Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Before and After Pictures

So,  I was looking back at some of my old posts this past weekend and read my original post 4 years ago in September 2009.

My husband and I found out a couple weeks before that the house we had put a contract on fell thru.  I felt very dishearted at the time.  The very same day we found that out,  I found a house online and instantly fell in love with the outside and the location.



We immediately called our realtor and drove out to see the house.  While we were there waiting for our realtor, another couple drove up to see the house along with their realtor.  We felt that maybe this wasn't going to work either and we could have just left.  Our realtor showed up and we viewed the house the same time as the other couple.  It was a vacant house that was in foreclosure.

After leaving, we IMMEDIATELY went back to the office and put an offer in.   The other couple was putting in an offer too.   

We were sooooo excited to learn in a couple of days that our offer was accepted!   Then the hard part came about....all the paperwork to secure the loan.  I won't go into the process, but we thought we had lost the house and ended up changing mortgage companies.  Our new mortgage officer made a miracle happen and were able to close on the house the day before Thanksgiving.  Boy, did we have something to be thankful for that year.


This what the kitchen looked like before we moved in.  Like I said, it was a foreclosure and for a foreclosure, it was in really good shape.  It had new flooring and carpets throughout the house and new paint.    The cabinets were builder grade cabinets.  The stove and the dishwasher had to be about 10 years old, and we had a white porcelain double sink.  

I was really thrilled about having an island.  It is something I always wanted.  The kitchen is also open to the family room.  


This is my kitchen four years later.  We redid the kitchen on a budget.  Instead of buying new cabinets, we refinished them Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation.  Total cost of refinishing the cabinets and the island was $150.00.   We replaced the door knobs and drawer pulls as well.  In addition to those changes, we replaced the countertops for under $300 and put in a stainless steel single sink (which i love!).  We still have a couple more items that need to be done.  

We still need to put up the copper backsplash.  You can see it in the picture laying against the back walls...it still needs to be installed all the way around.  And we need to finish laying the new floor.



Here's another taken from the family room so you can see the dining area.  Notice the ugly kitchen light fixture.  It was the first thing to go, especially since my husband whacked his head on it a couple of times.  I loved the big window that overlooked the woods in the back of the house.


Here's the after picture taken from the same view.  It is hard to tell, but in the before pictures, the walls are tan.  In the after pictures they are green.  You can see in this picture that the ugly kitchen light fixture was replaced by a stained glass light fixture.  

I love the fall...the colors, the warm cozy feeling it brings and wanted my kitchen to have that same feeling.  I spend more time in my kitchen and family room that any other place in my house and wanted it to have that comfy, inviting feeling.  It's still a work in progress, but I'm loving how it is all coming together.





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