The Debut of Evelyn Lucille...

I have spent years looking through magazines pulling out pictures of what I want my house to look like one day. Recently I stopped doing that and started "Pinning". As I began pinning I really started to see my style evolve. We all want our home to be a reflection of who we are. And for years mine hasn't been. Its been what I have seen in magazines. When we started on the venture of kitchen remodel I knew I wanted a few things

1) White Cabinets and appliance-a blank slate
2) Pops of color
3) Vintage accessories
4) Clean surfaces.

The stuff that should be important like granite counter tops and real wood floors just weren't at the top of my list. When we resale in YEARS then we will make it what others want. Right now I wanted affordable and durable. At least until the kids are big enough!

I want people to e to be like...how did you do that...or what is that made of?

I want them to realize-you don't have to run to Target, Macy's, Crate & Barrel (although I have a rug on my kitchen floor from there :) to achieve beauty. That its okay to go against the normal...as long as it pleases you! So with all that said... I introduce you to...my kitchen.

I have named her-EVELYN LUCILLE -She is named after my great aunt Sarah and my great aunt lucille (who taught me how to cook the best biscuits ever!)  She is funky and she is functionable. She is WAY out of the norm but she is SO YUMMY.

She is the place where my girls and I will spend hours with our KitchenAid mixer, Mary making sweet memories. She is where they will learn the art of cooking and hopefully the love as well.

She is where we will create and grow and make chocolate milk and popcorn before movie night. She is ours and She is  different but She is so special to us.

Although she did not come without blood, sweat, and tears (literally all three) here's the story:

We were rocking on demo day and then we pulled up the yellow floors and found the mess of Glue that was all over the floor. My "team" consist of my mom, myself, my cousin, and Todd.

My mom is a true girly-girl...Never has done 1 bit of home improvement. My cousin use to help her dad do stuff...but she is a beginner. I volunteered with Habitat in college and learned about cabinets and painting but never floors. And Todd's experience comes from what he has learned on HGTV and DIY with me. So needless to say, we are all beginners. We went to our local home improvement store and talked to the sales rep there. He directed us to a product we would need to get the floor up. He also showed us the tools we would need. We purchased them all and went to work.

4 days later....we were still scraping up floors.

It was a Wednesday night, my hands were covered in bloody blisters, I could barely move my fingers. My left elbow was aching, I was covered in sweat from scraping and my sweet 3 year old walked in and said, "momma, can you make me spaghetti?" I lost it. I started bawling. BAWLING. Like doing the ugly cry.

"no baby mommy can't make you spaghetti because we don't have a kitchen." It was like telling her we had no food. It was painful and I was exhausted. I cried the ugly cry for about 10 more minutes. Todd wasn't home from work yet and I just needed him.

Once I got my composure, I took a break to run up to sonic to get the girls, yet another, wacky pack. I was ready to start again. Another hour into scraping when I started discussing with my mom about the blades on the razors we were using. "They are just so dull". About that time my "never done a home improvement job" mother had an "ah-ha" moment. "I wonder...."she said...The next thing that came out of her mouth was *$*%*$ (You can use your imagination on what went there) "Sarah, the blades are turned around backwards!"

Yes my friends, apparently when you buy handscrapers you're suppose to loosen the screws on the handle, take the blade out, and turn it around, then tighten the screws. No lie, we were done with the rest of the floor in 30 minutes.

Then came the grosses part...we found Harvey the mouse...inside the wall....

Once we got the floors cleaned up and the mouse out of the house, we were on a roll. The next step was sanding the walls, priming, painting...installing cabinets, countertops, sinks, floors then lastly the appliances!

Whew....are you as tired as I am? I am so pleased with the outcome. There are still some things to do like install the vent hood, the electrical covers....touch the trim and the ceiling paint...but all in all...here ya go!

Lets look back at what Evelyn Lucille was like BEFORE....she was dark....

 junky...didn't function....(yes there were a lot of cabinets but they weren't functioning cabinets)

 (AND NO WE ARE NOT HOARDERS...THESE WERE TAKEN AS MY PARENTS WERE CLEANING OUT TO MOVE THEIR STUFF OUT...=)

...AND THIS was when we had started demoing....i forgot to take a picture of the window :/

So after 4 weeks and 3,215.57 we now have....

the window side. New paint, new double trim on windows, fridge moved. new cabinets, new counter tops, island built out of old pallet wood and madyson's crib :) stools that were my gmas i painted and recovered....

 the stove side. We went to stove/oven combo...(vent hood coming, cant find one i like) glass tile backsplash (pain in the butt) i need a new garbage can! (do you know how expensive those are?)

another pic of the kitchen....
So where is all of our stuff? Stay tuned to tomorrow! I will reveal the pantry and the rest of the kitchen!