Brick Wall and Farmhouse Kitchen Island Reveal (Kitchen Makeover Part 1)

We dreamed about this project for a long time, and after several weeks of prep, project work and clean up… today is the big day! I’m so stinking thrilled to be sharing our new brick wall and the farmhouse kitchen island reveal with you! The new brick wall is all ready to show itself off. Jim did a beautiful job creating this real brick accent wall for our home and he gets allll the credit for this one! I’ll circle back later to share all the before photos and how we did the DIY install all ourselves. After a little sunshine, I was finally able to take some halfway decent photos to share with you, and I’m not waiting one minute more.

Here she is…

Our DIY brick wall, plus our new chunky, farmhouse kitchen island.

Not only did Jimmy put in the brick wall, but we had to install new flooring where the footprint of the old cabinet was. And I will warn you again… never get a dark wood floor. On my honor, I cleaned this floor right before I set up my tripod to take pictures. Yet it still looks like there is a fine layer of dust. It makes me crazy. Crazy I tell you! 

Here is a reminder of what the space looked like before:

And now.

With the built-in cabinets gone, and the new brick wall…

Anyhow, we were able to feather the new flooring in and it’s flawless! It’s like it’s always been there. Dust and all. LOL. Okay, as much as it’s making my eye twitch, I won’t mention it again. 

We really unexpectedly stumbled into the new island. We had intended to build a custom piece here, but we got ambushed with some other unexpected projects that were a much higher priority, so store-bought it was.

I’ll link to the island, and the new bar stools down below (they were a steal)! 

The island couldn’t be working out any better. It was very spur of the moment and fell into place beautifully. We really lucked out. A local shop was doing a Facebook live and I happened to see it! We ran down, took the measurements, and knew it would be perfect. It’s got amazing storage — with the 3 drawers, big front cabinet section and than the cabinets on both ends. 

I don’t even have them filled up yet. But… give me time. (wink wink)

Honestly, this spot is so new to me, and I don’t really feel like I did a great job capturing how pretty it looks now. I love it and it’s so much warmer and just… lovely in person. 

If you’ve been thinking about making a change to a space and you can’t do everything you want to, try sectioning off the room into zones, or prioritize what you want to change the most, and do that first. 

This spot in our home was the most troublesome as far as functionality, so we started here. 

I’m so glad we tackled this portion of our kitchen. It’s always been such a odd spot with the old built in cabinet, and trying to do anything in the center, yet still have room to walk-thru to the other rooms.

It was simply too tight! 

Now, you can orbit the island in any direction and there is room to spare. The entire room functions & connects to the outlying rooms better and the traffic flow is greatly improved! It’s so much more open and inviting. 

Right now, we’ve switched our attention to getting the exterior of our house painted and protected before the weather changes! It’s a race.

We found some damage and rot, and are replacing a massive support, the siding and all the big windows in the sun room. Yikes. When we are done it’ll be safe, strong and sound… but won’t look much different at all. Another “money you can’t see project”.  A bit more than we planned for, but it’s got to be done. 

I’ve got two more parts (possibly 3) to complete in the kitchen to get it how I want it to look, feel and function. I’ll be sharing my plans for the next step with you soon. Oh boy, and is it ever needed! I’ve been putting it off for years, but it’s time to address it. 

I’m sorry I wasn’t very story-telly on this one friends. We’ve been racing from one thing to the next trying to wrap things up before we get hit with 8-9 months of rain, so it’s been crazy-busy over here.  

Next week, I’m planning to work on a wee bit of Halloween, and also a Autumn tablescape. I know it’s later than usual, But for right now, can you even with these Fall Hydrangeas??? They just dried like that. Perfectly glorious!

I can’t get enough of them. 

Thank you SO much for always cheering us on, and being so kind and encouraging. It means the world to both Jim & I ( I know I’ll be reading him the comments on this one). And it sure makes it a joy to share our home and projects with you! Much love, Shannon 

SHOPPING SOURCES:

• Bricks: Click Here We bought online, they were delivered on a pallet to our front door.

• Our White Wood & Barn Door Kitchen Island [Click Here]

• Our Rustic Black Metal & Wood Bar Stools: Click Here — available in counter or pub height, smooth or natural finish top

If you want to see our most recent changes to the dining room that sits right off this room… click here or on the image below. 

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