But seriously, here's my house. Nothing fancy - just the typical 3 bedroom/1 bath Ranch style track home from the 1960s.
When I bought it - like 10 college kids lived in it and it TRASHED. I've slowly been remodeling - it's an on going process.
I've been working on the kitchen. Here's a picture from a year ago. I had previously upgraded from the 1960s appliances, but the kitchen was horribly cluttered and dank.
| clutter! |
Things I didn't like:
1. Having the washer in the kitchen. When I first moved in, there was a beige stackable washer/dryer in the kitchen. When it broke I purchased better appliances and moved the dryer to the garage. I didn't want to spend the money having plumbing installed in the garage so the ginormous washer stayed in the kitchen.2. My nice stainless steel refrigerator was too big. It was so big - I was unable to open my oven up all the way. My stove/oven is gas - so to move it would be spendy.
3. No dishwasher - I hated the clutter a dish drain tray. (actually the box to the right of the pic is a dishwasher - fixin' to be installed).
4. Cluttered countertops. Electric tea kettle, toaster, bread box, the afore mentioned dish dryer.
5. Old and chipped up Formica counter-top
Step one - new counter tops
I had the dishwasher installed. That frees up a bunch of counter space. And I scored some Paperstone ( looks like soap stone) from some friends that had remodeled their kitchen
| before - 1960s formica |
| ahh...so much better - less clutter!! |
Next up - Move Stove and remove washer from Kitchen.
1. The old 36" wide refrigerator had to go. Do you know how hard it is to find a 30" refrigerator? It's a pain. Sold old one on Craiglist
2. Swapped the refrigerator and stove locations. This entailed have the gas line professionally move ($$)
3. Move the washer into the hallway closet. This was $$ too - as the closet had to be widened, a platform built to go over the gas line that was put in with the stove location and a bit of plumbing redo.
| wow! amazing how much room the washer & old fridge took! |
1. Flooring - this was a mistake. My choice was based on the fact it would be temporary. By temporary - I mean 2 - 3 years. I want to put radiant heated flooring in the kitchen, but it's not in the budget right now - so I wanted something decent, but not stupid expensive that I could live with. I'm not crazy about how dark it is...but what can you do?
2. LOVE the prep counter - I got it from West Elm. Seems like I remember the price being $299, but when I looked online it was $399. I called their Customer Service and they sold it to me at the $299 price. Well worth it - a great size, seems really sturdy, great functionality and it looks great. I was super pleased.
3. Also added a stainless steel pot hanger - freed up a ton of storage space
4. Also, from West Elm - added of their stack able shelves under the pot rack.
Step 4 -Paint
1. Used a saffron orange as an accent color (also did this in other areas of my house) and painted the other walls "pebble gray". I didn't realize how dingy the sage green looked. I loved that sage green for a long time. The wall with an X is going to be knocked out to open up the kitchen to the living area - not quite sure when that will happen.
2. Got rid of the clutter on top of the refrigerator
3. The next pictures are before, during and after shots.
| BEFORE |
![]() |
| AFTER |
| BEFORE |
![]() |
| DURING |
![]() |
| DURING |
![]() |
| AFTER |
Step 5 - Changed out teak dining table, replaced dark hollow core door with glass door, painted
1.The dark hollow core door had to go. I replaced it with an awesome door with reed glass. Turned out fantastic and let in a ton of light.
2. With the dark flooring I wanted something that would brighten the place up. I found a DWR Saarrinen table on Craigslist. I totally love it.
3. Painted "pebble gray" and added a little saffron orange accent.
Step 6 - Where's the washer
1. Like I mentioned previously - I moved the washer to the hall closet. It was a bit of an ordeal, but I am so happy to get the darn thing out of my kitchen.
2. What do about a closet door? Well - i hated the thought of a boring louvered door - so I bought some barn door hardware and purchased a frosted glass slab door from Home Depot.
3. Turned out amazing!!! I totally love the look!
![]() |
| I like the white and but decided to paint orange |
| orange barn door closed |
| there's that washer |
| Bath & Bedroom doors replaced w/frosted glass door w/fancy door knobs. Other closet door was painted white |













