Last week, I shared the before and after of our little kitchen – the biggest renovation we’ve competed to date! Today I’m excited to share with you the other half.
The Breakfast Nook
I can’t tell you how many sketches I made of this nook. How should we set it up? Where should the seating be and what height? As you can tell from the before photos, the original owners had a round table with chairs – but, doesn’t it just seem cluttered?
The other options? A corner banquette with a small round or square table, a bar up against the window or wall with stools, a small round table with two chairs, or a counter-height table with stools.
I poured over every online store I could think of, and then the ones I didn’t even know existed to explore all options and what products were out there to fit my space. It felt like my searches kept coming up short – with either the tables being too big or not the right style or price for my space. And then I found it! It was the perfect length, counter-height (which is much more comfortable than bar-height for this shorty 5’3″ girl), and a color that brightens up the space – white.
It took over a month to arrive since I found it on a random website (ever heard of bizchair.com? 😉 ). Luckily, I found it on Amazon to share with you! We’ve love it overall and was perfect for what we needed it for. However, it does seem like the top is vulnerable to blemishes!
After the table arrived, I started the bar stool hunt. I found two fabric topped, wood counter height stools, but I didn’t love how they looked with the overall style of our kitchen. Also, we decided we wanted four stools since, let’s be honest – everyone is always hanging out in the kitchen! And then I found these! Not a chair you want to sit in for hours, but four fit under the table wonderfully and I like the neutral look.
I fell in love with this chalkboard in a small shop in a nearby town and especially the opportunity to personalize it with chalk. Funny enough, we haven’t changed it from the saying I originally wrote because we just like it so much. 😉
Ah and lastly, the chandelier that still needs to be “swagged”. It’s no longer the “highest trend” as it was a few years ago, but we think it’s pretty timeless in our eyes! Love it!
We sit here for 90% of our meals at home. It’s the spot where we sip on our coffee and read our morning news. I’d say it’s a great fit for our family of two and like I mentioned earlier, it becomes a packed house when people are over. One day, we’ll probably swap out this for a lower table or banquet when we have kids. Toddlers and metal barstools might not be the best combination. 😉 Until then, we’ll continue to enjoy this space of ours.
DIY Wall Shelves
Sometimes it just takes awhile to get it how you want it. Hehe. I remember putting these shelves up the day before Mike came over to my house for dinner for the first time. It was rushed to get them up and got the spacing all wrong.
But it’s okay. I just tried it again. And again. 😉 These DIY shelves were so easy anyone can do them! I purchased two pieces of wood from Lowes with pretty grain and had them cut them each in half for me (did you know they did that!?). While I was there, I picked up brackets and the stain and my friend helped me apply it since it was my first time!
When thinking of shelves, I recommend thinking about what you’d like to put on them or use them for before drilling any holes. 😉
Not only do they add function and extra storage, but are so much fun to style through the seasons! If you’re wondering about this cute cabinet underneath, would you believe it was our family’s TV cart in the 1990s? I shared how I transformed it with chalk paint in post 3 of my Hand-Me-Down series!
We thought long and hard about this corner of the kitchen. It doesn’t have any electric outlets, but there are many possibilities. Since our kitchen is small, we thought about adding a pantry here – either built in or using something like an IKEA cabinet. But, we think it functions just well for us right now and we love the way it looks! It was a budget-friendly update to fit our family’s needs and for that we’re thankful.
The Future of our Kitchen
While we love our kitchen, we often dream of what we could do in the future. We’d like to take down walls and make it more of an open concept, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it in the meantime.
Perhaps one day we’ll take down the wall between the kitchen and entryway hallway (but we’ll lose our beloved laundry chute)! We also like the idea of taking the wall down between the dining room and kitchen and then widening the doorways between those rooms and the family room. We’d have to get creative with our cabinets, but we love the idea of opening things up!
So often, we can long for what “could be” instead of enjoying what we DO have. So much of what we’ve done in our home has just been taking advantage of just that: what we have. Choose tile that complements our old-but-custom-made-cabinets AND fits into “my style”. The wall we want to take down? Create a killer group of wall shelves and a bar area. The list goes on.
If I were to design my dream kitchen tomorrow, next week I’d most likely think of something better and be back at square one. Just like nearly everything in life, it’s more about having a heart of gratefulness and contentment for what I DO have that needs cultivated. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful!
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