Guest Post ~ Schue Love

Today I am so excited that Natasha is stopping by to share her amazing home rennovation with you guys.  Natasha is one of my favorite bloggers, and is definitely a daily read of mine.  She has amazing taste and style...and is a mommy-to-be!  I know you will enjoy what she has in store today!

 Hi Friends!  I'm Natasha from Schue Love and I'm super excited to be crashing Amy's blog today!
I'm so excited that Amy's moving into her dream home...isn't it gorgeous?  My husband and I bought our first home almost 3 years ago...right before we got married.  We were thrilled to take advantage of the buyer's market at the time {housing in CA is expensive!} but also knew that getting into our "dream home" would mean rolling up our sleeves and doing lots of work!

This is a picture of our house when we first bought it.  I loved the red front door and thought it had a lot of charm!  We also loved the neighborhood and saw lots of potential with the layout of the house.  The inside, however, was a WHOLE different story.  The previous owners were smokers and pet owners...so you can only imagine the smell when you first walked in.  There was trash everywhere and a whole slew of mismatched flooring, wall treatments and more.  It was a nightmare!  Little by little...we renovated the home, from top to bottom.  Thankfully, it's a whole new house now!



   One of the biggest transformations was the kitchen.  It was very outdated and had a funky layout, which included a HUGE brick fireplace smack dab in the middle...not functional at all!  Take a look...

See what I mean?  We took out the fireplace and removed everything in the kitchen...and I mean everything!  Right down to the studs!

 We added about three feet of wall to allow for more wall/cabinet space.  All new drywall was installed as well.

A skylight was added where the chimney was.  It's added a lot of nice light to the room!

 And here is the kitchen now!  We added a kitchen island which is super functional for us.  The cabinets are solid alder.  

Here is a view from the other direction.  We recently painted the hutch black, you can read more about that project here.  We also recently added the gray chevron rug.  You can purchase it at Urban Outfitters.  

 The gray wallpaper in the back ties the rug and our granite together.

Our kitchen opens up to the family room...It's great for entertaining!

It's hard to believe our kitchen started out like this...

and now looks like this!

We love our kitchen and are so glad we took the time to renovate before moving in.  The kitchen is now super functional and a great gathering place for family and friends!  :)

You can see more of our home here.

Thanks so much to Amy for having me today and best of luck with the move!!

xo natasha

Pretty amazing transformation, huh?!?
Tomorrow, Courtney from A Thoughtful Place will be by to share some fun decorating ideas!