I'm so excited for our future kitchen renovation, but I'm also terrified of all the decisions. Today I've partnered with Frost Bank to share with you our plans for our kitchen and living room.

Many people ask how we know this is our forever home. I love our location, school district, neighborhood and the price we payed is unbeatable. If we wanted to purchase a home now, we would have to pay much more for a fixer upper or double our mortgage to get a new home that fits our style.

On to the fun part...kitchen plans! Here are the major steps we're going to take to renovate our 80's kitchen. 

ADD SPACE

My least favorite thing about our home is we don't have a dining area to accommodate more than a small table. I would like a wide open kitchen where guests feel comfortable walking around and chatting while we're cooking or entertaining. When we have parties, our kitchen is where everyone migrates and currently we feel like sardines. We plan on blowing out the exterior wall that faces our backyard which already has foundation/cement ready to be built on. With that extension we'll add about 200 square feet to our kitchen. We'll then add a new door and rework where our windows are. We will also be able to add a larger dining table. 

We might be moving some interior walls as well to rearrange where our refrigerator sits. It's always in our way! Hoping to move it to the laundry room area right next to our kitchen which will still make it easily accessible. 

We also plan on raising our kitchen ceiling to meet the height of our vaulted living room ceiling, and adding a beam to match. We'll also remove the ugly spindles and half wall in between our kitchen and living room so the space will flow. We aren't sure if the wall is load bearing, but if it is we'll likely add a single wood beam. 

REPLACE CABINETS / HARDWARE

Everyday I'm annoyed by my cabinets. They don't close fully, and the paint is chipping from my not so great paint job 5 years ago. Alex suggested he build them, but I quickly said no. Would it save us money? Yes. Would I lose my mind and get super upset if there was a mistake? Yes. Not worth it in my eyes. For the sake of our marriage, some things need to be left to the professionals. I have a feeling I will stick with white cabinets and silver/nickel hardware, but might go with a light gray for the bottom cabinets. I'm not in to open shelving mainly because I want to HIDE my dishes and Tupperware because they are not cute ; ). However, I would love to have a few glass upper cabinets similar to this. 

We'll remove the soffit above our cabinets, and possibly add an island. All the cabinets will be rearranged, but our sink will likely remain in the same area.

APPLIANCES / SINK

This is where Alex wants to go ALL OUT, and I'm like "Eh"...whatever. Probably because I don't like to cook. I don't hate our appliances now, but obviously we'll want a new look when we have new cabinets. Likely stainless steel. For our sink I really want a large undermount single basin sink! Not sure if I will go with a farmhouse style or a more modern stainless steel style.

COUNTERTOP / BACKSPLASH

Currently our countertop and backsplash are white laminate with specs of turquoise. I would like to replace the counters with engineered quartz, likely something that looks similar to marble. It will depend on the color of our cabinets. For our backsplash I'm thinking something very simple and neutral such as white subway tile. 

FLOORING

I'm extremely excited about having consistent flooring flow from my living room to my kitchen since it will be an open space. I'm really leaning towards faux wood tile! What are your thoughts on this? Yay? Nay?

LIGHTING

Our current overhead kitchen light makes me feel like I'm about to be abducted by aliens. It's hideous and I'm OCD about calming light. How did anyone think a giant fluorescent light as a good idea? I'm extremely excited to see it go and add recessed lighting.

There you have it! I know I'm missing a few things, but these are the major things we'll be changing. With all that being said money is the main factor in every decision we make. Speaking with our Frost Bank banker has helped Alex and I learn what steps we need to take to afford this renovation. Once our children are out of daycare we will take out a home improvement loan and pay monthly payments. When getting approved for the loan, Frost Bank also takes in to consideration the value being added to the home due to the renovation when it comes to how much you can be approved for. This is great news for us, because we'll need a pretty substantial loan (over $50,000). They also lower your interest rate when you allow the payment to come out of your debit account. We are looking at a 15 year loan, but would hopefully pay off before then. Check out Frost Bank's loan options here if you are interested!