Welcome to our Kitchen!

Nine years ago this month we started building our house.  It's crazy how that seems like yesterday! Time flies... Do I sound old or what?!?

On December 22, 2003 we were able to move out of our short-term apartment and begin settling into our new home.  Moving right before the holidays was definitely an adventure!  Christmas tree?  Not that year!  We stacked all of our gifts around an end table with a nice bright lamp on top!  Christmas decorations were just one more thing to pack/unpack and after being jammed into an apartment for 5 months during the building process, there was just no way we were going to do anything that wasn't absolutely necessary.

Here is a photo of our kitchen on December 28, 2003, just 6 days after we moved in:



Looking good??  As you can see, we still needed cabinet doors, drawers, trim, shelves, crown molding, etc.  My father-in-law built our cabinets (yes, we are VERY lucky!) and they turned out beautiful, they just weren’t quite as ready for us, as we were for them :) 

Of course we hosted a New Year’s Party that year – why not??  I'm pretty sure our friends thought we were crazy!  Probably because we were.  We just couldn’t pass up a night of fun just because we were not settled into our home yet!  Paper plates anyone?

Just a few days into the new year my father-in-law came and did a little more of the install in the kitchen.  After his visit it was looking so much better!



How about that pantry?  I LOVE it!  Although I must admit, I do love it even more with doors on it :)

Here is what our kitchen looked like this past summer:






The pantry looks better with doors, right?




I have been collecting Fiestaware since our wedding, over 11 years ago, and love using some of the fun pieces and colors to decorate our kitchen.

Here is a peak that includes our dining room:



I would love a rug under the table, but I’m not so sure how functional that would be for our family right now.  First of all, we eat at least two meals a day at this table and our 6-year-old is a MESSY eater.  We are also waiting to adopt again, which definitely adds to our need for bare wood floors.  Second, it drives me crazy when I’m sitting in a chair that is partially up on a rug and partially on the bare floor.  Silly, I know, but true.  Maybe someday I will find the perfect rug, but that would also require me to be looking for one…

After a couple years of designing (yes, it really takes us that long to make decisions), my hubby and father-in-law worked together to build our china hutch. They built it to match our dining room table that we purchased locally at an Amish furniture store. We have mixed different woods/styles throughout our home in an effort to include what we like.  It’s not for everyone, but it works for us!




We LOVE our 3-sided fireplace.  It breaks up the space nicely (I was standing in the living room when I took this photo).  This fireplace also kicks off some SERIOUS heat during the winter!

My father-in-law is pretty talented, huh?  He built all of the cabinets in our home (kitchen, bathroom vanities, laundry room, etc.) except for the built-ins in our office (that you really haven’t seen yet).  Hubby built the office cabinets himself and then one weekend when we were at his Dad’s in Iowa, they built all of the doors for the office together.  They make a great team!

So, that's our kitchen! You can see some changes from the beginning, although I definitely have more updates planned.  Of course with the work going on in the basement, my hubby does not want to hear about projects for other rooms in our house right now.  Anyone want to be a stand-in and help?  Anyone?

Linking to:  Thrifty Decor Chick