Kitchen/Hearth Room

 When we bought our house a year and a half ago, one of my favorite things was the open floor plan from the kitchen into the hearth room.  Before we moved in we had the first floor trim painted white- totally transforming and opening up the space even more.  

About 8 months after moving in, we finally got around to painting the kitchen cabinets (Simply White BM) and spray painting the existing gold hardware (Hammered Black Rustoleum- I think) 

The counters were laminate that had been painted a neutral yellow before we moved in.  Supposedly the counters used to be a sparkly gold, so while I was thankful they had been painted- I was trying to get away from yellow tones in this room.  We couldn't afford to replace them.  Since I knew we couldn't mess them up with paint because they already had been painted, we decided to try Rustoleum's Countertop paint in black to get rid of the peachy yellow color in the counters.  We also had some help painting the walls to finally give the entire room the look I was going for.  It may not be the quality that we would like to have eventually, but at least I have the color scheme and feel that I envisioned for the room.  The countertops were the last to be done & it's amazing how even just a little bit of the yellow hue changed to black can transform the whole kitchen!

   After we thought we had done all we could to the kitchen- I saw an ad on craiglist for a brand new Kohler sink & fixture for $150.  So my sweet husband installed it and got a perfect sermon illustration out of the whole experience.  Let's just say we are done with DIY for awhile!

But hey- it looks good!

I thought about painting the pantry door a fun color, but couldn't decide on one.  I used some leftover chalkboard paint and now it's one of my favorite spots in the room!  Gives the kids a fun place to draw- handy spot for list making- and even a fun place to track potty training :)

Off the kitchen is an eating area and then a carpeted hearth room.  One side leads out to the patio and the other side leads to a closet & the garage.  I wish I had a before picture of the fireplace!  It was wood on top and red brick surround.  I white-washed the brick (1/2 paint 1/2 water mixture- 2 coats painted on) with the intent of eventually painting it all white, but I ended up loving it!  It gives just enough texture without letting out too much color from the brick and clashing with our red couch.  Cheaper to spend $4 on a can of paint sample & water than to buy a new couch!

The wall color is BM Revere Pewter and I LOVE it! (You can see in the picture above and below- the walls were a neutral yellow/tan before.)

Real life:
Vera has been one for two months now :)
Vali wouldn't move for the picture.
The carpet is so dirty! No amount of cleaning can help it! We are saving to do something about it since this is the room with the most traffic in and out of the garage and back door.  Rug would either need to be HUGE or angled because the doors on either side of the room are not across from each other (if that makes any sense)
And why do high chairs have to be so ugly? or expensive?!

There used to be two rusted can lights above the fireplace.  We found those two pendants for $19 each at a warehouse north of Cincinnati & my handyman hubby replaced them! (He also switched out the can light over the sink in the kitchen for the same pendant) We might have gotten in an argument, almost electrocuted ourselves & watched way to many DIY youtube videos, but they look good!

I LOVE this artwork I found on clearance at Kirklands:

The kitchen light seen below used to have a gold chain wrapped around it and the gold accents.  I just removed the chain- little holes circle the edge, but it's better than before... and a little black paint on the extra gold accents- cheap fix!

This kitchen table light fixture was on major clearance at the Ballard Design outlet in Cincinnati!
and those flowers from the back yard were knocked over approximately one hour after this photo :)

Changing table: cheap at goodwill (used to be brown & in JR's nursery {here})
Ikea curtains & rod
Old frames painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint & one is simply wrapped in fabric with tape on the back!

It's amazing how slow projects take with a budget and two toddlers, but boy, does it make you appreciate it when your vision for the space starts to take shape!  Hope to share some more rooms that are in progress and some DIY projects soon :)  Happy Labor Day Weekend!

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