Like I have said in the past doing a gut reno, especially during a pandemic is not for the faint of heart. We were lucky enough to be able to move in with my parents and when the hits kept coming with delays, we were okay and had someplace to stay. The last time I updated you on the house we had gotten all new wood floors and had started to update the front of the house! Electrical and plumbing were all done and walls were up! That meant that the kitchen I had been dreaming up in my head was ready to come to life.

In our last house, we gutted the kitchen ourselves and then designed it and installed it ourselves. It was a big undertaking, but we were so excited to be homeowners and didn’t have kids yet so we had the time to do it all on our own. We went with white cabinetry, black countertops to give me the look of soapstone, subway tile backsplash, a massive farm sink, grasscloth wallpapered ceiling, and painted floors! Our previous house was a cottage and I wanted to honor that with the vibe of the kitchen.

I loved those floors. We didn’t do them right away, but the wood floors in the kitchen had a bit of water damage in certain areas and the discoloration always bothered me, so I decided to give it a go and paint them the prettiest shade of jade green that reminded me of jadeite milk glass.

I had a hard time letting go of my old house. It was our first house and we poured our heart and soul into it. So, in this house, I have done little things as an ode to the old house. Things that would make this new house feel familiar and like home to us right away. When I first started doing it in the design process, I didn’t even realize it! But the more the designs progressed the more I realized I was recreating little moments from the old house. I digress, back to the kitchen design we go. When we started discussing the plan for the new kitchen’s look I wasn’t sold on white cabinets. I truly love white cabinetry in a kitchen. They are a classic and you really can’t go wrong with them, but we had just had a white kitchen and I wanted to switch things up. Gray isn’t in my vocabulary so that was immediately out. I wanted something with a punch and luckily kitchen cabinets have come a long way and there are now so many colorful options. Navy and muted shades of green are very popular at the moment so, I immediately disregarded them. I tend to stray away from trendy options in home decor and while navy and muted greens are super pretty I didn’t want to have a kitchen that other people have seen. What was a girl to do? Well, this girl was doing her research on all of the various cabinetry brands and custom options and fell head over heels in love with a color called Waterscape in a door style called Amelia by Diamond.

Immediately a plan came together!

Doesn’t waterscape remind you of my kitchen floors? It was perfect! Exactly what I wanted and luckily for me, Jon loved it as well. We looked at all of the other colors available in the Amelia door style and we couldn’t get over waterscape. I went and got a sample of it and painted it on a section of the kitchen walls in order to be able to pop over to the house during the renovation and see if I still loved it. It’s a bold color and I didn’t want to get tired of it. Every time I saw it, I loved it even more. I started noticing that other items in my home were a similar jade green color. From our dining chairs to peeks of it in our dishes. It was a color that I have always loved. It’s even in my branding and featured on my website in different areas. It was meant to be!

Now as a designer I work in a lot of different spaces in a home, but when it comes to kitchens I like having the help of a kitchen designer. Designing a kitchen is not just cabinetry. There are filler pieces, decorative plates, and all of the organizational components that go instead of the cabinetry. We had an idea of the layout we wanted and even had a floor plan down to the exact size kitchen cabinets we wanted, but I wanted confirmation that it all made sense from a person that designs kitchens day in and day out. Enter Michael, the kitchen designer at my local LOWES where the Diamond line is exclusively carried.

Next week I’m going to share the kitchen design plan we came up with and share how the experience went!

But for now, I’m going to leave you with before photos of what we were starting with!

It can only get better from there!

Want to see the worst part? The hallway leading into the kitchen had a shower in it. Yup, just a shower, not a bathroom. A skinny shower stall with a shower door.

We didn’t need a hallway shower stall so this was immediately on the plans to be a butler’s pantry!

So much goodness is coming your way!