I know I have been torturing you with terrible, blurry, dim lit, iPhone pictures and the tales of woe of redoing our kitchen.  No more!  Now it is time for the fun stuff.  Here is the newly remodeled kitchen.  I LOVE IT!

Here are a few before and after pictures because I love before and after pictures.

 Here are a few of my favorite elements in my new kitchen.

Farmhouse sink.  Need I say more?

 Love this EAT sign I found at World Market.  It was even the right color!

 The island.  My fav.  I love that we now have eating space for 12 people.  We decided to go with butcher block to help warm up the space since we had so much black, white and gray.  I love the way it turned out.  We bought 12″ boards of the butcher blog from a guy in the Springs and then my dad and Chris put them together using a Kreg jig and then finished it off with oak trim.  It is beautiful.  I LOVE it.

 We wanted to do something with our old kitchen table so we took off the old table top and added the butcher blog to the existing legs.  Then I painted the legs and the chairs white with chalk paint.  I love the results.

(more on the table in a later post)

The command center.  I love this organizer from Hobby Lobby.  I love that I have a place to put mail, papers for the kids, permission slips, bills etc.  I also love that there are cups that keep our pens, pencils and markers organized.  It makes homework time so much easier.  Don’t you love that I didn’t even clean up the papers.  I am kind of a “what you see is what you get” kind of girl.  Not many false pretenses.

My amazing husband made this ruler for me last Christmas.  I love it!  It now matches the pretty new floor too!  I also love this “L” from the clearance section of Hobby Lobby and the canvas of the boys.  (Also take note of my new light switch.  Hooray for lighting!)

We had a little extra room in the budget so we got new white doors!  I love this new front door with the little windows that let light in.  I also love the white molding throughout.  Prefinished awesomeness that is SO easy to clean.

 We wanted to get a little creative with the backsplash.  This was my hubby’s brain child.  I was a bit reluctant as I wanted something more traditional (and more expensive) like tile.  We had these leftover hickory planks in our basement from the previous flooring we put in 12 years ago.  He thought it would look cool to stain it and use it as a backsplash.  You were right honey!  It looks so amazing.  I love the whitewash and gray stain and the fact that we left some of it natural.  It is unique, was free (except for the stain) and if we don’t like it in the future, easy to remove and change!

 I found these old library stools at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  I happened upon them one Saturday.  There was another family looking at them so as soon as I spotted them, I grabbed one and took it directly to the register and told her I wanted all 6 of them.  How’s that for impulse buying!?  They were $15 each!!!!  They are really sturdy and have such a beautiful shape.  My friend Jessica helped me paint and distress them and I can’t even tell you how much I LOVE them!!! 

Enough for now.  More to come!  Stay tuned for more construction pictures and our living room re-do.