Wednesday, August 1, 2012

I Prefer Chicken or Turkey in a Kitchen

We did it.  

We finally painted the kitchen. 

To refresh your memory, it was the most insane lime green and brown, or Alpaca Brown and Gecko according to the paint cans left by the previous owners.  I don't know about you, but that's a whole lotta exotic animal running around in a kitchen.  



Paired with the grey tile floor, it made our very spacious kitchen feel small and cave-like.

Ever since we painted the living room, I have been eyeing up the kitchen, counting down the days till I could paint it.  Now that we had a beautiful soft color in the living room, it made the lime green seem that much worse to me.  I even asked JEGs if I could just slap on a coat of primer until we decided on a color.

He said no.  Ugh.  Whatever.

So my hate for the green festered.  Every time we were in Home Depot or Lowes I would beeline mosey by the paint section and pull samples. Originally I was leaning towards blues and greys, but then I thought 'what about yellow'?

When I was a kid, we had a yellow kitchen.  Ok, technically it was "Harvest Gold", but when you are 6, you don't know the difference between that and yellow.  Anyway, I always loved that yellow kitchen.  The kitchen in my parent's shore house is yellow, and I have painted my bedroom yellow.. twice.   It's such a cheerful, energizing color-- which is exactly what I wanted to feel when I came into this room;  happy, energetic and awake.

So, I went yellow.  Benjamin Moore's Weston Flax, to be exact:


(don't you love the pile of laundry in the mudroom and the dishes in the drying rack?  This is real life, people)





The room looks and feels bigger and yet cozier.  JEGs and I are toying with the idea of adding a backsplash behind the sink/stove area, but we haven't made a decision yet.

Originally, I was worried that the black shelves in the desk area would look too bumble bee-esque, but after it was all said and done, I think the darker color helps to ground the space.


I took this opportinity to rearrange the shelving area too.  I kept some of the original bins, but I also displayed some of my favorite things including my spray painted thrift store bird, JEGs $1 scale,  cake stands from our wedding registry, a sweet painting from my blog friend Bethany, and my sewing mason jar from Always Crafty.


I also finally picked up a filing system for our bills with this hanging letter holder from Target.  I also added some cork behind an IKEA from for a pin board to hold recipts, addresses, color swatches, or any other little thing that would have otherwise just been floating around the kitchen.



We also added hooks to hang our keys.   I wish I could say that this is a piece of  reclaimed wood from an old barn that I meticulously painted after finding it at a thrift store and it has so much meaning, blah blah blah pinterest.  Nope.  It is from Lowes.  But if this $7 set of hooks keeps me from going "WHERE THE EFFFFF ARE MY KEYS???" then boom.  I am happy.


It was really important to me that the living room and kitchen colors played off each other because you can see both rooms as soon as you walk through the front door.  I think they do quite nicely.



   To help with the cohesiveness, I brought in a fabric that had pops of both colors and used it for a roman shade



Although I feel like I just crossed off a huge task on my house to do list, I am not done with this kitchen.  Oh no no, there are so man more thing I want to do.  Like add even more storage.

That's right too-small-for-the-space-buffet.  Your days are numbered.



Always & Forever,
  ME

3 comments:

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

This looks great! I never seem to choose yellow paint but find itso warm and cozy when I see it.

Megan said...

I love it! In our house for over a year and still need to get things organized and up on the walls. I wish I was as crafty and creative as you :)

Lola said...

I've always liked yellow kitchens too, and that is a great shade! Looks good with the living room color, too :o)