My Mountain House Kitchen: Before and After

I am one of those people that love to bring something old, ugly and tired back to life. Somehow, I think you get a more charming and personal space when you renovate, and pay homage, to what is already there. We could have just gutted the whole space and put in a bright, shiny new kitchen but instead 

took the road less traveled and decided to work with what we had.

I shutter as I post these before pictures and can hardly believe how far we have come. We are not yet to the after phase but I thought you would enjoy seeing some of the changes we have made. 

As I mentioned in earlier emails, we thought the kitchen had good bones. Now, as I look at the before pictures, I am absolutely floored that I always saw the beauty in this space. 

I will also say that I speak confidently here but often times, I second guessed myself. I found a lot of inspiration from blogs and Pinterest and often times just took a leap of faith. I have the greatest husband in the world who trusted me to know what to do. Take down that bank of cabinets. Remove the soffits over the windows. Recess the pantry even with the refrigerator cabinet. Let's replace the bi-fold pantry doors with old french shutters. Leave the planking on the ceiling natural - You should feel like you are in a mountain house.

A traditional galley style, the kitchen was nice and wide yet we felt like the ceiling was falling in on us. The main drag on this space was an imposing fluorescent light box. Notice the lovely yellow-green light cast over the before pictures. The ceiling in the kitchen, as well as the ceilings throughout the house, had stucco texturing that had yellowed over the years. You gotta' love the eighties wallpaper! 

The window over the kitchen sink looks out into the garden. 

I started by taking down the window treatments that were blocking the view and all of the beautiful mountain sunshine that streams in this window. That wasn't enough so I removed the (lovely) wooden trim piece and then decided to take an even more bold move and remove the soffit between the cabinets. I painted the cabinets and the soffits a beautiful gray to elongate the cabinets.

The before picture is below.

We have come a long way and are almost finished!

Here's a picture of the new sconce in place.

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