Opening Up about Open Concept Living: Our Kitchen Plans

Ever since we knocked out our half wall I’ve had a metric crap ton of questions dropped on me about what our plans are to merge the two rooms.

Are we going to leave them two different colors?

Are we going to continue the board & batten into the living room?

Are we going to get new flooring to fix the gap?

Are we going to leave the chandelier red?

Are we going to fix the swing of the chandelier so it actually hangs over the table?

A LONG time ago, when I had virtually no readers, I talked about my “dreams” for the kitchen, which assesses the bulk of the inquiries.  But I thought it would be fun to re-hash, now that we’ve actually started the demo and people actually read my words. ^_^

As you remember, the living room, dining room, and kitchen were 3 very separate rooms.  Each was very small in its defined regard.  Aaron & I didn’t want our first renovation to be the kitchen.  We wanted to live in our house for at least 6 months to a year to figure out what we really needed out of a renovation to make the kitchen reach its highest functional possibility.

We both came to the conclusion that to use the space the most effectively, we would need to turn it into an open concept.

I rendered a side by side plan of what it was, and we we plan on doing.  It really isn’t THAT big of a deal.

We have waste-of-a-space coat closet, and the dinky-est pantry.

The pantry and coat closet will be removed, and turned into bar-height counter space, and you’ll be able to stand where I took this picture, and see the front door.

Please have sympathy for me and my art skillz.  To make it worse, my stylus has grown legs and is leading a game of hide-and-seek.  So, yeah, my kindergarten nephew could have done a better job.  He’s too busy making macaroni necklaces.  You’ll just have to do with my scribble scrabble.

A new, space-effective pantry/closet will be build on this side of the dining room.

Since we will be building a pantry, the current board and batten will come done like London Bridge.  We have plans to redo board and batten throughout the rest of the dining room and living room at 2/3 wall height.

The cabinetry is really old.  It doesn’t look like a grandma, but it isn’t the strongest.  We will be replacing all the cabinets, uppers and lowers.  Since we will be adding counter space, the counters will be replaced.  (I know it will break your heart when the laminate faux butcher block is gone).   IF we can find a good deal on appliances, we would like to replace those as well.  I’m dreaming of a gas stove

Once all the construction is done, new flooring will be installed.

(I caught these two snuggling while I was taking pictures.  It’s pathetic how much I need to take them to get their hurr did.  Their vision is obstructed!)

There are things we are going to DIY, and things we will hire professionals for.  When it comes to kitchens, I REALLY don’t want to mess up.  It’s the heart of the home.  And it’s important to me that it turns out right.

This is a project that won’t happen in a few weeks, like on HGTV.  It is something we will work on as we go.  I can’t put a definite time stamp on it.  I wouldn’t want to curse myself.

If you look at my Pinterest Kitchen board, you’ll see I have a love for white country kitchens.  Not like, hospital white like I see on other blogs.  I like white, wood, and mint green, and marble.

I saw this kitchen on BHG, and I love the design of it.  It caught my eye because it is a VERY similar layout to my kitchen.

That’s the plan.  I haven’t narrowed down the decorative touches yet.  I know we’ll get a new light fixture for the dining table.  I know we’ll repaint the kitchen, dining, and living room the same color.  But I can’t tell you exactly what it will be, because I don’t know.

I hope that answers your question on what we plan on doing now that the half wall has left the building.

And just a reminder: Go enter the give away for dog treats from The Muddy Paw!

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