My Kitchen Mini Makeover

Over the last couple of months my kitchen has s l o w l y been getting a little updating.

Things seem to always take longer than expected and we had a couple of setbacks but progress is a good thing.

We live in a typical builder home in the suburbs of Houston. It's lovely, but there are corners that builders cut that I will never understand. A lot of the work had nothing to do with pretty, it was just necessary. But those little things make a big difference in a room like one's kitchen where a lot of time is spent every single day. And it's still a work in progress.

Our eat in kitchen nook got the most love and is the most completed. We added crown moulding to this room, fresh paint top to bottom, centered the light over the table (why was it not centered when they built it?). Added pretty trim moulding around the previously bare windows and custom blinds from Select Blinds.

In person, the windows are gorgeous and get noticed right away.  I replaced the faux wood blinds with the Tropical Isle Basic Bamboo Shade in Mesh Camel with a cordless lift. 

I can't say enough about Select Blinds excellent customer service. If you've never ordered blinds online, give them a try next time. Samples are sent out right away and their people know their stuff.  This kind of customer service is very rare these days and was so appreciated. (not paid to say that...they are just awesome and I will use them again) Thanks to Holly Mathis for referring me. She's been using their products for years.

It's so tempting to want to replace everything once a room starts feeling new. But the domino effect gets expensive pretty fast. For example, our little kitchen table. A new table was on my list of things to replace but when I considered that it is solid wood and a good size for the room, I came to my senses and had it painted instead. I'm in love!

I've fed my family for years off this little table and would have been sad to see it go. It's a good solid yellow pine table that I had painted white years ago. I was ready for a change so I called my friend Allison of H.A.S. Bins who is a wiz with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. 

The awesome Allison of H.A.S. Bins. She offers custom painting work and also sells painted furniture along with her partners at H.A.S. Bins.

She created a custom color mix using Graphite and Old White which resulted in this dark moody gray.  I do love the contrast with my chairs. Thank you Allison, so so much, xo.

Here you can see where the next work will be happening.  The little shelf will be removed and natural open shelves will be installed.  There was a recipe desk here that was removed as well. I'll have shelves to the floor for ironstone and serve ware.  I considered closing it off, but would miss the styling opportunity.  I like to see my stuff.

When all is done, then a new floor will go in (when I can make up my decorators ever changing mind). Bring in the existing wood? A hex tile in a fun pattern? Big tiles or little ones? A painted cement tile? Another white floor?

I got so sick of myself I had to just stop for a bit and catch my breath. Better that than to make an expensive mistake. 

There's more to share as we go. We replaced the tile backsplash with beadboard, converted a wall oven to a small pantry, converted a cook top to a slide in range and had one of those God awful fluorescent box lights ripped out and sprinkled around some small led lights on dimmers. New cabinet hardware is coming as soon as I get it ordered. 

Oh, and the wall color is Sea Salt by Sherwin Williams.