSIONALS 303-475-8200

Mountain Cottage Dining Area Before & After

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Hello friends!

This little corner dining area at our Mountain Cottage has come a long, long way.

It may be pretty now, all dressed in cottage and farmhouse accessories, but it didn’t always look so nice.

When we first started the kitchen reno at our mountain cottage the walls were covered in 1980’s cream and cornflower blue wallpaper.
That was a joy to remove…NOT!





Lovely, wasn’t it?



So after wallpaper removal, paint, new barn lights installed, plank ceiling put up, banquette (with storage) built,  seat cushions nd pillows made, curtains hung and accessories arranged...
...here’s the finished dining corner.

I made 4 more white pillow covers and Mr. DIY hung all the  tchotchkes on the barn light wall.















We're making do with the table we purchased when we were first married 30+ years ago until Mr. DIY can squeeze in a few weekends to build a custom table. 
This table has been with us through thick and thin. 
It was our first dining table in a house we rented, then it was used in our first house until we bought a formal dining room table. 


At that point, we brought it out for parties  and many family gatherings. We brought it with us when we moved from California to North Carolina where it was stored in our basement and used as a serving table for parties.
When we bought our mountain cottage, we again needed a dining table, so we thought of the table in our basement. It was the perfects size for the kitchen dining area. 



We'll use this great little expandable table until Mr. DIY has time to build us a new one. 


We still have a few minor items on the punch list in the kitchen and when that’s finished, I’ll show you the whole kitchen reno from start to finish.

For this corner, you can see how we built the banquette HERE.
For information on the accessories that I told you about last time, you can go HERE.

 Thanks so much for stopping by!

Pam

These are affiliate links, which means if you purchase anything from one of these links, I'll make a small commission, so thanks!!!

Bench Cushions & Pillows for the Banquette

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Hey friends!
Don’t you get excited when you finally get a project checked off the list when the project has been in your head for like…forever?

Ok. Not forever, but I did buy the fabric….a year ago!

Part of the problem with my procrastinating is that I hadn’t ever sewn a cushion cover for a banquette bench before. The other part of the problem was that I’ve had brain fog for the past year on and off.
Yeah, let’s go with that.



It turned out that it wasn’t as difficult as I thought.
Getting a project done with a physical challenge or with  kids or a busy job is all the same….
Break down a project into several simple projects that takes less time.
That’s what I eventually did.

First, I drew out all the measurements on paper.

2nd, on another day I cut out the fabric.The cut out pieces sat in my office for a couple of months.

On another day,  I sewed the long zippers in.

Finally, I sewed the bench seat covers.

One project-4 different days with months or weeks or days in between.

That’s the way you have to do  projects when you’re busy(or have brain fog, lol)
Still, I avoided the cushion covers and sewed the curtains first because they’re super simple with hems on 4 sides.




I tackled the banquette bench cushions next, then I sewed 4 pillow covers. Pillow covers are easy,  and I’ve made quite a few of them, so I finished that project pretty quickly.


Here’s the final project:

I’m currently making 4 white pillow covers, so the pillows will cover the length of the benches.

Here’s how it looked before without the pillows:


And after:


Just a few finishing touches left to do in the kitchen at the mountain cottage and then it’s off to another projects.

If you’d like to see how Mr. DIY built the banquette, you can see it HERE. '

 Thanks so much for stopping by,

 Pam

*this post contains affiliate links, which means I'll make a commission should you purchase something after clicking on one of the links.

Custom Range Hood For The Mountain Cottage

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The range hood has been installed and is completely finished and working!

With the range hood in place, it means that all the major components of the kitchen at the mountain cottage are finished! Now, all the kitchen reno needs for it to be complete are the window treatments, cushions for the banquette and some throw pillows!

This has been a big project to check off the list!

Let’s take a walk down memory lane – to a couple of before pics…

All I can say us UGH!!!  This kitchen was soooo gross, I wouldn’t put anything in the cabinets!


…and after….

Here’s the reno with everything, but the range hood…

I was a little worried that the range hood would look too large after having a lot of visual space due to having open shelves, but my worries were all for naught.

Next time, I’ll share how Mr. DIY built the custom range hood, how the decisions for design were made and how I stained the hood.

Hopefully, I can share the whole kitchen decorated (with window treatments and cushions) soon!

If you'd like to see more Mountain Cottage Projects, click on the pic of the mountain cottage kitchen on the right sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pam

Stop by to see how Mr. DIY built the custom range hood HERE.

*this post contains affiliate links, which means I'll make a commission should you purchase something after clicking on one of the links.

My Favorite Project From 2017

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to 2018! 

I know I am. 

This time of year it's good to look back and see all you've done throughout the year and to plan for the coming year. 

I'm glad I have a blog where I journal some of our projects for these 2 reasons:

1. We can look up how we did something or when it was done.

2. We can see that we really did accomplish something!

This year we've finished some really great projects at the Mountain Cottage.
We've spent a few years on it, but the Mountain Cottage Kitchen is finally coming together.
Here are a few of the projects we finished in the kitchen...

You can see more details here:

Building The Open Shelves At The Mountain Cottage

Mr. DIY also finished the banquette seating in the kitchen at the Mountain Cottage...

Since our Mountain Cottage is tiny, we keep storage in mind in the design  of everything!

You can see more about how Mr. DIY built the banquette at the Mountain Cottage here:

Built In Banquette Seating At The Mountain Cottage

It seemed like we went without crown molding on the cabinets forever. What was the hold up? I decided there should be a wall cabinet to the left of the refrigerator to balance out the open shelves on the adjacent wall. Then, we had to order more crown molding!  We were warned that the finish probably wouldn't match the other cabinets because it had been over a year between  ordering, but the quality control at Kraftmaid Cabinetry is outstanding and there wasn't any difference. Wood finishes change over time, but our finish is paint, so there wasn't a problem. 

You can see more about how to install crown molding here:

How To Install Crown Molding On Full Overlay Doors

Our daughter moved into her own apartment last June and Mr. DIY took some time out of our project list to build her a bed. I designed and finished it. 

You can read more here:

How To Make A Farmhouse Bed

Not a big project, but one that makes me happy when I walk into the office at our home is the Gallery Wall.  I love having my favorite artwork, and mementos up where I can see them. The bulletin board keeps me organized. I now keep my project designs pinned up and they're easy to find when Mr. DIY has time to make them

You can find out how I designed the Gallery Wall here:

How To Design A Gallery Wall

Our daughter's best friend was married this year and she hosted a bridal shower at our home. I helped with the decorations.

Here's a very beautiful and affordable floral centerpiece I made for the shower. 

You can see more about the bridal shower here:

Hosting A Bridal Shower

Ya'll know I'm an organizing nerd...or at least I want to be!

This is one of my favorite little projects of the year or ever. lol. 

I'll have another drawer organizer to share , hopefully next week! Oh, if only all my drawers looked this good!

You can see how Mr. DIY made this custom drawer organizer here:

How To Make A Wood Drawer

We've done a lot more projects this year, but these are some of my favorite.

You can do a search for something in the Search Box on the right sidebar.

Many wishes for a prosperous, healthy and happy 2018!!!

Pam