The Kitchen

Maybe the reason I haven’t posted my next room is because… drumroll… I don’t like it at all!

But this is not the time to keep the less-attractive parts of my house to myself! It is a work in progress!

Welcome to my kitchen, a place where very little cooking actually takes place. P.S. If you are a fan of cooking, you must check out the best lay-chef in the area, Ms. Kara. Okay, enough plugging other friend’s blogs.

The entire house was a pale yellow when I moved in (ack!) so I quickly repainted the kitchen this very bright green. I do love the green, and it does make me happy just looking it, that is for sure.

I have a few pieces in here that I do enjoy, but I’m not sure if they will make them through the final renovation and redecorating. The curtains I sort of made myself. They came from Pier 1 as large window panels and I sliced and diced and got two windows worth of curtains. They are not put together well and frankly aren’t measured precisely, so they are somewhat temporary until I find something I really like.

Design shows are always suggesting hanging curtains much higher than the actually top of the window to make the room feel bigger and taller. Let me tell you what a different it made. I was a little unsure if this actually worked but the second they went up the ceiling felt feet higher.

Don’t get me wrong, the kitchen is usable, the appliances are decent and somewhat recent, and it is surely not the ugliest kitchen ever. It just happens to be my least favorite room in the house.

So what will I do to make it one of my most favorite rooms? I’m so glad you asked!

Big projects include replacing the countertop, replacing the tile floor, and eventually getting stainless appliances. So when I hit the lottery I will do all those things. If that doesn’t happen, however, I might do one of those big projects a year for the next few years.

What do you think about the countertops? I kind of want to do something a tad unusual (surprise!) and get butcher block or stone counters. But for resale I know the most important decision could be the one to get granite. I do also like granite, which helps.

The tile floor is just a disaster… who knows why in the world someone would tile random stripes of icky brown in the middle of white tile, and then top it off by using a grown grout. But alas, that someone did in fact do just that. It’s new-ish, which is nice, but it’s gots to do. I have no ideas on the flooring, though.

Also, soon-to-be-ordered is yet another (yes, really!) mirrored chest of drawers that will go in the kitchen in place of this white bookcase. The bookcase came home with me from a Craigslist buyer and though I need to replace the pulls, I do still like it. It might go in my bedroom once the chest arrives. I’ll have so much more storage room with a chest and then be able to put up art on the walls.

Speaking of art, I have this wonderful wall piece – all brown with a little yellow bird. Talk about a piece that just makes you happy when you look at it!

3 comments:

Kara said...

Hey man, thanks for the plug! So fun but a lot to live up to. But more importantly - I am in LOVE with the green kitchen. Wow - such a fresh color. And you're right about the curtains - definitely added a few feet to the height of the room. I also really like your canisters and the rug in there - been searching for a rug for our kitchen as a matter of fact and yours is inspiring. This is random and so little but in the second picture, I love everything - the bowl and the flower - would a more wrought-iron or just different paper towel holder help add 'some'thing? Not sure that'd make enough of a difference. Just saw the cute sign behind it and liked the darker metal 'look'. Also, we have this weird obsession with stainless or concrete countertops and stainless blacksplashes and I could see some combo of those in your kitchen as well.

Enough though - a girl can dream, right?

The Girl said...

Um hello best comment EVER!!!!

Okay, first of all, you think a lot about my kitchen, and I love that! You are totally right about the paper towel holder. I have sort of thought of it before but not about it being in a dark metal - I love the idea! Would you get something that is still on the counter, or something that hangs so it's out of the way?

I love the idea of a funky countertop - concrete would be awesome. What do you think buyers would think? Not that I am selling anytime soon (!), but I wonder if people would like the idea of stainless countertops.

Know how we are going to finish this conversation? IN MY KITCHEN! Come over! Or let's meet!

Kara said...

I didn't see your comment (not that much of a blog stalker!) until now. The best part about the end of your comment was that it sounds like we just made some random cyber-space connection instead of a real, local friendship (sad that we must resort to connecting through each other's blogs). So enough! You're right... let's plan a time, off the blogs :-) and help each other decorate, or, er, dream. Look for an email from yours truly - and now I will sign off from the two longest blog comments ever.