out with the yellow

A few months ago, I decided I hated the yellow in our kitchen. Perhaps it was the additional lighting Andrew added, or perhaps it was that it began to remind me of Rachael Ray’s horrible pastel yellow kitchen and multi-color accessories. Either way, I knew my yellow-green-orange-blue with cherry cabinets motif needed to go.

Long term, Andrew and I have plans to do a tile backsplash and put glass in two of our cabinet doors, as well as put in a new (white, French-door) pantry door. But for now, I settled with ‘de-coloring’ the kitchen.

First, I bought a new crock in which to put all those spoons and spatulas, and a new dish rack for drying dishes on the counter. Second, I put the green mixer and green crock ( filled with lesser-used cooking utensils) in the pantry and out of sight. Lastly, I picked a paint color I thought would lighten up the kitchen and be as close to white without being white, or any sort of pink-y cream, either.

I couldn’t wait to get started!

Before:
(I couldn’t find a picture with all the stuff on the counter, so just imagine green and orange crocks, a green mixer, a black dish drying rack and pops of blue.)

After primer:

Hello!

Where am I???

Andrew was kind enough to move the fridge for me so I could get a hard-to-reach spot, and then I realized I still needed to paint above the door…

After:

Again, I really do think it screams for some sort of tile backsplash that will complement the counter, but other than that, I’m really happy with it. Andrew is also going to take out part of a wall (hopefully soon!) that will let in more natural light, which–I’ve noticed–is key for this color to work. In the shadows, my ‘luxury linen’ looks pink–NOT OK!

All in all, this color makes the cherry cabinets more livable for me. And I am LOVING both the bright white utensil crock and my new dish rack!

I didn’t mean to dig up the tree…

I may have gotten a little over zealous in my yardwork endeavor today…

The truth is, I’ve hated that tree since the moment we moved in. In my mind, it was only a matter of time until it was disposed of or moved so some other back corner of the yard. It was mangled and off-center.

I won’t say ‘it just happened,’ because it didn’t. It took work! I was sweating like crazy trying to dig that thing out.

Case in point:

I’ve cleared three beds and pulled more weeds than any yard should have. I suppose this is what I get for not doing a pick of yardwork til the first week of June.

the teal-est pantry around

…and it’s finally finished!

We received the smaller shelving unit (on the left) today and Andrew wasted no time in assembling them. I just placed the last item and hung the hooks for my aprons.

The paint color is darker than we both anticipated, but now that everything is inside, I think it works. Andrew said he’s pleased with how it turned out and that it is ‘exactly how he imagined it.’

Despite only gaining a few inches on either side, it’s definitely bigger than before. Here’s what it looked like when we moved in:

WAY more room, WAY better lighting and overall just better use of space. The best part? I can walk in and grab something without hitting my right shoulder on a shelf. And the floor matches the kitchen. And way more space. I can’t believe how much space these new (well, one is new, the other is old) shelving units brought to the pantry.

You know how whenever you spruce up/improve/clean a room in your house it makes you want to just spend lots of time in the new space? That’s how I feel with the pantry. If I could put a chair in there and just sit, admiring Andrew’s handiwork and my organizational skills (and the beautiful teal walls), I would.

But that would be weird.