Let the diy begin...with a $10,000 kitchen remodel

We searched and searched for the perfect little Southern California beach house.  I daydreamed about a cute little beach cottage ~ shingles, shutters, a sweet little yard and definitely a farm house sink.  Well, turns out it wasn't easy to find perfection within our limited price range.

A fixer upper was the only way we were going to become home owners.  We finally found the one we wanted to transform and after a loooong escrow, it was ours.

So my fantasies changed, instead of decorating and painting, I was knocking down walls, using a tile saw and washing dishes in the bathtub.  And you know what, I actually think that's a lot more fun!

I'm going to start with our biggest project...the kitchen remodel!

I feel like everyone has been through one, but ours was a bit unique in that we only had $10,000 to spend.  I'm a pretty determined little gal and I spent A LOT of time bargain hunting.  It was definitely a labor of love.  Of course it took longer than expected.  I threw one of my best girlfriends a baby shower with half a kitchen and a tar covered un-refinished wood floor because we terribly misjudged our "finish date".  Oh well, those little stories that caused tears at the time, seem like good memories now.

I submitted our kitchen to This Old House magazine for their annual reader remodel contest.  We didn't win, but we did get sort of close.  The prize was $10,000 which would have covered all our costs (would have been nice)!  I must say the winner of the contest has an amazing kitchen (but I still wouldn't trade it for our diy version). You can ogle over the beautiful winner here.  Anyway, they recently emailed and asked if I could send them more info and pics for an upcoming issue.  This one doesn't involve any prize money, but This Old House is one of my favorite mags so I was excited anyway.

I just finished putting together all of the info and pics to send off to TOH, so now it's all organized and ready for my blog!

Here are a few beginning and after pics to get you excited.

In my upcoming posts I'll be explaining what we did, what we spent, what we'd do again and what we wouldn't!