Our New Place!

Check out the before and after of my kitchen/family room:

Check out the super high unusable pedestal in the middle and the ugly green tile.
Also, I hated how the carpet went all the way to the bar...that's a no-no when you have kids.

After the remodel:

I know the paint looks green up in the corner, but it's the same dark
brown everywhere else.  Not quite sure what my camera was doing.
If I was a true photographer, I would have edited it.  I am not.

We owe all this to the amazing Stephen.  As you can see, he is truly amazing.  Stephen is my dad's adopted son.  He has worked with my dad for 2 decades (?) and he is a self taught contractor.  When we bought the home, it had an unfinished basement.  To help us the mortgage, we decided to have him finish it for us and make it into a basement apartment.  He saw my kitchen and he could see that this could definitely use some help.  He suggested we start here and then he could head to the basement. He did all of this in 2 weeks!

We were able to use our same cabinets and just paint them.  Then he designed my AWESOME bar and made our family room smaller so that the walkway would be wood and not carpet.  My dad happened to have the "Suspend-it" seating installed in a Party Room at work and was kind enough to let us rip it out and we just had to buy the new chairs to go on them.  (They were bright blue before so we felt it was necessary to do that upgrade.)  Also, since we are finishing our basement to put in a basement apartment for my little sister to live in, we decided to put all the old appliances down there and give me the new ones.  Spoiled, yes.  Also, we weren't going to rip out the fireplace, but....after finding mold when we ripped out the carpet...the fireplace had to be remodeled too, but I am sure glad.  It looks like a whole new house. 

So, there you have it.  Our home.  Couldn't be more happy.

Oh, and thanks to Stephen's wife if you're listening.  Thanks for allowing him to slave at our house to get it finished for us.  We owe you just as much as we owe him.