The Fraziers: House Update: Kitchen & Dining Part 3/Move In!

Moving day is finally here! And somehow things got done just in the nick of time. Or at least, the things that had to get done got done in time.

Blitz packing the two days before moving, obviously in our old apartment.

Lots of things happened to every other area of the house at the same time as these kitchen & dining updates, but I'm trying to tackle one area at a time.

Moving is always a hassle, but we had a lot of friends come help us and that was super appreciated.

After setting up most of the kitchen & dining, this is what it looked like. Try to ignore all our stuff everywhere--we just moved in, remember? Also, I think that's a cinnamon roll on the table. Now I want one.

Here's the light I forgot to take a picture of for the last post, Part 2 of Kitchen/Dining Updates. When the hubs first said he wanted track lighting, I was all "But that's so 80's, I thought we were updating things!" But there is only one light wiring-base (what are those called anyway?) in this long kitchen, and it's centered behind the sink. Which is ironic because that's right behind a huge window, which gets the most natural light.

Anyway, our electrician really didn't like the idea of trying to put new lights in our kitchen, and he sort of tried to explain why it was difficult, but clearly I didn't get the explanation. Bottom line, we were using the one light base we had. And the only way to put a lot of light in here in a long room with one electric base (please don't be offended by my terminology, all you electrician-savvy people), is with track lighting.

Good thing the hubs knows how to install lights. But I do think that was probably the hardest part of the entire makeover process...installing that track lighting. And it has nothing to do with it being track lighting, or the fact that my husband did it (which he has done many many times) and everything to do with it being 60 years old. The ceiling had just been drywalled, and apparently 60 years ago they didn't wire things properly. At least not at this particular light. I think he had to cut out part of the drywall and go to Ace twice to get new parts (or something? what do I know about that anyway...) before it was finally installed.

It took an entire night.

But now that it's done, I love that it highlights the entire counter surface area. It lights up the whole kitchen, and I love light! I've been known to turn on all the lights in a house before. I try not to, mostly. But life is sad without light!

See how the kitchen is totally painted except for the backsplash area? I wanted to put up beadboard, and you can see a sample of that here below the window.

I bought two primed sheets of it at Lowe's for $20 each, and they cut it to our measurements for free.

A better option, I think, than installing white subway tile for $800 plus. And if we ever get tired of it, we can pull it down and tile it or do something else, whereas tiling is not exactly reversible.

One of my favorite things about this kitchen is this pot rack. It's a great space saver and makes pans a lot more easily accessible for cooking than bending down and searching for the right one every time I need one, which is about twice a day. And bending these days is getting more difficult (I'm 25 weeks, this Friday!).

So for a few weeks, we organized and worked on other projects, including doing the bead board. Really I think I should say my husband did the bead board. I just went to Lowe's and got it cut, and he went to town with a jig saw and nail gun, which we borrowed from a friend for this project.

We chose to use a nail gun to make it removable, as the other option was to use liquid nails which would have destroyed our old plaster walls if we ever tried to take down the bead board.

Look at all the ugliness that gets to be covered up by bead board! Making over an old house is slow work, but putting up bead board is the closest thing there is to magic. Just smack a nail gun all over it and voila! Two hours later (or so), and your kitchen looks all new and clean!

Here's the current update, as of this morning.

Oh and those shelves? They were put up by the hubs and his dad, when his parents were here for a weekend. I love it!

Check out everything we've done! The only surface that hasn't been redone yet are the cabinets, and their day is coming!

Ta-da!! This is HUGE progress, people, I tell you. Look how nice and clean and new everything looks! It doesn't even matter that this is an older stove--who cares? It works!--the bead board makes everything look fresh. And the vent, which I picked up at a local store, actually does its job and removes kitchen air out into the attic using that hood vent there. The old microwave that was there previously literally just blew the air right into your face while you were cooking, which defeats the whole point of a vent. What were the previous homeowners thinking?! I seriously don't know.

This station makes for great cooking.

And this one makes for great cleaning!

Check it out--I bought this fabric the other day for $17 from Jo Ann's, measured, cut, and hot glued it to make cafe curtains! The morning light is blinding in here without a covering.

Because of the natural light, it's really hard to get a good picture of it.

Here's the baking station. Baking supplies are in that cabinet, and the Kitchen Aid workhorse is always ready to do its job! Thanks again, Bobs, best gift ever! :)