"Playing house" in my sister-in-law's kitchen...

I can't wait to start up a little chaos in my sister-in-law's kitchen! After a recent visit to see Angie, I so boldly offered to return to "freshen up" her very dated kitchen. I told her that I am the queen of decorating on a tiny budget. Amazingly, she said yes...I guess she's not as attached to those old cupboards as I thought! Above is the idea board I made for her to review...it's pretty fuzzy, but you get the picture. Angie is French American and I thought we should give her a clean, classic French look. She has several treasures she has brought home from visiting with relatives in Nancy, France and I think she needs a place to celebrate them!

Here's the plan...we're going to lighten up the walls with a soft gold that will complement the color in her den and her flooring. She will recover the floor at a later time. The bottom cabinets will be painted black, the top will be painted cream. We will replace all of the hardware with updated brushed nickel drawer pulls. We will also replace the lighting and I love the look of using outdoor lighting in ordinary places. It's fun, unexpected and much less expensive than costly chandeliers.

Won't this look sharp hanging over the sink! And this one below on the ceiling.
We will also spray paint the hardware on the ceiling fan in a brushed nickel finish to flow with the rest of the room. Angie is getting a new stove and it will be smaller in size...so we need to come up with something to balance off the space that will be freed up on that wall. We will hang a larger shelf over the stove and clean up a lot of the clutter in the kitchen. Angie has promised she will go through her cabinets and donate to the poor what she has not used in three years. The goal here is to get rid of a lot of her old stuff from her younger years and "grow up" the room. I will also make some window treatments to use along with her beautiful French lace curtains.

There are two elephants in the room...Angie doesn't like the washer and dryer in the middle of the kitchen. She would also like some way to display her china that she keeps in the cupboards. I am going to repurpose my old cream and black toile window treatments and duvet cover and stitch up a cover that we will velcro onto the sides and front of the machines. The second obstacle is the free standing cabinet in the corner by the window...what that builder thinking? We are going to take it off the wall and come up with a small cabinet to display her china, cookbooks, and treasures.

Stay tuned for the after pictures...we'll tackle this the weekend of Oct. 22-24th.