Here's what it looked like when we first saw it:
I am not sure if you can tell, the left wall (if you are facing the window) is striped, but it almost looks like sticky tape, I am not a fan though KC is. I would love to paint it, but I have no idea what colour.
My very small collection of cookbooks. I love cookbooks and actually have a few at home that mum has been sending me, and I want to do something cute with them, I'd love a shelf in the kitchen or a cute basket on top of the fridge.
The cabinets are pretty horrible. The previous sellers obviously painted them but from what I can tell, they didn't remove them or do a very good job. It's hard to see, they look better in photos but in real life you can tell - not good at all. Definitely need to redo these, hopefully next summer.
I love these cute little canisters I picked up in Australia in June, at a Salvos (like Goodwill).
And here is our laundry / pantry right off the kitchen:
Warning, it's not pretty. I need Kathy to come over and help me organise my shit.
The laundry / pantry has a lot of potential and we do use it to house a lot of stuff but I just know there has to be a better way. I'm thinking the shelves are too far apart, or maybe I just need to be better at organising and be more pinteresty.
What colour would you paint the kitchen? What else can I do to make this space more fabulous?
Oh man this is making me miss large north american kitchen and pantries - living in the UK is resigning yourself to living in the smallest possible accommodation!
ReplyDeleteooh i'd want to brighten it up! my kitchen has dark cabinets, so i'm craving light!
ReplyDeleteIf you're planning on keeping the cabinets white, I'd go for another light color (a light jade green, or light blue). But if you're planning to change them, there's a color of Behr paint called "sunshine delight" that looks like a mixture of orange and yellow. It's almost a coral color, but less intense; very warm. You really can do a LOT with that pantry! Also, totally agree: a home without a cat IS just a house :3
ReplyDelete~Gianni~
Wow I love the kitchen! So big! Our cabinets will be a vanilla color I am big on bright, light kitchens, our granite is light too, but we will have dark floors and the island is a cherry wood. I think a mixture of dark and light is good, but to me, kitchens and bathrooms should be light!
ReplyDeleteI am sooo jealous of your huge laundry/pantry area! I need one of those so badly, but we don't have one... yet :) You can sorta see the stripes once you pointed them out, how hard would they be to patin over since they look shiny?
ReplyDeleteI love the back splash design in your kitchen - so pretty!! I wont even get into how jealous I am of all your space because that's a given!!!
ReplyDeleteWe need to redo our kitchen and breakfast nook (where we keep our table) but the biggest hold up, besides money, is trying to figure out what color to paint it. We have the new countertops picked out but not the cabinets or the flooring. So maybe we have lots of holdups. I need an interior decorator.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love that your cat is checking out the vent. My dogs and cat do the same thing.
You have so much kitchen/pantry space! (I almost typed panty-yikes) I'd paint the kitchen a light greige - not totally grey so that it still goes with the tile. I have all my cookbooks in a basket I got at Michael's - they usually have them 40 or 50% off.
ReplyDeleteYou guys have so much space- love that you have room for the table- and I love the w holding the wine corks- such a cool way to display them! I'm soo jealous of your pantry! We have like zero storage space in our kitchen, which is a huge pain!
ReplyDeleteGirl, you are making that house SO cute! And so much prettier than the listing photos. Maybe you have a future as a house-stager for real estate? ;)
ReplyDeleteI love the size of your kitchen! So open and pretty! :)
ReplyDeleteKitchen islands do not have to be expensive or fancy. My kitchen island is from WalMart and I love it. I think I paid $100 (possibly less) for it and I have had it now for 7 years (and 4 moves). I did paint it when I moved into my apartment, but that is the only thing I have done to it. I have used the hell out of that island and not a scratch on it. It probably is the best "house" purchase I have ever made.
ReplyDeleteI love your big, roomy kitchen! I like ours but I wish it had more room for an island, it's more of a galley style with a open concept into the living room, so no room for anything in the middle.
ReplyDeleteThose canisters are awesome!!!! I love your big country table!!!
ReplyDeleteYour kitchen looks fantastic!! So jealous of that laundry room.
ReplyDeleteI really like your kitchen table, a lot more than the previous one. Very pretty :) Love that the room is so BIG. Cramped kitchen are the worst. Love those canisters too!!
ReplyDeleteI really like your kitchen table!
ReplyDeleteYour kitchen is so open! That's awesome. ours is a little tight and it makes cooking hard when there is more than one person
ReplyDeleteI really like the kitchen table and those canisters are super cute! Our friends painted their cabinets themselves and they turned out amazing but it was a TON of work. Multiple sanding and coats. They used some kind of special paint from Benjamin Moore I think, you should look into it if you do it, she said it made the painting step easier.
ReplyDeleteLove the white cabinets!!!!
ReplyDeleteI think your kitchen is adorable. It's so big so you have room for potential! Ikea's cabinets and islands are so nice now. They used to be college-age, poor people furniture but some of their stuff is legit now.
ReplyDeleteI like your kitchen! Like you mentioned, I would one day add an island...I love to cook as well and an island makes all the difference!!
ReplyDeleteI really like your kitchen!! It's nice and bright. The cabinets actually look really good in the photos. I would definitely keep the white and just repaint them. The backsplash isn't too bad either. It would be fun to update it in the future. I love backsplash.
ReplyDeleteI'm jelous of all that pantry space! You just need some baskets and smaller shelves.
It has so much space, I so wish I had a pantry. Love it! I would do a nice light brown, it would really make the white pop.
ReplyDeleteLooks great. Love the open layout and you cabinets.
ReplyDeleteYou know Kathy would have a hey day in your pantry ha. I think even just a big area rug would really make the kitchen feel a lot more "homey". Everything looks pretty modern (like your cabinets to me!) and your table is so cute in the corner. Nice job! I'll send you more corks for that "w" if you need em ;)
ReplyDeleteDid you guys do the tile or was that already there? It looks really good! I have no suggestions on paint color because I would just paint everything griege :)
ReplyDeleteI love the backsplash and tiling above the counters! I actually don't mind the paint color, but if I were to paint it I'd go super light. But that's maybe just me; I have an obsession with white/light kitchens :) ESPECIALLY if contrasted with black countertops. I think an island would be great in your space! And you need a rooster. Every kitchen needs a rooster.
ReplyDeleteSo cute!! I love the white cabinets with the backsplash! Loving this house tour! :)
ReplyDelete<3 Shannon
Upbeatsoles.blogspot.com
hahahahah! i love that you gave me a shout-out so thanks for that :) as for your pantry, i sort of got an organizing boner just looking at what can be done (which is SO SO MUCH).
ReplyDelete1) kitchen color. it depends on what you plan on doing with your cabinets. if you're going to keep with white being your dominant color, a light grey is a gorgeous color. it pairs well with the light cabinets and dark appliances.
2) the pantry - go through everything and toss out whatever you don't need/is lying around. minimize as much as you can.
the shelves are a tad too spaced out however, you don't have to change it if you don't want to but to organize, you'll need a crap ton of assorted sized baskets. to make it look more appealing, use a variety of baskets for the top shelves (ie. stuff you can get at Michaels on sale that are fabric-covered with patterns etc). place the largest baskets with the bulky stuff on the top shelves. the other bins (ie. to store toilet paper, paper towels etc) - those can be purchased at the dollar store. i'm all about saving as much as possible!! check out the dollar store for fancy fabric covered baskets - sometimes you will luck out there and find some for like, $2.
place all large appliances (ie. your skillet, crockpot, blender etc on the top shelves as well. these are bulky and take up a lot of room. unless you use these at least 3x/week, place them on the top shelves to make room for the things that you use often.
in the easy to reach places, organize your canned goods. toss old cans and donate the ones you know you're never going to use - the key to not being overrun with canned goods is keep them at a minimum. any other things you use frequently should be on the easy-to-reach shelves.
use large baskets to store your toilet paper/paper towels.
get that ladder out of the way and hang it in the garage on the wall. if you don't have a garage, hang it in the pantry but high up on the wall, horizontal, using large ladder hooks secured into the studs of your walls.
if you have the time and money, replace the particle board shelving with white shelves to match the shelves that store your canned goods. or you can just paint them :)
if only i lived closer to you! then we can organize and drink wine :)
btw, when i said that a lot can be done with your pantry, i wasn't implying that a lot needs to be done ie. it's messy ; i meant that there's so much potential in terms of organizing fun! :)
ReplyDeletealso - get the same colored baskets and as much as you can, the same size. clean lines are appealing to the eye. this is why it's important to take inventory first before you head to the stores so you know how many baskets you need :)
ReplyDeleteCute kitchen... I like the backsplash!
ReplyDeleteI like white in a kitchen. But then I like white everything. And I'm so very jealous of your kitchen size. I'm over here with my dorm/mini cooking space ;\ I also LOVE Kathy's suggestion of gray walls. So chic!
ReplyDeleteThe space looks so open and bright. I love the decor you've chosen for your kitchen. I cannot wait to see you post the room makeover (once you decide on your preferred wall color). Enjoy your weekend, Kristen :)
ReplyDeletewww.lovecompassionatelee.com/behindthescenes
I love the backsplash, the size and the white cabinets are very much in style. You cannot tell that they aren't painted well, although you said the pics hide it well.
ReplyDeleteI was definitely thinking of Kathy while I was reading this so it cracks me up that she has a huge paragraph written with great ideas
I like how nice and open your kitchen is!!! I love the addition of the kitty :)
ReplyDeleteYou could get some super cute book ends at like Homegoods or something for your cookbooks and put them on the counter or on top the fridge!
I am really picky about kitchen colors. Anything neutral and warm is what I like. I feel like you can bring in color and fun with decor and kitchen towels and place mats!
I love how big your kitchen is! And I love all the white because I think it makes a room look bigger! An island would look fantastic in that kitchen! That little window above your washer and dryer really jacks shit up. Lol. But I think it would be really cute if you had smaller shelves on both sides of the window and used it just for laundry stuff, maybe a basket or two. Then with the pantry you def have a lot of potential! You could definitely do shelves closer together. And maybe even some of those containers that hold canned goods. You could probably even do shelving in an upside down L shape {if that makes sense} so that you had shelves like this.. lol
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And then in the open space you could put your broom, mop, ladder, etc. :)
I just adore you more with each house post. :) Love the sunny yellow kitchen and I love the keeping-it-real pantry! Love the backsplash on your kitchen sink and the tile in your kitchen too. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat large space! I love your dinning table & chairs, so pretty! The kitty wall sign and sugar/tea/coffee canisters are so cute, too!
ReplyDeleteYour place is so adorable! I'm jealous!!! I want to re-decorate now and I just did! hahahah
ReplyDeleteI love the backsplash tile in your kitchen!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd, it would be fun to add some baskets and bins to sort-of organize your laundry area.
Love the color you painted in the kitchen! If you think your laundry is disorganized you should see mine! My room is way smaller and it shares the space with the heater! It is a mess lol. Yours def has potential! XO
ReplyDeleteLove these before and afters! They are my fav and your space is so clean!
ReplyDeleteThe kitchen looks great!
ReplyDeleteOh I love what you've done to your kitchen, it's such an important room in a house and yours looks so homely :)
ReplyDeleteHeather x
http://heatherrrrm.blogspot.co.uk/
At least your cabinets show really well in photos. I can't wait to have a house one day and do little remodels on the kitchen and bathrooms. Can't wait.:)
ReplyDeleteI seriously cant get over how cute your house is!!! Your decor is so adorable. Mine is so... scattered LOL!
ReplyDelete<3, Pamela
sequinsandseabreezes.blogspot.com
Adorable!!!
ReplyDeleteI wish we had a pantry--but we don't, which stinks!
Ooh I think with the white cabinets I would do a lighter color- mint green or light grey or super light blue? Painting cabinets is super easy though- we did it at my house!
ReplyDeleteI really like the stripes in the laundry room!
ReplyDeleteI would love love love to organize your pantry! I think it's fun. I am an organizer nerd.
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