In the Planning Phase

Not that there's really much spare cash floating around right now, but there are still a few projects down the line that I'd love to tackle. In particular, I'm thinking about the kitchen. There's only so much I can do with that space, but what I can do, I'd like to get done.

Don't get me wrong: when we first took a look at this flat, I loved the kitchen. And mostly, I still do.

• There's room for the dresser to live in there, which makes sense since it stores all my dishes and silverware.
• The floor is a nice faux-wood laminate, which is much better than the perpetually-greasy tiles in our last kitchen. Seriously: no matter how many times you mopped, it was still greasy!
• I have counter space!
• You can comfortably fit more than one person in that kitchen at a time.

All of those things said, I have been considering some improvements for a while now, which brought me to the idea of this think-board. Why call it a think-board? Well, firstly because it sounded like kitchen sink board, which appealed to me at 11:00pm. And also, because I want these design choices to be well-thought-out: not something that changes with my mood, or that I'll get tired of in a few months' time.

1) The teal Le Creuset cookware that I have is something I display a lot, so whatever I do needs to match with that. Thanks to teal being one of our wedding colours, I have a lot of teal kitchenware. 

2) UPDATE #1: a fake valance over the window. Right now it looks pretty bare with just a little white rolling blind against a white wall. This gorgeous print by holli_zollinger on Spoonflower is one of my favourite options. I was originally considering it for seat cushions on my blue dining room chairs. Actually, that may still be an option, too.

3) That's about the shade of the birch veneer on all our cabinets. The whole kitchen does look nice and light with that colouring.

4) My blue willow dishes get some display space on the dresser as well. I do like the look of a few traditional and classic pieces blended in with more modern touches. It sounds a bit cliche, perhaps, but this is also coming from the girl who has prints from 3 different Etsy shops and a medieval tapestry on her walls. I'm all over the place when it comes to influences.

5) This approximates the simple lines and vintage pine look of our dresser. I am thinking of getting new handles for the cabinet doors on that, though. The drawer pulls can stay, but that thing is just calling out to me for painted porcelain doorknobs on it.

6) This is one of my two prints from The Word Shop on Etsy. I lol over their stuff a bit: it's got a good sense of humour as well as design.

7) This colour is called Hot Spring Plunge by Valspar Paints and I've been meaning to paint an accent wall in the kitchen with it for months now. It's another project I have all planned out and I've just sort of sat on my hands a bit waiting for the right time to get it all done. I think this would anchor the colours in the kitchen nicely. (And, funnily enough, it ties into some of the colours we've brought into the living room with our new rug!)

So those are my plans for the kitchen! A) Make a faux-valance, and B) paint an accent wall. Hopefully, I can make some time to do that in the coming months. As far as other DIY, though, I have a really fun project I'm planning to share later in the week. (Squee!) It's another project I've been sitting on for a while and it involves paint and fabric...