By now you already know that we deeply consider {that a} home all the time evolves to work with a household’s altering wants, however I’d say this kitchen and connected sitting space are as shut to utterly completed as ever. In actual fact over the past two years they’ve held fairly regular – we did replace the kitchen gentle to my dream chandelier that appears like bubbles at a seaside sundown. And earlier than that we lastly settled on the correct seating that match completely into the seating space. However yeah, since then… settled! Blissfully so! Aside from a couple of tiny accent modifications like a brand new toaster that I received for Christmas. We shot the pictures for this submit earlier than that… sure it takes us half a yr to jot down these massive posts typically.
Since our outdated kitchen posts don’t mirror these updates, we figured this up to date kitchen rundown made sense.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 features (hanging out earlier than faculty, consuming and cooking meals, storing all of the cooking & serving stuff, a spot for the grown ups to hold after we entertain whereas the youngsters run upstairs and do crafts, play video games, or watch a film, and so forth).
Video Tour
And since a video actually feels prefer it’s value a thousand phrases (and nonetheless pictures!), since you may so significantly better visualize strolling via the area, right here’s a video walk-through of our small kitchen with the connected dwelling space. It feels so good to have two loveseats in there after wrestling with the best way to finest deal with the sitting space for the primary few years of dwelling right here. It’s that dang bed room doorway (and entrance door) in the course of the sitting space that made issues difficult for some time.
A Actually Multi-Operate House
It’s becoming that they name the kitchen the center of the house, as a result of ours is actually in the course of our ground plan and it truly is the spot the place all of us collect firstly of the day and the top of the night time (normally lounging on the sofas or enjoying a household sport on the kitchen desk). To not point out coming collectively for meals in right here too.
This room can be the primary 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 outside cooking provides and our grill (in addition to a closed cupboard for a bunch of our footwear). 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 remodeled right into a door that results in the tremendous practical 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 dwelling right here, that is how we positioned issues after we initially landed. It wasn’t nice, but it surely labored whereas we gained our bearings and discovered extra about what we wished 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 after 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 will’t resist. It actually has come a great distance in right here:
This shot isn’t as huge (sorry stairs!) however right here is an after photograph from that very same angle:
We actually love how the sitting space is absolutely open to the kitchen. I can’t inform you how usually 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 a lot 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 dealing with the identical method).
Actually all of that’s subjective, so I point out these components 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 had been trending?! It actually does get wild), however determining the way you wish to dwell in your personal house actually is priceless. Talking of which…
A New Chandelier
Second of silence for the chandelier that discovered me on Pinterest. Actually, that algorithm is unmatched.
We took these pictures ages in the past – actually greater than a yr 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 contemporary florals!
Persistence Pays Off
I nonetheless bear in mind so many neighbors stopping by after we purchased our home and saying “we walked via this home! We simply couldn’t see the best 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 photographs like this:
This is similar view now. Small homes can positively dwell bigger with slightly rearranging, brainstorming, and naturally that priceless reward of time! We didn’t choose the correct spots for every thing instantly (like this awkward stage the sitting space went via). It took us 2 years to lastly begin a correct kitchen reno, however now at yr 5 right here, we’re absolutely 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. Actually, our largest piece of house recommendation can be: by no means rush right into a kitchen reno! That point to essentially be considerate about the way you desire a room to perform for you, and what you’ll truly use (versus what the world tells you “ought to 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 seems to be 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 seem like an extension of a dwelling space.
You’ll be able to 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. It’s also possible to see full bed room tour right here.
Extra On Our Kitchen Reno
I do know I coated loads in the present day, so listed below are the entire hyperlinks associated to this multi-year (and multi-room) renovation:
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