The Kitchen Reveal {Apt. 2}

I bet most of you didn't even know we were working on the kitchen. I had you fooled with the bedroom to-do list. We are still working on the bedroom but are back to the planning stages. (more on that in another post) So, without making you wait any longer, I present our new kitchen!

I am always surprised at the impact of paint. It really can transform a room, changing the entire vibe. The wall color is Caribe by Behr. It's the same gallon of paint I have used in our two previous kitchens. We used it the first time on cabinets in our North Carolina duplex almost a year ago. We used it again as wall paint in our first apartment.

Here is a reminder of what the kitchen looked like before we painted.

The room was definitely drab and almost gross looking. The cabinets are old and broken in a lot of places. Of course the appliances are old, but they work pretty well. When we moved to this apartment I wasn't sure I wanted to paint the walls again. I liked the blue but I thought I had too much of it going on in other places. I do know that I will not use this color again in our next kitchen. But the longer we lived here the more and more I hated the kitchen. It had to change. As soon as I got a little bit of paint up I knew it was the right decision. The color might be a bit young and doesn't flow with the rest of the house. But I don't really care :)

We recently added the shelf to give us a little bit more space to store regularly used appliances. The shelf as well as the magnetic knife strips are from Ikea.

We added another magnetic strip that holds spices. There is also a spice rack. Next to the stove we have a bar that holds utensils and other cooking supplies. This has cleared up the little counter top space we have.

  

The lighting is still terrible in here, but there is really nothing we can do about it. We're not going to replace the flourescent lighting.

For now we have no new plans for the kitchen. It functions well enough and is finally easy on the eyes.

 Jordan and I had a long weekend together and we were able to tackle another project. Just waiting on the finishing touches. Stay tuned!

Linked ::

DIY Home Sweet Home
C.R.A.F.T.
DIY Showoff
Sew Chatty
Be Colorful
Home Stories A to Z
Hope Studios
Ladybug Blessings
Sugar Bee Crafts
My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia
Elizabeth & Co.
Romance On A Dime
A Bowl Full Of Lemons
Rae Gun Ramblings
Clean And Scentsible
My Girlish Whims
Sew Much Ado
Some Day Crafts
Domestically Speaking
Ginger Snap Crafts
Southern Lovely
Trendy Treehouse
Liz Marie Blog
Nap Time Creations
If It's Not Baroque
Thrifty Decor Chick
Our Fifth House
I Heart Organizing
Emily A. Clark

Bedroom To-Do List

Oh boy. This has been a pretty slow winter over here. I have started and stopped a handful of projects. All the while creating messes all over the house.  Right before Christmas I shoved everything into the bedroom. We had company coming over and I wanted to have the house as "ready" as possible. Believe it or not we are still unpacking things. I thought after Christmas I would get things out of the bedroom and into their proper places. I didn't. I didn't do anything with the bedroom, until today.

Over the weekend we took a family trip to Ikea in West Chester, OH. It was one of the most miserable experiences of all of our lives. It was so crowded. We couldn't get Story into the Playland because of the wait. So she was really upset about that. To make matters worse for her there were no carts left in the store. She had to walk and didn't get to play with her Leap Pad. I had spent weeks talking Jordan into going. (it's a 5 hour round trip and he didn't think it was worth it) So of course he was right and it wasn't worth it. I was freaking out with all the people around. It was impossible to really look at anything in the showroom and people were so pushy in the marketplace. Anyway, the entire trip wasn't a complete bust. We were able to get a handful of things for our bedroom.

After living in this apartment complex for almost nine months I finally have an idea about how I want our bedroom to look. Here is a reminder of what our bedroom looks like.

The plan is to completely redo almost everything in the room. When we lived in North Carolina I wanted the room to be light and airy. The room was so small and didn't get much light. This apartment is different. For starters, it's huge. I would say it's almost double the size. It's too big. I want to do something to try and shrink the size without overwhelming the room with furniture and junk.

Here are a few inspiration photos!

 

 via Liz Marie Blog

I'm taking away a few things from this photo. I LOVE the headboard and plan on having something similar in our bedroom. We also have the exact same bedding. I also want to get big mirrors to place on either side. 

 

via Habitually Chic 

I absolutely love this color blue. It is amazing! I want something similar if not exact in our bedroom. The plan is to only paint one wall, the one that will have the headboard. I also really like the eclectic look of the frames. We kind of have that look going all over our house. I want to add it to the bedroom as well. Possibly on the wall between the main wall and the windows.

 

via Design Sponge 

I'm also mildly obsessed with antlers. I have no idea where it came from but I can't seem to get enough of them. I would really like a few as pictured above somewhere in our room. 

I guess the main vibe I'm going for in the bedroom is moody and eclectic with a hint of rustic. I can't wait to really get started on it. We rearranged a few things today and got the big pieces in place. Jordan still needs to build another dresser. 

Here is a complete list of things still left to do.

build dresser

paint new dressers

stain bed

sand and paint old dresser

paint accent wall

replace hardware

build headboard

stain headboard

find mirrors

hang curtain rod for window

hang curtain track for room divider (more on that later)

pick out curtains for window

buy leaning mirror

buy new rug? 

I feel like the hardest thing is going to be staining. I've never done it before and I'm not sure if it's something I can do inside? Or if I have to wait until it's warm enough to do it on the porch.

I am so excited about this room. I have a feeling it's going to be really amazing :) I want to do it all right now!

Linked ::

Clean & Scentsible

Rae Gun Ramblings
My Girlish Whims
Ginger Snap Crafts
Sew Much Ado
Seven Thirty-Three
Southern Lovely
 

This & That {Dining Nook}

Hey all, just a quick update on a few areas in the apartment. Now that Christmas is long over, I've had a chance to change up a bit of the decor in a few spots. About a week before Christmas we found out my Dad and Step-Mom were coming for a visit. Jordan and I put our butts into high gear and finally finished a few projects we've been meaning to do since we moved in, 4 months ago...

 

The biggest project was working on the dining nook. The left corner there used to be piled high with random boxes and bags. Lots of things we just didn't want to deal with, like ever. I'm not going to lie, majority of it ended up in the bedroom (the room that is completely unfinished...) But some of it got unboxed and finally displayed. Most of which has been put up since North Carolina. 

I had originally planned on putting stripes on this wall. Similar to this ::

via

But I think the shelves and all the stuff on them would look too cluttered with the stripes. I like how there are only the simple vases in the picture above. I might take the shelves down and paint the stripes, but I'm not sure. I'm going to live with it as is for a while.

Once the Christmas stuff was gone I was able to decorate our "sofa table" again.

My Step-Mom gifted me this great set of silver antlers. Jordan and Story got me the mercury bowl and white antler set I'd been eying. Jordan's Grandma gave me the domino decorating book (which has not stayed on the table long, I keep taking it to look through) The lamp is old and used to be in this corner. I've since changed a few things over there as well. All of which are temporary. I have big plans for the living room area. 

We have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us, and I have a few big projects to share with you. They are all over the place! Stay tuned!