Friday, August 6, 2010

Small kitchen!/What would you do?

      Hey there ya'll. Wow my posts are becoming more sporadic as I've been doing less cards for OWH lately. I just have had some other things going on and have had to focus on those things for a bit. One area of focus being "Back to school" which will be happening here in less than two weeks. My son is 8 and will be going in the second grade. He happens to have Asperger's Syndrome which presents a host of challenges for new situations/teachers/classrooms/expectations etc...and a LOT of Stress for me. Every year I go through and try and pair down papers etc.. from the previous year and believe me -there are LOTS but I have to make room for homework and after school organization-this means getting my kitchen in order.
    One thing I have been trying to do in this little house that my Mom left me is to make space. This place is at just about 1200 square feet but just feels so cramped and cluttered a lot of times. I've been trying to work on more visually pleasing organization. To be honest where the problem lies right now is CRAFTS, I just have no place for them as I have a child in each bedroom and a small kitchen and no dining room and a son who loves to use all kinds of crafts. Speaking of small kitchen here it is with original 1956 knotty pine cabinets. I have no idea how a family of 6-7 members lived in this house at one time but they managed so I suppose we (the four of us) can too but first I need more places to put stuff-like the overflow of food that won't fit in cabinets because there aren't enough cabinets. So I came up with an idea for the other side of the room -a high shelf.
        Now This is still in the process of being worked on. The bins came from walmart and do a pretty good job of hiding snacks/chips/cereal/etc... that I previously stored on this hutch stacked to the brim. Now mind you, I want to move this hutch over slightly to center with the table and move the trash bin back to the other side of the room so this wall is not crazy cluttered looking. On the other wall to the right I need some sort of bulletin board to keep school events/after school/dates/papers/etc... but I need it to NOT look cluttered as it often does when my son brings home papers and we display them. That will be my next project.
I am wondering for the longest time if I should attempt to paint these cabinets. I mean obviously I went with the "country" theme because nothing else would have meshed with these cabinets but I wonder if a more cohesive color pallet wouldn't  make this kitchen at least seem less cluttered and I do not have a LOT of money. Here's where I welcome your ideas and opinions. What would you do?

6 comments:

Lisa (mldesignworks) said...

I think your little kitchen is beautiful, Cheryl! I would keep the cabinets--are new pulls and handles in the budget? It might be cool with glass or china knobs? But I love what you've done so far, and thank you for showing! I hope you find room for your crafts. My craft "room" is a little teeny desk in a walk in closet. :-) Lisa

Cheryl said...

Thank you for your comments -the crafts I am working on pairing down and will put up there on the right side upper shelf in those bins (oops-forgot to mention that).Knobs would be good-the only reason why I haven't changed them yet is because (I'm pretty sure) there would be marks left behind from the old ones which would require some work to the cabinets, i.e. painting or refinish etc... I have been too lazy the past 7 years to tackle that job and I heard knotty pine is coming back-so I keep thinking one day my kitchen will be trendy!LOL

Lisa (mldesignworks) said...

Absolutely, Cheryl! Things always come back around, don't they?! If we're lucky the avocado green fridge won't be back in any time soon, though! I think you're lucky to have something original to your home like the cabinets. Yes, refinishing them would be a job (done that before.) Let me know what you decide! It really does look inviting the way you have it decorated! Glad you've made space for your crafts, and then your family can be involved too! Lisa :-)

debb said...

Adorable kitchen! I don't think anyone has a large enough kitchen lol! And while painting your cabinets white would make the room appear larger, it would only be appearance, not more space so keep that in mind! And trust me, painted cabinets in white would show more fingerprints! I have the original plywood cabinets in my house, painted cream and they always need washing! I love them though! To help add more storage space, I keep extra canned goods and beverages on bookshelves in the cellar to help save on space.

Cheryl said...

Well there's something to think about-I do have white appliances as you can see and they are always dirty especially near the bottom where my little black cocker spaniel lives. I had entertained the idea of painting them a combo of sand and off white like sand cabinet boxes and off white doors however even painting would be a good bit of work because the lower cabinets have a lot of nicks (sanding required) that don't show up on the knotty pine as bad as they would on semi-gloss white.

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