The Big (Little) Kitchen Reveal!!!

Well, this has been FUN, hasn’t it?  Taking our little rental kitchen from what it was to what it is really had me going…for six whole weeks.  I’ve never gotten an entire room finished in six weeks!  It’s kind of a big deal.  And you know what else is kind of a big deal?

OUR KITCHEN!

Remember the wood cabinets and awesome striped wallpaper?
They are so April of 2018.
Then there was the boring ceiling fan and that awkward bifold door.
One was gussied up and one was gone with the wind.  Oh, and let’s not forget about the pot rack.  There was no cabinet space to store our pans but they met an empty wall and the rest is history.Pssst, I didn’t *actually* paint the dishwasher our landlord so graciously installed for us before we moved in.  But I did want it to blend in more.  I’ll fill you in on all the juicy details later!

We absolutely love having an extra wide gas range but it didn’t look so hot up against all that brown.
We turned up the temp on this side of the room though and now, look out!  *Tsss*
I’ll have a few posts coming up here in the next few weeks detailing a lot of the DIY projects you haven’t seen yet but until then, let’s peek around a little bit more, shall we?


As you might’ve noticed, I’ve been having a hard time figuring out which side of our reversible rug I like better in this room.  Right now, it’s 80% for the blue geo and 20% for the striped.  If you’ve been around long, you might remember when I made that rug and that those stripes were once a citron-yellow color.  Well, after many washes, the citron faded to a pale yellow and no offense to that shade o’ yellow, but it’s not my fave. So, I brought it outside and free-handed some black stripes using black spray paint right over the yellow and I’m not sure how I feel about it yet.  It might get painted over again.  Like, really painted over.  This rug* is throwing off some good inspiration vibes.  :)

I literally finished the wallpaper behind the stove and our new spice shelves two nights ago.  After I ran out of wallpaper thanks to a shorted roll, my plan was to just hang something else fun up there and call it done…for now.  But then Target decided to put my wallpaper on sale this week* and so I walked…ahem…ran and grabbed some more.


The spice shelves cost us about $13 and they got our spices off the top of our microwave so, they’re awesome.
Here’s our view into the dining room…the dining room that is now begging to be painted with something that doesn’t resemble my morning cream with coffee.
You can read all about the pot rack we hung here.PS, I stole that big planter + snake plant from our bedroom and I think it looks perfecto in here.  It might have to stay…

I’m not that kind of person who is always prepared.  If I was, I might’ve went to the grocery store a few days ago to stock up on apples or lemons or something besides my kids’ wooden fruits to toss in that antique bowl over there.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Shhhh, don’t tell.  At least we had bananas!  ;)

Are the green cabinets a surprise?
I read an article last week that they’re kind of the “new thing” and I gave myself a pat on the back for being “with it”.  Ha!  They’re still growing on Anthony (though you can bet I sent him that article as fast as my fingers could text).  My favorite color is green and his is…not.  Plus, and I forgot about this when choosing colors, he has a hunter green accent wall in his office so that color doesn’t take him to a fun, cool place.  It takes him to…his office.  I have to admit though, after the first couple of coats were on, I was really nervous.  Things were looking way too green and not the muted-dark-green-with-the-faintest-hint-of-blue I was going for.  Maybe it’s hard to tell on a screen but let me tell you, I was scared for our cabinets, my track record for picking pretty good paint colors, and my interior design reputation in the mind of my better half.  Phew though.  Things turned out just fine.  Never judge a paint color until it’s opaque and dry.  ☝️

Before I landed on dark green, I also toyed with a muted, mint green, a blue that matched the geo side of the rug, and a medium gray.  And when I say “toyed” with, I mean it took me at least a month to decide.  I had kitchen plans running through my head before we moved in.  The mint green would’ve matched our beloved sectional too much which is in the next room over so that was out…sadly though, because it was my favorite option.  The blue and gray both looked pretty in my head but, with the faux wood countertop, I was afraid they would look too modern farmhouse and that’s just not really my style.  I needed bolder and so dark green I went.  The color is Rock Garden by Sherwin Williams (Coriander & Olive at Lowe’s…I much preferred that name since it was going in our kitchen  ).

The pendant light above the sink and the ceiling fan shade are both DIYs and rang in under $10 for BOTH.

And that brings me to our budget breakdown.
wall primer:  free
wall paint:  $12
cabinet primer:  free
cabinet paint:  $35
bamboo shade:  $17 (secondhand)
pendant light:  $8
ceiling fan shade:  $1.50
spice shelves:  $13
pot rack:  $10
small plants:  $0 (backyard clippings)
wallpaper:  $39 (but I have 3/4 of a roll left which I’m trying to sell so the price could be closer to $20)
cabinet hardware:  $25
rug:  $0 (old DIY)
GRAND TOTAL:  $157.50
Almost eight whole dollars over the $150 budget I set for myself (which drives me nuts), but hopefully I’ll sell that extra wallpaper and bring that number down under my budget.  *fingers crossed* 
*Note:  with paint and spray paint, I calculate my cost based on how much paint we used.  For example, we paid $27 for a new can of paint for the kitchen walls but we only used maybe 1/3 of the can on the kitchen walls.  So, I figure we used about $19 of paint.  We will also use that same can in other rooms of the house so the cost of the paint will differ in each room but will add up to that $27 we paid.  Make sense?

While it’s great that this little room here is now finito, it now sticks out like a sore thumb…which might be the reason why I usually don’t finish one room at a time but hop from room to room.  If I flutter from here to there, all the room are half-done at the same time so they all are cohesive.  Aaaand maybe that’s just me throwing out excuses but either way, you gotta admit there’s some logic there, right?

Either way, we really like our little sore thumb kitchen and now it’s on to the next space which is…well, I dunno yet.

I guess you (and I) will have to wait and see! 

Until then, hop on over to the One Room Challenge website to see more final reveals.  I don’t know about you, but I’m in it for the before and afters.  It’s fun watching people go in the middle, but being able to see what they started with and then ended with in one post is so gratifying.  There are so many talented people over there who have worked so hard to put together beautiful rooms and the whole website is leaking with with hoards of inspiration.  Glean away, my friends! 

That’s it for me folks!  I hope you’re leaving with proof that, when you have a budget you’ve gotta stick to and that budget likes to do the limbo, you can still make beautiful things.  That’s my whole drive for writing this little blog here.  If I can get you started and show you what you can do with that change you’ve got in your pocket, then it’s mission accomplished.  I’m not in it to show you what I can do but what YOU can do!  Your home houses lots of things you love, most importantly, your people, and it should instill feelings of peace, harmony (50% of the time when you have kids), and happiness.  Go forth and make it that way! 

<3 

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