it's easier to design a web site than to renovate a kitchen

I am happy to say that I survived our kitchen renovation. It was not as easy as I thought it would be. And honestly, I think it's easier to design a web site than to renovate a kitchen—and we only did minor upgrading. I can't imagine gutting the whole room and starting from scratch!

This should have been easier for me—for I am a designer and I make design and color decisions everyday for my clients. But not for myself—that's the difference. After spending weeks and weeks looking at hundreds (yes, hundreds) of various countertop samples, I decided that I had to treat myself as a client if I was ever going to accomplish anything in this renovation project. I began by making a list of things I absolutely wanted in the new kitchen and then put together a mood board of the style and look I was after. After all, I do this for every client project so why not for my kitchen.

Even though I love modern, I knew that look would not go well with our salt box country home. So after spending an afternoon going through decorating magazines, tearing out pages of what I liked, I finally came to the conclusion that the look I was trying to achieve was "modern country"—farm style copper sink, vintage faucet, quartz countertops, subway tile backsplash, farm legs on the island with all the updated, modern stainless steel appliances and a little bit of eco-friendly products thrown in.

The renovation went smoothly but it is not completed yet. We kept the original cabinets which are solid oak and the plan was to only paint the center island to break up all the wood in the room. But now the oak cabinets look very dated compared to the beautiful new island and countertops so they will be painted in the next few months. As I said before, it's easier to design a web site—at least for me!

Here's the mood board I created and a peek at the before and after shots of this transition period before we complete all the painting.

Enjoy!