it's another home makeover (part 1)

It's time for another non-work-related post.

A few years back, I posted some shots of our basement remodel and, to this day, I still get comments about that. What can I say, Joe did an awesome job! :)

Last Spring, the Barboza household embarked on yet another stage of home improvement-- a kitchen makeover! We weren't able to change the footprint of the kitchen without adding a ton of time and cost, so we decided to basically do a great facelift to the existing layout. Doing home improvements with a toddler in the house is especially tricky, so we had to figure out a way to get things done as quickly as possible. To accomplish this, Hugo and I rented a nearby house for 8 days while Joe turned our house into a construction zone. Once again, I think my husband did a rockin' job. :)

Here are the BEFORE pics:

And here are AFTER pics:

So, as you can see, we had to keep the old floors. We just didn't have the time to replace them. But, here is what Joe did do in those 8 days:

•Moved the entryway next to the fridge over by 7 inches and shortened the counter to the right of the stove, all to accommodate a much larger refrigerator

•Resurfaced ALL the walls (kitchen, dining room, hall and living room) in order to get rid of the obnoxious texture that was on there

•Painted the walls (in the kitchen, as well as the dining room, hallway and living room)

•Added crown molding above the cabinets

•Installed a new GORGEOUS farm sink and new hardware

•Installed a new backsplash

•Took down one row of cabinets and installed open shelving instead, (the shelving is made from an old beam I found at a salvage yard.) Hands down, it's my favorite part of the kitchen.

•Installed a proper vent above the stove. This was HUGE. Prior to this makeover, we would set the fire alarm off every time we seared meat on the stove because there was no venting. Our new hood has been life-changing.

•Supervised the installation of our new quartz countertops. I do a little dance every time I work in my kitchen and don't have to deal with those nasty tile countertops! I mean, who puts tile on a kitchen counter???

So, that's it! There are a couple more things that had to be put on the back burner so that Joe could get back to his paying clients, but those will be done eventually. Overall, we are both so happy being in this space now and cooking is much more fun.

Tomorrow you'll get to see what Joe did to the living room and fireplace. :)