Kitchen Final Reveal!!! Picture Perfect

It has been a hard and long 2 months! Wow, I can't believe it took us 2 months to get this thing finished. It is FINALLY DONE!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to show all of you I had to post this before my big date tonight :)

BEFORE

AFTER

I can't tell you how pleased I am with the final result. Our projects ALWAYS come out BETTER than we had planned.

Remember how I originally had picked, and purchased, Tumbled Travertine as my backsplash? Well, my gut told me it was wrong, so I returned it and traded it for Porcelain, dark and contemporary tiles. LOVE IT!!! That was the best choice I made. And I am SOOOO lucky that Oregon Tile & Marble made the exchange, THANK YOU!

The Granite goes perfectly with our whole contemporary feel. Click HERE for my post on our DIY Granite Mini Slabs

My $10 Valances above my corner sink fit right in.

I am in love with my elegant Faucet that reminds me of Swan Lake. I can't believe I actually wanted to return it. I have fallen in love with it more everyday. I got it at Lowes for $200!!

I had so much fun Accesorizing my new kitchen:

Got 'em at Target

No, this knife set isn't new. I just spray painted the wood Oil Rubbed Bronze. A quick fix for it to look sleek and new.

See the "old" knife set to the right?

I wanted to add some accessories on the top of my cabinets. Just because I can't accesorize within 2 year old reach I had fun with this one! I still feel like I need to tweek it a little bit but I have time for that.

I added this plate for a POP of orange and to add some "Hawaii" to my life

I had to get that green in. Love that green.

I am just loving the look of my Kitchen Island Redo. It makes such a statement! Don't get distracted my the kids playing on the floor.... hehe

Lets have some fun with before and afters:

BEFORE

AFTER

More:

BEFORE

AFTER

And 1 more:

BEFORE

AFTER

Kitchen Facts:

• We DIY 100%. From the painting to installing the plumbing. Nothing was hired out (only my husband's hard labor...)
• The Kitchen Renovation was UNDER $3000 for the whole thing. I know, amazing.
• The Cabinet Paint color was a color match of Behr's Powdered Snow in Sherwin Williams Oil Based.
• Wall Color: Sherwin Williams Quiver Tan
  
• Click HERE on the tutorial for my "No Fear" way to paint your kitchen cabinets
• Granite Mini Slabs were Gialla Santa Cecilia
• Crowley's Tile and Edging bullnosed our mini slabs and cut the undermount sink
• Pam and Brian with Interiors Plus Flooring were the heroes in making this happen, THANK YOU!
• And a BIG THANK YOU to my sweet husband for pulling through. It was worth it!

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The "I Can't Sew" Curtain Panel

The moment I stepped onto the Decor Blogger circuit I was introduced to this amazing "tape" that would open up possibilities to people like me: Non-Sewers. I never thought I would be able to make my own custom curtain panels. But now it is possible because of this:

Stitch Witchery is a bonding glue that you apply with the iron. Yes, all you need is an iron, a damp rag, this magic tape and your fabric!!!! I know, if you haven't heard of this before welcome to the land of fabric!

1. First, cut your fabric. I cut mine in a rectangle the dimensions of a curtain panel I woulda purchased (with a couple inches to spare for the magic tape!).

2. Place Stitch Witchery on your fabric, fold the edge on top.

3. Press your iron on a damp towel on top of your folded seem. Count to 10. Move on until you have done the whole thing. Done! (In short, follow the directions on the back of the package.)

Because I was doing curtains for my sliding door, which is really wide, I had to use 2 panels and seem them together. Again, I can't sew, so I used the "magic tape" to seem them together.

In all honesty, my seem didn't turn out the greatest. It was hard to iron 2 pieces of fabric together! But all my edges look amazing. You would never know a Custom Curtain Virgin (CCV, haha) made this:

The fabric was on Sale at Joannes! It is so pretty. I got way lucky because I had my 3 kids with me, I had a total of 10 minutes to run in the store, grab something and leave!

I was having HUGE issues getting the length right, it was just a bit long. Also, it looked so messy. Then I saw how Sarah clipped her curtains, tried it, and it made a WORLD of difference! Clip them from the back. Thanks Sarah!!!

I didn't use any lining. It seems to work great. I am cheap, I didn't want to buy anything more than I had to.

Now lets look at my before and after (you know I gotta do that!)
Before:

Yes, this was taken at Christmas time.... only pic I got!!!

After

I'd say it is a LOT better!! Now just need to accessorize :)

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DIY Granite Mini Slabs + Undermount Sink

My dream was to have Granite Slab in my kitchen. But after receiving a couple quotes of $4,000 for my kitchen, I quickly decided to go another route. I didn't have to have granite, I was open to other countertop solutions. But I quickly realized that, yet again, doing it ourselves would give us the biggest bang for our buck (not to mention thousands of dollars saved in our pockets).

I was introduced to "Mini Slabs" by my husband's Aunt and Uncle. They have a store called Interiors Plus Flooring and I was sold the minute I saw the granite. They are 18x26 inch tiles and range from $50-$55/tile. Average $15/sq ft! A STEAL!
** Mini slabs, at the moment, come in limited style choices. But in the end they had what I was looking for and it was worth it to me!

Credit: Oregon Tile and Marble

The "Mini Slabs" are made to cover your average length countertop, with 1 inch extra to cut and bring to the front edge to finish. Grout lines are minimal which gives it more of an appearance of slab. You can't beat that!

Because we saved so much money going with the min slabs, we decided to have Crowley's Tile Edging bullnose all the edges to give it that finished, slab look, and fulfill my dream of having an undermount sink!
TIP: My husband has never in his life installed granite before. He watched hundreds of Youtube videos (just look up "installing granite countertops" or anything along those lines). It does help to be handy and you must be very precise and accurate in your measuring. I am just glad I didn't have to do it, it looked HARD!
Installing the Undermount Sink:

This is how we picked up the tiles, before my husband cut them

Crowley's made the cut-out for the sink and this is how we picked it up (above). It was up to us to cut the tiles and install.

After my husband cut the tiles. It is now looking more like a sink!

Cut the plywood and drop the sink in. We are almost there!

You can't forget to cut the holes for the sink and soap.

Install the plumbing. My husbands LEAST favorite job.

After installing the granite top it's held down by these bad boys.
I can't forget to mention we put weights on top of the countertops to hold the granite down and make it level.

TIP: We put the tiles right on top of 1 layer of Plywood. We opted against the Hardiboard (after it was installed, then we had to tear it off) because the plywood + hardiboard would have been too thick and the 1 inch edge of granite would not have covered it. We also found if we did hardiboard that our stove would not raise high enough and it wouldn't have fit!

See the weights on the left? Gotta keep the countertop level somehow!

Tip: Use Silicone for installing the granite edge.

VIOLA!! The finished product (please ignore our unfinished backsplash):

Here is a shot of the corners with the bullnosed edge. Definantly the way to go

!

This is 2 mini slabs next to the stove. Look at the bullnose again, so pretty

Grout lines are minimal and hide VERY well. I don't even notice them.

This is our island. I bet you can't even tell me how many tiles are on here. (4 tiles)

Project Facts:

• Granite (including Bullnose edge and Undermount Sink)- $1600
• Labor- FREE
• Granite: Gialla Santa Cecilia
• Grout: Non-sanded "Light Smoke"

Total Cost of Granite Countertops: $1600

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