By now you already know that we deeply imagine {that a} home at all times evolves to work with a household’s altering wants, however I’d say this kitchen and connected sitting space are as shut to completely finished as ever. In actual fact during the last two years they’ve held fairly regular – we did replace the kitchen gentle to my dream chandelier that appears like bubbles at a seashore sundown. And earlier than that we lastly settled on the proper seating that match completely into the seating space. However yeah, since then… settled! Blissfully so! Apart from a couple of tiny accent adjustments like a brand new toaster that I acquired for Christmas. We shot the pictures for this put up earlier than that… sure it takes us half a 12 months to write down these large posts typically.
Since our previous kitchen posts don’t mirror these updates, we figured this up to date kitchen rundown made sense. We additionally thought sharing what works for us would possibly assist others with the same area as a result of it feels remarkably environment friendly for our household. We spend a lot time on this room, and it meets SO MANY capabilities (hanging out earlier than college, consuming and cooking meals, storing all of the cooking & serving stuff, a spot for the grown ups to hold once we entertain whereas the children run upstairs and do crafts, play video games, or watch a film, and many others).
Video Tour
And since a video actually feels prefer it’s price a thousand phrases (and nonetheless pictures!), since you may so significantly better visualize strolling by way of the area, right here’s a video walk-through of our small kitchen with the connected residing space. It feels so good to have two loveseats in there after wrestling with the right way to greatest deal with the sitting space for the primary few years of residing right here. It’s that dang bed room doorway (and entrance door) in the midst of the sitting space that made issues difficult for some time.
A Really Multi-Operate House
It’s becoming that they name the kitchen the center of the house, as a result of ours is really in the midst of our flooring plan and it truly is the spot the place all of us collect at the start of the day and the tip of the evening (normally lounging on the sofas or taking part in a household recreation on the kitchen desk). To not point out coming collectively for meals in right here too.
This room can be the principle entry level for our household – no formal lobby right here! It even has our laundry space and homes all of the backpacks and jackets too – no laundry room or mudroom both! The porch off the kitchen is available in clutch for us by holding all of our out of doors cooking provides and our grill (in addition to a closed cupboard for a bunch of our sneakers). Right here’s a full tour of our kitchen porch.
So yeah, it’s a workhorse of an area and we’re very grateful for all of the makes use of it fulfills.
Kitchen Earlier than & After
Since we love a earlier than and after, let’s begin there. This can be a earlier than shot of the window that we later reworked right into a door that results in the tremendous purposeful kitchen porch we talked about above.
Right here’s an after shot from the identical angle:
If we wish to rewind to the primary few weeks of residing right here, that is how we positioned issues once we initially landed. It wasn’t nice, nevertheless it labored whereas we gained our bearings and discovered extra about what we needed from the area.
And right here’s an after shot from that very same POV:
Right here’s one other earlier than shot from February of 2020 once we first laid eyes on this home (see ALLLLL of the earlier than pictures right here):
And right here’s an after from the identical perspective:
Yet another, simply because we are able to’t resist. It actually has come a great distance in right here:
This shot isn’t as broad (sorry stairs!) however right here is an after photograph from that very same angle:
We actually love how the sitting space is totally open to the kitchen. I can’t inform you how typically there are folks hanging round whereas another person cooks and all of us chat). We additionally actually like having a eating desk as an alternative of an island (we had island seating in lots of our earlier properties and actually like sitting in precise chairs and taking a look at one another’s faces as an alternative of all sitting in a line going through the identical method).
Really all of that’s subjective, so I point out these elements to not say they’re any higher than one other method of doing issues, however simply to remind you: it’s not bizarre to contemplate the way you wish to dwell and eat and work together in your house and make it work for that. Sure, even when the remainder of the world loves a kitchen island and would possibly inform you you could be “hurting your resale worth” by forgoing it for a desk. Traits come and go (bear in mind when two islands have been trending?! It actually does get wild), however determining the way you wish to dwell in your individual dwelling actually is priceless. Talking of which…
A New Chandelier
Second of silence for the chandelier that discovered me on Pinterest. Really, that algorithm is unmatched.
We took these pictures ages in the past – actually greater than a 12 months in the past I believe! We discovered all of those flowers discarded on the bottom in a public strolling path behind a marriage venue close to our home. So we grabbed a bunch and texted all of our buddies to return rescue them too!
And naturally, we couldn’t resist snapping a bunch of pictures and video with our kitchen all decked out with recent florals!
Persistence Pays Off
I nonetheless bear in mind so many neighbors stopping by after we purchased our home and saying “we walked by way of this home! We simply couldn’t see the right way to make it make sense!” I’m so grateful that we walked in and instantly felt the pull to repair up this home. We simply felt prefer it oozed with potential – even with earlier than pictures like this:
This is similar view now. Small homes can undoubtedly dwell bigger with a bit of rearranging, brainstorming, and naturally that priceless reward of time! We didn’t decide on the proper spots for all the things instantly (like this awkward stage the sitting space went by way of). It took us 2 years to lastly begin a correct kitchen reno, however now at 12 months 5 right here, we’re totally settled and really feel like we’re coasting.
So give your self a while and absolute permission to see how issues be just right for you over the months and years that you just dwell someplace. Really, our largest piece of dwelling recommendation could be: by no means rush right into a kitchen reno! That point to essentially be considerate about the way you desire a room to operate for you, and what you’ll really use (versus what the world tells you “must be in a kitchen or sitting room”) actually is priceless.
Wanting Past The Kitchen
One very last thing! One other problem that we encountered with this kitchen is that it appears proper into our bed room. To keep away from awkwardly taking a look at a mattress or closet, we added storage and floating cabinets so it will appear to be an extension of a residing space.
You may see extra peeks into our bed room within the video tour above, together with glimpses of customized built-ins and DIY fire mantle we made. You can too see full bed room tour right here.
Extra On Our Kitchen Reno
I do know I lined loads immediately, so listed here are the entire hyperlinks associated to this multi-year (and multi-room) renovation:
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