My lovely little 1940s kitchen (it’s not perfect, and there’s still lots left to do, but it makes me happy :)

I adore my kitchen.  It’s old (half the cupboard doors don’t close properly without a little help.)  And it still needs a lot of work (pictures showing the disasterous floor and beat up countertops to follow!)  But I love it.  It’s a little eclectic and kinda cute.  It’s e-clute-tic.  (Teehee.)  And it’s where I make brownies and chocolate bark and yummy soups and all sorts of goodness that feeds my Sweetie and my friends.  :)  Do I wish I had a dishwasher?  Omg oui.  Do I wish I had more cupboard space and prettier appliances?  Oui oui.  But for now it’s quasi-functional and pretty-ish and it makes me happy (at least from baseboards up – just don’t look at the floor.)

Just to show progress to-date, here are a few befores (photos stolen directly from the house listing when we bought it) and after-ishes (the -ishness because there’s still so much left to do.)

Before, with a seemingly pointless and rather greasy (blek) chair rail that ran around the room and dirty blue walls:

After – chair rail removed, ugly light fixture replaced and everything (ceiling, walls, cupboards, windows, and trim) repainted (the walls with BM Stonington Gray, and the cupboards and trim and such with BM Snowfall White) (it’s close-ish to the white of my white appliances, just a wee bit creamier):

Before (I love that they attempted to stage the island for photos, but left the ginormous bag of dog food sitting out on the floor [next to the fridge] in the background…):

That's one very whirly fan!

After (sans massive bag of kibble, and with lights swapped out for ones that actually match and aren’t icky):

Sweetie chose the pendant for over the island. He did good eh?

Before (with coffeemaker perched on top of the microwave on the too-small kitchen cart):

Nothing screams "lots of counter space!" to a potential home buyer like stacking your appliances...

After (with a properly fitting kitchen cart [best kijiji score ever!] and minus the random appliances plugged into the stove) (although I did forget to move the giant pile of mail off the island… just ignore that k?):

I'll eventually get around to painting the wood beam around the island - promise!

Much better eh?  I like to think so.  :)  Here are a few details too…

The view looking toward the front door, with my pretty little painted piano stool (and that big pile of mail again – just keep ignoring that…)

The mirror over my stove is one of my favouritest HomeSense buys ever!  And I love having a mirror over my stove (made possible, of course, by the fact that no one in the past 70-ish years has bothered to install a proper [and, um, I think mandatory] range hood above it.  I won’t tell if you don’t.  :)  I’m sure I’ll go through gallons of Windex trying to keep it clean, but I don’t care.  It’s a little unconventional and rather pretty and I love it.  :)

A LOT of people told me to remove the 1940s-ish scalloped edge above my sink when we moved into the house, but I absolutely love it and just ignored them all (those scallop-hating sillyheads.)

I replaced all the old black pulls and hinges on the cupboard doors with pretty brushed nickle ones when I repainted the cupboards last summer.  These have just a tiny little bit of detail.  I quite like them.  :)

My ikea Grundtal rail holds my grandmother’s old measuring spoons and cups (and some newer ones too.)  I love having these out.  They’re old and remind me of her.  The super cute polka dot bowls belong to the cats.

And tada – there you have it!  The prettier parts of my kitchen.  It’s not at all perfect, but I like it.  :)

And now (insert dramatic: dun dun dun…) for some ugliness (and there’s lots)…

Our countertops are archaic.  And scratched.  And pitted.  And worn.  And kinda blue.  Ish.

Ack eh?  We’ll be replacing them at some point, but I haven’t yet decided with what.  I’m kinda liking the look of the ikea butchers’ block countertops at the moment, but I’m a wee bit worried about watermarks and stains and maintenance and such (even though people who have them tend to say they’re awesomely durable.)  That said, the butchers’ block countertops aren’t hugely expensive (I think they’re even cheaper than laminate) so it wouldn’t be a huge investment…  Planning a trip to ikea very soon (yay!) so I might know more about beautiful wooden countertops shortly.  :)

And then, once we get new countertops, we can also get a new sink and faucet.  Oh how I miss my double sink.  And my pullout faucet.  Lots.  And lots.

Oh.  And then there’s my floor…

Yup, it’s pretty snazzy.  In case you can’t quite tell, I’ve got old peel-and-stick tiles, on top of old peel-and-stick tiles, on top of something else, with maybe something else underneath.  And, sadly, the floor will likely be the last thing I replace in the kitchen.  While I (at least) have a vague idea of what I’d like to do for the countertops, I have no clue what to install on the floor (and whatever I put on the kitchen floor will continue through the hallway, since that old brown carpet is ug-ly.  Times ten.  Which also means it has to match the old hardwood in my living room and dining room, the faux-tile linoleum in my loo, and the wood-look laminate flooring in my sunroom.)  (Did I mention I inherited a hodge-podge of flooring?)  I’m sort of waiting to hear how Sherry and John (a la Young House Love) (hi Sherry and John!) make out with their cork floors (they’re currently mid-amazing kitchen reno) (nothing like using other bloggers as flooring guinea pigs, eh?) to decide whether cork could be an option.

So there you go!  Kitchen tour chez Joy.  :)  Still lots left to do, but it’s come quite a ways so far (at least I think it has.)  I’ll keep you posted on the countertop situation.  :)  And once I’m done stalking YHL’s kitchen reno, I’ll let you know if cork flooring might be in my future too.  For now, my kitchen is at least fairly functional and pretty pretty-ish.  Just don’t stare directly at the floor or countertops.  :)

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