The galley-style kitchen was not my first choice, but just like when you fall in love with a person, you have to accept and take all of that person, even the not so great qualities and traits, right?! This kitchen was a task of monumental proportions but I knew I was up for the challenge.
I spend ALOT of time in the kitchen, so I needed to figure out how to make this disaster of a tight space not only pretty, but functional as well. Clearly, everything in this kitchen needed to go, but we also decided to open up this space by knocking out that partial wall/doorway into what I can only assume used to be the breakfast area. I was not thrilled with the idea of not having an eat-in kitchen, especially with four children, but I knew if I wanted to open this space up and make it functional + have the cabinet and storage space I needed, I would have to say bye-bye to the eat-in.
The design process for the kitchen was probably the most difficult of all the rooms, for various reasons. A kitchen is the most expensive room in a home to renovate. I knew that I would have to make selections that I would be happy with for a long time to come, and that scared me, because I love constantly changing up my rooms, whether it be re-arranging the layout, or changing up the paint color or switching out furniture. I was really dead set on two-toned cabinets from the very beginning, and although I was aware this could be a trendy-phase that I may down the line regret, I chose to go with a classic walnut finish for the lowers so that if 10 years from now, I hate my navy blue uppers, I’d only have to pay to replace those and not all the cabinets! Totally logical thinking, right?!
The backsplash tile is probably my favorite tile that we have in the house and it honestly looks so much more expensive than it is! The large pendant lights I chose for this area of the kitchen I just love. I feel like they are a really nice balance of old and new looking. I also knew that I didn’t want brass fixtures because all of the hardware and faucets etc… were going to be brass and I didn’t want to over-do it. But I love that these pendants have a tiny bit of gold accent on the outside and the inner-shade is gold, which just gives the room such a nice warm glow at night.
When it came to the “eat-in” area of the kitchen, we decided that we would utilize the nook that housed the previous owners washer and dryer as our coffee bar nook. We relocated the washer and dryer down to the basement so now I only have to trek up and down 3 flights of steps 500 times a day to do our laundry. Sometimes, ya just have to go form over function.
I had this wallpaper that I had been eying for quite some time, but it was a very busy pattern, so there was no way I was covering an entire wall, let alone an entire room in it. Seeing as it had fruits in it, I felt like the only place I could really incorporate it that would make sense was the kitchen, and this little nook was the perfect spot for it. We added some really cute but inexpensive sconces above the shelving since we removed the original fixture that hung in the center of this room, we needed to have some sort of lighting on this end of the kitchen or else it would get way too dark in the evening. We kept the half bath where it was, (gutted that too, obvi) and even kept the original door, just added some quarter round trim to it and this cute “toilet” sign I found on E-Bay! And of course, no room in the house is complete without some Jefferson Home Print Shop art.
All sources are linked below!
Backsplash // Pendant Lights // Sconces // Sink Faucet // Pot Filler // Cabinet Hardware // Refrigerator // Dishwasher // Stove // Wallpaper // Rug Runner
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