Styling a Kitchen

At Long Last...My Kitchen

Finally, photos of MY kitchen. 

I meant to post this days ago...but then we had a couple of cloudy days

and I can't take good photos on cloudy days.

So while I waited for the clouds to disappear,

I analyzed the styling of the kitchen.

As I said before...there is lots I'd like to do to this kitchen

but I can't afford to do a thing at the moment.

Still, I was able to give it a little facelift by restyling.
I'm aware that it is nothing spectacular but you said you wanted see.

See...this kitchen has major issues.

But I've tried to make the most of it.

First, I hate that checkered board floor.

I've always thought I liked a black and white check floor.

But it doesn't work here because -

1. It should have been set on the diagonal which would have opened the room up. 

Set this way...it just emphasizes that the room is long and narrow.

You'll see in the photos coming up.

2. The black and white floor is too much with the black and white backsplash. 

They should have done one or the other...not both.

3. Black counter top, black and white floor, black and white backsplash, black appliances equals

TOO MUCH BLACK!!!!
I hate the black appliances...but I'm just going to have to live with them for awhile.

I hate the black countertop too...but not as much as I thought I did. In person it looks like soapstone.
If a person has to have formica...it's about the best you could have.

I'd love to change it but I think If I changed the backsplash and floor...I would think it looked just fine.
Hey...the "Something's Gotta Give" kitchen has black countertops and we all know how great it looks.
I read these weren't even really soapstone.
They were just painted plywood.

(Something's Gotta Give Kitchen)

See! If my kitchen had a wood floor and stainless appliances? It would be chic.

Good news is...this floor is in such bad shape...that I'll be forced to do something about it soon.

It's permanently stained and cracking.

In a future post...I'll do a mock up of what the kitchen will look like 

once I change the floor and add a few things I have in mind.

But this post is about styling what you have and trying to make it more pleasing.

So this is what the kitchen looked like the day I bought the house.

I knew the red had to go immediately. And it was the first thing I changed in the house.

That floor hurts my eyes mixed with the red walls...it looks like a fast food restaurant.

Breakfast nook was red too.

So this post is all about how the kitchen looks now but when I went to take photos to show...

I just couldn't post because I was so unhappy with it and I thought I'd try to restyle it for no money,

because I have no money.

This is how it looked before I restyled.

In kitchens I had before this one...I always had a mix of vintage bowls in pastel colors.

But they never worked in this kitchen.

There is too much black for them to work.

I decided to bring every piece of silver or mercury glass that wasn't being used in here.

I made a toile skirt out of fabric I already had to go under the sink to break up the cabinets a little.

That brown blob is Violet...she decided to get a drink of water in the middle of this shot.

The black tiles are splotchy from me trying to clean them with bleach.

Above the frig.

The only thing I bought in this photo were the decorative balls in the mercury glass bowl.

I got quite a few at Hobby Lobby at 50% off. Everything else...I shopped the house.

When I bought my refrigerator I really wanted a vintage look. If budget had allowed, 

I would have bought a Big Chill or a Northstar vintage inspired refrigerator.

But they cost thousands whereas this frig was around $600.

It is a new Frigidaire. I removed its current logo. 

I had found the antique Frigidaire emblem on Ebay and attached it to my frig with sticky velcro. 

I pretend it's vintage.

I took the doors off these cabinets which also helped make the room not look quite so long.

I hate to be picky but I don't like the doors on these cabinets either. 

See the bottom where the molding is just plain square? I like that but I don't like the top arch. 

I know its a little thing...but it bothers me every time I look at them.

I added the iron work on top, hoping to make it look a little hutch like 

and again trying to break up that long vast expanse of cabinets.

Ideally, I would add crown molding to the top of these cabinets and do something special to the top of this one to make it look more hutch like...but for the cost of a little iron work and white spray paint...

I got the feeling. And it's kept me happy for the time being.

White metal iron work is the theme in this kitchen...if you haven't noticed.

I'm thinking about putting mirror in the back of these shelves. 

That black and white backsplash is just too busy - I dream of white subway tile.

I am working on a quick and cheap fix for this problem to show when completed, 

hopefully soon

Lots of white metal ironwork in this kitchen. I love the stuff, if you couldn't tell.

All of these pieces were bought at different times and in different finishes.

As I'd find a piece...I'd paint it white...shabby chic it and put it up.

The ceiling had a hideous florescent light when I moved in.

I found this one on Ebay.

I love the shape of it. 

It would look so great lowered and over a kitchen island.

Maybe someday the kitchen will get widened and I'll have room for an island.

Most of the houses from this period have an arch over the sink.

My house doesn't and neither does the house to the east of me.

The house to the west of me - has the arch.

So I added some more white iron work in place of architecture.

The light fixture came from Ebay. 

There wasn't electrical in the ceiling there 

so I just hung it from a hook and let the chain and electrical wire run down the wall.

It actually goes under the window sill and then plugs in the wall. 

I like simple curtains.

These couldn't be any more simple. 

Two antique linens clipped to a wire attached to the window with eye hooks.

I like the way they droop.

Then there is the stove top.

This is where I began with my restyle.

It looked like this when I started the other day.

This area above the stove is really strange.

I believe it is original to the house. 

I've seen it in one other home in the neighborhood.

The inside of it has a nice curve but you don't see that...

all you see is a big box over the stove.

I'd love to rip this out and put in a range hood with a vintage stove below it.

The restyling of this kitchen began with that sliver tray. 

Once I added that...I knew I just need lots of sliver in this kitchen and as I type this...

I know I still need more. 

A stainless range top and hood would make me like this more.

So I brought all the mercury glass in and immediately knew I needed a big statement over the hood 

to fill that dark box up there.

I went to Hobby Lobby hoping to find a cool piece of metal work.

Hey...if you find a good thing...might as well over do it.

But there was nothing that was the right size and shape.

And I know I saw one this past summer that I passed up thinking I just didn't need.

Only thing I bought at Hobby Lobby that night were the decorative balls I put in the mercury glass bowls. 

I stopped in at Ross, hoping I might find something there and there I found this HUGE clock. 

It had a silver distressed frame making it perfect to go with my new kitchen theme.

And it was $20! 

Thank you, China.

Yes, China may take over the world someday but until it does, we get cheap decor like this.

As much as I thought this clock would look good in the space. 

I hesitated to buy it.

I'm not a big fan of clocks or watches. 

I don't like to be confined by time.

Truly...it causes me anxiety.

Because I'm always running late and seeing clocks just makes me feel bad about myself.

The clocks I do have in the house...I keep all set at different times...

so that I don't know actually exactly what time it is. 

Like this one is set 20 or so minutes ahead.

It helps me hurry out the door when getting ready to go somewhere.

If I think it's a little later than it really is...it hurries me along.

I'm still late for everything though.

I love these canisters. 

My Mom bought them for me and the whole set of dishes the night my sister got married.

She got married in the afternoon and afterwards...Mom was like...

"Let's go buy those dishes". 

They came from JC Penney. We had to hit several stores to find them all. 

I'd cried a lot that day...so it makes me happy to look at these and know that my Mom decided 

to cheer me up by buying me the complete set of all of this. I think it cheered her up too.

I think that's the only time we ever bought all of one thing at one time. 

We usually do the collected over time thing.

Black wall oven. 

Really hate it...big bunch of black...ick.

A glimpse into the breakfast nook. I'll show it tomorrow in full.

Harvey is eating...but Harvey is always eating.

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