Kitchen reveal

Remember the issues I had with the sliding door? It gets a lot of sun and is our access to the deck so it also needs to open easily and withstand traffic. I wanted the fabric here to match the treatments on the living room window just a few feet away but I liked the style of the previous curtain.

Here is what I did.







I had purchased 5 curtain panels in a color and texture that I liked. The 2 for the living room just needed cut and hemmed. These needed a little more love. They came with grommets at the top so those were cut off. Then I needed to take out the hems from all sides and stitch two and a half of the panels together for one big piece. I used the remaining fabric from the ½ panel left to make tabs for the top and creatively piece together a bottom to make up for the length lost when I cut the grommets off. I also removed the tabs from the original curtain and used the rest of that curtain as a liner for this new one.

Here is the before of the kitchen island.






I was so excited to get going that I almost forgot to take before photos. I already had the drawer fronts and one door off. Look to the right and in back of the island and you can see part of that useless desk before it’s demise.




We covered the island in wainscoting and moved the outlet to the backside. It made more sense for our needs and now it easier to plug more than one item in at a time.

Here are the cabinet sections from next to the sliding door and above the desk on the other side of the kitchen. You can see the old purple wall and a test patch of the new color. Notice the curtain rod.




















I painted the brackets and the finials black and got a new rod in a dark walnut. I love how these new colors are working together.

Here’s the rest of the kitchen.

See how choppy things looked. Wood then the black dishwasher then more wood then the black oven door then more wood. Take note of the frig handle. See how the color doesn’t match. Hubby works in pigments, that color quality drives him nuts. He even called Kenmore to complain. They said they would be happy to change it out for a new handle for just $100.

Here’s how he decided to fix it without their help.

Nooooo. Just kidding. That was just a test to see if it looked good in black. We ordered another handle from another company for much less. It is black but not colored with marker. ;-)

I think it looks pretty good. I hope I don’t change the kitchen again.

JUST KIDDING HONEY!!! REALLY.

I love the way it all flows smoothly now. It seems as if this is the way it should have always been.

Here are the upper cabinets before.

When we first moved in I covered them in pieces of tin to cut down on all the wood tone and give some interest to the kitchen. When it was time to paint I just popped the tin back out. Each end of the upper cabinets also got covered in wainscoting. I have a cornice for the window that is wainscoting and painted to match the upper cabinets. It should be hung up tonight if all goes well. (Thanks hubby!) We also put a roll down shade up to help with the sun.

Oh, I did NOT paint that backsplash. I had planned to paint something similar but Hubby extended the budget so we could do this. It's faux tin.

So, what do ya think??