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The Family Kitchen Makeover Continues {Hardwood Flooring Kitchen}

by | Oct 29, 2012 | Decorating Inspiration, Kitchen Renovation Project

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The Family Kitchen Makeover Continues {Hardwood Flooring Kitchen}

This post is sponsored by Mohawk Flooring.

If you are new around here, last June we started a kitchen remodel. We aren’t done yet, but we’ve made some good progress. While the project started on kind of a whim, a lot of thought actually went into this project before the whim struck and we knocked down our cabinets. Ha! We’ve lived in our house close to four years now, so we’ve had plenty of time to think about what we would like, what we needed and wanted to do with the space we have. We had to be patient to get to this point, but now we are super excited to be rounding the corner to the homestretch.

The Family Kitchen Makeover Continues {Hardwood Flooring Kitchen}

Each and every thing we are updating right now is part of a bigger plan to live very purposefully in our home. We have specific goals for what is important to us in this season of life as a family and ideas for how our home can contribute to the way we want to live. From decluttering, to rearranging our rooms, to updating what we can within our budget, we’ve been on a mission!

This is extra exciting because I’ve always wanted to know what it would feel like to stay in one house for many years, fixing it up top to bottom just the way we wanted it. That really is my dream, since we’ve had to move around so much over the years! It is exciting that we are able to make some of the changes that we only dreamed about until this year. And we have no immediate plans to move, so these projects are things we are doing for ourselves, not for the next owners!

I feel like pinching myself to make sure this is even real right now, but I am really excited!

The Family Kitchen Makeover Continues {Hardwood Flooring Kitchen}

So, back to our project. Our kitchen and family room is all one connected space, but the way the kitchen cabinetry jutted out into the room and the way the flooring broke up the space, the room felt choppy and more cramped than was necessary. The layout of the kitchen made it awkward for all of us girls (my two daughters and myself) to all be working the kitchen at once. It was also a challenge when we had larger groups of people over as there was a bottleneck in the traffic flow.

In a nutshell, here’s a few posts detailing how far we’ve come on this project:

So far we removed the breakfast bar and cabinetry that jutted out and divided the room.

We made a little adjustment to the area above our cabinetry that used to just collect dust.

We put in new subway tile, sink and white quartz counters. 

We installed a new range hood and faucet and had the tile grouted.

We decided on a two tone cabinet color scheme, but we are still waiting on our painter to actually make that happen!

We have an unfinished island that is ready to be painted and fixed up a bit.

We painted the walls and have a plan for finishing trim work as well as a fireplace makeover.

There have been a few more details finished in this space since I last wrote about it, including new lights and a pantry makeover in progress (will update you on how that is coming along soon!). In addition to the rest of our plans for the family kitchen area, we’ve been working our way around other rooms such as our master bedroom as well in our all out effort to get our house in all around better shape for us.

The Family Kitchen Makeover Continues {Hardwood Flooring Kitchen}

Now we are at the point where in order to really complete our series of projects this year (which is also one of our goals — to finish what we start as much as possible!) it is time to address the flooring in the remaining areas we are working on. We did get beautiful new hardwoods in other rooms last spring, and they have really transformed our home! It is really exciting to get new floors, they really do change almost everything about how a room feels.

The Family Kitchen Makeover Continues {Hardwood Flooring Kitchen}

But as you you can see we have a few issues with our remaining flooring. It looks like we destroy everything in our path. Between dogs and living life and remodeling, the floors have taken a beating.

Our preference from the beginning was to have consistent and easy to care for flooring throughout the main rooms of our house. Our main floor is not very large at all and is divided among a living and dining space, family and kitchen space, a connecting entry hall, my office and a powder room. Rather than chop things up further with different flooring in every space, we’ve decided our preference was to create more of a visual flow from room to room from the front door right on through to the back of the house.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Mohawk about the possibility of partnering on a flooring project. They wondered if I might have any upcoming projects in my home. “Well, ah, YES?”  {drops the phone}. “Um, yes, are you still there? Yes I do.”  The timing couldn’t have been more PERFECT for us. This was a great opportunity for me to be able to finish our series of home makeover projects and take care of some of those lingering problem areas with our floors.

The Family Kitchen Makeover Continues {Hardwood Flooring Kitchen}

So, the partnership with Mohawk is on! I’m really excited to be able to actually complete projects (high fives for completion!!) and I’m seriously going to feel like I got a brand new house this year and I didn’t even have to move. YAY! Let the nesting continue! I’ll share more details about my new floors,  and answer some of your questions about them in upcoming posts!

Have you replaced flooring in your home?

I’m partnering with the “Mohawk Floors Me, as Told by Bloggers” program, but as always, all opinions, experiences and home projects are my own. 

 

29 Comments

  1. Jojo

    I’m loving the round rug!! Are you sharing a source?

    Reply
  2. Kelly - Talk of the House

    Hooray for progress! (and Mohawk!) I know you will be beyond thrilled to have all of the kitchen finished. We have not replaced any flooring anywhere…yet. When it came time to replace the carpet in our previous home I said, “If we are going to have to move every single thing out of all these rooms, why don’t we just go ahead and build another house and move?” Seriously. And we did. But, I don’t want to move again (yet), and it is time to replace carpet in at least 2 rooms..so I am on the lookout for different flooring and will be continuing to watch your saga for ideas. :)

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Oh yes it is an ordeal to get new flooring. As you have witness in the rest of my house, lots of upheaval and moving stuff out. But, it is so exciting and worth it especially if you don’t want to actually build another house and move :-). Although that holds its own excitement, right?

      Reply
  3. Jessica

    looking gorgeous! can’t wait to see what you pick out for the floors!

    Reply
  4. Cynthia

    Looking great and I love the floors and the faucet is fantastic.

    Cynthia

    Reply
  5. Jennifer

    How exciting! We have a similar layout and went with the same flooring throughout the first floor, too. I thought it would look choppy to have two different flooring materials because the family room is completely open to the kitchen.

    I just have to say that I love that you knocked down the upper cabinets and went with subway tile all the way up to the ceiling. Not only does it give your kitchen a great custom look, but it looks so much bigger now. I can’t wait to see it finished!

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Thanks, it really does feel bigger with the cabinets removed and the subway up to the ceiling!! And yes with this kind of layout, plus the fact that there are no actual doors dividing any of the rooms on the main floor except for the office and powder room, it just makes sense to keep the flooring consistent.

      Reply
  6. diane

    Lucky you! I wish they had contacted me three months ago but either way I have a beautiful new hardwood floor throughout my empty nest remodel and am in love. I have always had carpet and do not care for tile but this wood floor really gives my home a rich and elegant feel and cleaning is as simple as a quick swiff through the house with a microfiber cloth. Will check to see if the flooring was Mohawk and what it was called. Looking forward to seeing all your updates.

    Reply
  7. Maria

    How exciting! I am so happy for you. :-) My parents are in the process of deciding upon new flooring for their home, too — it is so fun!

    Reply
  8. MARY LOU

    what an exciting time in your lives!! are you sharing where the mirrow (above the yellow and white pillows) came from? love it…
    you are doing a wonderful job with your remodel..looks fantastic!

    Reply
  9. Rebecca

    Lucky blogger! This is very cool about the Mowhawk floors. I am excited to hear about it. We have a kitchen remodel that I am planning in early stages (idea file). It will take all 2013 to figure out. I have learned over the years to proceed very slowly. Everytime I rush something, I blow it. No more remodeling regrets!!! That is my mantra now. :)

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Exactly, rushing things doesn’t work out so great in the end. I’m glad we waited so long to make big changes because I’m sure I would’ve done things differently had we not experienced life in this house first.

      Reply
  10. Carrie

    I’m very interested to follow along on your flooring journey. We haven’t replaced any flooring in this house–yet! But the carpeting is looking a little worse for wear from kids, a dog, and life well-lived!

    Reply
  11. Vee

    Exciting times at your place for sure! Everything is coming together so beautifully and it’s really quite amazing to think that one day it’ll be all together at once.

    Reply
    • Melissa

      It will all look much better at nearly the same time. But not done, always more to do right? And I still have a few other spaces to spruce up. And of course with the way things seem to go, by the time you get all the way around it is time to go back around again, right? HA!

      Reply
  12. Lori

    Our house is almost 100 years old. The flooring in the kitchen/dining room needs to be repaired or replaced, but I’m not sure how to accomplish it because there is a bit of sag and the room isn’t completely squared. It’s not a structural problem needing to be fixed, but makes dealing with the floor a bit of a conundrum.

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Oh yes, older houses definitely make things tricky! We had issues like that in our old house too. We could roll a marble downhill in our living room :-) but yet the room was not cracked or damaged, it just went downhill. :-)

      Reply
  13. Barbara (WA)

    I think the only way I’ll ever experience making over this house (which we’ve been in for 25 years) is write a popular blog and get sponsors to do the work!! Congratulations on all your hard work on maintaining your blog paying off big time – whoo!!! Trying hard not to be jealous because I love the why of what you are doing with your home. It’s not just to have a blog worthy home but for a much bigger ideal. And you don’t just wish for or wait for things to happen magically, but work hard to get there. That is what I love about your writing and your blog. Hubby and I are working toward the goal of not being ashamed of our house, changing the rooms for comfort/function so we can practice hospitality. Oh, BTW, I was wondering if you could post the details about your roll up blinds in the bedroom? I bought a blind at Lowe’s for our office that works well but I’d like the roll up kind for another room. I didn’t spot them previously (Silverdale store). Thanks!

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Thanks Barbara, it is like any other start up business where you work crazy hard before you see results, except it is like a dream because you get to do what you love at the same time. :-). Of course, you can’t feed your family with new floors, furniture or projects, so it isn’t just about making things pretty. It is important to balance your time and priorities and remember what matters most right now.

      And yes, let me look for more details on the blinds for you! I might have to look at the store again because I didn’t keep the package, but I will get back to you!

      Reply
      • Barbara (WA)

        Thank you!

        Reply
  14. Tara G.

    So excited for you!! I hate the carpet in our newly purchased home. Should the military keep us here, we’ll be knocking out a wall and changing up flooring, too.

    Reply
  15. Cynthia Robertson Shaffer

    I adore this idea of creating flow through the use of consistent flooring. My biggest regret is not choosing hardwood throughout our home [we put it in the kitchen and entry, carpet elsewhere]. We knew over time hardwood would prove to be less expensive but just couldn’t quite force ourselves to purchase it, drat. You can be sure when this carpet gives up the ghost we will put hardwood in it’s place :-)
    PS. your kitchen sink area is so lovely!

    Reply
  16. Diane

    Yippee….I’m thrilled to see how God is blessing you for your faithfulness. Isn’t it good to experience such goodness after a season of challenge?
    P.S. I bought paint and I’m painting my ugly trim. Yippee for me!!

    Reply
    • Melissa

      Oh yes, it is good and you feel so grateful for it!! :-) Yippee for you on your trim!! That is exciting!

      Reply
  17. Juliane

    This is great, hearing your story as you go through the ups and downs of fixing your floors! My landlord redid the floors in our apartment before we moved in, so it’s all hardwood. I love it. I have a dog, and it’s so much easier to keep clean. Big choices like this are hard, good luck! The way we have our homes is so important, from the floors to the walls.

    Reply
  18. Sandy

    So happy for the progress … and NEW hardwood floors. Yay! Mohawk is the best company, too!

    Reply
  19. Rachel

    Flooring really sets the tone for any and every space. Can’t wait to see what sort of transformation your Mohawk floors will give the first floor of your home!

    Reply
  20. Haily

    Is the one wall decorated with plates? Where did you find all of those plates and how did you hang them up? I have a large wall I need to fill with something and I really like the plate idea!

    Reply

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