Plank and Beam Kitchen Ceiling Thus Far

I keep talking about the work we're doing on our kitchen ceiling and I realized yesterday that I haven't taken any up to date photos of our progress. I posted a couple of "after dark" photos last month, but they weren't that great, and since then we've added the final and third beam (it still needs a little work, the last beam). In this photo, you can see what we started with - a very ugly, outdated, weird plastered part "faux" cottage cheese, part "stalactite" looking ceiling. It's hard to tell in this photo, but trust me, it was very, very, ugly. Here's a close-up if you'd like to see for yourself. You've been warned, lol!

And here is how the ceiling looks so far. I know the beams may be a little over the top for this little ranch-to-cottage house, but I really love the feeling they create in the kitchen. We're going to add finishing trim to conceal any gaps created by our very uneven old ceiling, then we'll paint it all out white, even the beams. (I really like the look of wood and would love to just stain it, but hubs likes the look and airiness of an all white ceiling...I agree - I just like both looks, lol.) The wall you see beside the fridge and window is the wall I'm seriously thinking about bricking up and painting the same color white, then distressing.

And here is a shot from the other side of the kitchen. See the part of the beam we need to finish up? That's where the flu hit a few weeks ago and we left off. This weekend, barring a major emergency, we'll finish it up and add the trim. Don't you just love our slothlike progress?

A few have written me and asked what we plan on doing for our countertops. We decided to just go with laminate. In many ways, it goes against all I'm working toward in making our kitchen as old-fashion as possible, but sometimes you just have to compromise. I didn't want to clean tile grout and soapstone (which I really like) was way out our budget. Stained concrete would have been pretty, but even I wasn't up to the task of tackling that project. I had some crazy, inexpensive, and unique ideas like using pebblestones (you can buy them in sheets like small tiles are sold!) or something similar for both the counter and backsplash for a really cohesive, natural look, but hubs wasn't thrilled and thought it would be too hard to clean. So anyway, we decided on a neutral laminate.

And here is a glimpse of what the brick pavers will look like against our countertop choice. The pavers will go all the way up to the bottom of the cabinets. I was concerned that the laminate might be a little too dark, but the antiqued-white backsplash really helps to balance everything out.

This is a shot of the countertop with the cabinets in view. Despite my initial worries, I think they go together nicely and keep the natural feel I was going for. I think it will go well, too, with all the oil-rubbed bronze fixtures I've bought for the kitchen. Oh, by the way, I lugged a piece of the countertop in for these photos - we haven't actually installed them yet. *sniff* We also haven't installed our lighting which means we've been working and eating by the light of big ugly portable yellow heat lamp lights (or whatever they are called, lol.) Ahhhh - the joys of home renovation!