Carolyn and Tommy Braden's Kitchen Before and After 2011

With the exception of a few little details, our kitchen renovation is complete. We reused the kitchen cabinets that were in the house when we bought it but transformed them with Rustoleum Transformations. Our open shelving is from IKEA. Tommy created a cabinet for our stainless Bosch dishwasher. We purchased butcher block from IKEA for the counter top above the dishwasher. That will be installed soon. Our other counter top is from Lowe's. Tommy did all the drywalling, painting, some plumbing and all the trim work. The 1st floor bathroom is next. We're off to find a claw foot tub!

Woooo hoooooo!

This house isn't being as scary as it once was. We have now lived in our home for one year. I felt like we weren't getting anything accomplished AT ALL, but looking back on it, we have accomplished a lot.

The economic scare forced us to put some things on hold for a while. We really didn't feel the need to spend a whole bunch of money if we were going to need it in an emergency situation, like losing a job perhaps. But, we both feel the economy downfall is now starting to head uphill. Our home plans are going uphill as well.

We bought a beautiful light to put in our foyer. We kept looking for the perfect one that was elegant but not too expensive. After months of contemplating, we found a floor model on sale at Lowe's. Lowe's has great home items at great prices. This light is the perfect size and when you turn it on, the light makes the crystals shine rainbows all over the room. It is beautiful! Glad we waited to find the right one at the right price. We've also put up a new light in one of the spare bedrooms and put a new light in our soon to be closet.

Our walk in closet is on it's way to being complete. Due to the small size of this room, we felt it should be a spacious dressing room/closet. All the insulation is complete, the wood is hung on the walls as a basis for the drywall, and some of the electrical details will get worked out tomorrow. Once this closet is complete, the closet that is in our bedroom will be torn down. Our bedroom didn't have a closet, so at some point, someone built one in the room, but it should not be there. In our attempt to get the house back to it's original form as much as possible, we feel the closet should go.

The garage has (finally) been cleaned out of anything that sat in there this past year. I figure, if you haven't seen something in a year (other than holiday items), it really should go! I called the Salvation Army and they sent a truck to pick up all kinds of huge items. We sold some things E-Bay, which is a great because some of that cash will come in handy with the renovation.

I am about to strip the paint off the front door. It has amazing wood detailing on it, but you can't tell right now due to the layers of chipping paint. Once I strip it, we will varnish it to make the wood beautiful.

We've hung stained glass windows in the dining room. They are windows that are in frames, so they are hung on hooks at the top of the tall existing windows. That way, if we move, we will be able to take them with us.

We've hung blinds in one of the spare bedrooms and on the front door.

More is happening a little at a time, but it is getting there. I can't wait.

House Update!

We've got to get a move on!
Not too much more has been done to the house, but here's a little of what we've recently done.

--Painted the upstairs and turned a storage room into an office.

--Tore out the walls in a spare bedroom on the second floor and it is going to be a closet. Tommy just insulated it, so next is getting the lovely walls and ceiling up. He's so thrilled about doing plaster work. Ug.

Tore out a closet on the first floor. It wasn't supposed to be there.

Spruced up the outside of the home for spring. Planted some flowers and put up some fencing.

We'll be getting more done soon. Hopefully.