Mr. Prof designer home

I’m really not into posting “before” photos until I have some finished pics to follow them up with.  I personally like seeing a pretty picture after an ugly one.  But I figure with how things are moving along over here… it could be awhile.  ;)

A few months ago I posted about the English Smallbone kitchen we found on craigslist.  I posted about it here. 

Here’s the kitchen in it’s original home.  A little old school country, but with so much potential.

And here it is installed in our new-but still in progress-kitchen:

There were two painted pieces mixed in with the wood, and I decided to repaint them in a creamy white. 

I just love the look of wood and white.  Instead of subway tile, we’ll be installing wide horizontal plank boards on the walls of the kitchen, painted white.  I think it will give it a cozy modern farmhouse vibe that will feel warmer than tile.

We’ll be using honed carrara marble for some of the counters, including the island. 

The beautiful teak on the farmhouse sink counter will stay, as will the butcher block counter:

Does the island look familiar? 

We took it with us from our old house when we moved.  I painted it the same creamy white as the new cabinets and took the fabric off the back of the wire…just for a change. 

I also used the same Restoration Hardware drawer pulls on the new cabinets as I did on our island for a unified look:

By the way, we got our Jenn-Air stove on craigslist too for $200!  It was an especially good find, since we needed a downdraft stove due to the windows above.  Downdraft stoves are hard to come by, especially used. 

I have always loved wrap-around windows in a kitchen. 

The view out of our new kitchen is worth the lack of storage space from upper cabinets. Don’t mind the unkempt yard… that’s a whole other project.

I’ve gotten so much inspiration from so many places, it’s hard to narrow down one kitchen in particular that’s inspired the new space.  But here are some, which will give you an idea of what I’m envisioning for the walls, ceiling, and window finishings:

I hope by sharing these sneak peak pics, you can share in my vision (and excitement) for the finished product.  Almost there!

I was so excited to hear that our old kitchen was included in the fall issue of Kitchens magazine.  I especially enjoyed this particular article since Rebecca Razo included one of my other passions… organization. 

Thank you again Rebecca for the incredible honor!  I have to say it was difficult to go from the above kitchen to this one:

I had to remind myself that it wouldn’t stay this way forever. 

In fact, we ripped it out about three months after moving in. 

The space is now our dining area, and we used this 16x22’ back room of the house for our new kitchen:

The room is open and bright.  We tore down the wall separating it from the old kitchen, making it even more open to the rest of the house:

See us through the window below?  That’s us with our realtor when we first looked at the property.  Little did we know what we were signing up for!

The bookshelves moved to our new school room (in progress).  And the closet next to it came out.  The swan sitting on top came with the house. 

We found him a new owner, much to our children’s chagrin.  They begged to keep it.  Sorry kids.

Being a lover of English cabinetry, I was ecstatic to find someone selling an entire English kitchen on craigslist!  It was designed by the famed English manufacturer, Smallbone.  Here it is in the original house:

The owner of the house was replacing it with a more contemporary kitchen since they were trying to sell the house.  Here it is now:

The house is a mansion in a golf-course community.  I can see why an English country kitchen wouldn’t quite fit the bill.  But something like this would:

Our gain!  Here are some other English Country Smallbone kitchens:

Beautiful, right?  The kitchen was probably worth over $50,000.  We got it for $5000.   An Ikea kitchen would have cost us more!  And an Ikea kitchen would have been our only alternative due to our budget. 

When I saw the kitchen I knew that we could make  it work in our empty space.  Since Smallbone designed the kitchen as individual pieces of furniture, it was easy to mix and match the pieces however we wished. 

It came with the farmhouse sink!

I think we got the craigslist deal of the century.  It looks a bit “old country”, but we are contemporizing it to look “modern country”.  It will look different in our space, and will work beautifully I think.   Here is my hubby measuring for new windows and determining placement of the kitchen pieces:

Can’t wait to show you the finished product! 

I’m always late to the party when it comes to things like this.  But here I finally am… a newbie on Pinterest. 

If you’re on Pinterest and want to follow along as I pin, click here or click the Pinterest link on my side bar. 

What a clever idea… organizing all things that inspire in one spot.  I’m digging it! 

I’ve been collecting images of kitchens with subway tiles, as I think we’re headed in that direction with our new kitchen.  Late to the party on that one too! 

Hopefully not too late that it will look outdated in a few years.  To me, subway tile is classic.  I  suppose time will tell!  What do you think?  Is it timeless or a trend already on the way out?

On a different note, I want to give a big shout-out to Rebecca Razo for including some of our bedroom and bath images in the Fall issue of Bedrooms and Baths.  Thank you Rebecca!