Kitchen Remodel: The Before
This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure PolicyWell, friends. It’s official: Operation Kitchen Renovation has begun!
I’ve been talking about the remodel for several months now, and finally, all the pieces have aligned. We are starting my kitchen renovation! (It feels so good to type that!)
Over the next several months I’ll be walking you through the process. I plan to share updates every week or every other week, depending on how things are progressing. If you want a closer, real-time look at how things are coming along, be sure to follow me on Instagram at @inspiredbycharm. I’ll also be using the hashtag #bayberrykitchen
Surprisingly, after 10 years of blogging, this is my first major home renovation. As you can probably imagine, this is a thrilling (albeit nerve-racking) time for me. I’m bursting with excitement to take you along on this adventure!
To kick things off, I thought we’d start at the beginning.
Kitchen Remodel: The Before
Here is my kitchen as it is now.
After using this space for the past 8 months, I can say that it’s not terrible, except for the lack of a range. However, it just doesn’t work for what I do and how I want it to function. (When I purchased this home, my plan was to tackle the kitchen right away. That’s why I don’t have a range.)
I will give you the full plans for the kitchen in the coming weeks, but I will tell you now that this remodel is a full gut job. That means new cabinets, floors, countertops, appliances, windows, doors, and lighting. The works!
Although I shared the kitchen in my “New Home Tour,” here’s another look around. (Official layouts of my space are coming.)
The kitchen is in the middle of the back of my house. When you’re facing the back wall of the house/kitchen, the family room (with its big brick fireplace) and a bathroom are on the left. On the right is the dining room.
The kitchen also has a door to the deck and a door to the basement.
Because the kitchen is the heart of my home, this reno will affect most of the first floor. I could have broken this job into smaller projects, but it just made sense on many levels to tackle it all at once. Here’s what will be done in the other first floor spaces:
Powder Room:
Remove shower stall to create more kitchen storage.
Entryway:
Address crumbling and damaged slate floors. Remove built-in closet.
Living Room and Family Room:
Refinish hardwood floors.
Dining Room:
Refinish hardwood floors and add more natural light.
For this major remodel, I have hired a designer and a contractor to help me through the entire process. I wish I had the knowledge and ability to do all of this myself, but I don’t. I will talk more about why I made this decision in future posts. I will say, so far, it has been an excellent decision on both fronts.
Of course, there is much more to come, but I think that’s where I’ll leave off for today.
Next week I’d like to share some of the design ideas, inspiration, and images I collected to help me decide on a look and style for my new kitchen. See you then!
Kitchen Remodel Demo Video:
Also, I wanted to try something new this week and share a video along with my post. I’m not sure I’ll be able to do this every week, but I thought some videos might provide a different look at the project.
This is the first video I’ve done in which I’m talking to the camera. I appreciate your patience while I learn the ropes of filming and video editing. The video is not terrible, but there’s always room for growth.
The videos will be in my various update posts on the kitchen remodel project and on my YouTube channel. If you use YouTube regularly, I recommend subscribing there on my channel. I will probably upload videos there first, so you’ll get a sneak peek. After subscribing, you can also hit the “bell” notification button if you’d like to be notified when I upload new content.
I hope you enjoyed the video!
This is an inspiring post! Our whole house has been needing remodeling for a few years and we are finally starting the process beginning with our kitchen. We are not sure how much everything will go yet but we have one main question, did you think we should use a dumpster rental for our remodel or simply make trips to your local dump? Thanks!
Amazing Video! Thanks for sharing this. I really got inspired by your ideas about renovating the kitchen and you did it beautifully by managing everything in the kitchen that might be required. This will help many general contractors, kitchen remodelers and even people to renovate their kitchen in unique styles. I want to recommend one construction company i.e. Green Apple Construction that aims to provide quality renovations. I am in love with your ideas and waiting for your next blog!
Remodeling is definitely not something to be taken lightly. Not only does it take an enormous amount of time in planning, but it can also cost thousands. I remember when I remodeled my first living room. It was for my sister who was just getting married. I decided to remodel her whole living room. I put in a fireplace, with a tile background on the wall, 3 nice chandeliers that have smart lights built into them, and a movie projector that expands out to 150 feet. She pretty much had her own little movie theater right there in her living room. The whole project took about 2 weeks. It was all done when they were on their honeymoon. Luckily we finished on time and they were extremely happy with the results. IT was my first remodel, and not my last. The most important thing to take away from my first remodel is, make sure you have all the tools right away. You don’t want to have to go back and forth to the hardware store. Also make sure you plan and lay every little detail out. You don’t want to be all the way done with your project and notice you missed something, and then you have to tear down and start over….. Luckily I haven’t had to do that yet. haha, knock on wood.
So I guess the whole point of my comment is to stress planning. Always plan. And don’t think you can’t do it. I think anyone can do. You just need to study up on how to do certain things, sharpen up on some skills, and off you go. But if you aren’t comfortable doing it, you could always hire someone like a handyman or a contractor. Of course you will spend more money, but you can rest assure that it will get done right the first time or it’s on the company!
Indeed the heart of a home. It looks great by the way! I’d be energized to prepare something every now and then with that kind of kitchen 😀 Thanks for sharing with us including a video, too!
I am remodeling my kitchen and thinking about quartz for my countertops. Is there a guide or something that explains what I should be looking for?
You can google information about quartz countertops. I also recommend visiting the HanStone Quartz website. They are the brand I used. You can also visit your local stone / quartz countertop fabricator. They will be a great resource.
xo Michael
Love hearing it all in your voice! Love the video. Best of luck with your renovation.
Love your first video. I’m in the considering stage of a kitchen renovation, and hope your project helps me jump into the full blown go for it stage. Our kitchen was renovated in 2008 before we purchased but I’m not in love with some choices…mainly countertops and appliance placement. Every time I think….maybe we could ??? I get really nervous about the total disruption to my home (prior mentioned Reno included 11’ opening between LR and kitchen and 11’ opening from LR to DR; hence large totally open living space). I love the open space but can’t imagine having to live in the house through the reno. Inspire me Michael!