What's cookin'? Our kitchen, that's what.

Our apartment in Brooklyn was dark. We euphemistically referred to it as The Cave. It had two windows, both of which faced the inside of a courtyard surrounded by 9-story buildings. We had to keep the curtains closed because we lived on the garden level and anyone walking through the courtyard could just look right in. Our ceilings were low, too, which didn't help. In some ways it was nice, like living in a cocoon. Most of the time, though, I couldn't shake this perpetually groggy feeling, like I'd just been awakened from a nap. And not in a nice, "hey, dinner's ready, I made your very favorite" way, but in a "hey, get up. You've been sleeping all damn day" way.

I tell you this so you'll understand the sheer joy I experience when I come home to a house that has light in it. Our house was built in the 1930s, but every room has an abundance of big windows that you don't always find in older homes. I had a different post planned for today, but when I got home and saw how pretty and bright the kitchen looked, I scrapped that plan and decided to share some photos of the kitchen instead. It's not our dream kitchen by any stretch (we plan to renovate in a couple years anyway), but when you see the before and afters, I think the improvement is pretty dramatic.

First, the befores, of which I have only two from the day we walked through the house before we signed the offer: 

  

You can't really tell in this photo, but the cabinets and walls were pink. The sickliest, grossest shade of pink you ever did see. The cabinets are nice and roomy, but damn that color was bad. The hardware was pretty inoffensive. Also, please note the gorgeous pink countertops. It's like they wanted the kitchen to resemble a baby girl's nursery as closely as possible. Also, God bless the 90-year-old woman who lived here for 50 years before we bought the house, but she had the most complex window treatments I've ever seen. Every window had a roller shade, curtains and a valance. Lucky us, it was all included in the sale. 

Next up is the view into the eat-in area:

Mm hmm. Couldn't you just lick those linoleum floors? And wrap yourself in the curtains? The appliances are missing, which was fine with us; we guessed they wouldn't have been exactly updated and were perfectly content to buy them ourselves. All that's missing now is a dishwasher, which will be priority Numero Uno when we renovate. 

Now for the afters! 

So much better, right? It still needs some work, but I don't know how much we'll even bother with since we know it's all coming out in a couple years. So far we've bought appliances, painted the cabinets white enamel, replaced the cabinet hardware, taken the ugly mottled glass shades off the light fixtures, and... what else? OH! Completely revamped the floors and installed brand new base molding.

Funny story, those floors. 

Pete texted me at work one day and asked if I'd be mad if he pulled up a corner of the floor to see what was underneath. We pulled up carpet in the rest of the downstairs to reveal nice hardwood flooring, so I thought it was worth a gamble. Under the lineoleum was a layer of VCT flooring, then another layer of lineolum, then the pine sub-floor. After several days' work (thank you, Dad and Joanna!), the pine flooring was refinished and urethaned. It was an unexpected addition to the budget and timeline, but beyond worth it. The floors now feel clean but warm at the same time. 

By the way, I honestly believe that Hell is a place where you go to pull thousands of tiny staples out of flooring. My hands were bruised and bloody. Definitely a job to do with a jug of wine by your side. 

On to more photos! 

This is what it looks like when you're facing the garage from the eat-in area. That door needs refinishing (see the pink paint?!) and we'll replace that fluorescent light fixture soon.

An absurdly fuzzy shot of the eat-in area. Stupid camera is on the fritz.

We got the yellow table and maple chairs on Craigslist for $30 and $4 each, respectively. I bought two extra chairs and we use them as nightstands (it looks better than it sounds). 

Do you like those cheerful orange curtains? I made them myself!

There is almost nothing hem tape and fabric glue won't do. The fabric is a really fun, retro print. I got it on sale at Hancock Fabric for about $2 a yard. I used 2 1/2" pieces of grosgrain ribbon to make "tabs" on the back for the rod go go through. Are they perfect? Far from it. But they're cute and they keep creepers from peering into the kitchen at night. 

And hey, remember that rusty metal cart I told you about a few posts back? (I say this like my posting is super prolific.) Well, it is rusty no more!

Seriously, Pete is amazing. He sanded and painted the whole thing. We chose bright yellow and white enamel; I thought the colors looked fun with the mint green walls. I love how it turned out. We've had it in that little corner since Friday and already it's coming in handy. The cart itself was $10 or $12, and we paid another $15 or so for the paint. For $25ish, we have a customized vintage piece that will get a ton of use and looks pretty to boot.

I got another fun project done on Friday too:

That door (which also needs refinishing) leads to the basement.

I was going to do a separate post on this, but I don't think a bulletin board from Walmart with yellow enamel paint on the border warrants its own post. Regardless, the board was $10 and we used leftover paint from the bar cart to cover the plastic "wood grain" border it came with. Then I used basic white thumbtacks to display a bunch of cards, coasters and postcards from restaurants and bars we went to in NYC. We started collecting them during the last year we lived there and amassed quite a hoard. We'll have to find another way to display the rest of them. 

Speaking of displays, you can see those little corner cabinets in the photos above. We briefly contemplated ripping them out when we renovate (there isn't a lot of floor space in the kitchen!), but upon threats of death from my aunt and dad, we have decided to keep them. I have to say, I do enjoy finding fun stuff to put in there:

White enamel bowl with strawberries and flowers from Goodwill for $2.

My little collection of milk glass vases, bought from a garage sale for $0.25 each.

Cute sundae dishes from TJ Maxx for $1 each. I can't fathom why these didn't fly off the shelves at full price - doesn't everyone have specialty dishes for their ice cream?

So damn precious. Another little strawberry bowl.

This is that teapot I bought at the Salvation Army on Friday for $1.59. It's signed on the bottom, so I did some googling and found out it's worth anywhere from $60 to $100!

Whew! Still with me? Good. We're almost done, I promise. I just want to share a couple photos of the prettiest cabinet hardware in the wide world:

Martha Stewart cup pulls from the Bedford line at Home Depot, $2 each! A steal, if you've done any shopping for non-ugly drawer pulls recently.

Ugh, I just love these. They were also $2 each at Home Depot. They're the prettiest acrylic knobs, with a bright brass base.

Side view - they're clear from this angle, and yellow if you're looking head-on. I love it.

Well, that about wraps up the kitchen tour. Like I said, it's not perfect (paint touch-ups abound!), but it's so much brighter and cleaner than what we started with. It's functional, we have plenty of storage, and Pete is still able to cook fantastic dinners in it every night. (One time I made minestrone! YAY ME!)

Hope you enjoyed this little post, and if you didn't, well... sorry. I most definitely won't be making you any minestrone.

xoxo,

Leigh