Almost two years after purchasing our lake house, the kitchen renovation is officially complete!

Here is a Before shot.

I think it goes without saying that the kitchen was not a selling point of the house. I mean, seriously, this kitchen is a lumberjack's dream come true! It's like the all the Pine trees in the world just came together for a Knotty Pine Convention. The only thing missing is the Pine scented air freshener tree hanging from the ceiling! But if that wasn't enough, the icing on the cake was the yellow formica countertops.

Bottom line, there was some room for improvement in the kitchen. However, as much as I may be insulting the cabinets, we didn't mind them too much...or maybe the better way of putting it was we DID mind the amount of money we'd have to spend on refacing or replacing the cabinets. So, after getting a couple quotes for new cabinets, we decided knotty pine it is! Once that was decided, the next challenge was how we were going to work with these cabinets. Let the fun begin!

Given the small space, we knew we weren't going to create our "dream kitchen". We decided to put that idea on the back burner as part of our "10 year plan". Therefore, we had to figure out what we could do to make the most of the space we had, while still not trying to blow the budget, knowing that we may want to change it up in 10 years or so. That meant we would continue to have a kitchen with no dishwasher.

After months of analyzing and critiquing the space, we opted for the following changes:

• Open shelving on the top
• New countertops
• New sink and faucet
• New appliances
• New flooring
• Replace island
• New lighting
• Replace window

That meant we would keep the following:

• Cabinets
• Beadboard & Paneled walls

Although this seems like a long laundry list, in terms of a kitchen remodel, we were able to keep it relatively budget-friendly.

So are you envisioning it yet?! I think it was at this point of the remodel I sat back and said "Yes, this is it! It's going to be perfect!" Once the upper cabinets were off, the yellow formica was removed, and the flooring was up, I could really start to picture the end product. I'm sure some of you are reading this and thinking I'm completely crazy right now! But it's true, I was already falling in love the kitchen and knew it was going to be great. An added bonus was when we removed the fomica backsplash, we found the original beadboard behind it. I loved the authenticity of it, AND it meant we could save money by not having to install a new backsplash.

The next step was to paint. And so I painted...like it was going out of style!

After the painting came the finishing touches...and there were A LOT of them. I think I'll save some of those details for another time, so for now, let's jump ahead to the 'After'. I mean, that's what we're all here for anyways, right?!

And there it is...the farmhouse kitchen we always dreamed about!

Of course, a farmhouse kitchen wouldn't be complete without a farmhouse sink.

We tried to keep the faucet somewhat coordinated with all the bathroom faucets. I love the vintage look of this one.

The biggest challenge was deciding on countertops and appliances. Personally, I am so sick of reading home listings boasting "stainless steel appliances and granite countertops...woo-hoo!!!" As if you've never seen those features before and they've discovered something so profound. So, when I set out to find countertops and appliances, I was adamant I wanted to stay far, far away from the 'stainless steel and granite' trap. Well let's say I got one leg stuck, but I didn't get fully sucked in.

After looking at the whole gamut of countertop options and weighing out the pros and cons of each, it just made the most sense for us to go with the granite. It is the most durable option and it requires the least amount of maintenance. With that being decided, I figured I could splurge and get my marble fix on the island.

You can read the full details of this makeover here