Y'ALL COME ON IN! // THE KITCHEN

I don't so much love to cook, aside from putting together a good pot of soup. Andrew is definitely the cook in this house. I'm more about the prep. Cutting veggies for the week's salads, arranging items for an antipasti tray, a good plate of nachos, a 15-ingredient sandwich.

Regardless, a lot of our time is spent in the kitchen. Coffee making. English muffin toasting. Recipe searching. Grocery list discussing. Dishwasher loading and unloading. How was your day-ing. 

Our house was built in 1959, and the layout of the kitchen hasn't changed. The cabinets are old school as well. I really don't think I want to change anything. We talked about knocking the wall out between the kitchen and the living room, but I don't really want an open floor plan. I feel like sometimes, if you don't have a really large space, removing a wall can make things crowd together. Plus, I'd lose a ton of cabinet space. Hopefully, sooner than later, we'll slap some fresh white on the cabinets and ceiling, and get some new hardware for the cabinets. Otherwise, I think I'm good. 

To add some life to the kitchen, I focused on incorporating some pops of color. 

I totally dig these little built in spaces. Perfect for cookbooks!

You can see where previous owners removed cabinets from these shelves that are above the fridge. I don't have much use for them for frequently used items because they're so high. I opted to decorate them instead. {Shocking, I know.} 

• The freezing boxes were found at my FIL's store
• The fish gurgle pot was a gift from a friend. {He gurgles as you pour!}
• Pyrex casserole and stand were antiqued from Mod Bettie at Sleepy Poet in Charlotte.
• Pig - Homegoods, spray painted gold.
• Pie dish - thrifted.

When we moved in, the wood above the sink was this huge scallop design. I just couldn't live with it. So, I promptly ripped it out. Turns out, it was rooted in there between two other pieces of wood, and involved about twenty nails. Long story short, I may have made a little boo boo. Thankfully, my brother helped me out. He replaced the original piece of wood, and just created a straight lip, instead of the scallop. Something had to be put up to hide the overhead light that hangs between the valance and the wood.

The valance was made from a flour sack I found antiquing. My meemaw stitched it into a valance for me. That mixer hanging there is vintage GE, and it still works! I added some tiny pops of color in the window sill with some flower blooms and a little rooster {also a gift from a friend}. Something about him makes me think vintage kitchen. Kind of reminds me of Kellogg's Cornflakes boxes.

This was the game changer. I saw this image from Life in Grace, and I thought, "That's it! I'm rippin' some cabinets down!" Made THE biggest difference! {PS, If you don't know about Life in Grace, you need to be findin' out. OBSESSED with her home decor.}

I saw all of her beautiful, colorful pieces on display, and I began to salivate, basically. I had just recently acquired some family china, a few Pyrex goodies, and some other serving ware that just felt too pretty to hide. So, off the cabinets came. The paint color was mixed from two colors of paint that were already here in the closet. Can you say 'Word'? Worrrd. We also used a gift card to purchase a new, smaller toaster oven to go in that little wall nook, to save some counter space. Our old one was hu-massive and took up a large chunk of valuable real estate that would be better used for food prep.

Y'all will have to forgive me, because taking before pictures is not a strong point. I just get so excited, I do what I want done, and take pictures after. Before, the kitchen wall leading into the dining room was pea soup green. Not a fan. So, we replaced it with chalkboard paint. And, PS, I am totally in love with these pocket doors. I was worried they wouldn't get enough usage and attention, but, thanks to Curtis Loew, they do. We close them during meal prep so Curtis won't follow us around the kitchen begging for scraps, nearly causing us to trip and bust our behinds wide open. 

Mr. Fox cookie jar can be found at Cracker Barrel. I use him to hide our tea bags and easily access them without taking up cabinet spaces with those bulky tea bag boxes.

Finally, there was this naked little space of wall leading down the basement steps that was irking me. A family friend gave us this apron {I have a thing for colorful, fun aprons}, and I paired it with this bonnet I found while thrifting. {We shall discuss the color of the basement entry walls another day. I like to call it 'shiny earwax yellow'. Yuck to the maximum. That space, the basement paneling, and the kitchen cabinets/ceiling are the three remaining items on the To-Be-Painted list.}

And that, my shugpies, is where it all goes down in Foodville for us.

Are you a foodie? Do you spend a lot of time in your kitchen? What's your favorite feature in your space? Do tell.