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After house hunting for a few months, we bought our home at the end of July. Dan is pretty handy and we were both excited to get to work on making it feel more like us. The first space we tackled was the deck because the weather was still great and we were craving some good outdoor space after being in a small condo without our own yard. Then, we did the home gym, and recently you may have seen our a little reading corner in our great room as part of a different post I did.
Today I wanted to share some of the spaces I’ve been working on. First up, the kitchen.
Kitchen decor before/after
So I never actually took “before” photos so this pic on the left is a still image from first tour of the house when we were looking. You can see the paint was beige, and they actually left the table and chairs for us, which was nice because we were planning on leaving our condo furnished for our renters.
The rectangular table sort of cramped the space, and Buckles had a hard time getting around it, so I felt like a round table would be a better fit in the space. I got rid of the table and hunted for weeks, but could’t find anything I really loved that wouldn’t break the bank.
I ended up going with this table (similar for less) in the end. I love the look of it, but it’s definitely a budget table - sometimes you just get what you pay for. I’m not sure how long it’ll last, but for now, it works and I like the overall look of it. I really like cruising the sales and also keep an eye out for estate sales and Facebook marketplace options for something better quality that’s also budget friendly. You’ll notice three carpets in the one photo above - our whole house essentially has to have carpeting for my senior dog Buckles. He gets around a lot better now that there’s a smaller table in this space, and more carpeting.
The chairs (similar, and here’s another great option) were Facebook marketplace finds - they’re these incredible vintage handmade Danish style chairs - super sturdy and have so much character, I love them.
We swapped out the light fixture, and I added a fiddle leaf plant in a basket (similar), and a 16’ jute runner down the side of the room so Buckles can move about freely. It has so much natural light!
I shared the above picture the other day on Instagram. As you can see, that beige color was in the kitchen, and I’d wanted to paint it a crisp, cool white, so we used Benjamin Moore’s Decorator White. For decor, I just like things really simple and clean - I tend to feel overwhelmed by a lot of things on the wall, but this wall is pretty long so I felt like it needed something. There’s a sliding glass door that leads to the deck just past the island, so I thought mirrors could be a nice way to reflect even more natural light.
I bought three of these mirrors (similar but better price) and I like the matte black finish, and really thin framing that picks up off the light fixture we installed above the island. Eventually we’ll redo the cabinetry and countertops, but for now we’re super happy with how bright it feels in the kitchen.
Next up, the foyer.
I didn’t do much to the foyer except swap out the lighting fixture for something neutral yet funky, and I added a rug, a bench (estate sale find, but here’s a similar one), a pillow, a cement planter I got at a tag sale (similar), and a little side table.
Eventually, I’d like to replace this tiling, but it’s fine for right now. Despite not having a ton of natural light in this area, it’s still pretty bright. The overall natural light within the house is one of my favorite things. It just feels like a happy place, and I am so grateful we were able to snag it amidst an exodus of people coming from New York City paying cash, over asking, and with no contingencies. I don’t know how we got so lucky!