Kitchen "Before" Photos

I had to put "before" in the title in quotation marks, because really - there's already so much we've done to this kitchen (like filling it with stuff! and changing out some things that had been in there for years). BUT - we are doing a major overhaul, and I thought it would be fun to post what it looks like now looked like January 1st, when I took these photos.

(The only before photo I could scrounge up on short notice was this one below, that I've scanned and added in. This was taken shortly after I moved in - over 12 (!) years ago. I know I have some true before photos somewhere - will see if I can find them and share at some point).

The doorway into the kitchen has always bothered me - we have this beautiful molding, trim, and casing in every part of our home but here (the house was built in the early 1920s). I could not for the life of me figure out why there was no casing around the kitchen door. When we my guy ripped up the linoleum, we figured it out. At some point, the doorway had been moved (half the doorway floor was missing the original hardwood we found in the rest of the kitchen). So I guess when they moved the door, they didn't bother to even try to make it match. We've got plans for that...

Here's more photos than you could possibly want to see of my kitchen. Enjoy!

The dishwasher! 😂 I considered adding the bottom piece back on for the photos, and then decided 'forget it' - this is really what it looks like now! Our old dishwasher gave up the ghost completely and we couldn't use it at all. We got this dishwasher for $40 from a neighborhood sale group, got it home and installed it, and discovered it leaked from the bottom (and could see that it had been for some time). The people we bought it from hadn't realized it, and reimbursed our money. So for a little while we lived with this, with a cookie sheet under it to catch the leak. Classy! But it wasn't worth replacing with a new one until after we redo the floors - that way we only need to install it once...

We have a teeny kitchen and I love kitchen stuff, so I sort of toyed with replacing the dishwasher with shelving. We were just fine for quite awhile when our old one wouldn't work at all. But apart from the convenience for day-to-day life, it is really useful for canning, so I decided maybe it's worth the space it takes.

Those lights above the sink are a DIY I conceived of and my guy installed - I haven't finished painting behind it cause I'm still trying to decide if I should go white to match the rest of the kitchen or go with chalkboard paint. It's only looked like this for you know, maybe 6 months or something. I'm sure I'll get to it at some point.

(Kitty on the table). 😻

This stove is new to us but will also need replacing soon. Our old one was mostly black (like the dishwasher in the scanned photo above) and the oven temp was way off and two burners weren't working. My guy got this oven for free when he removed it from a home he was working on. We scrubbed it down and put it in, and it has been working well (considering what we were used to) but is definitely a temporary fix. We'll see when we get around to a new one.

A few photos by night.

So there you have it! Don't hold your breath for the 'after' photos - we're squeezing this kitchen redo into late nights after work, here and there as we are able. It's taking a bit of time! But it will be worth it when it's done (that's what I keep telling myself, anyway). 😉

xo,
Katherine

In Our Garden - May 8th

Pennant by The Bees Knees Shoppe.

Happy Mother's Day! We had a wonderful, relaxing day. Spent the morning and early afternoon with my guy's parents. Went out for brunch to The Craftsman in Minneapolis, and it was deeeelicious! Can't wait to go back. Then we all went to their house for awhile.

We had dinner and spent the evening with my parents at their house and grilled. It was the perfect, gorgeous day for that.

In between we spent a little time at home, worked in the yard a bit, and mowed for the first time this season.

In our garden, the lilacs are going strong!

Here's the state of the cherry tree and serviceberry tree. The blossoms are gone, and the fruits aren't quite here yet!

The thyme is growing back in our herb garden, and the chives are filling in nicely.

With so many lilacs, we knew we had to incorporate them into our Mother's Day gifts.

This past summer I went to Arkansas for a weekend of Canning at Freckled Hen Farm with Natalie. While we were there, Megan led us in such a great craft - what I made that weekend is the jar in the background above, on the left below.

The one next to it is what my guy and I made this weekend. We made two of them, one for each of our moms. We used the smaller jars since the wood we had was narrower. My guy saved the wood from flooring he pulled up at work (it was just going to get tossed in a dumpster!). The leather around the jar is a belt I thrifted from Goodwill. I've been keeping my eyes open for good belts while thrifting ever since we made these with Megan last summer.

On the back of the wood we nailed a hook for hanging it up.

And of course we filled the jars with lilacs. Our moms loved them!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.
xo,
Katherine