Adding Charm to Our Kitchen - Before & During

 Hello friends! 

Thanks for stopping by to see what's going on around here!

When we built our house last year, none of the options the builder offered for finishing the island wrap and kitchen backsplash appealed to us.  We decided to just have them leave the drywall and we would decide the final look later and install it ourselves. I am so glad we did! 

The picture below was taken before closing.  The kitchen, living and dining are all open concept.  We have white cabinets & trim, neutral paint and light granite counters.  Out of view in the living room is a floor to ceiling stone fireplace with dark mantel and a dark oak entertainment center. There is also dark LVP throughout the entire home.  

With the kitchen being essentially shades of white and the living area heavy with wood & stone, the two areas were polar opposites and we needed to do something to make them more cohesive. 

We decided on stained oak beadboard for both the island and the backsplash.  My husband I purchased unfinished panels from Menards and cut them to size.

We dry fitted them to make sure our cuts were precise and then we numbered the backs of each piece prior to finishing. 

After applying a coat of Minwax Aged Barrel Oil Stain and top coating with three coats of Minwax Warm Satin Polyurethane, we used construction adhesive and a nail gun to install the panels.

Palmer was happy to supervise between naps.

You can already see the transformation taking place! It turned out so beautifully and really married the spaces together.  

I will be back soon to show you all the beautiful "results" as well as show you an "oops" that we turned into an asset.

Have a wonderful Monday!