Home Tour Tuesday - The Kitchen

Hello, friends!  Welcome to another edition of  Home Tour Tuesday.  So far we've seen the "mystery room" and the not-so-formal dining room and today we're headed to the kitchen.  

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted a white kitchen.  Maybe it's because I grew up with one.  And our very first starter home as a married couple had a white kitchen, too.  But really, I just think white kitchens are so clean and pretty.

When we were looking for a home 3 years ago, we only had one day to find what we wanted and there were only a handful of houses on the market in our area.  I didn't exactly have the luxury...or time...to be picky.  I absolutely adored the house we're in now, but I wasn't a fan of the kitchen at all.  It was just so dark and not "us" at all.  

I thought the cabinets were beautiful...but they weren't white.

I wished for butcher board countertops...not granite.

And I didn't know what in the world I would do with all the roosters.  LORD...the roosters!!!!!

Please understand me when I say that I'm not knockin' roosters.  But my kitchen was filled with them...on the backsplash...on the pulls and knobs for our cabinets....in the chandelier...they were everywhere!!!

Instead of pulling the trigger and changing everything as soon as we moved in, we decided it would be better to live in the house for a while before making any major changes.  Figure out exactly what we wanted, what we couldn't live without, and what we wanted to do away with.  Since we planned on this being our "forever home", I didn't mind waiting it out.

No matter how hard I tried to love our cabinets, I just didn't.  At all. Our kitchen doesn't have a ton of natural light and the cabinet stain just made the space feel so closed in and dark.  After 2 & 1/2 years of going back and forth, "should we??  should we not??", we finally decided to have the cabinets painted.  And I couldn't be happier with the results.

Rug:  Threshold Floral Bell Hand Tufted Area Rug, 5x7, Target

We don't have a huge kitchen, but it's open to the rest of the main living areas so it feels a lot bigger than it is.  After living in two homes with lots of counterspace, I can say that I definitely prefer the minimal counterspace in this house.  Less to clean and keep clean.

We decided against an island because we don't want to close in the space anymore than it already is.  However, I recently saw a skinny island and thought "maybe" that might work.  We'll see...

I would still love butcher block countertops, but Mr. Spouse isn't sold.  And I've heard they're a beating to maintain.  But man, they're beautiful.  I'd love to change out the chandelier, too.

All in all, I'm in love with our "new" kitchen!!!

I love our farmhouse sink.  One of my most favorite kitchen features.

Glass flour & sugar jars:  Wal Mart (I've seen them at Target, too)

Utensil holder:  Pressed Tin Planter, Southern Living at Home (11 years ago!)

Remember the roosters I was telling you about earlier?!  Here they are in all their glory.

We are not taking them down.  These guys have grown on me and I'm in love with them.  The former homeowners were so very proud of this kitchen.  The husband painted these roosters by hand.  I love that we still have something of theirs as a way to pay homage to them and their vision for their "dream house".  Plus, it's a great conversation piece and the butt of so many jokes with our friends :)  They really do add so much character to this little space!

These glass cabinets were always here and when we painted them all white, I decided to have the inside of the glass enclosures painted a charcaol gray to help give it a little depth & dimension and break up all the white.  Plus, I really wanted all of my white dishes and pitchers to pop against the darker color!!!

My dishes are just plain white and I love them.  Nothing fancy.  Nothing expensive.  Just plain white.  I love being able to display my grandma's china, too.  Her teacups are my favorite little sentimental piece.  

Decorating the top of the cabinets called for a complete overhaul, too.  I did away with all the dated greenery and whatnot and decided to use that space for my white pitcher collection.  I've also displayed a few wooden trays and crates, some galvanized tin, and metal canisters.

This is a work in progress because I'm not totally happy with it.  Maybe I'm thinking too hard.  I don't want it to be cluttered, but I don't want it to be plain, either.  Still workin' on it.

Grocery sign:  Hobby Lobby

White pitchers:  ALL over the place...mostly Marshall's & Ross, but several are from antique stores

Wooden trays:  Ross

Galvanized tin buckets:  Ross

Farmers Market Turquoise canister:  Home Goods

Bird pictures:  local trade days, but I've seen these everywhere!!!

Does anybody else have this fridge??  Can I tell you how much I don't like it??  The freezer on the bottom is ALWAYS leaking.  Always!!!!!  I have a friend with the same one and she says hers does the same thing!!!  Grrrr!!!  I kept the top of the fridge minimally decorated.  The artichoke pillars are from Ross and so is the Farm Fresh crate.  Such a fun find!!!  I put two more of those exact same crates on the opposite wall right above the cabinets on either side of the stove.

Right next to the fridge is our little coffee bar.  It's a bit busy and cluttered, but I love it.  And you know what I love even more?!?!  That precious artwork from my boys!!!!

Coffee & Tea canisters:  Marshall's

Mug tree:  World Market

Coffee sign:  handlettered by me, from Hobby Lobby

Wooden tray:  Ross

Moving right along...

Here's our little breakfast nook that's attached to the kitchen.  I love this space!!!!  It's so quaint and cozy.  We eat dinner at this table every night and this is where the boys do their homework, too.  

Rug:  World Market (3 years ago on clearance!!!  $75!!! )

Table:  Hand-me-down

Chairs:  antique fairs and local trade days

Chandelier:  Home Depot

Curtains:  Home Depot, Martha Stewart (I have two panels on either side)

Woven wood blinds:  Lowe's

EAT letters:  Hobby Lobby

This is the table I grew up eating on.  It eventually followed my brothers to college and then ended up back at my mom & dad's.  As you can imagine, this table has seen it's share of rough times...especially in a bachelor pad in College Station...so when I got her she really needed some TLC.  I painted the legs white and then the top brown.  This table is A LOT bigger than this...it has two leaves that fold out...but I like to keep it small so we'll have more space.  

Beaded charger:  Target

Stand:  antique fair

Boxwood ball:  Ross

My husband followed this tutorial to make these shelves.  When we hung them, it was about 3 in the morning the night before I hosted a baby shower for my sister and we hung them the wrong way.  The bottom should be on top and vice versa, but I actually sorta love it better this way.  And Adam refused to put more holes in the wall :)  Hahahaha.  I inherited the buffet from my grandma and it's been several different colors.  I finally settled on white and it fits so perfectly in this little room.  I think I even love the decor on the shelves....FINALLY!!!

Buffet:  grandma's

Window:  local trade days

Pitchers:  Marshall's & Ross

Glass bottles:  Home Goods

Subway art:  Hobby Lobby

Nesting bowls:  Anthropologie

Shelves:  made by husband following THIS TUTORIAL

Milk crate:  Home Goods

Milk jugs:  TJ MAXX

The curtains on these windows have changed more times than I like to count, but I'm happy to report I've finally found a winner!!!  We've had these hanging for a little over a year or so and that's more than I can say for the others.  There  used to be white wooden blinds on the windows, but it needed a different look and loved the idea of adding some dimension with woven woods (kind of echoing the window treatments in the other rooms).

Mom and I found this antique washing table at a local trade days several months ago.  I got it for a steal and knew exactly where I'd put it!!!  I love this thing!!!  I found this amazing piece  above the table at Home Goods and had to scoop it up.  It was the only one.  I had lots of china teacups I inherited from my grandma and couldn't wait to display them.  They're the perfect size.  A girlfriend of mine suggested I use this piece as an advent calendar during the Christmas holidays and that's EXACTLY what I plan to do!!!!  Such a great idea!  I'm not 100% sold on the way this space is decorated at the moment, but it'll do for now...and then change about 15 more times in the weeks to come.

Table:  local trade days

Wire basket:  Ross

Pitcher:  Marshall's

Moss balls: Tuesday Morning

White tray:  Ross

Display shelf:  Home Goods

Fresh Eggs sign:  Home Goods

So that's our kitchen & breakfast nook in a nutshell!!!  Next week...the living room!!