T14mo

The time has arrived….to write about one of my favorite house projects to date, our kitchen revamp!!  Honestly it is amazing what a little bit, ok lot bit, of paint can do!  As I mentioned in t0, the previous owner added quite a few sweet updates to the kitchen, like granite countertops, a stainless gas oven cook-top and SPACE, glorious S-P-A-C-E!  The kitchen used to be confined to 100 sq ft, of which the basement and bathroom doors took up prime real estate!  Now the kitchen is spread out over 300 sq ft and boasts an eat in kitchen/sun-room, vaulted ceilings and more than sufficient peninsula workspace and cabinetry.  The only problem, well at least in our opinion, is the color he chose.  YELLOW, for eeeeverything.  Don’t get me wrong, yellow is one of my fav colors, but it has to be complimented appropriately and in my opinion it needs some contrast to really set it off.  Contrast we did not have here.  Every surface, ie:  floors, ceiling, cabinets and walls was either full on yellow or a had seriously yellowy tones.   And, let me just say this yellow did not make me feel mello.

When it came to paint colors for this room, I had done my homework, ie; torn out magazine clippings like it was my job, and had the colors set to go.  I was picturing white cabinetry and trim, neutral walls and an accent color to highlight the large peninsula.  We were on the fence about what to do with the wood ceiling in the addition.  I found some great images of both painted white wooden ceilings and natural ones, but ultimately we decided to prolong the decision and finish the cabinetry and walls before making the call.  Once we did, we felt relieved because we loved the warmth it brought to the room, and we really didn't want to have to paint a ceiling like THAT!  Speaking of painting, it was all done in phases, by my loving mans.  First the walls, then the cabinets and lastly the trim.  I helped out on the weekends, but he deserves all the credit for this job well done because not only did he bear the brunt of the labor, but he had a deadline to boot.  We were hosting his family for Thanksgiving that year, and really wanted to have the project wrapped up since most of the action on turkey day happens in the kitchen.  Actually, as proof that the project was completed on time you can see the beginning of our Thanksgiving meal in some of the after pics! 

I have to say that I know many people out there prefer wood cabinets and trim, and maybe someday I will too.  But for now I prefer white, nice clean matchy matchy white!!  Especially in our case, because the wood throughout the house varied in tone, and in many cases is not the greatest of quality, so painting it glossy white unifies the rooms with  common feature.  We did however choose to leave the insides of the cabinets unpainted, and while I was uncertain at the time I am now very happy with the decision.

We also chose to round out a small exposed edge on the peninsula with flexible wainscoating. The countertop had a nice rounded edge, but underneath the cabinet had an awkward cut in that didn’t offer any additional storage or function.  The nice rounded edge is a huge improvement in our book because it cleans up the lines a bit and adds a bit of charm to boot.

As you can see in this in progress pic, we tried painting the basement door with a paneled scheme.  Yea, FAIL on that one.  We ended up going with white, surprise surprise…but hey we tried!

To be honest, I am infatuated with the way it turned out.  It is exactly the amount of character and country that I was hoping for.  There are a few things I would like to add, like say a valence to the windows to introduce a great pattern.  I was also thinking of adding a patterned backing to the glass door cabinets in perhaps a second pattern.  Long term I would also LOVE to have the floors refinished with a nice rich mocha color, but that’s toward the bottom of the priority list currently.  Since doing all this painting, we have added a few key items to the eating area.  First and foremost we’ve added more seating courtesy of an antique store bench that my love brightened up with a great barn red hue and an amazingly affordable jute rug from Ikea.  Honestly I’m embarrassed I ever tried to make a 4 x 6 rug work for this area…but you’ve gotta make the most of what you’ve got, right? 

ADD CURRENT PIC

Oh and this guy didn't make it into any of the after pics, but he is a favorite of mine.  He's cute, has a load of character, and he's magnetic to boot.  

On the topic of painting and kitchens.... I mentioned previously that we had plans to paint all the trim in the house white, and our progress on the kitchen got us significantly closer to that goal.  But my man wanted extra credit.  So he did the dining room trim at the same time.  It was great because as I mentioned we were having our first Thanksgiving guests soon after and we got to show off all the progress over the big meal.  Here is a shot of the moody blue dining room after being paired up with some crisp white trim.

You'll notice we ignored the 'crown molding' for now because we plan to replace it with something a bit more substantial soon.  We need to get those radiators addressed too....Here we are adding some last minute touches...like a mirror to accent the new and improved chandelier.

This last picture I wanted to share because they really capture how big the trees on our property are.  As in they produce A LOT of leaves.  Which require A LOT of raking.  Someday I'm gonna buy my mans one of those sweet jet pack leaf blowers....He'll be running around singing 'Who ya gonna call? Ghost Busters!!'