Evolving styles in my cottage kitchen, or why I would never get a tattoo

My kitchen sure has had some shuffling and reshuffling over the years.  

The biggest and best redo was when we tore out the wall between the dining room and kitchen.  We had always wanted to do that, but had been told that we couldn't move a retaining wall. Then discovered 20 years later, that NO, it was not a retaining wall!!  

And adding the ceiling tin was one of my favorite changes of all.  It not only hid the fact that the two rooms that had been joined had different heights of ceilings, it is a look that I love. And fairly inexpensive to do too.  

Before we finally pulled off that move, I did lots of cosmetic changes, just because I was never satisfied.

These are the original cabinets before we did any big remodelling. They were blah brown when we moved in, with giant, silver toned, disc looking knobs. I put them through many coats of paint, never getting it just as I liked it, but one thing that I've been true to since my very first redo at the cottage, is the glass knobs.  I added these mismatched,vintage knobs very early on, and have used them since, even on the brand new cabinets that my son built for me.

Here is the room right after my son built them.

And this is what it looked like ages ago. 

Looking at this now, makes me very happy that I couldn't afford to gut the kitchen when we first bought the place. Because my style has evolved so much in 25 years, and that evolution to what I love now is due to the making do, making it work, and learning from my mistakes. 

It would have been awful to invest $10,000 in new walls, flooring, ceiling, cabinets, and appliances just to end up with this look from the 90s.

I'm glad we waited, and that I experimented with paint and salvaged pieces, and learned as I went along about what I liked and what I didn't.  And I am glad I didn't do anything permanent like get a tattoo at this age. I'm sure that 20 years later, I'd be hating it.

ps- this is from a magazine shoot, and I didn't usually have soooo much clutter. The stylist empties out the cabinets and really fills up a room.

Being an antique dealer helped me learn my style too.  I had a revolving door of hand painted furniture to play with.

Like the time I painted all the chairs black…

But then decided that white was better.

And once I thought I'd like a neapolitan ice cream look in the kitchen.  I do think that the dark wall really makes the cabinets stand out, and there are things I like about this, though.  After seeing this picture, I went and pulled that striped and rose curtain out and hung it back up there again to give my burlap and lace one a break.

We have gone through a series of floors too, ending up with this wood that was beneath all of the layers the whole time.  When we first bought the place, I was told that the floor was not salvageable, it had linoleum glued to it and was ruined.  

Once again, I'm glad that we didn't try to use this original wood 25 years ago, I wouldn't have settled for the beat up, weathered look that it has now and would have tried to fix it. I'm glad it laid in wait until I could uncover it and appreciate it in all of its flawed beauty.

And after living with off white tile floors, and before that, white linoleum, I learned that I wanted a darker floor, and I'm glad that I stained the wood a deep, dark, walnut.  Not only for the contrast, but for the ease of taking care of it.

 

We spend so much time in the kitchen, much more there than any other room. Lots of big family dinners, or quiet times reading the paper, having coffee and talking about what is ahead in our day.

So, it means the world to me that the wall cutting off the kitchen from the dining room is gone.  And (for now??) I'm thrilled with the light tones and bright whites. I've always wanted an all white room, and have drooled over them on blogs and magazines, but felt like I was too far removed from that look to ever achieve it. 

I guess it was a step by step process for me to get here.  Little by little, I lightened up and changed my style.  Now, I wonder, am I here now, where I want to stay? I'm happier than I ever was with the space. Many of the redos were because I was never satisfied and wanted to experiment.  This is the most pleased I've ever been, and it is a good feeling.

Plus, I'm slightly exhausted. I might not have another redo in me!

 PS-  I often write posts in advance, and this one was written in September BEFORE I did a mini redo on the kitchen and showed it for the Blogger's Fall Home Tour.  Ha! I did have some redo  left in me after all.

I painted and hung two matching, new chandeliers, and made a new curtain from vintage fabric to go under the kitchen sink.