In February I was asked to be a featured designer for the One Room Challenge. I jumped at the chance!!! Why? It means that I’d have the resources to redo a room I’ve been dreaming of tackling… My kitchen!!!!!! Yep- I’ll be making over my Utah kitchen and redoing everything! The floors, ceiling, cabinets, tile, almost EVERYTHING! Here’s my One Room Challenge floor plan.
the kitchen?!
So you might have a few questions- let’s chat about them!
Didn’t you just redo a kitchen? Yes- in November and December of last year my husband and I redid the kitchen in our Florida house. I LOVE it!
Aren’t you tired from just finishing that kitchen? Yes! For sure! But with the One Room Challenge I’ll be working with a bunch of companies and otherwise, I just couldn’t afford to redo the kitchen right now. I had a chance so I took it! I’ll sleep later 😉
Didn’t you already redo this kitchen? Kind of- I gave it a band aid renovation. I painted the fridge and the cabinets and the countertops. I added car vinyl to the stove. The backsplash was peel and stick tile. It was adorable, but I have bigger plans for this space!
Wasn’t this kitchen on a cover of a magazine recently? Yes! It was on the cover of DIY Magazine. And I’m so grateful for the experience! I did my absolute best to make the kitchen shine as is. Now I’m ready to totally re-imagine the room and even change the layout a bit.
my goals for the kitchen
Here are my 5 main goals when renovating the kitchen-
- Have durable finishes
- Seat 6 at a table
- Add a dishwasher
- Stay true to the house
- Lighten up the room
When redoing a space, I suggest coming up with some goals like this. Then with every decision that needs to be made, you can see how they fit in with your goals.
Some of my goals like durability, seating 6, and adding a dishwasher will directly benefit my guests when we rent this house out as an Air BNB (we have a second house in Florida that we spend time at and rent out too).
one room challenge floor plan
I thought I’d show you the floor plan with how we’ve had the house for the last few years first-
As you can see, it’s A LOT of cabinets. Wayyyyyy too many for us (especially because we also have a pantry under the stairs). Half were either empty or filled with stuff I didn’t need to store in the kitchen. So, I started to brainstorm how I could seat more people and cut down on the cabinets.
Then I saw the above kitchen from deVol kitchens and I knew exactly what I needed to do. I took out graph paper and a pencil and drew this-
Before, we’d been considering tearing down the wall between the living room and kitchen. But with staying home this past year and thinking about it and redoing a kitchen where I didn’t tear down the wall, I changed my mind. It’s just so dang expensive!
You need to hire an architect or engineer, redo the flooring in both rooms, re-route HVAC and electrical. If the wall is load bearing you need a support beam. I just don’t want an open floor plan enough to go to the expense.
Plus, the second I drew out a long table in the kitchen with the wall still up, I felt like it was the most true option to the house. So I’m going for a cozy kitchen! Also, I’m wanting to add a fireplace. When I say cozy, I mean it!
before photos
Here are some pictures from when we bought the house-
It was dark and sad and felt like a cave.
And here are the pictures from right before we did demo (after the bandaid renovation where I painted everything).
questions?
So, what questions do you have? I’ll be going over more in Instagram stories, including showing all the demo we’ve been doing- the room is down to the studs! We had to start early if we have the chance to finish in 8 weeks from now! But let me know what you’re wondering in the comment section.
Right now, the room is down to the studs. I’ll be honest- we have a TON of work to do. I’m already really nervous at how we’ll possibly finish on time. I may have too many projects to finish on time. But keep reading to see how it all goes down.
Make sure to follow along on the bandaid renovation to see the kitchen get torn apart and the exciting discoveries!
one room challenge featured designers
Make sure to check out what room all the other featured designers will be working on-
April Blake says
Looks fun! I am intrigued by your family’s cross-country life. What made you decide to do this? How do you handle keeping stuff in 2 places? Or what do you do if you leave something in the other house?!
Ashley Wilson says
Hi April! I have details on why we decided to be snow birds here- https://athomewithashley.com/were-moving/
We move most our clothes, toys and tools from house to house in the back of our truck. I have many more details on Instagram.com/athomewithashley under my highlight called snow bird. We make sure to pack the important stuff, but most things can be replaced. Each home has a locked area for our personal stuff. We go to visit the other house every 3 months to make sure it’s doing ok.
Jennifer Laura Living says
Love that you are just going for it! It’s going to be amazing and I can’t wait to follow along!
Ashley Wilson says
Thank you! I so appreciate you following along Jennifer!