My Kitchen Makeover-before and After

Blog what blog? Huh? I have been so overwhelmed with work and house reno and life that I can't see straight but I have been dying to show this off. This was a major part of the upgrades that have to happen before we sell but it doesn't hurt that I like too. We all love a good before and after so here is my partial kitchen reno. We left the cabinets in place and chose a quartz counter with white subway tile backsplash. There is also a new sink and faucet. I should add that marble was a no go since we are selling.

 I am purposefully keeping the shots tight here. We still have the floors to do. Here is the before.

Can you say fugly Formica?

 We added this light several years ago. I recommend it if

you like to clean glass while standing on a ladder once a week. uh huh.
Let me start with the counters. I will do my best not too swear here but it was a trying process. I started my shopping at Lowe's and Home Depot for a baseline price thinking they would be the cheapest. *sigh* Nope just the dumbest. *sigh* You see, everyone in this area has brown granite (or some form of brown/beige/black) in their kitchen. The guy at Lowe's made such a weird face when I mentioned a white marble-like counter with my brown cabinets. He asked why on Earth I would want such a thing. *sigh* My tongue still hurts from biting it so many times with so many stone people. I mean, really, if you are wearing brown pants do you reach for a brown shirt? Duh! And hasn't anyone opened a freakin' shelter magazine in the last 5 years? Ugh!

I did find a lovely white and gray veined granite that I could have loved and loved hard but the dealer was an asshole and kept changing the price. I ended up with Cambria quartz Torquay. My goes pitter patter each time I look at it.

The best part is that Mr. Designdumonde has got some mad skills and he installed our gorgeous backsplash. Check it out.

He insisted I call this "design on a dime". They were the perfect spacer

The mosaic insert took the better part of a day...hunched over. My poor guy. It was truly on a dime because the materials were about $225 for a backsplash that would have been at least $1000 installed by someone else. It took a bit longer than we estimated. The next bit was the caulking and I found a tip on Pinterest that saved the day.
Caulk is so difficult to get right. Taping with painter's tape did take 3 hours but the result is perfection.


We have a running joke that we are making our house so much nicer that I won't want to leave. We are adding hardwood floors and still have painting to complete in the kitchen but we are this much closer to moving.