My Kitchen {Moodboard}

So there's this house.

I love it. My husband loves it. It's perfect for our family and is even the right price.

But we're not ready to buy a house yet!

If we DID buy it though, it would need some work--part of why it's perfect for us. Just for fun, I created a moodboard of what I'd like to do in the kitchen. Because some day!

That kitchen in the center? Love it! I want to include so many things from that kitchen! It's a Fixer Upper kitchen, so of course it's dreamy. I like the gray lower cabinets with white uppers, the island shape and size, the stools, the range hood and the shape of the pendant lights. I might choose something less glam and shiny though.

The backsplash in the main picture is amazing, but it's not really me. I would prefer beadboard for the backsplash. Our upper cabinets would be plain white, not beadboard, so there's the balance.

There are two windows in the kitchen of the house we're not buying. I would add bamboo blinds. I love how the color warms up the gray. There are wood floors so that would warm it up too. I love the look and practicality of butcher block counter tops, but I'm not sure I'd want them with the wood floor. Suggestions?

I've wanted a farmhouse sink forever, and I like how it looks with the gray cabinets. We have a black fridge that is brand new and the house we're not buying has a black oven. I'd love to build, I mean, I'd love to have Gary build a hood over the stove like my inspiration picture!

The rustic shelves are just perfect. I'm not sure they'd end up in the kitchen, though they made it to the inspiration board! Gary has been wanting to build us a farm style table and I like the mix of the metal Tolix chairs and benches.

So now that it's all planned out, all we have to do is wait! For the right time to buy, for our baby girl to join the family, for winter to pass, and for the house to still be available. Right?

A girl can dream!



To give credit where credit is due, here are the sources for the pictures I used above:

Bamboo blind: Young House Love
Farmhouse sink: HGTV {Fixer Upper}
Table and chairs: Apartment Therapy
White and gray kitchen: HGTV {Fixer Upper}
Rustic shelves: Our Vintage Home Love
Butcher block counter: Newlywoodwords
Black oven: Navy Bean Lane

Another Kitchen

Our kitchen in Idaho is the nicest kitchen I've ever had. It's been great having ample storage and plenty of work surfaces!

But it's not very photogenic.  Oh well! Come on in and pull up a chair. I'll probably fix you something fresh, summery and vegetarian.

I don't know if you remember our dining area in our last house, but it was seriously tiny! The table was pushed up against the wall and we were crowded. Here there is plenty of room for all of us and we could easily add another leaf.

My Grandma's Desert Rose dishes haven't been unpacked for over three years--probably four! These built-in displays are nice, but I would prefer a free-standing hutch. There are three of these sections on the wall behind the table.

The kitchen is U-shaped with another wall for the sink, oven and dishwasher. It was custom-built by our landlord and his father-in-law who originally lived in the house.

Another built-in display area near the dining table.

Before we rented this house, I was so excited about all the counter space! I love it! Even when things aren't neat and tidy, there's still room to get a meal ready.

I was also looking forward to having a dishwasher. Sadly, it leaves my dishes pretty awful looking. Not so much food stuck on, but residue. We cleaned the machine so many times, used several different kinds of soap, tried baking soda and and other ideas... Back to hand washing for me.

Beside the sink is the oven, then beside the oven is the back door and this little entry area. It would be a great mudroom, but if you can tell in the photo of the sink above, there's a mudroom out back. It's kind of a weird wrap-around enclosed walkway with lots of storage... So, this is my sewing corner!

My vintage heirloom sewing machine is in need of a tune-up.

Beside the sewing table is a laundry room/bathroom. Not sure if you'll ever see it here on the blog; it's functional and clean but just not that pretty. All homes have places like that, right?

Now we're heading back into the kitchen from the sewing corner. Oh look, there's the fridge!

At the back of the U is the stovetop. It's gas! Yay!

As a little perspective, that black thing sticking up beyond the counter is Gary's chair. That helps you understand the kitchen and living room layout.

And from the chair in the living room looking into the kitchen.

That completes the tour of our Idaho rental kitchen. Thanks for the visit!

Our Kitchen {Tour}

It seems like it wasn't very long ago that I was sharing with you our kitchen in our rental house in Ohio. It was a white kitchen and I added a chalkboard wall and backsplash which made it very photogenic. This kitchen is not. Not white, not photogenic, but it's a functioning kitchen with sufficient storage.

Here she is!

I really like the layout of a U-shaped kitchen. It could be a little wider U, but other than some strategic "dancing" in the morning when both Gary and I are making breakfast, it functions just fine. Let's back up and give you a real tour, starting with the breakfast nook, for lack of a better term.

This space is very narrow, so our table is pushed up against the wall. It works fine, like the kitchen, but I'm constantly wondering how to do it differently.

The chair on the left end sticks out into the walkway while the chair on the right is against the window wall. The table can't be pulled out from the wall or there wouldn't be room to walk around the table to get to the back door or the kitchen. The back door also prohibits the table from being in the corner. So against the wall it is!

Just for some perspective, this is how the dining area looks from the living room. Usually with the ruins of Ancient Egypt in the foreground.

On the left is the back door, the one our family uses most. I've created a spot to catch our mail and corral our keys and things by hanging the white organizer on the front of the cabinet.

After I took these pictures, I vowed to find a better place to hang the ever more prolific work of our resident artist. The fridge just looks messy!

You'll recognize several things on my counters if you've been around awhile. The calendar will be elaborated on soon, while I babbled about the silverware storage here. I try to keep up with making granola as it's so simple and good for you and filling, not to mention an easy breakfast to make! We don't eat any cold cereal anymore except for home made granola (which I was able to make gluten free and is sweetened with honey!).

I used some double-sized tape to hang the silver platter on the wall, while the African spoon knife and fork are artifacts from Gary's dad's time there in the 60s.

Does anyone else think it's ironic that I won't keep every-day appliances on the counter, but I make room for things like picture frames or pretty containers of fruit? As much as I love my food processor, it's just not pretty! Nor my blender...

This long angle makes the counter look huge! It's not, but it is nice to have this much counter for, say, making granola!

I've actually been updating my menu board lately! Amazing! I love the texture of the two wooden cutting boards. They're the only ones we have and we use them a lot! I almost got rid of my cake stand but told myself I could find a use for it, so it stayed. The bananas are grateful.

Next to the sink is our probiotic station. And dish soap. I used a shallow white serving platter to define the area and keep the counter clean. We make both milk kefir and water kefir.

On the other side of the sink is a tight little corner which I find great for prepping veggies before I cook them. Despite that large work zone on the left side of the kitchen, I'm usually crammed in the corner with my cutting board and veggies. :)

So that is where the magic happens! I'll share with you some of the ways I've organized this kitchen in another post. I'd also like to share some ideas for what I'd do if the space was ours to renovate. It's not--this is a rental--but our landlord plans to completely re-do the kitchen after our lease and before she signs another one. The irony is not lost on me!

What's in your kitchen?

Our New Faucet

Sometimes there are big things to blog about; sometimes they are small. Today I want to share with you a new faucet my husband installed in our rental home. I know in the grand scheme of things a new faucet isn't a big deal, but I'm all about celebrating the little things!

As you might have seen from earlier posts on our kitchen, it's bright and white, functional and organized but clearly done on a budget. The cupboards are particle board, the counters are laminate, and the backsplash is chalkboard paint.

Here's where we were before. Nothing wrong with our faucet, though it did leak a little at the base. I've just been spoiled by a gooseneck faucet for several years at our old home in Iowa. I missed being able to fit large items under the faucet, missed the pull-down spayer (even though we had a separate sprayer) and I missed the built-in soap dispenser! I know, first-world problems.

I bought this faucet a few weeks ago. It's a Delta Savile Stainless 1-Handle Pull-Down Sink/Counter Mount Kitchen Faucet. It's at Lowe's for $189. When I bought it, full-price was $199, but since the box was damaged I got it for $180. I would have probably picked out a cheaper faucet, but I ran into the Delta rep when I was browsing... and he's good at his job! I felt good about my choice and the discount helped, but what really sold me was that three people told me what a great faucet it was as I was buying it--the guy in the faucet section who approved the mark-down, the Delta rep who said he just installed it at his mom's house and was saving for one for his home, and the lady at the check-out register raved about her faucet too!

My husband is so very handy! It didn't take him long to take out the old faucet and install the new one. 

Yup. I love it! Love that it's taller, love the pull-down sprayer, love the built-in soap dispenser!

What about you? Any small changes around your home that are making a big difference?

(No, this isn't a paid post. Delta doesn't know I exist! Just love a pretty, functional faucet!)