Hall Closet Turned Mini Mudroom Makeover

Me and my hubby started out our life together as newlyweds in Minnesota, the land of snow and bitter winter temps. Some of the best advice we received while we lived there was, "Once you have kids, never buy a house without a mudroom." Let's face it. Kids haul a lot of stuff to school in the winter, book bags, puffy coats, hats, gloves and snow boots. And their little legs and arms make it pretty impossible for them to hang their stuff up on their own in your standard hall closet with wire racks. 

Unfortunately when we bought our house in Illinois, we didn't heed this advice. Now that we have two kids in school their stuff was starting to pile up all over the house. And no one ever knew where their coat or shoes were when it was time to head out of the door. I had seen the idea of converting a hall closet into a mudroom around Pinterest before, so me and the hubby decided to give it a try. Here is how it turned out.

Dining Room - Before & After

It is reflection time again. I have shied away from sharing a before and after of my dining room because it is incomplete in my eyes. I still need some window treatments, wall hangings, a rug perhaps. But I am sick of waiting, and I want to share it with you because it is my happy place. Seriously, I sometimes just sit in my front room and stare at the dining room because it is so pretty and peaceful. 

Window Shopping Wednesday - Vanity Light Fixtures

It's time again for Window Shopping Wednesday, a new feature on Pretty Distressed designed to help you shop from the comfort of your computer chair. No showering or makeup required.

This week I am taking a look at bathroom vanity light fixtures. Light fixtures can be a big investment, but in the grand scheme of remodeling costs, you can get a lot of bang for your buck by replacing a dated fixture. And in most cases, they are pretty easy to install as long as you follow the safety instructions included with your purchase.

Look at the difference in my own master bath once I updated my $35 builder grade light with the Argenta 5 Light Vanity Light from Z-Lite.

The Great Remodel - Kitchen Deets

This is it. My fourth and final post on the kitchen remodel. It is time for all the juicy details on the products and vendors we used.

We started out meeting with Christ from Pearl Design Group in Bloomingdale, Ill. The experience was awesome. We had met with several other vendors before this, but Christ was the first that I got excited about working with. He really listened to my wants and concerns particularly about wanting seating at the island and came up with the solution to shift the fridge over to give us more space. Genius! 

The Great Remodel - Kitchen Before and After Pics

So the big kitchen reveal was on Monday if you missed it. In this post, I wanted to share some before and after pics- HGTV style. I wish I had taken more pics when we first moved in before the floors and new appliances went in, but it is still a major transformation.

The Great Remodel - The Kitchen Reveal

After patiently waiting, the kitchen reveal is here! We are so happy with the results, and I am so glad I don't have to make any more decisions for a while.

Vacation Time

Pretty Distressed will be taking a brief hiatus to escape the craziness that is my kitchen while we wait for our countertops to get rendered. It is the perfect time for me and the kiddos to escape to the South to visit the grandparents. I will see you in a week!

Until then, I will leave you with one small tease of the kitchen remodel progress...

The Great Remodel - Kitchen Demo

For those who don't know, my family relocated back to Chicago in early September from Indianapolis. Simply put, we had to downsize a little and sacrifice lots of finishes to make our dream of living near family again a reality.

For the past five months, our labor of love has been doing our best to upgrade our home as our budget allowed. Since we purchased the home we have put in hardwood floors and new trim, replaced light fixtures and door knobs, bought new appliances, and painted almost every wall in the house just to name a few things. I have dubbed this labor of love #thegreatremodel. 

During this time we have learned to do a lot of things on our own, but we have also learned that there is a time to throw in the towel and hire a professional. The kitchen remodel is one of those times. Not that I doubt my husband's ability to install cabinets, but with his full time job and two kids, I couldn't see us carving out the time to get it done in a timely manner. 

So once we were able to save up for the project, we headed over to Pearl Design Group in Bloomingdale to pick out cabinets and hired Michael Titoni from the Titoni Group Inc to do our install. 

Here is a picture of what the kitchen looked like before we moved in.