My Bob Vila?

Bob, Norm, Tim….no its MY tool man, Bill!  Tools have been all over my kitchen for quite some time now and it is so nice to have them out in the garage where they belong!  When we first moved in, we didn’t intend to take our little kitchen makeover very far…just two things were must-have for me.  Replacing the herringbone pattern faux white brick floor tiles and molded/missing grout tile counters.  Both were original to our 1967 diamond in the rough 🙂  The floor and counter could not come soon enough!  Here is a view of how the counter was narrow since it was tile so if you look at the after picture the new counter hangs over the edge of the cabinet to make it a more normal width. There was a minor problem with the new countertop (due to my improper communication with the company that fabricated it) and so it only fit based on us tearing out the backsplash which I had not planned to do (my plan was to paint it).  So to fit it in, we had to take out the lower row of tile from the backsplash.  Since it was such old tile, we just couldn’t find tile that matched exactly and being busy anyway we just didn’t do anything to the kitchen and used it with a missing row of tile for well over a year.

Then I got a home improvement gift card for Christmas because I had wished for tile!  Once the new backsplash was installed, it was a shame to have cabinets that didn’t match so Bill decided to sand and paint, tear out beams, and remove wood panels above the cabinets.  Who was I to stop him?! So, here are a few more before pictures.

Before we moved in…see the wood paneling above the cabinets where the previous owner had her plates?  It is all gone now!We added a microwave and I did paint the dishwasher at some point when we first moved.With lots of time and elbow grease…There are a few little things left to do, but the really hard work is finally complete.  Thank you so much, Bill.  I am so proud of you for all of the hard work you did and learning how to do so many new things. You are amazing!