Understairs Storage

We finally finished the hole in the wall project!  It took us way longer to paint it than it should have.  It started when Bob realized that there was probably nothing under the stairs and then we got serious about it when I bought a crock pot.  I actually held off buying one for a long time because we didn't have a place to keep it.  Now we do.

 Tucker and Bob had fun hiding under the stairs.

 Here you can see the hole is all cut out.

 This picture was taken several hours later if not the next day.

And this one is about a month later.  For some reason it took forever to get the finishing touches done.

 

Now I have room for all the appliances I want! I think this is where I will put a sewing machine if I get one for Christmas.

Kitchens Done ... Almost

Here are the updated pictures of our kitchen.  Everything is done except for the hole in the wall, but that part isn't in these pictures.  This has been a long and time consuming project and I will be glad when it is completely done.  The first picture below is what the kitchen looked like when we first moved in.  We made a few changes when we first moved in but I will try to explain that more later.

 

One of the biggest changes between the first two pictures is the microwave above the oven.  We also did the counter tops, back splash, hardware, paint, soffit box, outlets, and trim.

Here you can see we added curtains, an arch over the sink, which is also new, and shelves on the upper left side of the sink.  Eventually we will get stainless steel appliances.  My plan is when they break to replace them with stainless ones.

 All we did here was add curtains, paint and a table.

This is how we made this same spot right after we moved in.  The whole kitchen was more of a diner style but for me it got kinda old. Plus I hated scooting in on the bench. And it was kind of falling apart since we made it ourselves.

In this picture you can see how we painted the cabinets white and put black knobs on them.  It didn't really work because the paint chipped off and the counter tops were tile and very hard to clean (look how little Tucker was).

I am really happy with how the kitchen turned out!  Bob did the whole thing by himself with a little help from me.  We started it in July so it has taken a couple of months.  It didn't cost too much money because we didn't replace the cabinets but I do think it will up the value of our house a lot when we try to sell it (years down the road).  Now we just need to finish off under the stairs.

Under Cabinent Lighting

I just need to get shelves up and then we will be done with the kitchen.  Well, aside from the under the stairs project that just got started last week.  The point is once the shelves are up I am going to post before and after pictures.  For now I will just post this.

We added lighting under the cabinets.  It is a nice touch.  The only problem is that I am not used to having them so I forget to turn them on and end up never using them.  Haha.  They were about $40 relatively easy to put in. 

Hide and Find

Grandma and Grandpa Woestman are in town!  We love having family over to visit!  Tucker has been keeping Grandma busy with games of hide and seek.  Actually he corrected us and told us it is called 'hide and find.'  I especially love Penelope's hiding places.

 Did  you find her?

Our house only has so many hiding places.

Bob and his dad actually made another good hiding spot. They busted a big whole in the wall.  It is the last part of our kitchen remodel, then I will show before and after pictures of the whole kitchen.  Hopefully it will be done in a couple weeks.

Tucker also asked Grandma to make him something special.  Can you guess what it is?  I am going to post more about this in one of my tutorials.

What to do with soffit box

Our Kitchen is almost done!  I think after this weekend I will only have to finish the curtains and somehow figure out how to get over to IKEA to buy the shelf I want and then it will be complete.  Right now it is pretty messy, with tools and sawdust everywhere.  But i have a feeling that once it is cleaned up it is going to look pretty dang good.  Especially given what we had to work with.  Here is another little sneak peak at one of our updates.

I never have liked our soffit box (the space above the cabinets).  It actually took me a long time searching the internet to even figure out what that space was called.  I debated just taking it out but decided that would be a bigger project than I was willing to take on.  Instead we did what my mother-in-law did with hers and put wainscoting over it.  If you have a similar space above your cabinets that needs updating I would suggest adding wainscoting and a trim above and below it.  It was easy, simple, and I love how it turned out.