Christmas in our Kitchen

So with 2 weeks left until Christmas..  I thought I'd share how I added some Holiday cheer to our kitchen & Breakfast area.. the most used and abused room in our house! Well it was all about simple items that wouldn't get in our way or that you can tire of too quickly... Come see our easy, neutral Christmas kitchen additions ... 

Adding a Hook to our Kitchen Island

Today is just a simple little addition to our Kitchen Island we made a while back. I felt we needed a place to house our Oven Mitts and a hook was a perfect space saving solution!! We added the double prong hook on the side of the island closest to our stove for easy access when we need them.

We purchased our particular hook from Lowes. It comes in many different finishes to match any decor. I went with the oil rubbed bronze finish to flow with our Kitchen Cabinetry hardware.

 See our Full tutorial on how I made this small space Kitchen Island from a Vintage Desk!!!

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Painted French Country Kitchen Reveal

Our kitchen has gone through a MAJOR transformation.. When we bought this house I knew the orange cabinets really had to go. Ideally I would have loved to 'Gut' the kitchen and start over.. But I don't have an extra 60k so we choose to 'Tweak' it instead. All together we spent $1800 to completely makeover this kitchen. The cabinets were professionally Painted in Benjamin Moore Linen white. We added larger more pronounced Crown mouldings, Changed the cabinet Hardware and Added new Oil rubbed bronze Pendants and ceiling lights. 

We had all the Kitchen cabinets professionally painted for $750. We choose Benjamin Moore Linen white, Its a light creamy white, Perfect for Freshening up the entire kitchen. I debated painting the cabinets myself as I have painted cabinets in the past.. but with a new little one, and packing up our previous house I felt it was best and EASIER to pass it off to the professionals. Plus the price was very reasonable considering they take the doors off and spray them front and back. And then re-install them for you. Yay!

I just LOVE how it all turned out!!

This is how it looked in the middle of the Reno's..Since we were already adding all new larger crown mouldings we decided to raise the Decorative Hoodfan for a more detailed staggered look.. BUT we ran into a bump in the road.. because the current decorative hood fan wasn't protruded enough.. it budded right up to the cabinets ..we were unable to connect the crown to it.. Sooooo we lowered the hoodfan back down to its originally spot and added a thin piece of wood under it , so that way when we added the larger crown all around the cabinets we ended up achieving the detailed look I was going for.

We had electricians add lights above the kitchen breakfast bar. When we purchased the house it only had 1 pot light on the left side above the breakfast bar.. It looked very random?? The pendants lights are new from Home depot , they were originally a satin nickel colour, we spray painted the metal Oil rubbed bronze. They look like ones I wanted from Pottery Barn but were out of my price range.

 

 To add a little French Country flair and draw the eye upward to our new crown, My husband made me a Vintage looking Wood box and I stencilled it with the words 'Farmers Market'. We trimmed our decorative hood fan to create a pannelled look.  We got thin wood strips cut at our local hardware store. The outer box detail is made of 1 1/2 inch wide wood strip pieces, with two inside strips measuring 1 inch wide.

The previous Mirrored backsplash got covered with white beadboard wallpaper.. Yes wallpaper!! Plus who wants to smash a mirror and possibly get 7 years bad luck! .. not me!! The wallpaper covered the mirror great, you would never know.. I have used beadboard wallpaper before in our previous home. Its super durable. I painted it in Benjamin Moore Cloud white to make it look more finished. The cloud white flows but its not too matchy matchy with the cabinets. We kept the laminate counter tops due to budget restraints but I feel like they look better already with the new painted cabinets.

See our Full Decorative Hood Fan Tutorial HERE

 This was a ready-made moulding we bought at Rona. We painted the inside with a little bit of left over chalk board paint and our daughter loves it!!

The hardware got changed out for the Restoration Hardware Crystal knobs from our previous kitchen and added Oil rubbed bronze pulls from Home depot on all the drawers.

The main kitchen ceiling track lighting got switched out for a more traditional semi flush mount hurricane light from Pottery Barn.. It was a splurge! But well worth it.. Lighting makes a huge difference not only in the look of a space but also in the functionality.

More details on our Kitchen Island / Furniture transformation to follow

See our Full tutorial on our small space Kitchen Island HERE

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed!.. See our previous home tour here

You can see how our kitchen looks now HERE.. Thanks to a Recent Reno ;)

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House Tour Recap

So this the final Goodbye to our little Piney! It was a great home... We got Married in this home. It was a New build that we added a lot of personal touches to add character! We kept the house quite neutral but kept it interesting with details through vintage accessories, vintage louvered doors as a room divider, lots of built-in shelving, lighting and wallpaper. Tomorrow I will post our next Home's Before Pics.. So onwards to our new adventures in our next home!! 

Exterior Pics:

 Stairs: Large Newell Post in Java Stain

 Hall Entry: Console table with bench underneath, vintage radio 

Gray & White Main Bathroom: Restoration Hardware Crystal and Chrome Knobs, Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray Paint. White Ruffled Anthropologie Shower curtains. Target white Roman Shade.

 Den: Re-upholstered Shabby Chic French Provincial Sofa with linen and Burlap Pillows. White Ikea drapes. Home Depot Pendant Light. 

 Dining Room: Benjamin Moore Alexandria Beige Paint, Vintage architectural prints

 Family Room: Sklar Peppler Sofa and Chaise, Ethan Allen Brown Velvet Ottoman. Leaned Vintage Wooden Ladder, Mirrored nesting tables. Ikea Billy Bookshelves (See before and after here)

 Guest Room: Antique Bedroom Set, Vintage Mirrors/ trays hung up as wall collage. Vintage truck from my husbands Grandmother. Ikea Bedding with a embroidered pillow from our trip to Bahamas. Vintage Lighting sprayed Aqua Blue. Refinished Desk. See Before and After Here.

 Kitchen: See more info and Pictures Here.

 Master Bedroom: See More Info Here

 Master Bathroom: Restoration Hardware Chrome Square Knobs. Rona Faucet, Home depot Mirror and Chrome Wall Sconces. Gray Striped Wallpaper.

 Upper Hall Pics: See more info here

 Outdoor Patio:

 Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed!

Kitchen Upgrades and Reveal

This is our Builder kitchen with certain upgrades like: Pots and Pan drawers, extended upper cabinets, large 3 door pantry, faux panels on front of island, dark wood island, valance with under cabinet lighting, crown moulding, decorative hood fan, deleting all builder hardware, deleting back of counter top (So it would be easy to add granite down the road), extended gable and cabinet above fridge and lastly making sure the lighting was centered over island and kitchen table. Below are some pics of what it looked like when we moved in. It was very nice kitchen just a bit simple for my style.  The cabinets are in Antique White by Frendel Kitchens.

We decided to stagger the decorative hood fan. Add travertine back splash. Change all the handles to oil rubbed bronze and add pulls to the pots and pan drawers. And stainless steel appliances.

 The finished product is below.  We added a decorative medallion above stove. Changed the lighting to oil rubbed bronze pendant chandelier over island and pendant over kitchen table. 2 linen bar stools with upholstery tacks.

                                   

                                   

You can also check out the rest of our Home Tour here