Sunday, September 13, 2009

Decorating the Kitchen


When first moving in, and basically have a blank canvas at my disposal, I read many a redecorating book because when picturing my dream house, my only criterion was having a yellow kitchen. I hadn't pictured anything else because I never actually thought as far ahead as having my own house.

So, I was to start from scratch.

First I thought I would stay with traditional, keeping the house preserved in 1928. Then I realized I really wasn't a fan of that.

I enjoyed flipping through Ikea catalogs and looking at all the funky cheapness. Then my husband said Ikea would look silly against the old wooden doors and white molded trim. I sneak my Ikea trips into the weekends he's away at National Guard drills, then tell him only after he says he likes it where it came from.

At least I knew I wanted a yellow kitchen. At my bridal shower, my mother- and sister-in-law started giving me towels and pot holders with grapes on them, so my theme for the kitchen was pretty much mapped out. I would have accents of grapes. Well, when I realized I could incorporate that into my love of wine, I realized my kitchen would have a country-esque grape and wine theme to it, and I could get my yellow kitchen.

The kitchen was completely switched around before I would start. We needed most major appliances had to be moved around to get a good amount of space we needed and the always-sticky linoleum had to be removed.

And, as much as I enjoyed the previous wallpaper for its kitchy-ness, my husband told me he couldn't live with it.

Once that was complete, I could begin painting. (Confession: I still have not painted the trim in the kitchen. I don't remember why I put it off...but, I swear, I'll get to it.)

I wanted to go with one of the background tans in the towels as a basis for finding a complementing yellow. I finally decided on a color called Apple Muffin, which looked like cupcake batter and, therefore, had to eat before painting or else I knew I would absent-mindedly try it.

After the Pergo floor was put down, a trend I'm annoyed to see has gotten quite popular in kitchens now, the new appliances were installed and the cabinets were installed, I used a grape stencil on the walls. I didn't want it to go all the way around because it would have been too busy for such a small space, so I strategically placed them, centering as much as I could over windows and doors.





The finishing touches were the towels and pot holders, which were hung the other day to hide the imperfections in the plaster wall.




The wine bottle is not necessarily decoration. It's actually old red wine that's gone bad that I use for cooking. There is a note on the wine warning myself not to drink it, as I had an autopilot moment a few weeks ago and took a swig, resulting in a terrible shock when I realized what I had done.

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