Um, are we dreaming?! You could have knocked us over with a feather when we got an email from a new reader (Hi, Jessica!) that said she had just voted for us for Apartment Therapy’s 2011 Homie Awards! Do what?! We knew about the nominations but had no idea we had actually made it in the finals!!!!!
Sure enough, there we are, along with 8 other awesome home blogs, and we are just plain giddy about it! And yes, I called my mom to tell her at 2:30am. I was that kind of excited. We are so honored to be listed among some of our all time favorite home blogs. We couldn’t have gotten there without the nominations from you, our readers! So thank you.
Thank you, again, for the nomination and for taking the time to vote for the finals! The winners will be announced on Apartment Therapy on February 4th!
***UPDATE***
The people have spoken and this year’s Home Design blog of 2011 is none other than Young House Love! They have inspired so many homeowners (including ourselves!) to cherish their home and make it lovely. Their win was very well deserved and they are a true class act. Congratulations to John & Sherry!
A few weeks ago, we shared our thoughts and plans about possibly installing an IKEA kitchen. In response to our thoughts, one of our readers (Hi, Emily!) mentioned that she recently installed an IKEA kitchen and was in love with it. So she sent us an email with photos of her renovation process. When we saw Emily’s photos, we had to share them with you guys as well. Here’s what she had to say:
I’m Emily and in response to Ashley & Greg’s recent post about considering an Ikea kitchen, I sent them a link to our Ikea kitchen remodel, and they asked me to share our home with all of you – and I obliged! I LOVE our new kitchen, and I certainly will jump at the opportunity to show it off!
My husband (then, boyfriend) and I bought our home in March of 2008 and spent a month gutting the bathroom, repainting every wall and ceiling and replacing every speck of flooring before we moved in (it was a dump when we bought it). It should be said that my dad is a contractor and takes the lead on all of our major home projects. We are so lucky to have him – he has truly saved us THOUSANDS of dollars. When we moved in April 2008, we knew the kitchen was one other major item on the to-do list, but we just couldn’t afford it at the time.
As you can see from our before photos, we had no dishwasher, little cabinet space, and poor lighting…
The yellow paint was a rookie mistake – I never intended for it to look so yellow, but once it was painted it stayed that way.
Fast forward to spring 2010 (after a proposal and a wedding), Ikea was having a kitchen sale and we decided to take the leap and buy new cabinets – after much research and comparison against other brands. And in June of 2010 we began the huge task of gutting our kitchen and really making it ours!
We opted to go with the Ikea Akurum cabinets with Adel White doors and drawer fronts. The hardware was purchased from a wholesaler in our area.
Our appliances were a Craigslist find – we were lucky enough to find a seller that was getting rid of all four matching appliances that were only 6 months old. We estimate that we saved around $2500 to $3000 vs. buying all of the identical ones brand new. And the fridge was the clincher of the deal, it’s a counter-depth style, which was a real space-saver in our pint-size kitchen (our home is a total of 970 sq ft., 2 bed and 1 bath)
We also scored some great deals on our faucet, sink, “insta-hot” water dispenser and skylights, all were either Craigslist or Ebay finds. And my dad was able to get us pre-fabricated granite countertops for a steal on a trip to the SF Bay area – the only additional cost to us was the fabrication of the bar top.
So, with all those great deals, what was the total cost for our kitchen? Here’s a quick breakdown:
$1850 Appliances
$2400 Ikea Cabinets & Accessories
$400 Electrical & Lighting
$775 Plumbing (including the sink, faucet, instahot water dispenser, disposal, and moving the pipes for the new sink location)
$890 Granite & Fabrication
$1020 Misc (wall texture & paint, backsplash, skylights, drywall, etc) TOTAL: $7,335
The flooring is not included in the breakdown because we had purchased enough to replace the kitchen floor when we bought the materials in 2008. But I believe they were about $2.99 a sq ft and are a genuine maple hardwood with a chocolate stain.
All in all, we are IMPRESSED with our Ikea cabinets! My dad was reluctant to use them, but agreed because they were the biggest value for features vs. cost that we could find. In the end, he said, “Those cabinets – they’re pretty slick.” And if you knew my dad, that’s a huge compliment! It was also a big convenience to be able to return and exchange items as we needed (there was more than one mis-measurement in the process of installation) and we never had any hassles with the store.
The wall color is Behr’s Ocean Pearl, color-matched by Miller Paint. I love this shade and it’s so much better than the yellow that we originally painted. The granite color is Santa Cecilia and the backsplash is a simple white subway tile with a smoked glass tile detail line.
Before I go, I just wanted to share a couple “Ikea-modifications” we did in our space that you might find useful in yours.
First, the upper corner cabinet with the lazy-susan rack:
Normally, the rack only comes with two shelves. We opted to purchase an extra rack and put all four shelves on one center post. By doing this, we’ve nearly doubled the amount of storage in this one cabinet. Without this, we’d have nowhere to put all those cans and baking supplies! Note: it is suggested to use some reinforcements when hanging this cabinet if you intend to do this, since it will put significantly more weight on the cabinet itself.
Second, we opted to create a bench out of two upper cabinets for even more storage:
This has been a lifesaver! Since we gave up a closet in re-configuring the kitchen layout, we needed another location to store our cookbooks and serving platters. Again, you’ll need to reinforce the cabinets to ensure that they can bear the weight of a couple of adults.
Well, that about sums it up! I hope you’ve enjoyed our kitchen remodel! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like more details about our project.
Thanks, Emily, for sharing your kitchen reno with us! If you have any questions for Emily, please post them in the comments or send us an email to request her contact info!
Do you have a home project that you would like to see featured on 7HL? How about stories and tips about entertaining, interior design and cool DYI projects? Well, we’re always looking for cool stuff to show our readers! When sending us your submission, include up to eight photos along with a brief description and important details (the name you want to be known as in the article, paint colors, materials, budget, etc.).
Please email your submissions to submissions@7thhouseontheleft.com. By sending us your submission, you are giving us permission to post it on the blog unless otherwise stated in your email. Don’t worry, we won’t post your email address or any personal information unless you specifically ask us to do so.
A couple of times a day, we get emails asking about certain items in the house. Like the “Rare Prints” wall art in the living room (Pottery Barn), the paint color on our shutters (Valspar’s Fired Earth) and the too-short-for-our-couch sofa table (Value City Furniture). The other day, we received an email from a reader (hi Sarah!) asking about the canisters mentioned in the post about our temporary kitchen.
Apparently, I was too caught up with the details of how we are surviving without a kitchen to mention the story behind these two canisters from Restoration Hardware. But no, we didn’t buy them from Restoration Hardware. They came to us by way of an online charity auction. “Why would be purchase kitchen canisters from an online charity auction?”, you ask. Well, these aren’t just any canisters.
Let’s back up a tad. You remember the show Gilmore Girls? Well, I l-o-v-e-d that show. Their quick whit, dramatic yet fun story-line and back-to-back pop culture references, what’s not to love? In college, my roommate and I would never miss an episode of Gilmore Girls. Tuesday nights at 7:00pm, it was girls night at our apartment. No questions asked.
Fast-forward a bit. Greg and I had been married for almost a year, the show had been canceled the year before (all good things must come to an end at some point I guess) and my birthday was fast approaching. Searching for something special and oh so unique, Greg did some Google-searching. He wound up stumbling upon an online charity auction and low and behold… ta da! Two Restoration Hardware canisters that were used ON the set of the one and only… yes, you guessed it… Gilmore Girls! See, here they are, right there on the kitchen cart…
Needless to say, it was THE coolest birthday present EVER (aside from the engagement ring I got on my 22nd birthday — of course). And now here they sit in our temporary kitchen…
Up until we moved into the house, they have been safely packed away. Now they sit in our handy dandy temporary kitchen serving as storage for the can opener and our daily vitamins. Once the kitchen is finished, we will make sure to have a popper place for them. Can’t wait!
