Slowly but surely, my mom’s condo is coming together. Between her bedroom, her bedroom built-ins, her hallway of frames, and her entryway…things are looking absolutely gorgeous in her place! 

But there is one area that has been lacking from the start. The kitchen. Here are the real estate photos from when she bought it, to give you a sense of the space…

Kitchen Before – Real Estate Photos

The space isn’t huge and my mom was actually pretty worried about storage when she first moved in since there aren’t many kitchen cabinets. We remedied that problem with a large credenza to hold plates, glasses, etc. (I’ll be sure to photograph it when we finish this space!).

This kitchen is in the heart of my mom’s condo, so we want it to look nice and flow well with the rest of the rooms. Right now she has a lot of soft colors happening…creams, whites, grays, and blush. The dark cabinets and blue backsplash in this kitchen just don’t mesh well with the style in the other rooms, so we’re going to fix that!

Kitchen Makeover – Where We’re At Now

The plan is to do a cosmetic refresh of the space. The configuration, kitchen cabinets, and appliances are staying, we’re simply giving everything a nice facelift! When you’re not moving plumbing and electrical around, you can save some money. And since this space is pretty small, it shouldn’t be too expensive of a renovation for my mom.

My mom hired a contractor who is tackling the following tasks…

• Remove Blue Subway Tile (already done!)
• Paint Kitchen Cabinets
• Install New Countertops
• Install New Sink & Faucet
• Install New Backsplash
• Hang Floating Shelves
• Swap out Pendant Lights

As you can see, the blue tile is already gone, they removed the range hood to prep the space, and the contractor is just about ready to get started. Things are moving quickly and we are so excited to see this kitchen makeover come to life!

I helped my mom choose some of the finishes and items for the room, and I think we have a pretty good gameplan together. We’re using this kitchen makeover from Studio McGee as our inspiration.

I just love the warm neutral look of this kitchen and think it would work well for my mom’s condo. 

Kitchen Makeover – Mood Board

Sink // Faucet // Stools // Brass Handle // Brass Pendants

Countertops & Tile: My mom decided on a marble looking quartz for the countertops. It’s a bright white with some gray veining and it is absolutely stunning. Then, she went with this classic white subway tile.  We’re planning to bring the tile all the way over to the patio door and up to the top of the window, so it will make a big impact on the wall!

Cabinets: As I mentioned, my mom is having her contractor paint her existing cabinets. We haven’t decided on an exact color yet, but we definitely want to do a warm gray tone (similar to the color in the Studio McGee kitchen). After checking out a variety of brass hardware, we’re going with this one. The color is perfect (not too dark) and the price is right.

Sink & Faucet: We are so excited to partner with Elkay on the sink and faucet. The company is based right here in the Chicagoland and they have gorgeous products. We ordered this quartz sink in the color “ricotta”, along with this faucet in “lustrous steel”. The sink and faucet in my mom’s kitchen now are pretty horrendous, so these upgrades are going to make such a big difference!

Lighting & Accessories: The pendants over the kitchen island now are way too small, so I’m excited to beef it up with larger brass ones. We’re leaning towards these ones from Rejuvenation. We’re also going to add some floating shelves on the wall to the left of the window, in between the door. I’m looking for light wood shelves that are 20″, but most are at least 2 feet long. So the search continues (or I’ll have to DIY some)…

The next time I show you this space, it will be looking very very different! Can’t wait to see it all come together so my mom can have the kitchen of her dreams.

Casey