Rustic Kitchen Ideas

Over Christmas my mother in-law and I got to talking about her kitchen.  They built their home around 15 years ago and the kitchen is getting to the point that it could use a little love.  She knows how much I love planning redo's and told me I could offer any input I had.

Our tastes aren't exactly the same when it comes to house stuff, she has a slightly more rustic style than I do, so I have been giving this a lot of thought.  Some things that she has mentioned are the finish on the cabinets, the counter tops and sink, and an area they have around a prep sink.

The current finish on the cabinets is a lighter stain that almost has a pink tint.  I think they should take the finish to a more Early American kind of stain, I think that would play nicely with their wood floors and other furnishings.  And then they could clad the island in a chippy paint/reclaimed barn wood plank finish.

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For the counter tops she has mentioned an interest in recycled glass.  The cooktop island has stone already so I think going with a a lighter background with some ambers and browns could be really nice, or possibly a stained concrete.  They currently have a sink with a built in drainboard  that they have talked about replacing and I think that an under-mounted sink with an integrated drainboard could suit them well.

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The cabinet area around the prep sink provides a lot of storage for them, it houses their bar and specialty glassware, along with more seldom used dishes like dessert plates and cups and saucers for after dinner coffee.  She mentioned that she had been going for a furniture look with the piece and it didn't turn out exactly as she had hoped.  I think adding some feet to the base, rather than the standard recessed toe kick, would create a more freestanding appearance, along with the addition of some hardware.  I also think that painting that piece might look nice but I am partial to painted cabinets.

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Anyway, whatever she decides to do I can't wait to see it and am so glad she has asked me for input!

A Great Start

So we have already managed to get started on some of our projects for the year.  Right after Christmas we found an ad on Craig's List for an entertainment armoire that looked to be the right size for our kitchen storage and it was right around the corner from us.  So the hubs and his dad went and picked it up that evening.  It had huge molding around the top that totally didn't jive with the style of the piece so we pried that off before we even got it in the garage.  Over the weekend we got some simpler trim for the top and got it installed.  Now I want to paint it the same creamy white that we plan to paint our cabinets.

Before we had kids we entertained a lot, so I have quite a collection of pitchers and table linens.  Our old house had a huge pantry where we stored the pitchers and we had a buffet in the dining room where we stored the linens.  In our current house the pitchers have been stuffed wherever they will fit, mostly in the cabinet above the fridge where I can't reach them.  We have the linens stuffed in a basket on a shelf in the dining room and trying to find something is impossible.  I plan to use the new cupboard to hold the linens, probably split between several baskets, the pitchers, art supplies and school supplies for the kids, and possibly the printer and extra paper.

Part of the reason for keeping the printer and supplies in there is that the hubby built himself a new computer last year so the family has inherited his old one.  He has his man cave on our sun porch but we had nowhere to put the old computer.  I was working on my laptop at the dining room table.  At Christmas we had a ton of family over and had to borrow a folding table to seat everyone so we decided to kill two birds with one stone and build a desk that could serve as a kitchen table when the need arose.  It can pretty easily be pulled over in front of a small settee we have in the kitchen.

We followed Jamielyn's tutorial.  We scaled it down so it would fit in the kitchen better and also so we could use stair treads for the top.  That cut down some on construction time.  We picked up table legs, the stair treads, some 2 x 4's, and some 1 x 2's when were getting the trim for the cupboard and the hubs came home and built it.  We haven't attached the top yet because we want to try an antiquing and waxing technique and we are going to paint the legs and apron with a robin's egg blue chalk paint.

The kids have already sat there to play on the laptop and I have spent some time online there as well.  I think these two additions are going to prove quite useful!