| | Original Kitchen:
Hard to tell with pictures sometimes but the colors were a purple-y reddish color on the walls and a water mellon green color on the lower cabinets with a bit brighter color green on the top shelving.
My goals were to lighten the kitchen up, simplify the colors (not against colors, but after kiddos I've found neutrals hide dirt much better than color and have to be touched up a lot less.), and spend less than ten dollars.
First I took on painting the red beadboard walls - with a can of paint Robert had left over from a clients home. It was free of course, though not the color I would have chosen exactly, it was closer than any of the other cans in the barn! There was so much cutting out around the cabinets, openings, ceiling, etc. that I almost stopped right there and left the cabinets green...
I left them the green for about a week - and it just wasn't me as much as I let it try to sink in. It showed up every dirty finger print and spill as well... so I called my sister - who last year painted some different shades of brown around her house. She had several colors left over so I chose the one she had the most of and went to work on the cabinets:
There is not a pantry in the house, so I use the lower cabinets for my pantry items and upper shelving for my dishes and cookware.
Robert brought home a large cork board from a job he had last year and held onto it for me - so in one section of the kitchen I hung this for posting pictures, reminders, clippings, etc:
The metal roll-a-way cart was from another throw away job and this is where I house Goodwill/garage sale dishes that the children use all day long for meals and snacking and drinks. The boys roll the cart right next to the sink when washing the dishes and then roll it back in place after they're done.
Mason jars and 20 cent bowls on the dish cart:
Limited drawer space forces the silverware out on the upper section of the cart - housed in a mason jar and two silver dishes I collected through the years from resale stores:
Dish drying towel is handy on the end of the dish cart:
Here is my "new" table Robert built - he is presently outside sanding the top down for staining:
I wanted an odd sized table - narrow and long and unique - he made the table out of used lumber and used table legs. Believe it or not, we've much more space between us all and yes, even room for food and dishes, with a table this shape. I am loving it and can't wait until it is completed. As usual, Robert has done a beautiful job - and makes things just as I describe them/draw them out.
To the shelving - probably my favorite aspect of the kitchen~ I tell Robert it is my proof that I did indeed get married in the south, and that he had a LOT of very sweet and generous friends - thus, the lovely dishes I received when we married:
I am very glad I registered for simple and white china/dishes 12 years ago - they go anywhere with anything and will always be in style and just have that classic look.
I like to add little details here and there and here are a few around the shelving/dishes:
Here is a basket that I got for less than a dollar a few years back at a warehouse sale - last week I was wanting to use it in the kitchen but add something extra to it - Morgan was out the back door playing - she walked in with this piece of metal and said, "Mom, I found this in the back yard and it might hurt someone's foot..."
It was perfect for my basket! So we hot glued it on the basket after cleaning it real well and then we found the word "Glass" on a card board box we'd just unpacked and cut out the word and glued it on - in the basket we placed my favorite glass vases that I picked up free - where someone was getting rid of them!
I love pictures of course, and especially enjoy putting up black and whites with emotion in the expressions - I don't always like to just put them up in frames like normal though - under the shelving I nailed up five clothes pins - this way I can easily switch the photos out whenever I like - this month I have up black and whites from trips to the beach.
We have an abundance of acorns in our yard here and I am a bit earthy I suppose - I love to bring nature into the house. Here Morgan and I took some red frames I got for 10 cents each at the Goodwill and we painted them black and then added the acorns - She loved this project - and Bubbie too, as he was our acorn collector:
We had the lid left to our "glass vase" box we made left over - and another Goodwill frame - another common ground collector 'round here are "applegalls" - we put this combination together, plus a little sweet reminder "Joy" to make a wall hanging on the other side of the kitchen by the sink:
I was going to leave the windows coverless to let in as much light as possible, but when I unpacked this old shower curtain I thought it perfect - that way we could easily let down the curtain if privacy was needed - I bleached it, cut it in half, sewed it up and used white door stoppers for the pegs in the wall (these are so cheap and durable and if you take the plastic part off the end, they look great):
Wal-Mart carries these very inexpensive glass canisters for housing whatever - I was going to use one for soap in the bathroom, but I liked the way they looked so much in the kitchen, I used them both. Little canvas cloth signs painted by the kids and I last week have been fun to hang around - we made them out of the old bank bags Robert brought home to us:
My little laundry room is right off the kitchen, kind of in the kitchen - doors were a bit pricey to put in so we put up one of the curtains I made - to which I just had to hang this picture I took a few years back of an old laundry mat I passed. I used scrapbook sticky squares and stuck it to a piece of cardboard just over the size of my 8 by 11 inch print - then we hot glued little wire to the back and used a safety pin to attach it to the "laundry curtain door."
View from the back door area - on the far wall is a chalk board made from a mirror frame we found on the side of the road a few years ago - I love having a chalk board in the kitchen - I write on there the boys chores for the day, seat assignments, verses, schooling, etc.
Two of my dish washers making the most of their chores:
I typically change things here and there as we begin to live longer in a place - I've some ideas still for this room. For now, this is how it is and it is very peaceful (haha, except when we are all around that table for meals! It's more like a circus!) and simple, shows up little dirt, easy to clean, and functioning great. It's not anything special or fancy or fashionable but it makes me excited to do what I can with what I have and do it to the best of my ability to bless my husband and family.
And we stayed under ten dollars - my biggest expense being that I needed dish towels pretty badly - I found some at World Market the other evening on sale for 69 cents each! Nice, thick, white ones - normally $3.99 each. (Thank you, dear fwren.  )
"Do what you can, where you are, with what you have." Theodore Roosevelt
(two square vases I found at the Goodwill for mere pennies - and sea shells from my home state.)
a. ann~ |
| | Posted 2/9/2009 6:33 PM - 39571 Views - 216 eProps - 136 comments
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