Kitchen Remodeling Ideas: What is holding you back?
Author: Mary Mitchell
Date: 10/26
Tags:
kitchen design,
remodel or upgrade,
kitchen remodeling ideas
If you’ve been “living with” certain aspects of your home for some time now, and wishing you could change them, you’re not alone. Many people hold back on remodeling or doing a makeover for various reasons ranging from simply not knowing where to start, to feeling like they should be happy with what they’ve got. Sometimes it is because they think they can’t afford everything they want to do – all or nothing - or not being able to find the perfect time.
Tom and I recently made over our own kitchen and family room after many years of living with our “for now” choices. We both felt like our home was not suited to our tastes. We didn’t feel the joy and appreciation of being in a space that we loved. Our surroundings were not appealing to our senses and in some rooms were actually fighting against them. The colors were all wrong for us, we needed some sprucing up in the family room, though we loved our cherry kitchen cabinets, the darker color overwhelmed the area, the formica countertops were outdated and were showing a bit of wear, the tile floor felt cold and we needed more lighting.
We decided to go ahead with a plan to make the desired changes so we put together our team and went to work. We replaced the carpet in the family room with wood flooring and painted the walls a warm ivory color. We kept all of our cherry wall cabinets in the kitchen but had them touched up, and switched out the island with a contrasting white antique finished one. We also installed a matching wood beamed ceiling, something Tom has been longing to do since we first built the house. We changed our formica countertops to a light colored quartz and added a glass tiled backsplash. We removed our tile floor and installed a warm toned wood floor and painted the walls a serene blue. New curtains, lighting and hardware, and some new furniture and area rugs completed the project. We are absolutely thrilled with the results. When we come home now we feel like we are truly home, the space we live in reflects our styles.
We both thought having the work done would be more stressful and interruptive, which is part of the reason why we waited, but having a great team - our 2 designers, an interior decorator, one of our project managers on site daily and reliable sub contractors – made our project most successful. Another reason that we put off the update was that we felt like we were being wasteful because some of the items we were replacing were still in great condition, so we decided to donate them to Habitat for Humanity, which proved to be a beneficial and rewarding solution.
When we’re home we want to be as happy and comfortable as possible and, having things the way we like them contributes immensely toward that goal. Change isn’t always easy or within our control but sometimes it’s worth the effort to change what we can to achieve more happiness in our lives. We’re glad we finally have our home the way we envisioned it for ten years. We also feel that our project adds intrinsic value to our home and that speaks to the responsibility of homeownership. We feel like good stewards. All being said and done, we have no regrets except that we didn’t do the work sooner.