Zesty Nest

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Colorful Library

While cleaning house today (which I stopped doing to play around on pinterest and upload this image...oops) I found last months issue of Southern Living and was immediately smitten by this wonderful porch converted into a study. And of course those leather chairs and the adorable pooch!

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Big Reveal!

We have finally finished our kitchen renovation! It took about 2 months and then some touch-ups (and then some time to edit all those pics), but here it is!

First let's take another look at the BEFORE

And now the fabulously airy and bright AFTER

(more after pics at the end of this post)

I absolutely LOVE it! I feel like I live in a magazine home!

So now let's take a little look at the process. I didn't realize this, but there is a correct order when scheduling all the renovations (we may have done some backwords). The first things we did (because I just couldn't take it any longer) was paint those bright oak cabinets. (For future reference: countertops then paint).

The painters actually took the cabinet doors and drawers to their shop so they could spray them down. And I didn't even know this was possible, but they primed the cabinets with a special formula BEFORE they sanded anything.

One of my most exciting moments, though, was pulling off the awful tile countertop on my island.

Zesty Nest Kitchen Reno There Go The Countertops

Very exciting!

Once we got the cabinets painted and the backsplash removed (actually we just put up plywood to cover the most of the backsplash), it was time to pour the concrete. The Taylor Brothers came out and set it all up. The whole process takes about 2 weeks.

By far, the most exciting part was watching them pour the concrete!

Zesty Nest Kitchen Reno Pouring the Concrete

After that sat for a day, they came back and removed the molds. To give our countertops a look other than solid white, we took the trowel and purposely "burned" the dry concrete.