Before and After Party: A kitchen nook

Soooo…remember that little kitchen redo I started oh…almost a year ago? Or so. Yeahhhh.

Well, I’m still working on it. Just slowly. Very, very s.l.o.w.l.y.  :)

This weekend I finally I finished up one part of the room – the kitchen table. Hey, it’s something, OK??

To get an appreciation for how far the room has come, let’s look at an old before picture I found shall we?:

I was way into the Tuscan look back then, and I still think it’s lovely. Over the years I’ve just found myself moving toward a fresher, classic feel for this space.

Our table and chairs were passed down from my Dad – and one of the chairs was broken. :) So we lived with three chairs for a long time. Then I found four black chairs at Garden Ridge, by one get one half off. I think they were $70, so it was just over $200 for four new black chairs.

And that change made a HUGE difference in the space. But then American Express handed me some free points (WHOO!) and I was able to make a few more updates.

I painted the bay window back to the Sisal color I LOVE (Ralph Lauren, but Home Depot still has the formula, I believe.) I left the windows nekked and haven’t gone back yet. :) I also added a new light fixture from Home Depot that I spray painted.

I really wanted to get a new kitchen table as well -- I have to admit, I wasn’t crazy about ours for the longest time. But as time went on, I started to appreciate it’s uniqueness and beauty. It’s well made and has a gorgeous shape. Now I realize we’re lucky to have such a unique piece and I absolutely love it.

It’s a pedestal table…with pretty interesting feet:

That I painted black. ;)

I did the first coat months ago and it sat like that since. I finally finished it up this weekend:

I am nothing if not efficient. ;)

I used my go-to black paint – Black Suede from Behr. Love it.

Another recent addition was the cutie little bench at the table. I saw it at HomeGoods a few weeks ago, and because of a picture I saw in a magazine, I knew exactly where it was going:

But I wanted it to match the other chairs (it was brown). It was an easy fix. I took the seats off, spray primed it:

And did a couple coats of black spray paint:

LOVE IT. The Bub sits in this spot and he loves this bench. I gauged how the clean up would be for a while (before I decided to paint it and couldn’t return it), and it’s surprisingly easy to clean. I just wipe down the seats or vacuum out the crumbs.

I didn’t sand the bench or the table base – just painted. I’m wild and crazy like that! Insanity people.

I figure if they get scuffed up, the wood will show through and that’s fine with me. (But the first coat of black on the base has held up GREAT – no poly or anything!)

Thanks to those fine Amex points, last year I was able to get some new dishes and the round rug under the table at Pottery Barn. (The rug is an outdoor rug that’s a “faux” sisal.)

The whole shopping at Pottery Barn for dishes thing was a bit surreal…never done that before and haven’t since. The thrifty in me had to mix in some inexpensive green IKEA plates and bowls though. ;) (The lazy susan and rattan chargers are from IKEA as well.)

Now, the space just feels refreshed, pretty and more my current style. I look back and really love what I did before:

But right now the light and bright has one me over:

What I love is there’s a LOT of black in the space now – black island, black chairs. Black pantry door. But it’s so much brighter. Crazy. (Yes, I know the before shot was at night, but even during the day, the difference is huge.)

But now that I think about it…there are a couple more things I’d like to add to this spot. I have some “art” in the basement I need to get to spray painting!

Am I EVER done? I think not. That’s how I like it.

So, let’s see what you’ve been up to! Link up your before and afters peeps! Remember to link to the html for your post, not your blog.

We had 499 links last month, let’s get to 500 this time! WHOO!! Have fun. :)