• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Olives for Dinner

Vegan Recipes for Those Who Love to Cook and Eat

  • Recipes
  • Work with Us
  • About
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
Home » Reviews » Recaps and Roundups » Our Boston Kitchen: Before and After Pictures

September 5, 2013

Our Boston Kitchen: Before and After Pictures

When we purchased our first home a few years ago, we had no idea the amount of cosmetic work it was going to take to remove the 1970s vibe that defined the entire inside of it. However, even though the house was outdated aesthetically, we fell in love with the feel of it, and started our massive effort to remove the multiple layers of wallpaper that plastered virtually every inch of wallspace in the house shortly after we moved in.

It took a little over two years, but throughout 2008 and 2010, we removed all of it. Some rooms that had more than one layer of wallpaper (only one layer can be removed at a time), took multiple weeks of scraping, and the one room that had been wallpapered then painted over took more than a month to get rid of.

One of the rooms I am most proud of and spend the most time in is my kitchen. Before we began work on it, it was not a functional or warm space to work in, which made me incredibly motivated to improve it as much as possible. Although we never gutted it, we did make every possible cosmetic change we could with the space and existing dimensions the room presented, while staying within our budget.

Our Kitchen: Before and After

This is a picture of our kitchen right after we bought the house. As you can see, it was yellow, grimy and dated.

Our Kitchen: Before and After

After stripping, sanding and priming the walls, we applied pale blue, stark white and dark chocolate tones on the wall. We cleaned and repainted the grimy cabinets, and updated the hardware on them. The old formica was updated with a new countertop, and we bought a new dishwasher to replace the old one.

Our Kitchen: Before and After

The first few months we lived here, there was virtually no counter space next to the stove. I remember chopping food next to the sink, then balancing it on a cutting board as I walked across the kitchen, then balancing it on another pot while I cooked. Not fun.

Our Kitchen: Before and After

So we moved the refrigerator out of the space and bought a wooden chopping block to take its place. This is now a fully functional workspace, and I love the pot rack that Jeff hanged from the wall, as well as the magnetic strip for knives and three spice racks nearby for ease of use.

Our Kitchen: Before and After

We unfortunately had to put that refrigerator someplace and it now sits in this nook, in front of the window. I especially love the arch leading into the nook.

Our Kitchen: Before and After

Double wallpaper fiasco! 70s wallpaper on top of 60s wallpaper! This took me two straight days of maniacal scraping with a combination of stripping chemicals and elbow grease—it was like removing stubborn gum from a sidewalk. 40+ year-old wallpaper on plaster walls = severe adhesion issues.

Our Kitchen: Before and After

Ready for sanding and priming!

Our Kitchen: Before and After

Painting is done. Finally. Now I need to keep it organized, neat and clean!

Since 2010, we’ve made other improvements as we’ve had the time and money, like laying a dark chocolate wood floor over the grimy vinyl floor, installing crown molding, updating the cabinet hardware, painting the insides of the cabinets rocket red and replacing the sink with a new one, with new faucet fixtures.

I am amazed at how sanding and color can impact a space, giving it an entirely new look and feel. Although doing everything ourselves was rewarding, I doubt we will ever choose to do it again in another house. Actually, we will never move into another house with wallpaper plastered all over it. Never, ever!

2013 Vegan Mofo logo

You may also like:

2013 Holiday Roundup
A Review of Green Elephant in Portland, Maine
20 Packable and Portable Vegan Recipes
Making Olives for Dinner

Filed Under: Recaps and Roundups

We hope you enjoy this content!

We'd love for you to leave a comment below. For recipes, we would also love it if you gave it a rating. Thanks so much!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Karen Goodman says

    November 28, 2014 at 3:35 pm

    I've been searching for inspiration for the kitchen in my new home. For the first time, I'll be buying new cabinets instead of working around them (replacing everything but the cabinets). I LOVE your color combination. Thanks for the picture so I could visualize it. Pinned!

    Reply
  2. Franny says

    November 26, 2013 at 3:25 pm

    This is so inspiring, not an XXXtreme! Makeover! but instead something realistic and clean. Is there a reason you didn't put the cutting board in front of the window, instead of the fridge?

    Reply
    • erinwyso says

      November 26, 2013 at 3:59 pm

      Thanks Franny! While I would love to have the cutting board in front of the window, it's opposite from the oven/stove, which would require me balancing everything chopped across the kitchen.

      Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    November 26, 2013 at 6:05 pm

    This is wonderful. thanks for sharing. Where did you find the kind-of U-shaped chrome shelf supports? Thank you! Ann

    Reply
    • erinwyso says

      November 26, 2013 at 8:22 pm

      Thanks Ann! We bought the shelf and shelf supports at IKEA. I couldn't locate an exact link, but they are all over IKEA in the wall shelving section.

      Reply
« Older Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hi! I’m Erin Wysocarski. Glad you’re here.

I create vegan recipes for those who love to cook and eat. My husband Jeff photographs them. We live in Boston with our rescue dog, Harper. More about Erin →

Follow Me!

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest

As Seen On

Popular Recipes

Pasta, artistically draped around a fork on a table.

Pasta with White Wine Sauce

Two hands holding a glass mason jar of coffee sugar scrub.

Homemade Coffee Sugar Scrub

Two hands framing a plate of curry on a dark background.

Cauliflower and Mushroom Curry

A whole head of firecracker cauliflower, basted with sauce in a cast iron pan against a dark background.

Firecracker Cauliflower

A top-down shot of sweet potato tempura and avocado vegan sushi rolls with pickled ginger against a dark background.

Sweet Potato Tempura and Avocado Rolls

A top down shot of breaded vegan shrimp with sauce.

Vegan Shrimp

Two hands holding a bowl of bang bang cauliflow

Vegan Bang Bang Cauliflower

A bagel loaded with carrot lox, red onion, capers and vegan cream cheese on a wooden board.

Carrot Lox

Footer

About

Olives for Dinner is a vegan food blog for those who love to cook and eat. You'll find fresh, creative and delicious recipes here, all made with plants!

Search for recipes

VIEW ALL RECIPES

Interviews

Brian Patton, The Sexy Vegan
A photo of Amrita Levan, creator of the vegan blog, Crazy Vegan Kitchen.
Kathy Patalsky of Healthy. Happy. Life.

Sign up to get new recipes via email.

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
HOME ∙ ABOUT ∙ CONTACT ∙ PRIVACY

Copyright© 2023 · Brunch Pro Theme by Shay Bocks