Remodeling Our Brick Ranch: Kitchen & Dining Room Reveal

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I almost hated to clutter up this pretty post with these awful before photos, but in this case it’s kind of important to remember just where we started. Remember this horrific hoarding travesty?

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And then this cleaner, yet sadly dated situation? IMG_8379

After about 4.5 months of hard work, fine tunings, and some long awaited shelves, we finally managed to turn this…IMG_8380

into this.

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We replaced…everything. img_9261

The cabinets are the laxarby collection from Ikea. And for those wondering, yes they are quite a bit of work, but all in all, very doable, and highly cost effective. We priced out cabinets with the major retailers here in a number of options and still beat the lowest quote by almost half – and our Ikea version included the countertop AND sink. img_9264

Mounting the microwave was a bit of a challenge. Normally over range microwaves are bolted to upper cabinets to help hold them up and in place. To solve the problem we ran the top shelf across the top of the microwave and made sure it was securely bracketed into studs before bolting the microwave into the shelf. img_9267

Speaking of the shelves, they are supported by Ekby Bjarnum brackets from Ikea, and the shelves themselves are pine stair treads from Home Depot that we stained Dark Walnut. I got this idea from the kitchen I basically wanted to copy from Chris Loves Julia. Thank you!!img_9270

The branch wall decor came from a walking tree shrub that used to practically cover the front door. My mother in law thought to cut a piece off when we had the tree dug up. I’m so glad she did because I love it on the wall accented by air plants – of which I’ve only managed to kill one 😉

The farm table is ours I had made years ago before moving away from Asheville to South Dakota. Before reclaimed wood became such a thing I had to actually search out someone to make this for me and found a local firefighter that liked to make furniture out of the old barn wood he salvaged when the fire department was called in to do a burn to clear a dilapidated barn. Our bed, dining table and coffee table (that will be used downstairs in this house), all came from the same barn. 

I also wanted to note the light fixtures. I found the one over the dining table on Amazon for $72 (all of the light fixtures in our house ended up coming from Amazon), and Lowes sells the exact same thing (albeit probably questionably better quality) for $199!!! I can tell mine is a little cheaper when inspecting the fine details, but overall I’m super happy with that budget saving find! 

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The rugs are some we purchased while we lived in Turkey. We think of them as our babies. img_9273

And the chairs were actually freebies we scored from a relative’s friend. I’m still trying to talk Will into some cool wire ones, but until he finally agrees these are a nice little upgrade to what we had previously. img_9274

The island came from Target. I originally designed an island in the same cabinets from Ikea, but we weren’t sure how the space would work out and the savings were pretty substantial to purchase a pre-made one. I’m a little irked that the top doesn’t match the rest of our countertops, but most of the time I manage to see past it, and I LOVE having the island. I’ve always wanted to be able to cook and talk to company at the same time (or watch TV, or Aubrey), so I have been one happy lady. img_9278
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We’re in love with our new kitchen. I don’t think I could have asked for anything to be done differently. It’s exactly what I envisioned. Thank you SO much to all the friends and family that made my dream a reality! 

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