Kitchen = Success!

To round out the week, I have the "after" photos from last weekends hard labour.

The organized and now well functioning pantry shelf including shameless free advertising for a long-time employer famous for khakis.

Newly installed shelving & towel bar to hold Ikea storage bins for our cutlery.  Also note, the wall is fully painted!  Pepper Tree by CIL.

The 2 most important appliances we own, now not filling up all our counter space.

Our old stove - it gets the job done.  Also, put up the spice rack so it too would not take up all our cupboard space.

Magnetic knife strip & chopping station set up.  Part of the vintage Pyrex collection proudly on display.

On the wishlist for my birthday, a new camera.  One I can take nice fancy pretty photos with.  Ebay here I come.

Project Kitchen

As you may already know, a kitchen re-fresh was on the to-do list for this month.

I can happily and quite proudly say that it took 2 full days of work, but I am done! (For now!)

Because we're in a housing co-op, we technically can make whatever cosmetic changes we would like, including new cabinets/appliances/etc. as long as we pay for it out of pocket. That being said, we're not staying here forever and with no financial return on this type of investment, I'd rather hold off on anything of that nature until we're in a more permanent set-up. Paint, clean floors and a little organization magic are all I need for now.

Here's my kitchen before:

ugh... this just looks depressing. Having white counter tops was something I used to think would look so chic and classic - I now know better. They never look clean, they wash out the entire room (especially if you don't get much natural light) and I have also learned that maraschino cherries definitely stain.

#1 Kitchen conundrum = 9" wide drawers.
There is no cutlery tray that I have found on the western market that will fit inside this drawer. Which has led to the following....

Cutlery in a cupboard.

So many appliances!

A packed pantry shelf filled with just about anything but kitchen items.


Afters to come.

- Cheers!

Kitchen Refresh Inspiration

This weekend I plan to start tackling my kitchen refresh project.

I've already procrastinated somewhat by going antiquing this morning and am now choosing to write about it rather than start doing it but.. ah well. I'm also out of painters tape. This may never get done.

Some visual inspiration:

image via DesignSponge

image via Better Homes and Gardens

image via ignitelight.tumblr.com