The kitchen makeover.

So, the kitchen! It´s not exactly finished yet, but here are a few pictures of where we stand now. Which is a pretty good status, I hasten to add. I love, love, love this kitchen. I am so happy with how it turned out. It practically went from my least favorite room to the best - and prettiest - kitchen I´ve ever had. 

We pretty much stuck to the plan. I painted the Ikea cabinet charcoal (Farrow and Ball´s "Down Pipe") and a cream white (F&B "Slipper Satin") and added old fashioned knobs painted in the same color. 

Look, an old kitchen bench came to live with us! It´s painted F&B Charleston Gray (and some green from the hardware store) to match the opposite wall. Right next to this bench, to the left, we are going to build a high wooden shelf for cookbooks and such (which right now are still stacked on the window sill, sigh.)

Here´s said wall painted in F&B Charleston Gray. I love how this turned out, I think the dark color totally makes the room. I´m still not entirely sure about this long shelf but maybe it will grow on my over time. I am going to tile a little backsplash just above the sink... see the tiles? I am either going to use the ones on the right side which match the cabinet color nicely but are maybe a little to countryish for me... or get some plain old white tiles to combine with the ornate tiles left from the old stove (RIP). Opinions? 

Okay, and because I know people love Before and Afters, here is the After (duh). 

And here´s the Before (with furniture of the previous owner, picture taken while viewing the house for the first time). If you like this one better we can´t be friends any more, I am sorry.

Spring is in the house.

It´s this time of winter where I am reeeally sick of snow and cold and all the greyness outside, but spring is quite far away still. I find it helps a little bit to bring potted spring flowers in the house, the more the better. I took a trip to Ikea recently (where they are really cheap) and here´s my loot around the house. 

(Dear husband: Remember in the junk shop where you wondered why I had to have this dark blue enamel pot for 50 cent? Here. This. Next time, just trust me.)

Ikea also had this adorable little green house and I couldn´t resist. It also comes in handy when you have a little Lutz at home who loves to eat flowers of all kind. (Not that I think that thing really bothers him much).

Ah, yes. Spring, please come soon.

PS: For those who wait for kitchen pictures, I still have a few things to figure out and then take proper pictures, but here is a little sneek peak. Happy weekend!

Kitchen progress.

So we surely have taken our sweet time installing this new kitchen... I think it´s been a month now since everything has been delivered and we´re still not done. Which on the one hand is nice because it makes such a huge task much more doable, but on the other hand it seems like this is taking forever. Anyway, we´re making good progress now so I thought I´d share a sneak peek. 

Above is my pride and joy, the kitchen island with a made to measure oak counter top (one of the things we splurged on) and a gas hob for which one tiny little thing is missing so it´s not functional yet (which means I´ve been eating sandwiches only for days now which leaves me hungry and cranky). 

Here´s said kitchen island and a glimpse of the painted cabinets. The sun is casting weird shadows here, but I think the cabinets turned out really lovely. I´ve been toying with the idea of doing something like this to make them a little more shaker style, but have I mentioned this is already taking forever? Maybe in a few years when I have to repaint anyway. For now, nice enough.

The opposite row of cabinets is painted F&B Slipper Satin which is a creamy white without being too yellow, just how I like it. Oh and see this board on top of the counter top? It´s painted Charleston Gray for experimental purposes, and I think I am going to be daring and paint the whole wall this color. Yes, this kitchen is already dark, but all color experts say to embrace it, so this is what I am going to do. And it´s going to look fabulous, you just wait and see. 

So! We´re still missing lamps and shelves and so much more stuff, but we´re getting there! I´ll keep you updated. 

PS: Someone has nominated me for the Apartment Therapy Homies. You are lovely people, thank you so much. 

Front door, painted.

Here´s one from the series "it looked really good on Pinterest". I kind of fell in love with the blue and white doors in this apartment and thought I´d try something like this in our hallway. I figured this would be an easy enough project. Ha! One gazillion hours and a terrible mess later, I was ready to delete my Pinterest account. It looks good though I think. Maybe the contrast is a bit too stark... a lighter blue would probably have been better. 

Also, I think I have never showed you our hallway. It´s actually quite lovely with two little (well, tall but narrow!) windows, and it´s quite spacious. It is diffcult to decorate though because there are four huge doors! And it´s even harder to take pictures of it for some reason. Oh well, here you go! 

PS: This cabinet is in the hallway, too! 

A DIY silk lamp.

I`ve been lusting after these Tine K silk pendants ever since I first laid eyes on them. I always thought they would be a good match for the living room... but seriously, that price tag is a little hefty. One day when I once again complained that I neeeeded that lamp but oh sooo much moooneeey, the husband took one look at the picture and said "well do it yourself then". 

So that´s what I did. I bought a piece of ivory doupion silk (3 meters for about 60 euro) and used a basic white lamp shade from Ikea as the base (with a diameter of 40 cm). I hemmed the upper edge with my sewing machine. For the bottom edge I simply used double sided tape. Yeah, I know, but it totally works. It may not be the most beautiful solution but not too terrible either! 

So what´s your verdict? I am pretty pleased I have to say. It´s certainly not as perfect as the Tine K version but for a third of the price I won´t complain. Plus I have still plenty of that silk left... more lamps!?