My Dream Kitchen - a Makeover

I know this looks like something that

I would do for Halloween - maybe creating

a Haunted House - but no, this has been

real life around Purple Chocolat Home

for a while here.

Over the past two years you have seen me 

redecorate and move to lighter decor.  The living

room used to have dark rich furnishings

and I switched it up to light furnishings.

It was time to do the same in the kitchen.

Although I had loved my kitchen, I was tired of the 

dark decor and ready to lighten everything up 

there too.  The dark island and chairs had to go.

Everything just seemed so dark.

The pizza oven needed a change.

I had hated these hand painted cabinets

from the minute they were finished.  They

never went with the rest of the decor.

This secretary had beautiful lines, but I

was tired of its color too.

I met with the painter and told him that

I had a party that week and he promised that he

could come in and get the island done by

the time of the party.  He was true to his word.

He also promised that I wouldn't have to remove

all of the "stuff" from my cabinets.  Whew! 

That made everything easier.

But as you can see from the tall baking cabinet

on the left, that didn't happen.  His employees

removed everything.  In the end that was a good

thing, as it forced me to de-junk.

I had a garden party the next week

(this started in September) and this was

what my kitchen looked like.  I told everyone

to enter the garden from the outside, but of

course, everyone wanted to see the mess -

thus my "haunted house"

Considering how large and complicated my

kitchen is, it probably went pretty quickly,

but it has definitely thrown my life into a tizzy.

The baking cabinet was the hardest, as it had to 

be removed from the wall and set on the floor 

for the counter to be installed.

Going through all of the junk took forever. 

It was good to get rid of so much.  I purged

five black garbage bags of cookbooks and tons of glassware. 

Now the insides of my cabinets are not over-stuffed. 

I actually breathe a breath of relief as I open 

cabinets now.

I chose this arabesque marble tile with black

dots for my backsplash.  Hubby did the tile work.

This shows it before it was grouted.

This section is now finished, with the

new counter, grouted backsplash and

handles installed.  I chose acrylic and

brushed gold handles.  I love their

clean look.

Even the fridge got acrylic handles.  Such

a difference from the huge metal ones we

had before.

My daughter and I had seen these on a fridge 

at a homeshow.

Here is a shot of the secretary all finished.

She is so elegant, she just had to have 

special jeweled pulls.

On the pizza oven, we chose to keep the

beams a dark rustic color and to keep

the rustic looking stone.  Our other doors

in the kitchen are stained wood so the beams

tie in nicely.  

I tried to take pictures as we went along, but this one

isn't quite current as the baking cabinet now has

the new counter and we have handles everywhere,

but this gives you the picture without all of the

Halloween decor which is now up.

The island still has the dark green stone on it,

which I really like because of the contrast, but

that is something hubby has hated from the 

beginning so it is going too, but we have been

out of town for the last while so it isn't done

yet, but we still have a fully functioning kitchen.

Also I removed the purple crystals from my

chandeliers and friends have thought I had

new chandeliers - funny!!!

I had purchased the barstools for our houseboat,

but they ended up being too short, so I had brought

them home.  I decided to use them in the new kitchen

and I love how they let you see the decorative trim

around the island, which was covered up by

the old barstools.

Just so you can remember what the old

kitchen looked like....

People are wowed by the transformation and it isn't

quite done yet.

So that's what I have been up to - and why I haven't

done any blogging for a while!  Remodeling always

takes more time and effort than you think, but the

results are so nice.

Thanks for stopping by.  I know I have been missing

in action for a while, and I was so charmed by so many

contacting me and wondering if I was all right.  

Overwhelmed, but yes, I am doing great.  Thanks

for caring!

I will be posting this with

 Metamorphosis Monday

Rachel's Kitchen Makeover

Welcome to Rachel's updated kitchen. 

 We finished this redecorating

project a few weeks ago, but I wanted to make sure and

show you an inexpensive way to update the kitchen.

The oak cabinets

were in good condition, but lacking in interest and dated.

We decided to paint them rather than replace them.

The hardware was updated with brushed nickel.

She also chose  a granite counter.  Such a great alternative

in today's economy.

My husband's business, Whitewater did the granite

countertops and sink.

Rachel had already replaced the refrigerator, but we ran a new gas

line and added a gas stove top, and a new single stainless steel

sink.

The island was painted an espresso brown and

lightly antiqued also.

The new color just has a softer more updated

look.  

Her son Cameron removed all of

the doors, rolled on a primer coat with a sponge

roller (using a brush in the creases),

then rolled on 2 coats of Antique White

Milk Paint.  Then using a Black and Decker electric

detail sander, the edges were sanded and a few areas

where normal wear and tear would take place.

Two coats of sealer finished the job.

( We tried an espresso glaze, but decided we liked

it better without.)

The entire painting was done in three days.

A fantastic makeover for very little money.

Of course, the danger to any remodel or redecorating

 is that then you have to do other rooms too!

  (But look how nice the living room and entry are now.)

I will be posting this with

Metamorphosis Monday

Tabletop Tuesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Feathered Nest Friday

One Of Those Great Mysteries - Where Do I Store It All?

As a tablescaper, I often get asked where do I store

all of my STUFF?

Well, today, you get to peek behind the scenes

(which we like to refer to as "the backside of

Disneyland" .  Where did we get that little saying

you might ask?  Have you ever been to Disneyland

and had the chance to peek behind a door as they

are letting a character walk away - the glamour

and the magic is all gone, and it is just cement

walls.)  So here are the hidden parts of the magic

of my tablescaping.

(No I am not going to show you one cabinet or

one closet and expect you to believe that is where I

store everything, so this tour will take a couple of minutes.)

Many of you have had the chance to see my kitchen remodel.

If you haven't you can see it at the top of my sidebar.  Just

click on it and you can see the messy before pictures and the

after pictures.

You can guess that we planned for a lot of storage for dinnerware

in the remodel.

This large baking cabinet stores pans and appliances

on the bottom, mixers and odds and ends on the

sides,

and goblets in the top.

The two cabinets that flank my stove hood

hold our every day items.

This side holds the plates and bowls,

and this side holds

the everyday glassware, mostly brought home from

Cabo (in rolling carry-ons.)

I bought the little shelves to extend my storage space at

Bed Bath and Beyond.

This secretary in the kitchen has the phone and mail

inside and then has 3 drawers underneath that house

odds and ends such as glue and tape, ribbons and

wrapping items and the final drawer holds placemats.

The top of the secretary holds more goblets.

There is secret storage on both sides of the front of the island

when you pull the barstools away. 

On this side we have plates and bowls.  I have everything from

one of a kind to a set of 60 for entertaining.

Only one set is formal china.  The rest are fun and

inexpensive plates.

The other side of the island houses a griddle, fondue pots, waffle

makers and that kind of appliances (they could always be moved

to make more room for plates!)

The wood burning pizza oven is surrounded by storage

also.  On the left bottom we store our proofing boxes

for the dough and pizza peels.  On the right side bottom

we store equipment to start the fires and cookbooks

that are not the prettiest.  In the middle we store

long-handled utensils for the fire, a fireplace vacuum

and my chocolate dipping machine.

We sneak in a little more glass storage behind the diamond

paned doors.

More goblets and pizza plates imported from Italy

(these plates come with no rim so you can use a pizza

cutter easily on them) are on this side.

The left side holds the cookbooks that are nicer to look at.

Between the two storage spots for cookbooks, I have over

200 of them.  I have been buying them for

over 30 years now.  Many of them are those tempting little

items that call out your name at the grocery store check out stand.

Now we move into the formal dining room.

Large bowls, platters and chargers are stored in here.

There are more chargers elsewhere.

This tall red cabinet

has lots of tall glassware, candle holders and odd shaped

items that don't stack well.

Oh, no, more?  We now move down to the basement where

we have a little kitchenette.

More plate storage is here. 

Four drawers hold sets of flatware that we don't

use everyday.

Here are my red ones, they get the top drawer!

Ok, here is the real workhorse of the storage places.

This is a closet that didn't start out as dinnerware storage.

It is stacked full of plates and large items.

(Hope those shelves hold!!)

I have to say that because we live along the Wasatch

Front fault line, I do try to protect much of my stash

from being lost in an earthquake

by tying cabinet door fronts together and using a

bungee cord on the doors of this closet.  I also

intend to install child safety locks on the upstairs ones.

These items were recommended after the California

earthquake as plates and items will go shooting out of

cabinets during an earthquake.  I would hate to lose

everything.

Hope you enjoyed your tour......

 now you know where it all is!

This makes tablescaping possible

and more organized

at Purple Chocolat Home.

I will be exposing the insides of these cabinets

at

Wow Us Wednesdays

Tablescapes Thursday

Feathered Nest

Favorite Things

ps  My niece who lived with us for a year just moved

out in January.  She told me that I could now fill her

room with plates if I wanted!  She loved to give me a

hard time about plates.