kitchen inspiration

man, inspiration is everywhere these days.  it's almost impossible to make a decision.  every time i'm on pinterest or instagram, i see something that makes me want to change my mind.  for my new kitchen, i'm going white.  my last kitchen was grey and the house before that was greige.  now, i think i'm ready for white.  it's safe....and i need some safety in my life.  but i can't be totally safe (that's boring), the island is going to be a soft gray/ green.  now, i know what you're thinking.  your kitchen doesn't look like these....but i have a lot of faith in some cans of white paint ....so let's just keep our fingers crossed, okay ;)

*sources luxe, bravo, amber interiors, clary pfeiffer, cortney bishop, urban electric, luxe source

life.

in case you missed it on instagram, we are in the process of moving...again.  someone was interested in our house and i was up for another project, my husband not so much.  i wanted a gut job, my husband not so much...he was really enjoying our brand new home.  we are moving a couple of blocks away to a mid-century ranch.  never did i think i would say those words.....

but it's been fun so far.  is it my choice of desired exteriors, not really but i love a challenge and i love watching the process of something transforming into your own.  our house has only had one owner and so everything in the house was circa 1969.  i tackled the kitchen first.  here are some before pics...

here are some pics of the process.  we ripped out all of the upper cabinets, which opened up the eat-in kitchen side and made it feel like part of the kitchen.  it seems so much bigger now.  all of the ceramic tile was ripped out and will be replaced by a white washed oak wood floor.

we had our carpenter rework the lower cabinets by keeping the shell and making new drawers and doors.  i had one new upper cabinet made b/c i like having somewhere to store glasses without them being out in the open.  i will do open shelving on the other side of the window (much like our current kitchen).  we built a new cabinet on the end where the double ovens use to be.  all the brown paneling was covered with ship lap, super excited about this!!  we built a custom island that mirrors the walls w/ ship lap.

one side of the kitchen, we are leaving the same layout.  it houses great upper and lower storage, a pantry, and a built-in desk.  we simply reworked the cabinet doors and drawers, changed out the bi-fold doors for the pantry and added ship lap to the walls.  this side of the kitchen, we plan to use more as a bar.  i am thinking of putting antique mirrors on the upper cabinet doors to make it a little different. 

on the oven side, we ripped out the cook top and will replace it with a range.  a new bottom cabinet was made to sit on the other side of the stove and a cabinet surround was made for the new refrigerator.  our cabinet guy built a custom hood for the stove.  there will be no uppers on this side of the kitchen.

well that gives you an idea on what i've been up to this summer.  i want to be better about blogging during this renovation so don't give up on me :)  xoxo, shannon