Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Kitchen Love

When we bought this house 1 1/2 years ago, it wasn't for the kitchen. It has 40 year old cabinets which are just ugly ugly ugly, and faux brick on the walls from the 70's. The old owners had put it up themselves, and thought it was quite the selling point. I didn't want to point out the ugliness of the orange-tinged cabinets with the pink-tinged brick. But with there not being a spare 50K or so in the budget right now, it all gets to stay!! There was however $25 in the budget when we bought the house for paint! So my ugly kitchen got a little taste of the good life with new orange walls. I know you have all heard me talk about my orange kitchen, and even seen photos of it. Well last week it got stepped up a notch.

A friend from church, Shannon, is an architect and a phenomenal organizer. She offered to help one person re-organize any one room in their home and give them lots of pointers on how to make it a better workable space. So we all put our names in a hat, and mine.....wasn't picked. Not what you were expecting, right?! But I just KNEW that I was the person meant for this mini-makeover, so I wasn't surprised at all (OK so I was totally surprised!) when Shannon called me to say that the original person drawn couldn't do it, so they pulled another name was drawn and it was me! Woo Hoo!!

So Shannon came over, took lots of before photos, then we got to work. (I will get her to send me some before photos and add them here when I get them)

I chose my kitchen to be re-done. She took everything out of my cupboards and re-organized them in ways that I had never even thought of, but which make so much more sense. Then she wrote a list of homework for me to do over the next week, such as clean out my junk drawer, (admit it, we all have one)so here are my newly cleaned out junk drawers - yes I had more than one...
There were several things I needed to get, including shelving. Her idea was to put some shelves up high along two walls and move all my 'pretties' up there, which would in turn create more space in the cupboards where they were stored. I LOVED this idea, as I miss having space above my cabinets to do this with.

I bought the shelves and brackets ($44 for everything at Home Depot), and really got into the spirit of it all and made curtains and the bag bag which you saw in a previous post. I already had a bolt of white muslin, so I just bought 2 yards of the orange polka dot at Joann's and made some simple but cherry curtains.
I had some Homegoods/TJ Max gift cards, so I bought some orange cooking utensils and a few things to put up on my new shelves.

Well when Shannon came back to install the shelf and take 'after' photos, she was so excited to see that I had made the curtains etc. She said not everyone does their 'homework'! I will admit that I didn't do one thing on the list - I was supposed to clean out my fridge. I just ran out of time, BUT Shannon, if you are reading this, it's all done now!

Shannon and I installed the shelves, and when we put all my stuff on them, it was like magic - I fell in love with my kitchen!
I have always loved my orange walls, but I knew it all needed to be pulled together better. For some reason, the cabinets and faux brick don't seem so bad anymore, and my huge table/chairs seem smaller. Best of all, we seem to be spending more time in there. I actually look forward to being in there now! I do plan on painting the cabinets and brick, but am waiting for warmer temperatures to do that.

And as usual, it all looks so much better in person...so you are all invited to come on over and check it out - I'll even make cinnamon rolls for the occassion ;)

And now you know the story of how I fell in love....with my kitchen:)

22 comments:

loulee said...

I'll be there next Tuesday at 4pm. ;-)

Looks great, I wish someone would come and do mine!!

Tami @ Lemon Tree Tales said...

It looks so cheerful and fun! I think that your lovely table is calling out to you to make a long runner with a little of that orange polka dot fabric. :-)

Stephanie D said...

Fantastic! So cheery and now so organized, too! What's the point of having pretty things if you can't look at them?

Lucky gal!

Stephanie D said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jessica said...

Oh, I'm in love with your kitchen, too!! I wish Shannon would travel to Seattle to help me!!! :-)

I actually have a NH question for you. If you wouldn't mind emailing me?? Please, I'd appreciate it. Thanks! ~Jessica mauk.jessica (at) gmail.com

Jessica said...

oops...that makes my email address look funny. lets try this: mauk.jessica (at) gmail.com

Trisha said...

You kitchen looks so cute! So nice that you were able to have someone help you. The shelves were a great idea and the curtains are adorable!

Nanette Merrill said...

What a great idea. It shows you can do anything with paint, ideas, organization and refreshing your perspective to make new curtains and pull things together. Congrats! What a good example.

Anonymous said...

I love it! I love it! I'm glad you love it too! It was a ton of fun, and you were a great guiniea pig. :)

em's scrapbag said...

I looks great! I am so happy for you. A kitchen you hate is such a drag.

Cathie in UT said...

OH you have become an episode of some HGTV show! LOL
Very nicely done and it's sort of like when I do a "big clean" in my bedroom. I just love to spend time in there when I am done!
Hurrah for you!

Teresa said...

What a fun project! I think you must be the only person I "know" that has an orange kitchen. It looks great. I have seen some really cute things lately at Hobby Lobby that have lots of orange and red in them - I guess that is the new color.

Dawn said...

Everything looks great!! Thanks for the tour.

Deb Robertson Writes said...

Your kitchen looks great. I also have a collection of jelly moulds waiting for somewhere to hang. they look so cool on the wall.

Anonymous said...

I can tell you did a ton of work to get it looking that great. Next time the bolt muslin is on sale I need to pick up one so I can make some super cute curtains like yours.

Swapna said...

Wow Joanna.. that's a lovely kitchen.. cinnamon rolls... yum.. post some pictures after you make them...

Gluten Free Store Ltd www.glutenfreestore.co.nz said...

its like the old saying goes, When Life Gives you lemons, make Lemonade. In your case its, When Life gives you oranges... it works. I would pop in for a cuppa if I wasn't in NZ!!!!

jacquie said...

i love the power to transform that lives in a can of paint! great story of falling in love with your kitchen. looks wonderful!! i'd love to join in for those cinnamon rolls!

SewAmy said...

orange is one of my favorite colors. Love you orange. You ought to paint the faux brick white. It would probably lighten / brighten it up in there even more.

Sweet P said...

Your kitchen looks great! I love the idea of a shelf to show off your pretties. I organized my junk drawers last summer and I'm happy to say they are still clean. Your curtains are cute! Nice touch.

Jodi Nelson said...

Looks absolutely fantastic !

Lisa said...

Joanna, wish Shannon could come see my kitchen. I have a 1970s kitchen too with the original brown fridge, dark brown cabinets, peeling wallpaper and no faux brick for us... we got the real thing!!! Brick divides the work area from the seating area! Your kitchen looks great!!!