We have lived in our house for five years now and it has taken me years to get a vision for exactly how I wanted to decorate our kitchen. I will apologize now for the many bad pictures taken from my cell phone...I got a little smarter over the years and learned how to use camera plus!
This is how the kitchen started out back in 2010.
I was so happy to have this farm house style table handed down to us! It fit so perfectly in the space of our eat in kitchen. Other than buying cribs for our babies, Mike and I have purchased only two pieces of furniture. Everything we own is literally hanging on from our college years or was passed down from family and I am grateful for every single piece! I wrote This Post a few years ago on letting your furniture tell a story. I love that our pieces have history and memories tied to them. Some pieces of furniture are timeless to me and I will never touch them. Others just need a little love to give them life again. That is what I wanted to see happen with our little breakfast area and our kitchen table!
I remember standing in the kitchen when I was pregnant with Violet and feeling absolutely certain that the walls could no longer be gold. I have learned over the years that I gravitate toward soothing color palettes. Every room in our home is a very calming shade of blue, green, or gray. Sometimes, you just need a strong dose of hormones to kick you into gear! And just like a good husband who tolerates his pregnant wife, Mike let me call me the painter!
I really liked the paint color and that seemed to settle my nesting at the time. It took me a few more months to really think about what else I wanted to change and how much I wanted to spend to do it. I started by lightening the curtain panels to a linen shade which allowed a lot more light to come in. I also built Restoration Hardware inspired shelves to fill the space beside my cabinets and to display a few of my favorite glass bowls and coffee mugs. The glassware was also handed down from family. So special.
This was a really fun project and super easy to make. I bought everything at Home Depot. I showed the nice man who helped me how much Restoration Hardware charged to create the same look and he was thrilled to collect all the materials I would need to make these industrial shelves! Total cost $45.
*wood
*stain
*4 galvanized pipes
*stain
*4 galvanized pipes
*4 flanges
*4 caps
As I continued to see things lighten up, I realized it was time to recover my benches and chairs. I had already recovered my dining room chairs which were originally my great grandmother's, so I wasn't afraid to tackle this project myself. After a quick trip to The Fabric House, I was ready to update my fabric. The original fabric had a lot of green, red, and gold. Of course I picked blue and gray...
You can learn how to do anything online now and I have found that people are usually excited to help you with your project, so don't be scared to try. I literally walked in to a fabric store when I recovered my dining room chairs years ago and begged for help. I think I told the nice lady "I am a physical therapist. Please tell me everything I need to do and don't leave anything out. I have no idea what I'm doing." There are fabulous tutorials on line to get you started! Here is one I used from HGTV. How to recover a dining room chair
On a side note, if you decide to change out your fabric and you are worried about little hands, this is your new best friend! Where has Scotch Gard been all my life y'all? I tested a scrap piece of fabric with this and rubbed blueberries, spaghetti sauce, and olive oil into the white areas. I was able to get everything out with soap and water. In love.
I am so happy with my shelves and my new fabric! It really helped to tie my style together and I love the lighter colors in this room. My last step was to paint the table legs. I wanted a fresher look and something a little cleaner that matched the style of the room. I have used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint on several other pieces of furniture and it is my go to paint for quick transformations. I don't use it to paint everything because it definitely has a matte finish and will look a little distressed. But it was perfect for my table legs and super easy! I mixed French Linen with Old White to make a very subtle shade of gray. This is roughly 2/3 Old White and 1/3 French Linen.
I am so happy with the results! This is a table with a lot of life left in it! I love the stories, laughter, and tears that have been shared at it. We spend so much of our family time in this space and when my friends come to visit, we always end up right here. I smile thinking of all the snacks and pancakes and projects that my girls will enjoy at our table. As you can see, I kind of love kitchens.
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