Let there be light!

I’m not a fan of websites that play music as soon as they load but I was sorely tempted to publish this post about our kitchen renovation with only photos and a sound file of angels singing.

When we moved into our house two years ago my only feelings of ‘meh’ were about our cave-like kitchen.  I am not an enthusiastic chef by any means but the thought of cooking in a dark and depressing space only discouraged me even more from spending time in my kitchen (that is my excuse and I’m bloody well sticking to it).  I’m at home with my kids which means 21 meals and at least 14 snacks a day in the food preparation dungeon.  I also work from home which means there is no escape from the dark hole of doom (yes, yes, first world problems).

Last September I started thinking about renovating our kitchen.  My husband was worried because when I get ideas I tend to run like a dog with a large and meaty bone.  But a week later I peed on a plastic wand, found out we were expecting our third baby, and much to his relief, my kitchen renovation plans were shelved.

He’d forgotten about the intensity of the third trimester nesting.

Poor man.

In March our horrid hunter green counters were replaced by beautiful granite by these guys.  It only took four hours and the transformation was amazing.  My husband, who’d hoped that new counter tops would dull my hatred for the oak cabinets, was disappointed when I took one look at the counters and said: the oak HAS to go.  Because really pretty counters made the oak look that much worse.

The stained square beveled back splash tiles were replaced by my husband and dad.  We chose cream subway tiles and it took about a day for them to complete the project.

I swear the the cupboards got gloomier and more miserable next to the gleaming beautiful counter and backsplash.

And no I did not intentionally use my flash in the ‘after’ photos to make them look brighter.

We chose to replace our cupboard doors and resurface the remaining oak veneer instead of replacing all our cabinets as well.  Why?

Money

Time

We have three kids so we don’t have a lot of either and because I run a business out of my home I can’t have a kitchen that’s in shambles for several weeks.

Granite Transformation to the rescue again.  I have not been paid to sing their praises but they are good friends and it might have been their chip bowl that baby duck pooped in last week.  But their product and service are still amazing and this is not just me sucking up in shame for my son’s prolific poop.

In preparation for the overhaul my husband took off all the doors and hardware on Friday night.  That’s the firefighter, taking advantage of the lack of doors and helping himself to a snack.

Good riddance ugly oak doors.  Hello beautiful bright new kitchen!

You might want to don your sunglasses to look at the next set of photos:

(Insert angels singing here)

Tagged as: granite transformations, granite transformations ottawa, kitchen renovation, ottawa kitchen renovation