We made a change in the kitchen last week, something I’ve been wanting to do for months now.  A couple of years ago, I found a free fixture at Habitat ReStore, brought it home, rewired it, and painted it white.  That free fixture hung in our kitchen for two years and it was really great (especially since it was free!) but I’ve been dreaming of something a little more snazzy.  I wanted to mix it up and bring in some lighting that was bigger, bolder, and modern. 

I’ve been fixated on statement pendants over kitchen islands lately, so I finally decided it was time to upgrade ours.  Say hello to the two new polished nickel lantern fixtures that now hang over our kitchen island!

Ba da bling!

We splurged on two polished nickel and linen shade lanterns, purchased from one of my sponsors, Shades of Light.  With a 10% discount, they were $288 each but my oh my what eye candy they are!  

They’re really gorgeous in person but do you notice the slight problem?

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Last week I was all about purging and cleaning and the kitchen was definitely on the list.  I thought it time to spruce up this space with some spring touches and snap a few fresh pics of our kitchen since it’s been over a year since I did so.  I get a lot of questions about our kitchen, especially about the appliances and the countertops and how they’ve held up over time.  Now that we’ve lived in this space for almost six years, I’ll try to provide some answers to those FAQs. 

As for the spring touches, greens and blues are my favorite colors, so when I spied these little striped pots at Lowes last week for $3 each I brought two of them home to sit in the garden window.  

The bay window is wood and we ordered it from Jeld-Wen when we built the kitchen – it brings a ton of light into the space.  That faucet is Price Pfister from Home Depot.  Our kitchen is west facing and because of that we don’t get a lot of morning light, but in the afternoon on a sunny day it’s the place to be.  Plants thrive in the window, and I’ve grown just about everything here from herbs to succulents.  

The cabinets were semi-custom by Kemper, they’ve held up really great over the years and I only have to wipe them down about once a month or so.  I’m still loving the off-white color which is officially called “Toasted Almond” by the company but the closest  paint color matches are “Floral White" by Benjamin Moore and "Ivory Dust" by Valspar.

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Melanie from Washington recently wrote this to me:

“Hey Kate, I read that when you remodeled your house a few years ago, that you designed and built your kitchen.  We’re in the beginning stages of gutting our very dated kitchen and we’re starting over from scratch!  We’re so excited!!  My question for you is, were there any pitfalls you ran into?  Anything you learned along the way you’d be willing to share?  What should we know about building a kitchen starting from four bare walls?  Help!”

Great question Melanie!  Me and my Mister built our kitchen over five years ago, so to answer Melanie’s question, I had to dig through the archives and pull out all my files to refresh my recollection of the process of building our kitchen from scratch.  It resulted in a mild rash and minor heart palpitations, but I’ve since recovered.

No, I’m kidding.  I absolutely love kitchen design, and loved the entire process of choosing all the details of the one in our own home.  I’m one of those people that if I overheard at the grocery store you were building a new kitchen, I’d butt my ponytail right into the conversation and want to chat all about appliances, countertops and the exact style of door front you’re choosing for your cabinets.  “Really?  Oh, fabulous!”

Building a kitchen from scratch is an enormous task.  Unlike throwing the latest most popular shade of paint on your walls, a kitchen must be a space that can stand the test of time.  My kitchen suits the style of my home, and also my own personal tastes as well.  While there are a few things I wish I’d done differently, for the most part, I really love the floor plan and finishes we continue to live with every day.

Ten Lessons Learned from Building Our Kitchen

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I was tra la la-ing my way through my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore a few weeks back, admiring all the great salvage and scheming of ways to put some of it to good use.  I was there because I had spotted a few cool cabinets on Diggers List and wanted to investigate further. 

As I chatted it up with one of the managers, I couldn’t help but notice the sign just behind him. 

Do you love the exclamation point for added emphasis?  Like rejected brass light fixtures are something to get excited about?  Well actually, I kinda do get excited about them.  A lot. 

I actually like antique  brass fixtures, just not these super shiny leftovers from the early 90s.  So with a fixture like this, one that just happens to have a completely fantastic shape, I see no reason why it shouldn’t be spray painted.  White.  Pronto! 

Hello gorgeous.  Don’t you just fit right in ? 

Aaaaaand, she was free.  Fah-reeee. 

Yep.  Free.

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