Kitchen makeover PROGRESS

While I am not finished with our kitchen makeover, I thought I'd share its progress...  The hard part - the painting, is DONE.  All the nooks and crannies of a kitchen prove to be taxing for painting.

Kitchen BEFORE pics:

While the red we originally went with was a far cry better than the screaming school bus yellow that was there when we bought it, it's just a bit too much.  I should have gone with my first instinct (more neutral) and didn't.  And several walls of red do not fit our calm personalities, nor do they help with the fact that the area is small.  I've always liked light and airy.  When I browse Pinterest, I'm always drawn to the "calm" rooms.  And, the remainder of our house is calm.

And AFTER:

using light pistachio, Benjamin Moore

There.  Don't you feel more relaxed? :)

I didn't realize how much I would love reds/pinks, black, and white up against the green.  My fuschia geraniums totally POP!

Our china cabinet is defintely still a work in progress, but already tons better.  Next to light green walls it melds with the room much better, rather than sticking out like a sore thumb against dark red.

I switched out my great-grandmother's china I was displaying for our BB&B wedding china since I have never displayed it and thought it was time for a change.  The yellow piece at the top came from a thrift store.  The tea set on the bottom is from Japan.  A friend brought it back for us.  It's really beautiful and special.  I found the turquoise piece at a local store.  I added the 8x10 of me and a sweet Ethiopian boy named Immanuel from a mission trip, to add to the now cultured lower shelf.  I'd still love to find some more colorful pieces for this.

For now I have a simple white sheer piece for curtains.  We've had this since our very first apartment.  It adds to the light and airy feel for sure.  However, I envision eventually getting perhaps some black and white chevron print curtains, or something with a bold, colorful print with some yellows, reds, pinks, turquoises... you the picture :).  Just depends on if I run across a good deal.

And yes, we would love to change out that old light fixture, but it's a bit tricky since the switch is actually on the fixture.  We would likely have to change some wiring situations, and we just don't want to deal with that right now.

We've had this vase since our second apartment.  I put it here for now.  It's a nice little pop of something against this wall, don't you think?  Perhaps some tall colorful flowers in there will do the trick.

I'm envisioning a couple options for this wall.  I'd love to find a set of white frames of all different sizes and have some black and white photos printed.  But I'm also not opposed to a painting (or a painting + pics) if I find a good deal.

The rug pictured under the dining table is actually kept in our living room, but I threw it under there for picture's sake.  I would love to eventually move it in here if I ever run across a bigger rug for the living room (for a good deal, of course).  We'll see.  I think having a rug in the dining area would help make it more homey and comfortable, as well as help with the chairs-sliding-all-over-the-place situation.  However, using this rug would affect any future curtain decisions :).

Hope you enjoyed the transformation!  I'll keep you updated with any more changes we might make!