Hunt & Host Home Tour: Kitchen Renovation

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Don’t you drive by houses and wonder what they look like on the inside? Maybe I’m the only nosey britches in town, but I sure do! It seems in the blogging world any decorating/DIY blogger has a home tour on their blog. So, I decided to join the fun. I love looking through people’s houses and seeing what makes them tick. The best decorated houses have nothing to do with a big budget, large square footage or name brand home décor for me. It is all about telling a story of who you are to all that enter your doors. I love to walk away knowing something more about my friends after spending time in their space.

That is what our home is all about. Who we are and what we love. We spent years looking for just the right place for our family. You could say this house was less than inviting when we first laid eyes on it. It was unloved, unkept and desperately in need of repair and updates. To say the least. I mean y’all, it was BAD. Luckily my husband had a vision. He quickly crunched numbers and knew this house was a hidden treasure and the renovations needed were financially possible. (get more back story here and here) The house had been on the market for almost a year. Scaring off the faint at heart. We had to have a huge imagination and even more faith. God gave us this home and we are so thankful for it every day. It is important to me that you know we didn’t hire an architect or decorator. We worked this all out ourselves.

The house was uninhabitable during renovations so we moved the schedule along as quickly as possible. We had sold our house and temporarily were housed in an apartment. I tell you this because I want you know anyone that sets their mind to this kind of project can do it! It was a lot of hard work, there were some frustrations and then there was such a great sense of accomplishment.  I will walk you through it…just like if we were touring together in person. That would be even better.  I will let the story of this house unfold over time. I hope you’ll keep moving through, room by room.

Getting past the gold and red color scheme in the kitchen was tough. We ended up gutting the entire kitchen and starting over from scratch. We wanted this space to be the hub of the house and it is just that. This is our gathering spot. Our large island serves as a buffet, work space and eat in bar. There is tons of storage. I love the neutral palate of this room. It makes it easy to layer in décor or change things out when the mood strikes. The grey color on the island is the same as the exterior of the house. I love that it is all one big continuation.

This is the view when you walk in our friends and family side door. (No one uses our front door) We opened up the closed in kitchen just enough to make a nice view to the family room. I like “rooms” over the more modern wide open floor plans. I don’t know about you, but our kids can get loud and it’s nice for them to have their space and we have ours if needed. Different rooms also give you the opportunity to give the different spaces in your house their own traits and personalities.

Looking from the kitchen sink to the breakfast are you see a peek into the dining room. I had an eat in table on our breakfast nook for a long time. But we never used the dining room. I decided to ditch the breakfast table and make a sitting area. We use the dining room all the time now! And the sitting area? It is my space in the house! I love to lounge there, have coffee, do bible study, chat with friends…

This “hidden” side of the island houses the microwave, shelves and the built in wine rack. I love this space in our kitchen. For multiple reasons 🙂

The laundry room used to be IN THE KITCHEN. We had to relocate it to open the kitchen up. Not to mention I just didn’t want it there. One of my main wishes was a mom’s desk. It might have been the best thing I did in this remodel. I love my little desk space quietly tucked away, but still in the midst of the hustle and bustle of our home. The is where I do all my “woman of the house” chores and blog as well! You can see here, I adore a monogram, I’m an animal lover and I love the Lord.

Talk about a point of view change! When you would walk in the back door, into the laundry room…you looked straight at the water heater. Thanks to the tankless water heaters of today, that appliance went in the attic and room was made. I like this line of sight much better…don’t you?

This is where my three little people park their bottoms every morning for breakfast.

I’m not sure it’s possible to love our little dutch door more. It was original to the house. Even though the kitchen was gutted, we actually tried to salvage as much as we possibly could. You will see more original stuff as we tour. The floors are new in the kitchen. They are stained real pine floors. They creak and scuff and I love them. The backsplash in the kitchen was paneling from the garage. We kept the wainscot in the breakfast area and wanted to tie it in. I didn’t want to throw tile in the mix. I love that it is neutral and timeless. We also surfaced the side of the island with salvaged paneling. Yes, that is a half eaten pound cake in that dish. We live here people! My husband made it and it is DELISH! Really what I want you to check out are the light fixtures. These are my favs. I love them so.

Plus a window over a kitchen sink is simply dreamy to me. My view is of our porte-cochere, but it is still fantastic. Keeping a little fresh something or other from the yard in the window makes me smile.

That’s it! That’s our kitchen.

Keep on touring by checking out the other parts of our house here!