Posts Tagged ‘reveal’

I’m interrupting my Midweek Martini feature to reveal my new crown moulding!  I’m so excited about it.  I think it makes the soffits in the kitchen look slightly better:

AFTER

Soffits w/ Crown Moulding

BEFORE

Kitchen w/o Moulding

AFTER

Kitchen w/ Crown Moulding

I don’t know if you can tell in the photo above, but I also finished the trim moulding around the beadboard behind the sink.  You can barely see the unfinished, raw edge in the before photo.

I continued the crown moulding into the dining area.  It gives the whole space a polished look.

AFTER

Dining Area w/ Crown Moulding

BEFORE

Dining Room w/o Crown Moulding

It’s true; just a little bit of moulding can transform a space from “okay” to polished!  I love it so much I’m thinking of adding it to the entire house, not just the dining/kitchen/living spaces.  However, that project must wait.  I need to refinish the entry door and hang a new chandelier in my foyer before I do anymore moulding.  The front door is peeling and faded, and the 20-year-old brass chandelier has to go!

We spent last week installing the copper subway tile for our backsplash, and I can call the kitchen DONE!  Yes, I still have to install the crown moulding throughout the kitchen and dining area, but those are minor details.  Remember where I started oh so many months ago?

The Original Kitchen

This is what I have today!

My Beautiful New Kitchen

The Original Faux-Oak Kitchen

New Kitchen - Right Side

It was a lot of hard work, but I think my efforts have paid off.  I have no desire to paint anymore cabinets in the near future, though.

We also got the cabinet door for my ad hoc corner-cabinet pot rack creation.  Here’s what the kitchen looked like before the door:

Corner Cabinet Turned Pot Rack

Here’s the view today.  The pot rack is neatly hidden behind double-hinged doors.

View of Finished Cabinets

Finally, I can’t believe this

No Hood & No Backsplash

is now this:

Copper Tile Backsplash

Yes, those are individual 3″ x 6″ copper subway tiles, installed by yours truly.  The Mister helped a wee bit by cutting the tiles, but I put them in place all by my lonesome.  I think it looks great considering I’ve never installed tile prior to this experiment.  Oh, and the Mister did the lovely trim at the edges and top of the tile.  Love ya, hon!  :-*

So, here’s the final rundown of the entire kitchen project, start to finish:

• primed and painted faux-oak cabinets
• removed useless non-vented range hood
• installed beadboard wallpaper to ends of cabinets
• installed real beadboard behind the sink
• removed upper cabinets by the sink and installed open glass shelves
• installed new dishwasher
• installed new lighting above sink
• installed new under-cabinet lighting near stove area
• installed pantry organizer and magnetic spice tin system
• removed corner lazy susan and created a pot rack cabinet
• removed free-standing electric range and had custom oven cabinet built
• installed new electrical to support induction cooktop and wall oven
• installed new granite counters
• installed new cast-iron sink, faucet, Wolf induction cooktop, Wolf oven, and OTR microwave
• installed copper subway tile backsplash

While the granite and new appliances were not cheap, I estimated that we saved about $20,000 by re-using our existing cabinetry and doing most of the labor ourselves.  I only hired professionals for electrical work and our one custom cabinet for the oven.