Is This Real Life?!: The Gossip Corner with Stini

Hey Gossip Readers! For today's post I wanted to gossip about something other than celebs and instead share some helpful tips on home renovations. Now I know this may sound a little random but we are in the process of renovating the kitchen and bathrooms at my house, and I wanted to share the Do's and Don'ts of what we've learned so far.
Let's start from the beginning... As an avid HGTV watcher I have picked up on a few tips when it comes to renovating homes. Ever since we moved into our house 7 years ago I have been bugging my parents to make the necessary updates that will not only make the house nicer and up-to-date but will also help them sell the house in the future (not anytime soon). Back in October my mom finally agreed to go to a local Home Show-probably because it was free and it was right down the road from our house-needless to say I was excited! We decided to focus on the kitchen and upstairs bathrooms, since those are the main selling points of a home.

For our kitchen we needed new counter-tops, lighter color on the floor, and more shelving space in our cabinets. When we first began this process we looked at all of the options and I do mean ALL, for example; re-facing cabinets, different types of counter-tops, and what to do with the floor. Our kitchen was WAY too dark for us so we wanted to lighten it up a bit but without breaking the piggy bank.

Here are some in the process shots of our kitchen

My kitchen tips:

-Check magazines for inspiration

-You DON'T have to rip everything out and start over! You can change the entire appearance just by updating the counter-tops, back splash, and the color of your cabinets

-Go to Home Shows if you can because they usually have specials and are locally owned businesses

-Get estimates from 3-4 different companies/contractors, don't just hand over a check to the first person who walks in the door no matter how much they may pressure you!

-Have a pre-determined budget in mind that way you know how much you are and are not willing to spend

-Always ask for references and do your research on the company/person before making any commitments

-Research what you want done and roughly how much it should cost, this way you know if you're getting a good deal or not

Here's what we did in our kitchen:

-For our counter-tops we chose to go with Granite from Let's Get Stoned Marble & Granite which is a family owned business outside of Philadelphia. They were super helpful during the entire process since our kitchen was a little more complicated because of it being an older home. You right to their shop and pick out your slab(s) and how you want the layout. Installation is a few hours and then you're good to go!

Our new counter-tops!

-For our flooring we didn't want to replace it because the Spanish tile was in good shape, good for our dog, and way to expensive to replace. So we had the grout recolored and lighter color seal put on top. The company we went with is Grout Lines USA which is out of Delaware. Check out our before and after: