Kitchen light update!

Sorry for my absence, readers! It's been a crazy week and I'm trying to fight off the sickness that seems to be going around as of late...but I'm here with my promised light update!

 

As a reminder, here's where we started:

 

 

Here's where we were the last time we spoke:

 

 

 

And here we are now:

 

 

Mark went with me on this and we splurged for the $40 light from Ikea, which I spoke about here. We agreed that it was a decent light, met our needs, and wasn't a huge focal point in the house so we didn't need to make an investment into it.

 

We both love how it hugs the ceiling and still provides great light. We could even go a little brighter with our bulbs, if needed.

 

 

It feels as if a weight has literally been lifted off our shoulders in there. The fan that was there previously was so bulky and hung down at least 18", making the space feel really small. With our new tile, counters, and now the new light, our kitchen feels TONS bigger!

 

 

I have to thank Mark for installing the light and thank you guys for all of your comments on my post about our options!

 

Happy Friday!

 

The never-ending kitchen list!

Happy 100th post to me! :)

Now that I've revealed the kitchen renovation, I have some follow up ideas! My mind is always turning...it's a blessing and a curse!

I might have given Mark a heart attack the other day when I mentioned that I wanted to take out the single cabinet to the right of our sink and put in shelves to hold some of our pretty and frequently-used dishes. His eyes got very wide, but I'm not sure if that is good or bad...

I got the idea from (where else) Young House Love:

They installed these shelves in the photo above in their new house as part of their "phase one" change, but they also tested them out first in their old house and loved them!

They sure know how to do a kitchen, don't they? Love!!!

So the shelving idea may be down the road a bit (when Mark can look at the bank account without wincing), but it's about time to replace that ceiling fan in the kitchen, isn't it?! 

I was planning about blogging about this earlier, but couldn't get motivated. Then I stumbled across this pin the other day on Pinterest:

Considering this was posted first on Apartment Therapy (great site, but not always budget-conscious), we can barely afford any of them. Not to mention the fact that I don't LOVE all of them. I really like #1, #3, #4, and the idea of #13, #16, and #17. 

First check out the space we are dealing with:

Now, here are some options I've found previously that I would consider...

Here's the thing. I keep thinking I should keep it simple and go with this fixture from Ikea:

Here it is, whaddya know, in YHL's kitchen:

Plus, there is an entire DIY blog post about this EXACT light that Mark could follow when installing. Bonus!

I'm thinking this option is cost conscious, clean looking, provides light, and easy to install. We have a huge opportunity in the breakfast area to go with something that will make more of a statement, so I'd like to save our pennies (and gift cards) for that. 

What do you think? Is Ikea acceptable for our kitchen light? Have you seen anything elsewhere that we should consider?

Our new kitchen!

Other than wishing a happy 27th birthday to my husband Mark, I'll cut right to the chase today, people!

When we left off, we were here:

UPDATE:  Here is a REAL flashback to just four months ago when we bought the house:

And now, four weeks later (half of which were spent on the rug which must not be named), we're HERE!!!! :

I am LOVING the new kitchen. As soon as we started bringing in the counter tops and putting the tile on the walls, I became super giddy. I have had so much fun moving things around and decorating the new and improved space!

So, we spent half of the last four weeks waiting on 'the rug' that I had ordered towards the end of the kitchen renovation. Bad timing on my part since the 'icemaggedon' hit directly after I ordered said rug and it ended up taking 15 days to arrive. Plus, now that it's here, I'm not sure it's any better than the previous rug!

Here are the two rugs, I want your vote! Tell me which one I should keep in the kitchen:

Should I keep this old rag rug that gives it sort of an Anthropologie vibe?

...Or should I continue my love of stripes with this black and white rug that lends itself more to the East Coast casual vibe?

(it has been rainy for a while so the images with the black and white rug are more yellow due to the fake lighting...please don't hold that against the rug or these photos!)

And of course, here are some more photos of my new favorite place in the house:

Taking on this project was stressful and tiresome, but I'm incredibly proud of Mark and I for doing it so quickly and without any major breakdowns. We had the help of Mark's dad Ian and I couldn't thank him enough for the knowledge and elbow grease he's contributed just so I can have a pretty kitchen.

I'll be doing a price and project breakdown here later to let you know how we did it and how much it cost. But for now, we have a beautiful kitchen. Except for this eyesore below...her time here is quickly coming to an end!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

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One more thing! Please be sure to check out my Etsy shop! I've added lots of things, tweaked some things, and lowered prices on many of my handmade custom items. I hope you can find something you like and I always welcome your feedback. Thanks so much!!!

Kitchen renovation...

In just over two weeks, our kitchen has gone from this....

...to something way more pretty and awesome!

Come back on Monday for the full kitchen renovation reveal!!! 

:)

Happy Friday!

Delay

Just in case you didn't see the update on Facebook and Instagram, I posted evidence of the elusive kitchen rug that is holding up the reveal:

It has taken 14 days for this rug to be delivered which is exactly how long it took to rip out and put my kitchen back together. Oh, the irony...

Anyway, unless UPS is lying, that beautiful rug SHOULD be delivered today! I'll try and get some photos up ASAP! 

Thanksgiving recap and renovation updates!

oh.

whoops.

Sorry to go all MIA on you guys last week! It was CRAZY. I worked for two days, which means BUSY, and then Mark and I jetted off to Mineral Wells to do some camping with my family for Thanksgiving. We sped back to DFW on Friday and have been slaving away on our kitchen ever since!

Here are some photos of the last week:

ready for Thanksgiving, Bennett style! 

(bag courtesy of my one and only SIL Andrea! check out her blog!)

We got to the campsite on Wednesday night and we had to immediately open Noah's birthday presents! He turned 5 on the 27th! Big boy!

Motley would not settle down and kept pacing behind our fire circle. Eventually we put her on a leash and encouraged her to lay down by our feet, but she went and jumped in this chair and curled up and slept for an hour or so. Poor baby wanted to sit in a chair like all of the OTHER people! #mydogthinksshesaperson

We went on a tiny hike by the lake and came upon this fishing pier. After Motley managed to face her fears and make it down the bridge, my mom noticed there was 'something' in the trashcan!!!

A sleeping (yes, sleeping and breathing hard) raccoon!!!

We took a hike to the 'cliffs' on Thursday.

Baby Audrey!

The cliffs reminded me so much of my grandparents Christmas tree farm in the Ozarks! It was a fun little hike and we got lots of exploring and rock climbing under our belts. :)

After a yummy breakfast on Friday courtesy of my sister and her husband, we raced back to town. The following three days looked like this:

I had Mark take photos of me since I am usually the one behind the camera, but I couldn't keep a straight face while posing for this one.

We've been living in squalor for a week now!

Sorry, that's all you get to see of the remodel! Be sure to follow me on facebook or instagram  @buchanandiana for sneak peeks this week. I'll be back next week to post the finished product - hopefully!