The Kitchen Got a Facelift

We got back from our trip on Sunday night, and immediately delved into some little projects around the house. The main attraction this week? THE KITCHEN! Here are a few (horrible) before pictures of our messy kitchen: :)

This was kind of an awkward space I wasn't quite sure what to do with. Paint? Gallery wall? Piece of furniture? It also didn't help that I was having a hard time going with a particular "theme" in the kitchen. Keep reading to find out how I remedied this situation.

One of my favorite DIY house blogs is Young House Love. They once referred to these way-too-commonly-used light fixtures as "boob lights." You see it, right? That phrase comes to my mind every time I see them. Unfortunately, our builders used these lights in every room, or in this case 5 times in one area!! There are way too many boobs in this picture. Excuse my language please.

So we got down and dirty this week. I know wallpaper is all the rage these days, and there was one particular print I couldn't get out of my head. It caught my attention probably a year ago, so I finally decided to make the plunge and do it. My older and much wise sister once made the comment that the bolder decorating decisions she has made, as opposed to the "safe" options, are her favorite. She is so wise, I tell 'ya. Just a week before that I had painted our living room and went with the utlra "safe" option. Yeah, I hate it. Hence, the bold decision of the Orla Kiely wallpaper. :)

 I'm in love with that color of blue, and doing this wall has given me such a good starting point to decorating the rest of the kitchen. No more random purchases for me, thank you very much. I really had no clue whatsoever how to put up wallpaper. It ended up being a lot bigger project than I had anticipated (aren't they always?) and took three evenings instead of one. But with the help of a few YouTube videos and a patient husband, I conquered my first wallpaper experience. Whew!

You may also have spotted the other new addition to our kitchen. I present our new pendant light fixture:

Let's all take a moment and realize how much better this is than the boob light. I especially like how it defines the eating area from everything else since the kitchen, dining area and living room are pretty much just one big room. We got it from Overstock. Gotta love that $2.95 shipping.

And last not least, we put some handles and knobs on those dark cabinets of ours. It's amazing how much easier drawers and cabinets are to use with hardware. We bought the hardware from Ikea.

So how 'bout that facelift? It feels so good to get some of those projects out of the way. 

Next in line? The yard. Dun dun dun...