The Heart of Our Home: The Kitchen!

Okay, I am by NO means an expert when it comes to interior design.  I just like to fill my house with lots of things that make me happy.  :)  I also don't have an endless budget, so I have to make careful, calculated decisions about what I bring into my house.  If I don't absolutely LOVE it, then it won't make it past my front door.  Ever.  (That's a lesson I learned the hard way at our starter home.)  Now that we're in our forever home, I am meticulous about everything.  Some rooms still feel really unfinished, some are coming along, and some of them truly make my heart go pitter-pat, but since I haven't won the lottery yet, and I don't anticipate winning it ever, I have to be patient and let my home evolve over time.  I can't force it, and I won't let myself make purchases that will stretch us far beyond our means.  So, I just plod along, and I keep on truckin'.  Ha! 

I still don't feel like this space is 100% finished, but it is one of my favorite rooms in our house.  The cabinets and the farmhouse sink were HUGE selling points for me when we purchased this home.  I really didn't like the generic, super vanilla polished nickel lighting fixtures above the bar and the eating area, but I knew that that could be easily changed.  It's really amazing what a few changes can really enhance a space.  The sink was definitely the starting point, but the rest of the kitchen is finally starting to feel like a cohesive space.  It's my little suburban farmhouse kitchen!  :)

I think I may have a slight obsession with white dishes, so I love being able to display them here. 

 I also love when I am able to use functional items and tie them into the decor.  My mixer got prettied up a little bit with a vintage dishtowel, and this cutting board makes a perfect makeshift "tray" for other items.  I love grouping items to create mini-vignettes. :)

This area is pretty simple. I added a few more whimsical items like a vintage lunchbox and a bowling pin for a little extra whimsy, but otherwise, this is a very functional space for food prep & cooking.

This is just another shot of our sink.  I am still so enamored by our canisters, but honestly, the little glass jar is my favorite piece.  I treat it like an apothecary jar, and I fill it with dishwasher pods.  Again, I am all about making my kitchen decor pretty AND functional.

Our pantry door was another big selling point for this house.  I fell in love with it's charm.  :) 

This clock face hangs above our pantry door, and I am pretty much obsessed with it.  I actually have a big obsession with clocks in general, but this little beauty had a little extra somethin' somethin' that I couldn't resist. I kind of love how understated it is against our walls, and how roughed up it is.

This is a view of our kitchen from the dinette.  You can see we have a cozy little bar area.  That's where the Mister and I eat most of our meals.  I am sure this will change when kids come along, but for now, it's how we eat on the run.  :)

At first, I was worried that we would never use this space.  Then I worried about overuse to the point where it got cluttered and ugly.  Fortunately, we found this really neat apothecary chest at a local antique shop last year!  It has a flip top to house pens, a notebook, and chargers.  It keeps everything tucked away out of sight, and that makes me happy!  It gets lots of use, AND it's pretty too!

I already mentioned how much I disliked our old pendants.  We are slowly switching out the fixtures in our home, and I was SO excited when we were able to snag these beauties on the cheap! We love how the Edison lightbulbs enhance the look and create such a warm glow.

This is just another peek at my cabinets.  I had a few awkward spaces,  at the tops of each cabinet, so I filled one with a black "kitchen" canvas that looks a lot like one I have seen in Pottery Barn's ads, and I filled the other with old tins as you can see below.  The Dundee Marmalade jars were a must-have for me.  I love their aesthetics!

I created another mini-vignette with a serving platter, a vintage scale, a measuring vase, paper straws, old Pyrex mugs, twine, a metal tray, and a faux plant.  :)  This little area has remained virtually unchanged for a while because I love it so much.

This little lady usually stays up in my display cabinet with our white dinnerware, but I just had to snap a few photos.  Isn't she the cutest cow creamer you've ever seen?!

Since there are so many rustic touches in the kitchen, I tried to balance it out with a more glamorous flushmount.  The glass beads give just a touch of elegance without being out of touch with the rest of the room.

Okay, and I know I already shared the dinette a few days ago, but this is one of my latest thrift shop finds.  I actually saw it last weekend, and I contemplated buying it, but I wasn't sure where I would put it.  Midway through the week, I knew I had to have it.  I originally thought I would put it on the top of a bookshelf, but it didn't really work in that space, so I played around with it, and ultimately, I ended up turning it upside down and using it as a display platform.  I don't know how long I will keep it like this, but I'm digging it at the moment. 

Well, there you have it!  That's the heart of our home.  :)  I hope that you have a happy weekend!

My Vintage Laundry Room Obsession!

I have already mentioned how much I LOVE to decorate, and I have already touched on how much I am OBSESSED with thrifting and decorating with vintage items.  I love how much character it brings into every room!  I-just-love-it!!!!

When my husband and I first moved into our home two years ago from our old just-over-900-square-foot-box, we were so excited.  We both fell in love with our home right away... but it didn't take too long for me to realize how incredibly empty it was.  One of the selling points was the large laundry room!  I immediately imagined a beautiful vintage laundry room, and I started plotting it all out in my head.  Of course, it has taken me two years to feel like it's starting to come together, but it has been a really fun adventure!  This is our work in progress!

My Vintage Eclectic "Farmhouse" Kitchenette!

Okay, friends.  I have seriously neglected this blog, and I apologize.  I have totally been in school-mode lately.   All school stuff... all the time!  Most of my blogging has been taking place over at One Extra Degree {my teaching blog} as a result ... and even those posts have been pretty scarce lately.  There's just something about starting a new school year that consumes me every single year.  This year, with the new OTES evaluation system, full implementation of the Common Core Standards, the Third Grade Guarantee, switching positions, and beginning my adventure with SDE, I am up to my ears in work 24/7.  I may have shed some tears this year already.  :)  Truly though, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole world.  Even when it gets overwhelming, there's still nothing else I'd rather do.

Anyway, this post is all about my kitchenette!  We are fortunate to have a pretty large kitchen, and this is our eat-in area.  It's taken me two years since moving into our home from a 900+ square feet box... but I finally feel like things are starting to fall into place.  I can't wait to make our home even cozier over time.  After teaching, and my husband of course, decorating is my other love.  For sure!

I've joked with my husband before about my style.  I am not sure what it is exactly.  We call it "Vintage Eclectic Industrial Farmhouse Chic".  I think it works!  Truthfully though, about 90% of the stuff in this area was thrifted.  I LOVE a good deal, and I love unique items that tell a story.  So far, I am loving the story this room has to tell. I can't wait to cozy it up even more over time!  As of right now, our chandelier and our barn door are probably my favorite things about this space.

I picked up the bulk cans for $8.00 each!  Hello!!!  Get in my house!!!  I LOVE their simple vintage charm, and I am a big fan of typography, so I couldn't resist.  We use this bookshelf as a makeshift buffet as needed, but truthfully since we have a formal dining room, this piece is mostly a space filler.  :)  I love the glass panes because it allows me to show off a few wicker baskets, a few vintage Pepsi crates (even though we are Coke fans in this house), and an old wire shopping basket.  The mix of materials makes my eclectic heart go pitter-pat!  {Can you tell we're fans of cherry?!}

Unfortunately, I didn't take a very good shot of the galvanized box next to my "buffet", but it is visible in some of the wider views of the room.  It's an old ballot box.  It has absolutely nothing to do with dining or anything... but I love it's simplicity.  The stools are also from a local antique shop, and I think they look SO cute stacked on top of one another.  :)  The chippy paint adds so much character!

I am a "less is more" kind of girl when it comes to my home.  If you have ever looked at my classroom, which is an explosion of pattern and color, you may be surprised by this.  Even so, I am not someone who goes totally crazy decorating for each holiday... except Christmas...of course.  I am still trying to make my house feel cozy and lived in.   Plus we don't have kiddos of our own yet, so this allows me to let myself off of the hook a bit.  At the moment, if I am buying decor items, I want to buy stuff I can enjoy all year.   I just scatter a few seasonal items throughout our home.  This is how I decorated our table for fall.  As you can see, it's very simple.  Nothing fancy!  In fact, to illustrate this fact, the "silver" dish holding our salt and pepper shakers is actually from Dollar Tree!  Ha!  I think it holds its own though... and I love that it keeps the spices from covering our table too!

This area started out with the berry wreath all by itself.  It looked dainty and cute, but I felt like it needed something else.  I just couldn't decide what to do with it until I stumbled upon this cute little red "N" at a local vintage shop.  I just knew it would look so cute tucked into the wreath.  Shortly afterward I found the sifter and pie pan, and I bought them the same weekend.  I love the gradual decrease in the size of the circles, and I love the mix in colors and textures as well.  This wall makes me happy!  

 This shot shows the transition from our living space into our kitchenette.  I scored the apple sign from a vintage shop, and I LOVE the whimsy of it.  The burlap sack is something that I won on E-Bay for a buck!  It's nailed into our wall with little blacksmith tacks for an extra little touch.  The clock above our pantry is an old General Electric clock... minus the hands... and the actual "body" of the clock.  It's just the face, and I think it is precious that way.  The other clock in the shot was a gift from my hubby.  He knew I was stalking the internet for a garden clock, but I didn't want to pay a lot of money for one.  So, he surprised me one day with this baby!  He picked it up at a hardware store for $15.00!!!  Score!!!!  :) 

I just love our home now that it's starting to feel more like us and less like the people who lived here before us.  I am so excited to grow old with the mister here... and someday raise our family here.  It's nice to finally feel SETTLED. They say that "Home is where your heart is", and my heart is definitely here.  :)