Ready, Set, Go!

We are set to close on the house at 10:30 AM on Tuesday. Also Hubby's 30th birthday. Wow. We have already gotten some things started. First thing to tackle will be demolition, of course. But, the crux of our updates will be in the kitchen. Thus, we have started our kitchen plans already.

We met with Roger and Brian at Van Nostrand Cabinets to get a design ready for the kitchen. Hubby has worked with Roger a lot in the past. They did our first house too. They are by far the best in the biz when it comes to cabinets. And, Roger and Brian are about the nicest guys ever and so easy to work with.

While we are trying to straddle the line between making the right updates to the house and not spending so much that we don't make any money in the end, cabinets are a big deal to us. Call me a snob, but I (we, really) can't stand cheap cabinets. There is nothing worse than fake wood cabinetry. I understand budget issues and all. But, I would feel bad about putting cheap cabinets in my house. Cheaply constructed cabinets that are veneers are a sin in my opinion. I'm not going to bust my budget for ours, but we are making it work so that we can put real wood cabinets in our house.

That said, we had fun picking out our design. They have the coolest program to show you a 3D layout of your finished kitchen. Super cool! Hubby let me drive the design. So nice of him :).

I am doing a 180 on design from our last house. Before, our kitchen was really dark. Dark cabinets (beautiful!), dark green granite counter tops. It was pretty, but felt dark. Because the new kitchen is small, I thought that doing a white cabinet would be best. Actually, I'm going on a design from the movie "Something's Gotta Give". The beach house in that movie is like my dream home. I have learned from Roger that this style is Shaker style. Here's some photos for where we are going on design in the kitchen.







The first photo is from the movie. The other two are just inspiration photos. We will be doing white appliances. I'd love to do stainless, but the existing range that is in very good shape is white. We have to get a fridge and the dishwasher needs replacing, but we'll be matching the range that is there now to save a few $$$. I don't think we'll be doing a backsplash. That's a hubby thing. I would love to do the subway tile backsplash, but he's not sold on it. And, I'm undecided as to what flooring. I like having tile in the kitchen, but I love the way the wood floor looks. We'll see. I've decided to do a gray wall. Not dark, but not real light either.

This style will go through out the house. I knew I wanted to do this kitchen, so I'm making the rest of the house fit the kitchen. It should be interesting.

I will take a mass of "before" photos and have them up soon.