Before & After: The "Big Room"

Before the remodel, our kitchen had an attached family room that we really used more as a living room.  Our living room, in the front of the house, was bigger and was better suited to our TV and general living space. When the new house was conceived, I was really looking for a way to incorporate the kitchen more in our lifestyle - basically, I needed to be forced to cook. And one way was to have the TV and the life of the house in one room - the "big room."

It's not a novel idea, but was for us. Neither Chris nor I grew up in a house with a combined kitchen/family room, so we looked forward to having it in all one space. The result was the house was pushed out to its side, to make a bigger kitchen and the back of the house was slightly pushed out for our "breakfast nook." (Which is really where our kitchen table is...we don't just eat breakfast there - we eat lunch and dinner, too. :))

Anyway, here's what it looked like before:

Note the upper cabinets over the island that really doesn't allow anyone in the kitchen to interact with the family room. It sorta sucked.

The one thing I loved about the old kitchen space was the flooring - hardwood hickory. LOVED IT. It was what we designed the new kitchen around and I love it just as I did 3 years ago. That was a pleasant. We switched out white appliances for stainless steel, white cabinets and a darker brown island. I also insisted on Caesarstone countertops - though granite can be really beautiful, in all the houses we had toured during last summer when we thought we might move, *everyone* did granite. I also love the matte, smooth look of the one color.

Let me know what you think of the finished product - this is by far my favorite room of the house:









The only issue I have with this room is a lack of color. I only have one wall to add some...so still working on that. Donations welcome. (Just kidding, that would be rude!)

P.S. Halloween pictures of Annika to come....stay tuned.