…the first thing you have to do is get your butt off the couch and start moving. So I tore myself away from Homeland and Modern Family and started gathering ideas of what I like and dislike, trying not to filter it yet. We are finally ready to take the plunge and do a kitchen remodel (see before photos here). I bought a kitchen magazine, but realized it’s easier and cheaper to scour the web. Google “kitchen remodel” and you’ll get about 15,200,00 results. Since I’m aiming for a kitchen remodel while I can still eat solid food, I focused on the first few and a couple I had visited before. Here’s a list of the sites I used:
pinterest.com So many photos, but I started seeing the same ones over and over. I like Pinterest, but there wasn’t enough variety, and I wasn’t focused enough yet to put in specific keywords to narrow my search.
HGTv’s Remodels Beautiful, budget breaking kitchen remodels that were fun to swoon over, until my kitchen started to feel like a shack in the backwoods with a firepit and a handpump.
HGTv’s Rate My Space Still some high end kitchen remodels, but also a nice variety of DIY and midrange redos.
houzz.com This is by far my favorite source for kitchen remodel ideas. I downloaded the app for my husband’s iPad, and created a “My Houzz” tab that allowed me to tag and save any photos I liked, with the option of making a comment about why/what I liked about it. The site also has lots of articles about all areas of the home, and you can bookmark those too. I read about different options for flooring, countertops, and cabinets, until I felt prepared to move to the next step and bring in the professionals.
By looking at a gazillion photos of kitchens, you’ll begin to get an idea of what you want. After I tagged a bunch of photos on Houzz, I went back and looked at all of them. Surprisingly, most of them were white kitchens, which was the one type of kitchen remodel I know I didn’t want. Hmmm. Now what?
As much as I loved the look of the white kitchens, I realized that this style and color scheme didn’t really fit in with the rest of my house. Not to mention the fact that I am no June Cleaver, and a gleaming white kitchen would quickly become….well, less than gleaming. So I went back to looking, trying to pick out photos that were realistic for my home and my family. Once I had an idea of what I was looking for, I was ready to hit the pavement and make this thing happen.
What resources do you use to get home improvement ideas?
The list:
√ Scour photos online, in magazines, and in person for ideas
NEXT STEP: HIRING A PROFESSIONAL
Seems that about 97.3% of the kitchens on houzz are white. And a significant chunk of the remainder are painted some other color. Sigh…
I do *love* the look, but it’s not right for us at this time!
I noticed that too, Nicole. We are just not a white kitchen family!
Thanks for the resources, Dana. I look forward to seeing the progress (without paying the $$$). 🙂 Ironically, your “before” pictures don’t look like “before” pictures to me. I might change the rust color, but otherwise, it’s beautiful as it is! That said, I am sure you have lived with it long enough and are ready to move on. Can you just move your old kitchen into our 1980’s-remodeled home? That’d be grand. Thanks very much.
Thanks, Kris; I’d gladly give you our kitchen if I could!
Thanks for the houszz tip! I didn’t know about that site and know I am going to spend many hours browsing on it. Just the first three kitchens I saw, I wanted!
You’re welcome!
LOVE houzz!! We used it a ton too. Had the same thing with the white kitchen. Swore I didn’t want it but every kitchen I loved was white. So glad we went with it!
And your kitchen looks fabulous! But your family is much cleaner than mine.