The Lettered Cottage

You are here: Home / DIY Decorating Inspiration / Tudor Style

Tudor Style

By

Hey there!

We’re back with a few more shots of our neighbors kitchen today! If you didn’t see the ones we featured in our e-zine, you can check them out here.

Here’s a shot of what the kitchen looked like when they bought the house back in 1999…

Among other things, they removed the bar that separated the kitchen from the dining room, replaced all the light fixtures (with salvaged ones), and took down the 70’s style linoleum backsplash.

Here’s a shot of the stove area, before and after…

Peter reconstructed some of the cabinets on the left so that things would look a little more symmetrical. He used a set of salvaged doors on the cabinet above the fridge, and they removed the soffit up above the upper cabs to make room for some of the vintage kitchen items they’ve collected.

Here’s another piece of their collection that I absolutely LOVE…

And here’s a shot of Josette’s potato masher collection…

She started collecting them as a young girl and especially treasures the one from her Grandmother. (The shortest one in the photo above) You can see the salvaged window Peter installed (sideways) over the kitchen sink in that photo too.

This is a shot of the garden window he removed….

To make for a smoother transition during the switcheroo, Peter installed the salvaged window first, then removed the existing window. Smart idea!

This last shot seemed to be one of the most popular pics in our e-zine, so we thought we post it here again…

It shows how Peter and Josette transformed their kitchen cabinets by giving them a facelift with thin strips of wood before painting them. What a fantastic way to create a shaker style door, huh?


Click here to subscribe

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. sarita

    how clever is that idea for the shaker cabinet doors!!! i love the red door also! thank you for showing us ideas that we can use in our homes.

  5. Shannon

    Thank YOU! for the colors! I have paint chips all over my kitchen trying to match that one.

  8. Christiane

    Thanks for so much inspiration 😀 I love your blog.
    And know I know what the wooden thing in my kichen is for, which I got from my grandgrandmother 😀
    It´s an potato masher 😀 I used it to press Blackberries through a sieve. ;P

    LG
    Christiane

  10. kristin mccullough

    Cut it out! those vinyl topped stools that helped to create that out-of-date look in the first photo re-appear in the last photo looking fabulous!!!!!! I am also intrigued that the cabinet color and the wall color are exactly the same. The cabinet door fix? BRILLIANT!

  12. Midwest Magnolia - Melissa Lewis

    Wow, what a transformation. I love the way they altered the cabinet doors. And the pop of red really adds a lot to the personality of the kitchen. Thanks for sharing this with us. I want that old tin Sugar container…bad!

  13. NataLee Callahan

    Great photos… thanks for sharing. The cabinet door solution is one that I LOVE. So easy and inexpensive. Congratulations on your e-zine and everything else you have in the works.

  14. Debbie

    Layla & Kev,

    First off let me say that I love, love, love your blog! I am a fairly new fan, but have already taken many of your ideas when contemplating changes in my own home. I check your blog daily and am NEVER disappointed in what I find. You are both so talented!

    Secondly, thank you for sharing the redo pics of Peter and Josette’s kitchen. It is amazing! I would have never believed that is the same kitchen! I now have some ideas to use in my own kitchen.

  19. Diana

    Ooooh I love the pops of red! That is a beautiful kitchen and what a clever idea on the cabinet door makeover. Love it! I am also a sucker for any vintage kitchen gadget….beautiful!

  20. Courtney

    glad I read your PS – I was just about to ask what the cabinet color was!! 🙂 it pays to read the WHOLE post. Love it!!

  21. C

    What a treat to see the Lance jar – my husband has worked for them for 40 years! A delightful re-do and fully expected the doors to be new, the refurb detail very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

  24. Gini

    I LOVE what they did–and the cabinet makeover is amazing! (I think that my parents have those cabinets. 🙂

  25. Melissa @ A Place to Nest

    Do they have any advice for the counters on where to start? I see in the e-zine they had a local fabricator and then a roofing person do it all. I would love to do this project but not sure where to start. If they do- they can write me on my blog- I would really appreciate it!!
    Melissa

  27. Melanie

    wow! thanks for sharing! SOOOO cleverly done and it turned out beautiful- love the way the walls and cabinets are the same color!

  28. wendy

    Layla,
    Love, Love, love this kitchen. I love the splashes of red threw out. Those cupboards are amazing, I am rushing to my kitchen to see if they would work on mine.
    I was wondering if the floors are original or something new?

    • Josette

      The floors are original. We did have to make a couple patches and refinish the area that was under the bar that we removed.

  29. geri

    Lots of oooooo’s and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHs!
    I love when you get a kitchen that looks like you spent thousands of dollars and from a magazinecover.
    I love even better when it is done with broken nails, banged fingers, and tons of creative,
    talented , and simple ideas.
    Just simply beautious.

  30. robin allen

    I just want to know WHERE on EARTH did they get their barstools….I have been looking for some just like that…that don’t cost a small island to purchase…..WONDERFUL kitchen…RED is my favorite color….

    • Josette

      We got them in Chicago at a secondhand store in an antique district. We pretty much pick up a piece or two on every trip that we take. They look like they actually date from the 1950s and cost about $50 for the pair as I recall. Many places online have affordable reproductions of the stools though.

  39. michelle

    Wow that is so smart, when we house hunting at times i seen those 70’s style cabints I thought wow even painting wont update it.
    I thought this kicthen had been refaced or got new cabinets for this redo and when I seen how they used what was there that blew me away. Awesome idea, and love there new kicthen and the paint color is so pretty.

  40. Cheryl

    what a transformation! The afters are lovely. Love how they used the base of the old cabinet doors to refashion something more up to date. Shaker style is so classic and looks great in their kitchen.

  44. glenda b

    Oh wow! I had those same cabinets in my old kitchen and hated them, but the way they redid these is amazing. This kitchen is awesome. Thanks for sharing!!

  46. Eileen

    We have “California Poppy” on our front door, benches, and our barn! We absolutely love that color.

  48. Amelia@ Wind Chimes

    I admired the transformation of the house. The kitchen became lovely, lively, sassy, and more chic. Did the flooring also change or it stayed the same?

    The red door accentuated and highlighted the new color of the wall and the cabinets. It’s easy on the eyes. A perfect mix and match.

  50. Rachel

    I have seen a few photos recently of those microwaves that go over the stove. Just curious if they have an inbuilt exhaust or if it means there is now no rangehood over the stove? I’ve not seen any like this in Australia.
    Great makeover of the cabinets too. Just wondering what sort of paint you would use on the cabinets – enamel? I imagine it would have to be something fairly hard-wearing and something that won’t cause them to stick.

    • Josette

      The over the stove microwave does have an exhaust fan. I wondered too how well the painted cabinets would wear, but almost ten years later, they still look great. The paintt has never chipped or peeled and we have only done a couple of small touch ups since we first did it. Even though I was skeptical, Home Depot said the Behr semi-gloss latex would hold up, and it has.
      We started with tinted Behr primer. Then we used the semi-gloss top coat. We used the same paint on the walls and cabinets. It is Behr brand paint, but we had it mixed in a Ralph Laren color.