One Room Challenge, Spring 2020

Hello! How are you? It’s been a while! So much has happened in one year. I’ll be posting soon about all of that. In the meantime, I am rested, revived, and ready for some DIY! Why not jump right in??!! I’ve signed up for the One Room Challenge, Spring 2020 edition. I am upgrading my kitchen!

The Ongoing Kitchen Project

It seems that my kitchen update has been in progress forever. I’ve always had visions of a gorgeous kitchen but as a small business owner, I never had the funds for this budget. I suppose this renovation actually started three years ago when Mr. Blu took a one week staycation and we started to remove some of the popcorn ceilings in the house.

The Blue Building Antiques Shopatblu removing popcorn ceilins — By far the messiest project EVER!

Over the course of the week, we scraped and painted three ceilings: the kitchen, the master bathroom, and the downstairs bathroom.

The Blue Building Antiques removing popcorn ceilings shopatblue — Small bathroom ceiling

After that I eventually painted the cabinets white and the walls a very very pale (almost white) teal.

The dramatic change from the darker walls and cabinets to white and pale colors was striking. And with literally no budget, that sufficed for several years.

Why now?

Recently, our appliances began to show the effects of a serving a large family. The dishwasher became less and less powerful and more and more ineffective. The microwave handle became loose and wobbly.

The Blue Building Antiques Shopatblu microwave duct tape repair — Thank the good Lord for Duct tape!

The shelves in the refrigerator sagged and one was cracked. Mr. Blu insisted that if we were finally and legitimately going to upgrade this kitchen, then NEW appliances were in order. I fussed and told him that they were still functional and hadn’t we just bought these? They weren’t very old! Well, time flies and he promptly reminded me that they were, in fact, ten years old. Y’all! It hit me…I’m getting new appliances!!

Inspiration

The inspiration piece for this kitchen upgrade revealed itself by chance last summer. In June 2019, I attended my favorite DIY conference, The Haven Conference, which is held annually in Atlanta. I had missed the previous year for the first time in 7 years and it was so painful. I vowed never to miss another Haven. And I’m particularly glad I went this time because I won a farmhouse sink in a giveaway sponsored by Sinkology! I could select from three beauties and the package also included the hardware and faucet as well!

The Blue Building Antiques Shopatblu Sinkology Copper Hammered Farmhouse sink — This was the copper sink on display at the Sinkology booth.

I had to choose among a beautiful timeless clay baked white farmhouse sink, a stunning copper hammered farmhouse sink, and a unique hammered steel farmhouse sink.

The Blue Building Antiques Shopatblu Sinkology farmhouse sinks — Top sink is the white clay farmhouse sink. Bottom is the hammered steel.

How to decide!! I dreamed of the beautifully timeless farmhouse sink in white baked clay. But my heart really wanted a copper farmhouse sink as my love of French Country and things vintage tried to take over. Sinkology also had a gorgeous hammered stainless farmhouse sink that would look great with stainless steel appliances. Lordy…what to choose!!

Mr. Blu is pretty traditional so I was certain he would approve of the white farmhouse sink. And I loved the oddity of a hammered steel sink…so artsy and contemporary. But that copper…Lawdy it screamed ANTIQUE! FRENCH COUNTRY! VINTAGE! And it spoke to my soul…honestly it did. I felt like a small Haven celebrity as my seasoned Haven friends heard of my luck. “You lucky duck!” “Which one will you choose?” “I’m so jealous!” And my very favorite, accompanied by a giant heartfelt hug (which, right now as we are all sheltered at home, might be my favorite memory of the win) “Congratulations!!”

Initial Plan

So, to recap, I knew I had a beautiful farmhouse sink. I was getting brand spanking new appliances. Commence the design phase by creating a basic check list of items for my new kitchen:

New appliance package including refrigerator, stove, microwave and dishwasher
Install Farmhouse sink
Select and install new countertops
Select and install new flooring
Repaint cabinets and replace existing hardware
Upgrade lighting

To pull this entire project together and, more importantly, to ensure it finished in a timely manner I decided to use this project as the subject of a blog post to kickstart my neglected blog. So it is official…I am a guest participant in The One Room Challenge, Spring Edition 2020.

I will be posting updated weekly on our kitchen project! Keep in mind that this is my first ORC and my first real kitchen update. I’m a bit nervous but what the heck…things can be changed, right?

Stay tuned for my first official post on Thursday, May 8, 2020 where I reveal my plan for my kitchen!