Kitchen: Part Deux

My mother, wise woman that she is, always tells me "not to frost the cake before the cake is finished baking." She isn't referencing an actual cake, although it would make sense with my uncanny ability to pull out baked goods 5 minutes before they actually should be removed from the oven.

What she means is that I need to focus on the foundation and details of renovation before moving to the more fun part: the decorating. While I absolutely agree with this as the general rule, there are simply times where one needs to frost and bake at the same time. Our kitchen is one of these examples.

As you can see from the photos below, we are making some significant progress on the kitchen. I'm LOVING the progress and I credit my hubbie to getting things done, on a serious budget. But there is more to be done and I say this only to tell you, my dear readers, so that you don't feel the need to point it out to me via the comment section!

Please enjoy the photos and descriptions below. I will keep adding to the posts regarding our kitchen as further progress is made.




My cookbook library above. The white cabinets were painted by us and trimmed out by the husband. The cookbook shelf used to be a closed cabinet with finger slide doors. Needless to say, they were quite ugly and I'm glad they've been removed. It creates some much needed open space in the kitchen.

I apologize for the glare, but this is my favorite nook in the kitchen. The clock is from Rejuvenation (http://www.rejuvenation.com/) and the photograph (in a Pottery Barn frame) is of my little guy and his best buddy. They look like thugs in the photo, which is impressive since they are only 4 months old in the photo. I also adore the canisters gifted to me by my mother (http://www.williamssonoma.com/). The countertops are from Ikea and the subway tile is Dal-Tile (cheap, but classic).

You will also note the cranberry colored walls. The paint itself is from Restoration Hardware and I chose the color because there isn't really that much room in the kitchen. Since our cabinets and tile are both white, they dominated the room and I thought we needed some 'pop' of color. Added to the fact that we have a pink stove and ovens, having a cranberry paint color just seemed perfect.

Just today I painted the chalkboard paint above. The cabinet itself is a long shallow cabinet that we have converted to a can-holding cabinet (more on that one when I get to some of my organization posts!) and I thought it would be a perfect place for my son to sit and draw with some chalk while we cooked dinner.

Seriously, don't you LOVE the pink ovens? They actually are unbelievable in terms of baking and I'm loathe to get anything new. I simply don't think any of the new appliances will work as good as these ovens. I am, however, absolutely in the market for a new fridge. Our current fridge freezes everything on the top shelf, while simultaneously allowing for the wilting of all produce on the bottom shelf. And, since I'm tall (as is my husband), I crave a top loading fridge.

Another view of my favorite corner in the kitchen. In the foreground, the chairs are from Tar-jay and the cranberry cushions from Anthropologie. I love the built-in map drawers to the left. I believe they were originally created to hold silverware and linens and they are a great storage solution.

We pulled up our old linoleum floors and found these fir beauties underneath, which we immediately had redone. Granted, the kitchen floor doesn't match the oak floors on the rest of our main floor, but they really warm up the room. The coffee maker in the background is a Gaggia coffeemaker and is really the best thing ever. It pours out one cup of beautiful coffee at a time--

We have two schoolhouse-lights in the kitchen. They consist of two $1.50 light covers from Home Depot and two $5.00 light holders. Much better than the expensive vintage lights that you can purchase at other stores like Rejuvenation (thank you to my godsister for that cheap and easy fix).