Merry {Early} Christmas to Us!!!

This morning our kitchen passed final its final inspection -- woohoo!! We began this project on November 9th and after being somewhat displaced, we're finally home and ejoying our new kitchen and couldn't be happier with how it turned out!! There are a few last minute touches that need to be finished up but other than that - its complete! Now it's time to find a dining room table and get decorating!!

My vision for this kitchen from day one was a very neutral space but cozy and inviting. I brought in warm beige tones from the granite to the tiled back splash to compliment our maple spiced cabinets and floors. I didn't want the granite or tile to overpower each other but I wanted each to stand out; I think it works!

Trust me, making big design decisions based on a 2x2 sample and trying to picture it in your kitchen is not easy! I definitely had the hardest time with the tile but as soon as I saw it installed in a picture, I was sold! The granite was pretty simple. I knew I wanted a lighter color with a lot of detail. The one we chose has black and garnet running through it, so I went with a brick colored accent wall to bring out the red tones. Painting everything that color would've made the room feel small, so I chose a creamy tan to soften it and tie everything together.

As far as the lighting, we went back and forth with how many pendant lights to do...2 or 3, 2 or 3....? Our island is 5 1/2 feet long and having 3 seems perfect. We splurged a little and had under cabinet lighting installed. I highly recommend it, it makes the kitchen look completely different at night {pictures to come!}

Contrary to what you might think, Kev did have a lot of input into our kitchen...he was on appliance duty :) His favorite part was picking out his "must have" beer + wine fridge that he was adamant about having in the island. At first I was against it but I'm glad he convinced me because let me tell ya, it kicks ASS!! I love to cook, but I'm no Ina Garten so having functional but not "over-the-top" appliances was the way to go. We went with the stainless steel look to keep the kitchen looking clean and high-end. For five years, our nasty old fridge didn't have a light due to some electrical snafu, so being able to see what's in our fridge now is strangely wonderful!! We went with Kitchenaid for both the dishwasher and fridge and GE for the smooth-top stove and microwave. We chose Grohe for our faucet and paired it with an undermount D-shaped Artisan sink.

We love having people over, so having a "bar area" of our kitchen was key. We wanted place we could fix drinks,store glasses, liquor, mixers - you name it! Since this area was sort of a seperate space from the rest of the kitchen, we threw in some honey colored crushed glass tiles in between the stone to give it some flare and stand out.

I'm very happy with all of the choices we made. It's everything we could've possibly wanted and more. We can't wait to host our first get-together this week with friends and family. I'll post pictures of the refinished hardwoods, new trim and paint in our bedroom soon! Enjoy the pictures!

Before:





After: