Kitchen Tour

If you follow me in Instagram (@jessicademaio) or if you 'Like' A Simple Kind of Life on Facebook, you saw that I picked up a few new things from Homegoods over the weekend. Three out of four of the items ended up in our kitchen. It was motivation enough for me to clean the space up and take some photos to give you all a real tour.

I like our kitchen a lot. It's a big space and very open, which both Jordan and I like. Is it my dream kitchen? No. Could it be? With some tweaking, it could come close. Before the house was renovated, the kitchen was split into a kitchen and a dining room with a wall between. I can't imagine how cramped both spaces would feel if that wall was still here (we also probably wouldn't have loved the house as much). With the exception of two bar stools at the counter, we didn't have an eat-in kitchen in our townhouse. We also learned from having one and never using it, that we really don't have a need for a formal dining room, so this setup was a perfect solution for our family. 

One of the first things we did in this space was swap out all the lights: the pendant above the sink, the two flush mounts, and the light above the kitchen table. The lighter, brighter ones we chose were such a fresh change.

Past the lights, new paint and our fauxdenza, we haven't done a ton of work in the kitchen. We haven't needed to. One of the biggest things that sold me on this house and the kitchen was the white subway tile. While the cabinets aren't my taste and granite is great, just not the color I would choose, the TILE choice could make or break my kitchen feelings. 

I like clean, simple tile and subway tile is my favorite. Either all one color (grey, black, white) or close to it. I apologize in advance to all of you who have this, but my biggest tile pet peeve is when people insert rows of teeny tiny multicolored tile in between their multicolored backsplash. It's too crazy and busy for me, especially when paired with a busy granite countertop. I just need simple and classic. 

For me, not having to replace tile is huge. What I do want to change? The cabinet color. Yup. Brand new, barely a year old cabinets and I dislike them.

I dream of a tuxedo kitchen. (See examples here, here, and of course here.) Crisp white cabinets up top, dark charcoal grey on bottom. And fresh, modern hardware to replace the current knobs and pulls. I would love an all white kitchen too, but because of the dark tones in the granite I think a charcoal colored cabinet on the bottom would look best.

My favorite part of the kitchen? The french doors that open to our deck. When we were still looking at the house Jordan recommended swapping them out for a sliding glass door, but I put my foot down. French doors are such a dream to me. In the summer I love opening both doors and letting the light and warmth pour into our kitchen. I hope to do some work to them this summer. The plastic dividers are yellowed and cracking and the outside of the door is a half-painted red. I hope to repaint both sides of the doors and remove the dividers for maximum light (picture like this).  

I painted that little sliver of wall on the far left with chalkboard paint. If I was a proper blogger/DIYer I would have had some elaborate calligraphy quote drawn for these photos. But I am a mom, and I'm tired, and I gave my toddler a bowl of Cheez-its and my iPad so I could snap these impromptu photos while the baby napped. 

Had to sneak a shot of these grocery store blooms that we've had for over two weeks without a single dead flower. Sorry for some glaringly bright light in some of these photos. Trying to get good shots in natural light while the outside is covered in bright white snow makes for interesting photos. Maybe I should have adjusted the exposure and taken fresh photos, but like I said. I am a mom and I'm tired... and I finished the Cheez-its last night. Besides then the next batch of photos will make the kitchen look reallllly good, even if I haven't changed anything.

Here's the part of the kitchen I don't know what to do with. There's a built in desk on the small wall between the kitchen and living room. If I was designing this kitchen I would either have done a full counter with glass cabinets above for tons of storage, OR I would scrap anything on this wall in favor or putting an island in the middle of the kitchen. Since I'm not designing this kitchen, I'm stuck with this built in. Bleh.

We are using it for what it is - a desk. More a dumping ground for mail and Lucy's school papers. However, I have a desk upstairs and our house is small enough that we really don't need two office spaces, although I do use it sometimes to do work during the day when the kids are home. I'd like to use this space as something else, however with the uneven counter and the opening for a seat, it's difficult to make it look like anything but a desk. I do think once we paint the cabinets I might like the look of this space a little better.

And for perspective, how the kitchen looks out into the living room. 

End. Of. Tour.

A quickie source list:

Kitchen table, chairs and stools: Target

Placemats: TJ Maxx

Light over table: West Elm

Fauxdenza: DIY (Part I, Part II)

Art above fauxdenza: DIY 

'D' Plaque: Anthropologie

Glasses: Anthropologie

Striped towel: West Elm

Indigo Moon print: Honey Lake Studio

Fiddle Leaf plant: Home Depot

Planter: Christmas Tree Shoppes

Shelf with hooks: Target

Pinapple print: Society6

Bulldog bottle opener: Pottery Barn

Cutting board w/handle: Christmas Tree Shoppes

Knife set: West Elm

Red striped towels: Homegoods

Runner: West Elm

Canisters: Amazon

Round cutting board: Crate and Barrel

Pendant above sink: Pottery barn

Flush mount lights: Home Depot

Message board: DIY

Print on desk: Grandmother's recipe, framed

Wood wine holder: Target

Upholstered chair: Target

The Barstool Hunt

Forgive me for my slowness in getting back into the blogging game.

 

I've been talking for years (literally) about replacing the barstools in our kitchen. We bought these two stools on a whim after moving in just because we needed something to sit on when we had dinner. I'm pretty sure they were purchased from Linens 'n Things for probably around $30 each. They work fine, but visually we felt they just didn't reflect our personal style.

 

(An old shot of the barstools in our kitchen, note we still had carpet in the living room!)

 

After talking about it for what felt like forever, I finally recently bit the bullet and got down to some serious barstool hunting, specifically at Target - one of my favorite places to go for reasonably priced home décor. I opted to search online rather than in the store because I knew I would have more options. Once I started I was pleasantly surprised by the affordable, chic barstool options.

1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8

 

When searching for new barstools I knew I didn't want something that looked like what we already had in the kitchen. We weren't really concerned with whether or not the stools had backs since it was only going to be us sitting on them, not Lucy. I wanted something that stood out visually, but was also functional. I also wanted to make sure it was something that complimented our new paint color as well as the décor in our living room since our house has an open layout.

 

So which barstool do you think we picked? I left the ultimate decision to my hubby who picked barstools that reminded him of  the hotel from our vacation.  You'll find out tomorrow!

A Fresh Coat

Is it fair to say a paint color changed my life? Am I being a bit dramatic? Maybe. Seriously though, I have found a new love in a certain shade of gray (no pun intended towards the book - I've never read it).

 

For some time now I've felt that something wasn't quite right in how our first floor was finished. I've swapped out pillows, added new wall art, switched rugs in and out, painted everything I can think of gold (kidding... sort of), and yet it still seemed so unfinished. It didn't feel like things flowed. I've slowly been adding gray tones (or colors that match gray tones) to the decor - a gray and white rug, gray curtains, navy, pink and gold accents - and it all just didn't seem to look right in the room. I finally narrowed it down to the wall color. Not long after we moved in, we gave the living room, hallway and kitchen a once over with Glidden's 'Cafe Latte' paint. The kitchen was previously a darker tan and I thought keeping the same color family but lightening up the shade would look nice. It worked in the beginning when our decor was all dark browns and wood with red and orange accents, but as I started to add lighter decor, the tan started to look dated and worn out.

 

Painting the downstairs is a beast of a job. It's all open space from the long hallway, into the living room, which is connected to an open kitchen. You want to paint one room, you have to paint all three. Now I'm going to admit something I'm not proud of. I actually considered hiring someone to paint this for me. Is that a DIYer sin?? Back before we had Lucy I could tackle a paint job like this over a three day weekend no sweat. These days it's not so easy. I lucked out that I have two great coworkers who eagerly volunteered to help. I can't thank those gals enough!

 

On Friday I scooted Lucy and Jordan out of the house for a daddy-daughter day and the three of us got to work.

 

The color I chose was Benjamin Moore's 'Stonington Gray' - aka my new favorite paint color. I am in L-O-V-E.

 

 

We also did a fresh coat of glossy white on the trim which made a huge difference. Trim is one of my least favorite paint jobs to do, but because of the traffic in our hallways and living room, we were long overdue. The gray wall looks so, so good with our wood floors. I can't stop staring. Jordan asked me the other day what I was staring at becuase I couldn't stop checking out our walls.

 

Here is a before shot of the living room with the old paint color.

 

 

And a recent shot with the new pretty gray.

 

 

Looking at the photos I have to agree that it might not seem that different, so here's a comparison of colors up close.

 

 

I also took this opportunity to shuffle some of our wall art around. I still love the framed Anthro napkins above the couch, but I did take down the gallery wall in favor of a new spot for the stained wood art I made Jordan for our first anniversary.

 

 

A view of the loooooong hallway that leads to our front door. I'm realizing now that it's probably been some time since you've all seen any recent photos of our downstairs living room/kitchen area.

 

A before of the TV area,

 

 

And an after.

 

 

The shelves will be going back up, but we will probably put two instead of three. Jordan and I agreed that we were a little nervous with how sturdy they were now that we have a toddler running around them and thought it would be best to completely remount them and add some brackets underneath for extra support. The shelves will be going up later this week.

 

 

I moved the wall o' frames above the leather chair and swapped up some of the frames and prints. The subway sign hasn't been rehung, yet. We haven't really decided where to put that, but I'm thinking of putting it in a new place. Perhaps above Lucy's toy box next to the couch. As I started hanging frames and art in new places I felt like things are finally where they are supposed to be. The pictures don't do justice to how different the room feels now.

 

 

A quick snap shot of the kitchen. The gray paint brings out the blue in the tiles so much more and seems to flow better than before. I'm still not 100% sold on the dark blue tiles (I love me some white kitchens), but I don't see us changing them while we're in this house, so I'm making the best of what we have. I did tell Jordan that I think this paint color bought us a few more years in this house.

 

 

Doesn't the wall color even look pretty with my new kilim rug? (Hi Lyla.)

 

 

I. Love. This. Color.

 

Updated Coffee Bar

I know I normally only post once a day, but I have a lot to share with you all this week so expect a few extras. 

One more month until I reach my one year goal and can wean Lucy off breastfeeding. That being said, I'm looking forward to being able to enjoy a daily cup of (non decaf) coffee. Caffeine is one of my vices that I will happily take up again. In anticipation of my return to caffeine, I decided to spruce up our coffee bar in the kitchen. 

During one of my recent trips to Ikea, I picked up this Grundtal Rail and a 5-pack of the Grundtal S Hooks. I purchased both with the idea of using them to hang coffee mugs. Although these are meant to hang glasses against the wall, we couldn't do that due to the tile backsplash, so we decided to hang the railing on the underside of the cabinet. Doing that, the mugs would still hang above the coffee maker. I also purchased five of the white Fargrik mugs for .99 each. Excluding the set that came with our wedding dishes (in a light aqua color), all our mugs are a mixed and not really matched set that I picked up over the years from places like Anthropologie and Marshalls. I wanted all the hanging mugs to match and decided that white would look better against the backsplash than the light blue mugs we already had.

First, here is an old (and somewhat blurry) photo of how the coffee bar used to look.

And how the coffee bar looks today after installing the mug rack:

This was a five minute project and really simple to do. The only trick was finding screws that were large enough to hold the rack, but also short enough that they didn't go through the wood and up through the bottom shelf of the cabinets.

I am officially ready to get back to my caffeine routine, and we are officially ready to have some guests over for dinner with coffee/dessert. As with all rooms in our house this little nook isn't quite finished. I want to find an alternative way of storing our mail besides the little basket to the left of the coffee maker. That's another project for another day.

OPERATION: Organization. The Kitchen Drawer Edition

I'm pretty sure everyone has the drawer in their house. That drawer that you throw all the junk that you don't know where else to put. Ours is in the kitchen under our coffee bar.

I've put myself on a mission to slowly organize small little nooks in our house one by one. I've told you before how much I hate clutter and this drawer in particular has been bothering us for a while. I'm slightly ashamed to even show you what the drawer looked like, but for the sake of keeping it real on the blog, here goes.

As you can see we've shoved a whole lot of random crap into one little drawer. After weeks (actually months, years?) of being frustrated with this drawer, I finally decided last night to bite the bullet and organize it.

I made a little trip to Ikea after work yesterday and while I was there, picked up this great little cutlery organizer for less than $2. 

To get an idea of the scope of all the crap we shoved into that drawer, I took everything out and spread it out on the counter so I could easily organize, toss, and relocate.

We've got office, supplies, tons of batteries, napkin rings, keys, lighters, magnets and photos from the fridge, shutter shades (because you never know when you'll need them in a pinch), a flashlight, pens, tools that I was too lazy to bring down into the basement, a breathalizer (A gift from my mom for each of her kids. Again, you never know when you might need one), lint roller, chip clips, etc.

First I tossed what I either forgot we even had, knew we'd never need, or was broken/unusable. Then I relocated things like screwdrivers, napkin rings, photos, etc that just didn't belong in the drawer. 

Finally I took the cutlery tray and began too organize. In little to no time the drawer looked like this:

It's seriously like a breath of fresh air. The drawer looks so much better and it only took maybe 10 minutes to do this project. Quick and easy. Such a motivator for me to start doing this in other spots of the house that need a little organizational TLC. As you can see, I kept the things that we'd actually need to use in the kitchen: office supplies, spare keys, batteries, a mini tool set, lint roller, lighters, etc.

In case you were wondering what's going on in the other drawer underneath the coffee bar, I snapped a shot for you to see.

It's the typical takeout menu drawer. We also keep all the manuals from appliances, electronics and baby gear that we've bought over the years in a large freezer ziplock for easy access. The yellow/black bag holds all the paint chips I've collected from my many painting adventures. I like to keep the chips of paints we used and write on the back of them what room the color was used for in case I never needed to get more. The flashlight was relocated from the other drawer.

Doesn't everyone have a stack of like 15 Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons? Because they never expire and you don't want to throw any out just in case you need them. There's also a random Pottery Barn clock that I bought for maybe $3 at a thrift store just chilling in that drawer. I'm not exactly sure why.

One more time to compare:

Well, there you have it. Operation organization was a success! It took little to no time and barely any money to reorganize this drawer. In the end, we both feel a little less scattered having this drawer tackled and cleaned up.

Check back later today for another post featuring a few Pinterest pins I've been trying.

Impromptu Change and a Little Kitchen Envy

Do you ever get random motivation to clean or reorganize something in your house? I have moments that prompt me to clean something that isn't normally cleaned on a weekly basis. Like a trip to the grocery store will inspire me to completely clean out the fridge: pull out the drawers and give them a good soapy scrub, toss out expired dressings and reorganize the entire thing.

This weekend I was motivated by some gorgeous glassware I bought from Pottery Barn. I wanted to add some more pretty clear glasses to the shelves above the sink that hold our dishes and glassware. 

In order to add these I needed to do some reorganizing. This is how the shelves have been looking for the most part since taking the doors off a few years back.

Rather than just squeezing the glasses in somewhere, I took this as an opportunity to take everything off the shelves and give them all a good wipe down. I needed to reorganize the shelves anyway, so why not give them a scrub? To continue on my cleaning, I took some of the dishes or glassware that isn't used as often and ran them through the dishwasher to get rid of some dust that may have accumulated. Obviously the plates and glasses we use regularly are washed almost daily and didn't need to go in the dishwasher.

Once everything was wiped down, ran through the wash, dried and put away, the shelves looked good as new!

Notice anything different? Yup, I decided to take the doors off the two cabinets above the sink. I've been considering it for a while and took this impromptu cleaning as the perfect opportunity to do so. I grabbed the baskets off the top of the cabinets and used them in the top shelf to hold bottles, nipples, pump accessories, and other miscellaneous Lucy's items. I put some of the fun bright bowls I've purchased from Anthropologie on the shelves to add a little color. This space looks so much bigger with more open cabinetry.

While I like how it looks, the dark blue backsplash does clash a bit with the colors on the shelves. My dream would be to have a kitchen with white cabinets and white subway tile backsplash. Then I could use all sorts of bright Anthro dishes on the shelves to brighten up the space. The cabinets we have are in great shape and it would be foolish to repaint them (especially considering we aren't staying in this house for more than a few years). Also the tile work is gorgeous and done really well, it's just not my personal taste. And again, it would be wasteful to replace perfectly good tile in a house that we don't plan to make our 'real' house. These are a few of the many things that get added to my Big Girl House Wish List (Like a kitchen with a big window! But more on that another time.)

If you decide to remove cabinet doors like this, one thing I would suggest is is to keep all the screws together with the cabinet door they correspond to. Rather than putting them into a ziplock bag tossed a drawer to get lost or forget what they go to, I wrapped the loose screws in painters tape and taped them to the back of the door. The painters tape is gentle enough not to damage the wood like duct would, and when the time comes to sell the house we can easily put the doors back on.

Speaking of dream kitchens with white cabinets, we had a family party over my brother's house this past weekend and before people started showing up and before we started cooking I snapped a few shots of his kitchen. I love my brother's kitchen. It has so many elements of my dream big girl kitchen: a large farmhouse sink, white cabinets, gorgeous countertops, and a window (I love me some natural sunlight). He uses the glassfront cabinets to display his glassware above his dry bar on the counter. What guy doesn't have a bar right in their kitchen?

Another angle. The stovetop is built into the island - I love that. And a vegetable sink! Perfect area for prep work and cooking. Plus you don't have to wash your veggies over your dirty prep dishes. You can see his kitchen table at the far end of the room by the window. He also has two stools on the opposite side of the island to serve as a breakfast bar. 

Here is the last angle. Look at all that cabinetry/storage! I would have a blast filling up that space. I purchased the "Good Times" sign above the doorway for my brother as part of a little inside joke we have. You can see that he painted an accent wall a deep red on one side of the kitchen. That color is mirrored in the dining room that you can see a little bit of in the first picture.

My brother's house is still a work in progress, but I will share more pictures with you once it's more complete.

When my brother first moved in, I had serious hardwood floor envy. I pined after these floors until Jordan and I saved up enough to get our own hardwood. Now I just have kitchen envy!

Have you all learned by now that I tend to do things on a whim? I'm the type of person who decides they want to do something and have to do it right then and there.

Any impromptu mini-makeovers in your house?

What's on your dream house list?