Between Christmas and New Year’s, I repainted my kitchen while I was off from work. The paint needed a freshening up and because the kitchen is on the north side of my house, it is often very dark and hard to take photos in. I liked the green color I had, but wanted to lighten it up a few shades in hopes of brightening up the room.
The bottom of the walls are white bead board and the top was a shade of olive green. I had a little difficulty getting the color right the first time, and ended up purchasing another gallon to get just the color I wanted. This is what I ended up with and it indeed does make the kitchen brighter.
Because green is such a universal color, I can change out my dishes and accessories to match each season with minimal work and cost.
My white dinner plates and cereal bowls, along with a few green accessories and my snowflake glasses cover Christmas time and the rest of winter.
My kitchen is quite small, but has all the necessary items. It’s not large and flashy like so many new American kitchens, but I love it. Small just means I have to keep my accessories to a minimum and have only items I truly use.
I love my one cabinet of open shelving. It allows me quick and easy access to my dishes, and an opportunity to decorate. Likewise, my most used utensils and silverware are kept within easy reach in decorative containers on the counter top.
In case you are wondering what that jar of white stuff is on the counter, every day I make a new jar of kefir to use in smoothies. I have them every morning and it is my favorite meal of the day.
Space over the refrigerator is also put to good use with decorative glass containers and cookbooks.
On the large wall where my stove sits, I hang two nearly identical wall hangings. They are simply a 16 x 16″ canvas that I covered with decorative paper napkins attached with Mod Podge. They are inexpensive to make and changed out to match each season. Surrounding each canvas is a 27 x 27″ white open frame that helps fill the long wall, matches the cabinets, and sets off each canvas.
For Christmas and winter, I used a pine cone napkin to cover the canvas.
To add a little more interest to this wall, I recently added a 1/4″ thin wood lathe edging to each canvas, that I stained to match the color of the pine cones.
I was a little nervous to add another frame, but I love how it gives the whole arrangement more depth and texture.
A good part of this freshening up was also a lot of deep cleaning. Cleaning under the stove and fridge was a disgusting, but necessary job. Cleaning out all the cabinets and fridge helped me to purge what was outdated and know what I have to work with. Do you buy food and then forget you have it? It feels very nice to start the New Year with a fresh, clean, and organized kitchen.
Happy Monday!
Oh my goodness, Cindy, I LOVE your style!! I love a small space with only essentials, and I am so impressed how you have managed to coordinate yours so that everything looks so stylish but also homely and functional. I love your green salt and pepper shakers, and your jars, and, well, everything. Constantly amazed at your creativity with that gorgeous picture.
Thank you Ali! You are so very kind. When you have a small house, you have to keep only what you use and love. As much as possible, I try to be sure things meet both criteria. I try to keep my decorating simple, uncluttered, and actually most of my accessories come from flea markets – my favorite places to shop. That’s where the salt and pepper shakers came from. I find the older I get, the less I want, and the less I need, and that formula keeps life more simple.
Thank you again for your very kind words!
Looks great, Cindy. Want to come do my kitchen next? 😉
Thanks Eliza. I drug out the painting over a whole week since I wasn’t particularly motivated. I still have my living room and laundry room to do yet before spring. That will probably be a long drawn out process too.
Painting isn’t one of my favorite activities, but it sure looks great when it is finished!
Green is such a lovely restful colour, and you have coordinated everything beautifully, Cindy, and it all looks so stylish. It seems funny to me that the north side should be the cold side for you…for us, it’s the south side!
Thank you Jane. It is strange that everything is opposite for us. You’re enjoying the middle heat of summer and we’re about to get blasted with bitter cold and 8 inches of snow. I miss green this time of year. At least I have green in my kitchen.