Kitchen Eating Area

Well, this wasn't one of the projects on my big list of home goals, but it's definitely in that "finish what you start" category.  Several months ago I made new drapery for the living room with my new fabric but I didn't have enough to continue them across to the kitchen.  I wanted to live with them for a while anyway to see if I wanted to keep it a little different in the kitchen or make all of the window treatments the same across the back wall.  My floor plan is very open and everything flows together, so I ended up deciding that I wanted some continuity across all of the back windows.  And, I really liked the fabric!  So, I found the best price online for more fabric and got to work.

First, we're going to go way, way back.  This is what the room looked like when we first moved in.  

Excuse the mess!  When we moved in we had to rip the carpet out before we would even put anything on it and then we lived in a state of turmoil for about a month while we did tile work and painted the entire house before we had the new carpet installed.  But, you can see the lovely wallpaper, no light, and blah everywhere else.    

Here's what it looked like before my most recent little re-do:

The curtains were my attempt to go "neutral".  At first they didn't have the little valance topper but I couldn't get used to not having any color there, so I added the green at the top.  The rug...oh...I'm learning not to buy something just because it's a good deal!  No, it's a nice rug and I needed SOMETHING there.  I love our brick floors but they are a little tricky to move chairs back and forth across, so a rug helps out there.  I couldn't find one I really liked for the right price so I bought that one for a fill-in.  

After some sewing and rug shopping, here's my space now.

It was tricky to find the right sized rug.  A 5x7 is too small and we have a floor vent to work around so an 8x10 was too big.  I finally landed on a 6x9 and I think it will be just right.  I bought this rug from Pier One and expect to be really happy with it.  I've never had a natural fiber rug before so we'll see how it goes (and hopefully the wrinkles will flatten out!).

Striped lamp shade inspired by Carmel at Our Fifth House.  The lamp base was a brassy thrift-store find.  I love the shape and the finish was 

nothing a little spray paint couldn't help!

There was one more element I was wanting to add that I showed in my inspiration pictures, bamboo shades on the windows.  We don't really need anything for privacy on these windows, but I like the look and texture they give.  I chose a matchstick roll-up shade and sweet Ray installed one of them over the weekend, but once it was up I didn't like it.  What do you think?

It just gets lost during the day time with the sunlight coming in.  I haven't abandoned the idea-I'm going to find something more substantial and less transparent to try.

And here you can see the view across the living and kitchen windows.  I like how it all flows nicely now.

Even though it's done for now, I still have several things I'd like to do in that area.  I'm ready for a change on the wall-maybe some botannicals?  I love my kitchen table, have had it since we've been married, but it needs some freshening up and those chairs are just stand-ins until I figure out what's happening in the dining room.  I'm also looking for a great fabric to cover the kitchen chair seats in.  And, we've really enjoyed having the loveseat in there but I'm looking for a settee that's a smaller scale.  So life goes with a home decorator...nothing is ever really finished!




Linking up with: It's Overflowing!, Shine Your Light, Tip Junkie