When we first walked this house, I was a bit disappointed that the kitchen had been remodeled and aesthetically wasn’t quite us. But, since we’ve moved in and made some cosmetic updates to the kitchen, I’m feeling a lot more content with the space.
We started off by swapping out the pendant lights for a fresher design mixed with ceiling medallions that bring character to the space (I wrote about that over here).
Next up was painting the walls the same Benjamin Moore Paper White as we went with in the living room. We’re planning on taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room this spring, so I didn’t want to have to repaint when the spaces are joined.
We swapped in new, bright white electrical outlets, switches and dimmers throughout the space. And replaced the old school recessed can lights with more modern and less intrusive LED retrofit recessed lighting throughout. And then we hung a vintage mirror I found on Craigslist before we even moved into the house, which we spray painted glossy white, in place of the mirror that was originally hanging on the wall. The mirror really helps to open up the space visually, so bringing in one that was more reflective of our style was critical.
All in all, the updates make me grateful for a modern kitchen with relatively new appliances. At our recent housewarming party, I was curious to see where guests would cluster, and surprising to no one, the kitchen was the hub. It definitely got tight along the peninsula, so I’m certain that taking down the wall is going to open up the space tremendously, both in terms of light and flow through the space when we’re entertaining.
Beyond what we’ve done, I’m considering swapping in new handles and door hardware, but not entirely certain it’s necessary. I’m also noodling on whether to paint all the mullions in our house the same black as our interior doors, because few things scream high-style to me than black windows.
The next project I want to tackle in here is whitewashing or German smearing the not so pretty stone tiles. The tilework is relatively well-done and if it was the only thing I wasn’t feeling in the kitchen, I’d rip them up and replace them with something lighter, like a herringbone subway tile, but since there are a lot of future changes in here and a lot of other projects going on, it doesn’t seem like it’s worth the effort.
