Kitchen Progress and Pantry Plans

Beware:  The following is a picture happy post… with not so happy “before” pictures.  ????

I shared with you the before pictures of the kitchen, but this room was so much work that I needed to break it up in two different “before” posts.

What did you think? Could you smell it through your computer screen?  ????

Trust me, you’re lucky.   A person could smell the stench of this house from the yard.  ????

Kitchen Progress and Tearing Down the Wall

As I told you before, the wall (to the left) between the dining room/hallway to the basement and the small galley kitchen was being removed to create a semi-open concept.  .

In our original kitchen planning, the wifey and I wanted this entire space open without a support column.  But we soon found out, that a 28′ header and labor was going to cost us $1.5 million dollars. ???? Therefore, for less than half the price, we opted for 2 smaller headers with a support post between.  The support post, of course, was going to be an old chippy porch column.

When I showed the contractors what my plans were, their faces looked like this – ???? ???? Of course, mine looked like this – ????

Pantry Plans

When you have a wide open space with nothing but a few windows, the options are endless when planning a kitchen.  There were several things on my wish list.  I knew I wanted some shiplap, a large range hood to make a big statement, no upper cabinets with maybe open shelving, and a large pantry with an old chippy door.

There were several places we could have built a pantry since we had a wide open space.  But, we ultimately decided to close the giant guest coat closet in the entryway and open it up on the other side to utilize this space as a large pantry.

Opposites Attract

This decision was going to leave us having two doors side by side in the kitchen – one being the pantry and one being the door to the basement.  Believe it or not, I was a little concerned about this and my choice for while.  I wondered how I was going to find two matching doors in the sizes we needed.  BUT, I went with my gut and decided that if I can’t find two “matching” doors, then they needed to be two completely opposite looking doors.  I always tell clients that if you can’t match something perfectly, then do the opposite, so that it doesn’t look like a fail.

Knotty Pine Walls

Remember the original knotty pine walls and ceilings we removed?  We installed what we salvaged on one wall of the kitchen to give it the look of shiplap.

We, of course, (like a broken record) installed our inexpensive pine board flooring.    (For all you need to know about the flooring, check out this post.)

We hung a chandelier we’ve carried around with us from house to house in the little breakfast nook area to the right and a small one, which will be above the future sink.

We, also, hung two vintage lights over the future kitchen island site.  The perfect piece for the island was in storage and I can’t wait to tell you the story on that little dandy in the reveal post.

I painted the entire space (like a broken record) SW – Pearly White and the faux shiplap wall SW – Mindful Gray.

And you know me and color.  I’m over that already.  It’s soon going to be repainted white.  ????  Who knows, it may even be white by the time I do a reveal post of the kitchen.  ????

Solid Foundation

We now have a solid foundation that includes everything on my wish list.  I have my shiplap and my chippy pantry door.  I will tell you about the large range hood and open shelving issues we ran into in the reveal post.

We ended up pulling all of this together with white wood shaker style cabinets.  I wanted more of a plain cabinet style because I tend to poop my spaces up with decor and didn’t want it to feel too busy.  But you will have to wait to see those in the reveal post, too.    ????

Thanks so much for stopping by.  You know I can’t leave you with a case of the uglies, so I had to include the two opposite looking doors in our kitchen.  What do you think?

Let me know in the comments or chat with me on Facebook and Instagram.  We have lots of fun over there.

Buh bye now, said in an old lady’s voice who has her paint brush in hand headed right towards that gray wall.

Danelle

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