Ramblings of a wannabe decorator.

Now that we are planning to stick around awhile I'm getting really excited about this kitchen makeover that's been way too long in the making. My husband is almost done building the additional cabinets! Once that is done he will be cutting out the tile where the cabinets are going, installing the cabinets and then comes… New Counter Tops! I can not even fully express how excited I am about that!!! Especially because now I actually get to stick around and enjoy it for a while. Right when we moved in I joked that the kitchen would be complete by the time we were ready to move out, and it was starting to look like that. Which was just depressing for someone who spends a ridiculous amount of time in the kitchen. :-/  There is hardly any prep space for someone who prepares massive meals from scratch, trying to keep up with a whole foods diet, with dietary restrictions, for a family of six, well seven right now, plus the two kids I watch who also have dietary restrictions. The counter tops are this hideous wood laminate, that was chipped and missing on the ends when we moved in and has just gotten worse over the years. At the end of the kitchen is all this blank space, no idea what use to be there, but it's a total waste of space. I've had a large folding table there since we moved in to store things on and under. That's were the additional cabinets are going and the additional glorious counter space. :) Plus I'm going  to actually get a large pantry cupboard. Right now it's just some slapped up shelves and everyone can see my mess. ;)  I'm trying to be patient because my husband has been trying to squeeze in time to work on them after a way too full work week, but it's so hard! I want them (five years ago) Now!!! ;)

As for my current dilemma… which color! We are not going top grade as this is not our forever home, so it's a mid way choice. They will be formed laminate countertops. I put it to a vote on Facebook :) and the middle won out, with the one on the left in second. I've pretty much ruled out the one on the right because it's too close to the colors of my laminate wood flooring (Which I hope to soon replace the tile with, I hate that tile, for so many reasons!) and the carpet in the family room. It would be too much color monotone, not enough contrast. I like colors in the same color family, but this would just look blah, everywhere. I also like warm colors and the one in the middle is warm where as the one on the left is cool. But I have a darkish house and I'm a bit worried about the color in the middle being too dark. I have all black appliances, and the one in the middle goes really well with that. I'm pretty sure I want to go with some sort of sage green color for the cabinets. I loathe the white! It always looks dirty and the last time we painted them they just stayed tacky, so everything sticks to them. It's infuriating.  

Okay I changed my mind I'm going to be brave and post pics of my kitchen as it is now. Cringe… Just to give you a better idea of what I'm dealing with!

It's not nearly as cluttered as it has been in the past. I've been on a decluttering/purging/streamlining kick this winter. :) I don't have enough cupboard space right now to store everything away though, so it still appears a bit cluttered no matter what I do.

There's my folding table in the back, covered with a table cloth to try and hide all the stuff under it.

There's nothing to be done about the small amount of counter space on each side of the stove because we aren't going to be moving the fridge. But I wish. Now picture the cabinets sage green… Which counter top color should I go with? Oh and see that black kitchen hood, I finally got it! The hood use to be off white and it drove me crazy cause it didn't match the stove. It's the little things. ;)

You can't really see it but the dishwasher is black as well, and it's a stainless steel sink. All the knobs are relatively new on the cabinets. They didn't use to match, and once again it drove me crazy. So last year I bought new ones. To try and get the ball rolling on the kitchen and remind my dear husband how badly I wanted a kitchen make over. ;) I will be keeping them, I hope, as long as I can get more that match for the new cabinets. They are burgundy, but will still be in my imagined color scheme for the new kitchen. Which is actually all the colors in my kitchen rug.

Which would be this rug right here. :) The coloring is off a bit in the picture, it's all a bit faded. The red looks brown in this picture to me, but it's not, it's a burgundy color. 

A closer look at the area that is going to be getting all new lower cabinets and counter tops! Plus a long shelf for all my cookbooks. :) This is the area of the kitchen that embarrasses me the most. Sigh. Well that and my ugly counter tops and permanently stained dirty looking cabinets. No amount of scrubbing can fix. In fact I've tried scrubbing them so much that the paint is wearing thin and an old blue color (from before we bought the house) is starting to show through!

Anyways, the counters will continue all along this wall and around to the back wall.

Yes those are ziplock bags hanging to dry, being reused. I'm super thrifty, what can I say. I'm trying to phase them out as well, less plastic is a good thing. 

And oh my, I really need a new chicken scraps container, that container looks so nasty! I really shouldn't look too closely at pictures of my kitchen, it just add insult to injury. ;)

I know I sound ungrateful and full of complaints… I do honestly feel grateful for my home and a kitchen to cook in. I'm just being super picky and who doesn't want a dream kitchen! Or at least as close to a dream kitchen as possible on our budget. ;) And I've had six years to think about all the things I want to change about this kitchen! Ha ha!!

This will be a pantry with doors!

This is what I use now for extra drawers. Can't wait to say goodbye to it so that there is more walking room on this side of the kitchen.

Now that we have the walk through here, which I love and don't regret at all, you can see my ugly food shelves from the living room. I won't miss that.

Just because I was already taking pictures I decide to snap a picture of this sweet find, the bird picture. Got a great deal on it from Hobby Lobby. It's my favorite. :)

I decided to try something new with my mantle. I use to always put family pics on here, but I have so many pictures all over that I decided I wanted to be a bit more fancy. ;)

I really want to paint the mantel a different color too.

Ryder got me a set of six of these adorable little birds for Christmas. I love each and every one of them. And I love that he wanted to make sure and get me six, because he knew that's how many I would want. One for all of us. :) Atty's bird fever has definitely spread to me, ha ha!

I've been looking for kitchen inspiration and colors on line and I found a few sage green colors I like but I can't make up my mind. I had no idea that there were so many variations of sage green!

I think this is my current favorite. I'm thinking of going with wheat colored walls as well.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/209347082655006888/

This one might be a bit too blue for what I'm dreaming up, but I like it.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/209347082655006894/

This one is probably too dark for my kitchen but it seems to go well with darker counter tops. And I like the color.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/209347082655006866/

Anyways I've just been in such a decorating mood lately, probably because now that the kids are older I have the energy for it. Also before kids I didn't really care much about what our place looked like, besides clean, because we were hardly ever home. Then when we had kids they came one after another, fast and furious! I could hardly think straight, let alone think style. I just wanted everything simple and plain, less to worry about and a lot less saying no and stop over and over again. ;) Plus every inch of my creative brain was drained there for a while. Now I've been haunting Pinterest and cruising the web trying to figure out my decorating style. I even took some quizzes, ha ha! I'm too eclectic though and just don't fit neatly into anything.
This link covers a few different style types. There's quite a few more of course.
http://www.updatedallas.com/2013/02/28/a-guide-to-different-types-of-home-decor-styles-2/
I know I don't like the modern style, or anything to frilly/feminine or exotic. Coastal doesn't make sense to me unless you live by the beach, at least I couldn't pull it off. I'm not into lots of white or pale colors. I like a little bit of country/rustic. I think the one I keep seeing that I like the most is the Arts and Crafts style. Didn't even know that was a thing before, but just about every decor picture I see with that label I like. There is actually a decorating style called eclectic, but it's way to busy for me! Ha ha! Basically I like warm earth tones, fall colors best of all, and I want it to feel cozy and inviting. That just about covers it. :)

And whoa, I did not mean to make this blog post so long!