Everybody Loves a Kitchen Remodel!

by Victoria @ Edin Interiors

Before we get to our Metamorphosis Monday transformation, there's one small detail we need to take care of... naming our giveaway winner!! Go here to see who the lucky winner of Matt's painting is :-)

Kelly and I really enjoy participating in Metamorphosis Mondays… a big thanks to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting this fun event every week!

Once you’ve checked out my transformation I encourage you to make your way back to Susan’s blog so that you can link up to other great bloggers and their fun and often dramatic metamorphoses!

I LOVE kitchen remodels… doesn’t everyone?!

Perhaps I should clarify. I love every aspect involved in remodelling a kitchen. I love planning the project and designing a kitchen’s layout; I love choosing materials like lighting, cabinets, tiles & all the solid surfaces; I love demolition and – of course – I love putting it all back together piece by piece. What about you? I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you love the transformations but can do without the stressful, messy process :-) Then again, many of you are like me and enjoy getting completely involved!!

My first full kitchen remodel was in our previous home; a condo built in the 80s and filled with not-so-lovely 80s finishings!

Here’s a photo of our kitchen before the remodel:

Before we even decided for sure that we’d remodel the space we painted the walls in a terrific green (Ashwood, Behr – which we used as a jump-off point for our new kitchen’s colour scheme), installed crown moulding and purchased stainless steel appliances. But it just wasn’t enough! I little persuasive discussion with Brian and a trip to the bank… we were remodelling!

The first thing to go from the space… the oak flooring. I really liked the floor but at some point there had been a dishwasher leak and segments of the floor had rotted. It had to go. My plan = tile floor!

Unfortunately I had to work the day that the cabinet install guys came in – they removed the old cupboards and installed the new ones and I couldn’t watch!! I was totally disappointed (i.e., I couldn’t supervise: haha!). But when I returned home later that day I can’t begin to tell you how happy I was with everything! Of course we were far from done… apart from the counter install, all the labour from this point forward would be our own.

And the first thing we did… the floors!

Those of you who read my 6 Things post know the story of my first tiling job. Well… this was THAT tile job! Brian and I laid an anti-fracture membrane on the cement floor and then we did a dry-lay of my floor design. It was going to look fantastic! The next day Brian mixed the mortar and, to my surprise, set me to work trawling the mortar and setting tiles! I was afraid at first, but before you know it I was tiling up a storm!!

Here’s a photo of our dry-lay (test run)… we were using a lovely porcelain tile that looked like stone in an off-set pattern. It’s hard to see in this test-run photo, but I incorporated a slate (China Multi) trim detail too.

And here’s the galley-section of the finished floor!

Yep… I tiled and grouted everything you see!!

I also tiled the eating area with a slate trim detail to define the space.

Next… the counters were installed. I opted to go with a quartz solid surface called SileStone in “Brazilian Brown” with a European profile (a thin slab [like a single sheet of real stone] rather then thick sided [two sheets laminated together along the counter edges]). I loved these counters and would highly recommend quartz to anyone!!!

With the counters installed, we could finally tile the backsplash.

I want to share this funny picture… to be sure my tile pattern plan would work above the sink I cut out paper tiles and stuck them on the wall!!! :-)

Choosing the tile for the backsplash, designing how it would be laid out and – eventually – laying the tile (i.e., seeing my vision materialize) was so much fun!

The tile I chose – a tumbled travertine marble… take a look at the finished detailing over the sink:

Yes :-) I tiled and grouted this, too!

And now for the final results…

Shaker style cabinets are a Cherry with a “Sugar” stain.

I hope you enjoyed my Condo’s kitchen remodel!

If you liked this transformation you’ll have to come back in a few weeks to see the metamorphosis of my current kitchen! I’m putting the final touches on things, but I’ll share it soon! :-)

Now… head back to Susan’s Between Naps on the Porch for more metamorphoses!!