Alder Street Renovation - The Kitchen

Roxie

I am so excited to talk to you about my kitchen because it has turned out to be my favorite spot in this little house.  It was definitely the room that needed the most work in this renovation! I think I mentioned in my previous blog that I don't have any pictures of the space from before we started working. Apparently, it was so horrifying I didn't want to remember it too clearly, haha! So let's get to it so you can find out how my kitchen went from this....

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to this!!!!  A bright, happy, CLEAN, efficient kitchen work space.

Just to recap, there were only a few, old cabinets that all had to be removed. There was also a wall that separated the kitchen from the dining area. Obviously, the floors had to be completely replaced!  The original floors were long gone and the existing layers of rotten plywood were so termite eaten that they started falling out when my carpenters starting jacking up the house to replace the joists. You can read more about my adventures in flooring HERE. We took out the wall in the kitchen (it was super rotten anyway) to create a more open space.  I did close up one window in the kitchen so that I could put the stove there.  To be such a tiny house it certainly had plenty of windows so I didn't sacrifice any of my nice natural light by doing this.  

The next step was to get the floors sanded and stained, and the walls and ceiling primed and painted and ready for cabinets! I used the same paint colors in the kitchen as I did in the living / dining areas, treating this as one large room so it would flow and be cohesive.

After doing a little research and some price comparrison, I decided to go with Ikea cabinets.  I could get the look that I wanted and get the most bang for my limited bucks!  *Disclaimer* If you are not a handy person and are not up for a project, then this is probably not the route you should go.  I am very blessed to have some handy folks in my life to help with projects like these.  I will tell you that I had no experience designing kitchen spaces and I found it very easy to use the online design program that Ikea offers on their website.  It took some time to play around with things and learn the program, but I was able to come up with a design that I was happy with.  Matt and I headed up to Atlanta where we were able to have an Ikea professional review my plan to make sure there were no major issues and to purchase the cabinets.  It was a bit overwhelming, being first time cabinet buyers, so we stopped for margaritas and Mexican food at one of our favorite spots before heading home!

My brother was able to come from Texas and spend a week helping me with the house.  His main project was putting together the cabinets!  It was quite a job but he mastered it quickly and left me with a room full of cabinets just waiting for installation!

I did pay to have a professional to install the cabinets and I highly recommend this! I had a close family member, who had recently been through a kitchen renovation in an older home, suggest to me that I should not try to install these myself and I am super glad that I listened! You might recognize Phillip, (now, Tara's husband) from previous Southern Merc blogs.  He did an amazing job installing the cabinets and counter tops for me.  Because he is so experienced, he was able to deal with things like walls that are not straight and floors that are still slightly uneven.  I was glad he was there with the knowledge to improvise when things weren't working out exactly like I had planned.

I am so happy with the end result.  I was able to stick to my budget and get the fabulous kitchen that I wanted.  When we moved into this house I was coming from an even smaller rental house that had a very small kitchen with minimal cabinets.  For me, this was quite the upgrade!  I also had not had a dishwasher for the previous 12 years so, to have a nice new one has been thrilling!

There wasn't room in this little corner to squeeze in a cabinet so my dad helped me build little shelves to display some of my favorite treasures.

My farmhouse sink also came from Ikea and was quite a deal!  If you have been wishing for a farmhouse sink but didn't think you could afford one, you should check these out.  There are two sizes, one like mine and one that is larger and divided.  Your existing cabinets can usually be manipulated to accommodate this type of sink with the apron front.  I opted for mostly drawers with the lower cabinets.  The large drawers on the right contain all of my dishes and serving pieces.  The cabinets in the corners have two shelves that pull out completely and then swing back towards the wall when pushed in so that no space is wasted.

A very special friend painted this cow for me and named her "Roxanna". It makes me so happy to look up and see her above the fridge.

My favorite cookbooks are proudly displayed on a shelf by the fridge and my favorite ceramic tray corals things like salt, pepper and garlic cloves that I use frequently while cooking.  I keep everything I need to enjoy my morning coffee right next to my coffee maker, including a crate full of my favorite mugs!

You may wonder why I am choosing to show you my ugly old microwave and toaster.  I just want to stress that you can set up and organize your small (or large) kitchen in such a way that your necessesities are made to look as nice and neat as possible.  You don't necessarily have to line all of your kitchen appliances up on your counter top, and if you have a small kitchen, you don't need to have them taking up that much precious counter space!  These wood and metal shelves sit by my refridgerator and hold a lot of important things that I use everyday but, I try to keep it organized and tidy!

Since our house is small, we don't really have a desk or office area where it would make sense to keep things like bills, pens and tape!  Instead, I have a little station set up by the side door to catch all of those types of things.  We also have a designated place to hang all of our keys becuase I am the world's worst to set my keys down and not remember where they are!

I wish I could have you all over for dinner so you could see things in person, but since I can't, I hope you've enjoyed all of the pictures!  

​Like a few things that you have seen?  Visit the Southern Mercantile store to check out these items that will help you get the look!  
(This blog was origianally posted in August of 2016 so these items are no longer available.  We hope you'll take a look in the store and check out our current merchandise!)