our kitchen is one of my favorite rooms of our house. it's bright and cheerful and has lots of color. and, nostalgia. y'all know me and my nostalgia.
as i've written about before, my husband and i bought my grandparents old house a year ago. it is just oozing with childhood memories for me, and the kitchen is probably the biggest room of sentimentality. my grandmother loved to cook. she was always in the kitchen working on a big family dinner, making breakfast for my sister and i, or baking some goodies to deliver to neighbors and friends. it was super important to me to keep some of that nostalgia in our kitchen. my girls helping me cook in this space makes four generations of women that have busied themselves in this kitchen. now, that just makes my heart so happy.
my decorating style is vintage-eclectic. i try to downplay it a bit in the main living areas of the house, because i want it to be an enjoyable environment for my husband too :) however, since i am in the kitchen so much of the time, i figured i could kind of make that space my own.
we painted the walls a pretty yellow (buttercream, by better homes&gardens) and little by little i added some decor i liked. still, no amount of beauty could avert the eye from our camp-ish, pine cabinets. they darkened the whole kitchen and i was just itching to paint them! since nick&i both work at schools, we decided our april vacation week, we would go to town on our cabinets. and go to town we did.
here's a quick before:
and the after:
i am in love. seriously. i can't believe what a difference a coat of white paint can make. sure, our counter tops are dingy and we have appliances from the 1980s, but i just love my "new" kitchen! the cabinet makeover immediately brightened up the whole room.
we used sherwin williams paint and primer; including a special kind of primer that allowed us to not have to sand. bonus. snowbound was the color we chose; two coats of primer, two coats of paint, and we allowed the cabinets to cure for 4-5 days before re-attaching them.
and now for a little tour... sorry, total picture overload but i wanted to capture the details.
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| view from the entryway |
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| view from the dining room |
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| glass canisters; flour, coffee & tea |
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| my kitchen gallery wall |
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| vintage shelf |
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| mason jar with flowers, and these sweet little apple/pear salt&pepper shakers i eyed for a while at my favorite antique store that my sister surprised me with at christmas; aren't they so cute?! |
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| katie daisy print with tiny teapot and old fashioned creamer |
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| vintage hankie bunting |
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| vignette with pretty plates, vintage hankies, katie daisy print and a rolling pin/muffin tin that belonged to my grandmother |
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| stove |
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| "my cup runneth over" personalized china platter; great words to be reminded of as i cook |
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| i absolutely love my kitchen window looking out over our backyard |
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| a friend sent me this willow tree figurine after i lost my dad; it symbolizes my sister and i with our dad, but also represents nick&the girls which makes me love it even more |
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| i bought this brass container at a yard sale, spray-painted it white and filled it with artificial succulents |
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| ranunculas from my plants and an antique creamer that serves as storage for our medicine spoons and droppers |
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| chicken wire basket filled with fruit |
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| i have a thing for mint green, so when i saw this breadbox at my favorite antique store, it was a must-buy |
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| we saved the original brass handles... they have a twig-like look to them, which i really love |
i apologize for the picture overload!
i really love my kitchen. even on a rainy day, i can walk into it and feel sunshine. i look forward to all of the meals and memories i will make with my girls in this very room. recipes that i'll pass down, traditions that will be established and many, many special times ahead.
