Kitchen Update!

Our kitchen is officially complete!! And so is our last big cosmetic house project! *Jumps up and down for joy.* I made a previous blog post here of the whole kitchen up until this point. I've been nesting like crazy since our due date with our baby is less than 6 weeks away. We're so excited but there's so much do to before then! Well there was because it's mostly done. I made a huge list when I found out that I was pregnant (I have lists for everything so this isn't that weird). I call it my Pre-Baby To-Do List. I have a section of things I just wanted to get done in general (ie update my scrapbook, make freezer meals, etc), a huge house section, a nursery to-do section, a "right before the due date" section, a "right after the baby is born" section, a baby registry section, a hospital bag section, and a section for my dad. One thing on my dad's list was to re-do our kitchen backsplash before the babe gets here. He came over this past weekend and did it so quickly!! We're so happy with the results.

Some before pics before we moved in:

So this project cost us about $15. How you might ask? I've mentioned before that my dad has a huge garage where they live with all sorts of home-improvement treasures. He's a builder/contractor/renovator and whenever he has leftover materials he stores them there. It's magical. Well he had a ton of beadboard leftover from a project a few years ago so that was FREE! I hear beadboard is expensive so we were really excited to learn that he had some sitting around. I had done a ton of research trying to decide what I wanted and I decided on beadboard before I even knew that he had some and that it'd be free. The Lord provides. He had all of the supplies because he's just awesome so all we had to buy was a quart of paint that matched the cabinets. The previous owners painted the cabinets before they put the house on the market and we were so thankful that that's one thing we didn't have to do. I like the creamy white they picked and we just painted the backsplash the same. It was Dover White by Sherwin Williams. We have an account with Farrell Calhoun so I took their leftover paint to them and they matched it for me.

My dad came over on a Saturday night and just started ripping the old backsplash out. We all thought it would just pop off. The previous owners had just put it on when they were putting their house on the market. Sad that we ripped out a brand new backsplash but we just didn't like the way it looked with the countertops which were also new. We would've liked the backsplash with a countertop that was less busy. It was just too dark and I love a crisp, clean look. Anyways, the backsplash would NOT come off. Pretty sure they like cemented it to the Sheetrock. My dad ended up ripping out the wall in a lot of places just to get it off. So that was the hardest part. 

Then he came over after church on Sunday and finished it up in just a few hours!! So we went from ugly backsplash to pretty new backsplash entirely in less than 24 hours! 

Since I can't paint because I'm pregnant Matt did the honors while I watched from the living room. I love him so much. Wish I could've helped. I taped it off while he was at work. And I puttied the holes and caulked around the edges. That was my contribution to this project.

We love the finished product!! The whole room is so much brighter and cleaner. 

Here are some other pictures of the kitchen from my previous kitchen post.

And some side-by-side before and afters:

We're so excited to have all of the cosmetic work behind us and we're so thankful for our family who helped us make it possible. Can't wait to share our nursery with you next!!

2016 UPDATE:
http://katiehedge.blogspot.com/2016/01/house-update-2016.html