Lake House Kitchen and Bath Before/ After Pictures

This has been a long time coming, and by far the biggest project yet that we have done at the lake house. Here is the kitchen before we did anything to it, we may have cleaned a little on the counters. The cupboards were stained with nicotine. There were laminate counters in pretty good shape, with a wallpaper backsplash that was glued to the laminate backsplash. Above the cupboards the wall board was stained and had stencils of birds and flowers. The windows had been broken into so that the edges of the glass were exposed in some parts. The oven was tiny. Everything was filthy. Every time we went to the lake house at first I would avoid looking at the kitchen because it would make me feel overwhelmed and tired.

Here is after. We pained the walls green/ tan and the trim and cupboards white. We replaced the counters with silestone. We got the silestone from our last house, some areas of it had become porous and so we called the factory and after a lot of calls and harrassments, they finally replaced the counter. Because they no longer manufacture that color, they had to replace the whole kitchen. We saved the countertops and Joe was able to fit them to this kitchen. There are a few pieces in unusual places, but that is okay. There wasn't quite enough countertops, so Joe is making an intricate cutting board for above the dishwasher that will bridge the gap that the counters didn't cover.

He also replaced the light and the windows. He took out the entire wall that the back splash was on and rewired it and put on a back splash that is travertine tiles and small glass mosaic tiles. He cut the hole for the oven bigger so that we could get a slightly bigger oven/stove. Its funny, but it costs more to get a smaller oven, probably because you have to special order it. We changed out all the knobs on the cupboards and got a newer fridge with water and ice features (such a nice feature). We replaced all the flooring with tile.

He replaced the sink and the faucet too!
It is SOOO much nicer that it was!

Here is the bathroom before pictures. If you thought the kitchen was bad, the bathroom was worse. It was so filthy you felt gross just going in there. It took me several hours just to scrub the scum off the shower. The counter was a very retro teal color. There was a medicine cabinet, but it was very dirty and covered in stickers.

Just this weekend, Joe replaced the counter for me!

At the end of the counter were some shelves. He didn't cut those completely off because then we would have to work on the tile, but he shortened them so that he can put a longer toilet in soon (it's a guy thing I think).
Luckily, right before Joe was going to start cutting the granite for the counter, our friends showed up. Taylor was happy to help Joe cut and carry the granite in. Granite is surprisingly fragile when you are cutting it, so we were very thankful they could help us out. He cut the granite to shape outside and then cut the hole for the sink inside. We got the granite from the house we live in now. When the painters were staining the banister, they set their can of stain on the counter and it left a ring in the granite that was noticeable. We had them change the granite out. Since it was such a large piece of granite, we saved the pieces from the counter and Joe could cut this smaller counter from it.

Here is the finished vanity. He used the edges from the rest of the counter to do the back splash, so they also have a rounded edge, and he didn't have to sand any of it. The sink, faucet, light and mirror are all new. I painted the walls brown to match the counters, and there will be a chair rail up at about counter height.

Unfortunately, we haven't gotten to the shower yet, it is one of the next big projects. Just so you can appreciate what a project it will be, here is a before picture:

When my parents visited for several weeks last month, they ran wires and electricity to our metal building. It didn't have any lights before, but now it does. Joe then could see to clean it, it was really nice.