Where I Live Wednesday: The Kitchen

Let's start with some before pictures:

The theme of our house seemed to be layers upon layers of dated wallpaper and let me tell ya- our kitchen was no exception! Removing that was no fun.

While the wallpaper was terrible, the bones of the kitchen are great. Nice cabinets, decent counter tops, new-ish back splash,  decent appliances, etc. 

One of the first projects we tackled in the kitchen was to install new lighting. I hated the old oak light box. My Dad helped Mike install a ceiling fan. It does a wonderful job of keeping the kitchen cool while I cook.

Here are some recent pictures:

I love the little spice cabinet:

So far I've:

• removed all wallpaper and painted it Restoration Hardware's Spanish Moss
• installed new vinyl flooring (all by myself!)
• replaced old white fridge with a new black fridge

Still to do:

• replace stove and dishwasher

Where I Live Wednesday: The Dining Room

This week I thought I'd show the dining room. It's our only eating area in the house- for our next home I'd love a separate formal dining room. This room (like so many in our house) started off rough. :-) I have very few "before" shots because it really was hideous.

Here is a picture from the house listing:



Random shot, right?

And this was taken the day we moved in:



More gorgeous wallpaper! haha! So this was the first room I attempted wallpaper removal. And, lucky me-- there were about 4 layers!!

Excuse the mess in this picture (my mom was visiting to help with some crafts) but it really shows the craptastic curtains the previous owners had and it shows the beginning of the wallpaper removal.



this was taken in the middle of the wallpaper removal process:



And then there was paint!



I used Restoration Hardware's Spanish Moss and I love it. It's the best paint I've ever used and went on like a dream. The table was a hand me down from my great grandmother and needed a ton of work. It was a temporary solution until we found something we loved. In the meantime I made curtains and decorated just a bit.

A few months ago we found exactly what we were looking for! It's exactly the style I envisioned and fits the space perfectly. Here is the room waiting on the new table to be delivered:



And here is the dining room now:







The details:

The furniture is from a local furniture store.
The paint is Restoration Hardware Spanish Moss.
All artwork and accessories are from Hobby Lobby.
The curtains are all made by me- toile valances on the bay window and burlap panels on the french door.