ORC Craigslist Kitchen Makeover Reveal

This is it. The final week.
Thee Day.
Thee moment.
The six week challenge is over. The time has come to reveal the kitchen overhaul.

This is my second ORC rodeo. I knew what work was ahead of me and this ORC encouragement was just what I needed to get this kitchen done once and for all. The thrifted has all come together. The pine, oak, maple, cherry, and all of the mixed-matched has been painted. Don't get me wrong; I like wood grain cabinets. Even if they match! Just not in my house.

Here is the "original as is purchased condition", a.k.a. the "gut". Forty-six days later, it was a Craigslist/thrifted renovation, a.k.a. the tall, dark, and un-handsome. Followed by my finally finished.

It was challenging working with a very long and narrow room without going into a second mortgage for expansion.

But now, the dark and gloomy days are gone. I had to turn lights on, even on sunny days with skylight windows. Now it's raining and I'm taking photos without overhead lighting.

Decluttered. AND fresh and bright!
Here are cherry cabinet doors and a maple frame cabinet with neighboring pine wainscotting.

Plants may live now.
There is so much more light!

It's a breath of fresh air every time I go into the room.  I cook a lot and this layout makes it more enjoyable.  It's actually inviting me to cook more.

What used to be an international kitchen with a mix of Italian, Dutch, French and good ol' American evidence, (I kindly called it French Country or just plain country) it still has the farmhouse style touches I love.

So now I have renamed it "Modern Farmhouse".

Complete with a hot beverage station. 

In review, here are the before and after spot shots. The "guts and glory".

What was previously a great put down for keys and mail, is now a much used hot beverage area. Nobody used the booze in the cabinet, so it was all tossed for coffee/hot chocolate mugs. The undercabinet was for our little buddy's dog food and treats. We lost him 2 weeks ago. Much of the reason why  I couldn't catch up then. It's been very devastating. So his things are gone leaving room for bottles of water and energy drinks. Now this is something everyone uses all of the time. It's all self serve so I can spend time washing pots and pans.
Eh-hem!

Our light oak and golden oak with pine cabinets made the stark white appliances jump into the room. They are rock stars but they really need to share the stage. 

Painting made them harmonious. 

I ended up painting the dishwasher this week.  It was the only appliance that was off white. It looked out of place. 

I was afraid of removing the door with the electronics, so I left it in place and painted the bottom. The control panel is untouched. 

I can live with that. 

Changing the island layout is my favorite.
Say it with me... "workspace".
From stove to island and with about 7 vessels to make eggplant rollatini ...well this is just heaven.

As much as I turn the pots and pans rack into half empty while putting on a spread, it was the big elephant in the room. I made it from an old iron table, so that should give you the estimated size of it. Huge is an understatement. And we hung it up high so not to be in anyone's view. So I had to use a step stool all of the time. Several times per meal was a ... unpleasant experience.  Since I cleaned out the island, my cookware is inside it.

Again, mix match oak cabinets. ALL cheap craigslist finds. But the white appliances, also craigslist finds, just bothered me that nothing was streamlined.

Now the white is so blended in.
This was exactly my goal.
Amen.
This was when I danced in the kitchen.

Maple trim moulding and pine shelving... hidden away into sleek lines.

I'm so glad I did this.

Yes, I have a small television in the kitchen. Spending many hours here allows me to watch HGTV and the Food Network.

I know I'm not alone.

Replaced lighting is refreshing.

I don't have a decorating budget. Let me say it's just not a part of the budget. Everything here as been thrifted or DIY from scraps or upcycle. Painting walls and cabinets while adding some DIY has made this room a reality for us. It just took a little creativity and daydreaming.

If you missed any of my weekly updates, you can catch them here:

An InLinkz Link-up

I've got to thank Linda at Calling it Home for making this happen. She is the brainchild of room designing motivation with her twice per year One Room Challenge. It's not a competition for us participants. But everyone's a winner. The key word is motivation. You commit yourself to get that project done. You are joining a growing number of others for encouragement and sharing ideas. It's the kick in the pants you need to finally accomplish what you've put off. I wanted to do this kitchen this way and finally did it.

Thank you, Linda! You are the best "Home" coach ever!

Now, if you're as curious as I am about everyone else's' accomplishments, let's go check them out! I've been watching and they are rocking some really great ideas and styles! (Squeal!!! This is huge!)

The One Room ChallengeGuest Participants

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Featured at

ORC Week 5: Craigslist Kitchen Details

The final week of the One Room Challenge is here! Everything needs to be finished by next week's reveal. I'm going to try to have it completed on time.

With too many things going on at the home front, not much was accomplished this past week. So I have very little to report.

But I did finish the pulley light!

I started the hood enhancement ...

and the coffee station. But neither are finished.

The messes are getting cleaned up and that alone is making the new kitchen feel fabulous. Until everything is completed, the stress level is getting higher. 

Now the pressure's really on! Three more tasks to complete. Maybe four! 

The Plan:

Paint walls  Well, still a bit to do in the ceiling areas

Paint wainscotting

Paint cabinets

Make a coffee/tea/hot chocolate station

Change the layout of the island and eat-in area

Remove the lighted hanging pots and pans rack

Add  Install new lighting to replace the rack

Change out decor and overall style

Eliminate clutter and organize

Make a farmhouse style pulley light fixture for the table area

Cover the exposed side of the refrigerator with chalkboard and beadboard

Make a small windowsill herb garden.

"Range hood" enhancement: Corbels and shelf.

MAYBE: Crown moulding. If ladder assistance becomes available. (fingers crossed)

Thanks for following along again this week and don’t forget to check out what all my fellow linking participants are catching up with here. 


Another huge thank you goes to Linda at Calling It Home for organizing the One Room Challenge! 

See you here next Thursday for the big day!! Have an awesome week~

ORC And the Craigslist Kitchen Week 4

Progress. As the six week "One Room Challenge" moves on, so much has been accomplished with still more to do.

 (Week 1 , Week 2, Week 3)

You may recall, we removed the monster pots and pans rack to replace it with a new track light.

It's installed. Yay! I've missed the lighting. The best feature is, I can project the individual lights to bounce more light into different areas of the room.

Other than exchanging those light fixtures, I've been on my own and can't reach these 14 foot high corners in the ceiling. They are left unpainted until I recruit help again. So technically, the painting is not finished and remains on the list. 

I was able to get a few things crossed off this week.

Like the window sill herb box. Perched at the sink window is super convenient for watering and snipping for recipes.

Fresh herbs are a "must have" for cooking. 

I finished covering the exposed side of the refrigerator. 

I'll share that in a separate post this week.

I started working on the pulley light fixture for over the table and tried a cage for size.

Two of these cages are going to be too large for the pulley. They are wide and the pulley is much narrower. Now, I'm cutting mason jars to use as shades.

And milk bottles

Square shaped bottles are a bit challenging. Perhaps the wet saw will be more successful. I have some large round mason jars, but if they don't cut well, I'll lose a few awesome oldies. (Yikes. I don't want to do that.) Practicing on some smaller inexpensive ones have been going well. 

I'll keep you posted on the situation.

In the meantime, here we are!

The Plan:

Paint walls  Well, still a bit to do in the ceiling areas

Paint wainscotting

Paint cabinets

Make a coffee/tea/hot chocolate station

Change the layout of the island and eat-in area

Remove the lighted hanging pots and pans rack

Add  Install new lighting to replace the rack

Change out decor and overall style

Eliminate clutter and organize

Make a farmhouse style pulley light fixture for the table area

Cover the exposed side of the refrigerator with chalkboard and beadboard

Make a small windowsill herb garden.

"Range hood" enhancement: Corbels and shelf.

Adding: Crown moulding. If ladder assistance becomes available. (fingers crossed)

It feels great to get so much done. 

Thanks for following along and don’t forget to check out what all my fellow linking participants are up to here. 


And a huge thank you goes to Linda at Calling It Home once again for organizing the One Room Challenge! 

ORC: That Craigslist Kitchen Week 3

Hell's Kitchen.
Okay, it's really my progress of the One Room Challenge and my Craigslist Kitchen. If you would like to, visit week one and week two when I didn't think it was all that bad. 

Well, the cabinets and the island are painted. 

Not sponsored nor supplied by Sherwin Williams, but what I purchased and used for the cabinets and island.

It was the longest and shortest week yet. If that is possible to say. Eighteen hours of painting a section of cabinets was going well until I looked down the long wall of cabinets and thought, "this will never get done".  I'd look at the clock and another day was gone.

OMG... what was I thinking?????

I am exhausted. It seemed neverrrrrrrr ending. It was also a week getting the kitchen cleaned up for my son's birthday. I couldn't imagine having family over for cake with paintbrushes and tools all over the place. Stress was at its best to say the least.

AND, I don't know, but maybe I did something while scrubbing cabinets because our microwave died. Maybe some water and TSP dripped into it. What a scramble I had,  looking for another one that had to match the GE appliances AND fit in the cabinet space. I ended up buying one at Lowe's within 3 days. Going without a microwave while working on a kitchen that you really don't want to cook in while paint is drying and curing was plain miserable.

♪ Hallelujah!!!! ♪

It was not a nice week, but in the end, there were two things that made me so happy that I cranked up the music and danced:

 1. While painting, I cleaned out the cabinets, the island, and the decor to make up SIX boxes of stuff for donations.  AND I sold our bar stools on Craigslist. (Room to dance now, ey? Insert Bob Seger  "Old Time Rock 'n Roll".)  

2. The white bright kitchen is amazing. What a fresh feeling kind of room to wake up to! I don't regret going to white. At all. Even though I don't have the coffee station finished, the coffee smells and tastes better already. 

So here we are with the to do list after the week of madness.

The Plan:

Paint walls

Paint wainscotting

Paint cabinets

Make a coffee/tea/hot chocolate station

Change the layout of the island and eat-in area

Remove the lighted hanging pots and pans rack

Add  Install new lighting to replace the rack

Change out decor and overall style

Eliminate clutter and organize

Make a farmhouse style pulley light fixture for the table area

Cover the exposed side of the refrigerator with chalkboard and beadboard

Make a small windowsill herb garden.

Added  "Range hood" enhancement: Corbels and shelf.

(Inspiration.)
Island and eat-in area. Not what mine will be, but the layout, colors, and textures are the same.

Thanks for following along and don’t forget to check out what all my fellow linking participants are up to here. 

I’m sure they fared much better than I this past week. And a huge thank you goes to Linda at Calling It Home once again for organizing the One Room Challenge! Have a wonderful week!