Our kitchen is the place where we hang out both morning and night. While there are major things I would like to change (dishwasher, cabinet fronts, backsplash, counters, & add a wine fridge to the butler’s pantry, ha!) we’ve been busy doing little things that have made a big difference for now.
Last year before Christmas we took down our beloved plate wall and added shiplap which I love! This is a large windowless wall that needed something special. There must be a million and twelve tutorials for hanging shiplap so I won’t insult your intelligence with yet another one. We simply had the guy at Home Depot cut plywood sheets down to 6″ boards. Our wall is 10′ long so we alternated a 8′ and 2′ foot board each row starting from the top. The entire project cost around $40. Not a bad price for the impact it has made in our kitchen.
I had the botanical prints printed at Staples by uploading images from here to the Staples website. They were ready for pickup in less than 24 hours! I framed them in these frames. The pillows are custom in Lacefield Imperial Slub bisque and the banquet cushion is covered in Robert Allen outdoor fabric in dark gray. Several readers have asked about the banquet details and I’m working on a post with measurements, etc.
This is a pretty crappy picture due to the cloudy conditions combined with the yellow lighting and an Iphone, but you get the idea. The Roman shades were a super simple DIY project using the same fabric as the pillows. You can read about the makeshift wine storage here and the shelves here. I still need to paint the window hardware white and do some touch up painting so don’t look too closely.
I wanted something special for the kitchen window so I picked up a Meyer Lemon tree during the Christmas season from Birch Lane. I’m in love and cannot wait to smell the blossoms! The watering syringe that came with the tree lives in the window and takes the guesswork out of how often to water. I found the pretty pot it’s in at Garden Ridge which is now called At Home. The new faucet came from Build along with the new pulls, knobs, & towel bar. They have a great selection & speedy fast shipping!
We’ve enjoyed the open shelves being located above the dish washer. It makes unloading dishes in the morning a breeze. The striped bowls are from IKEA, but I couldn’t find the link. The green glasses are from Joss & Main. Everything else is Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, or vintage.
We wanted to beef up the edge of the shelves a bit so Mr. trimmed out the edges using a 1 1/4″ strip of lattice which really finished the edges nicely.
This wall kills me. I’m a balance person so this whole thing is just off, but our focus at least for now was to make the soffit look less soffit-ish. I should have mentioned before that we added crown molding to the entire kitchen. (Mr. bought a new saw and he is unstoppable. #lookout) He also added a strip of molding to the soffit just about the cabinets and we painted everything white to blend in with the cabinets. It’s not perfect, but it definitely looks better.
We also made a new vent cover to replace our old crusty one. Why would anyone add a vent up there? We ordered the metal from Home Depot and had it delivered to the store. Mr. trimmed it out with super thin strips of finish molding and painted it white like the rest of the soffit.
Sources:
Wall Color – Gray Owl, Benjamin Moore
Farm Table – Antique
Chairs – P & P Chair Company years ago
Drum Shades
Frames – Birch Lane
Botanical Prints
Wooden Crate – antique store
Three Jugs – antique store
Tall bottle – Joss & Main
Pillows
Fabric shades – Lacefield
Pulls
Knobs
Towel Bar
Faucet
Towel – West Elm
your kitchen is so pretty- love those striped bowls! 🙂
Thank you Cassie!
I love all your updates Rene. Your kitchen is so pleasing to the eye. I'm sure you see perhaps some of the imperfections, but as an outsider, I see such a fresh and pretty kitchen. It's so easy to gut and install everything nice and new, but it is a lot harder (and creative) to work with what you have! Your home is a perfect testament to that! Happy Wednesday!
What a sweet thing to say Fran. Thank you!
It is beautiful, Rene! I love it all. I wouldn't change a thing.
Thank you Mandy!
Everything looks fantastic!! Love the vintage prints. Thanks for sharing.
what a pretty kitchen! love those shelves and the vent cover is darling!
Tell you what, I'd like to have a few choice words with the inventor of the soffit. My old kitchen had them and not a day went by when they (and whoever invented them) were cursed! You've done an amazing job with a difficult architecture constraint and your kitchen looks great!! Well done!
Rene I love the changes you've made to your kitchen!!! It is so pretty! I adored your plate wall but the new shiplap and botanicals are so beautiful. I can't believe that shiplap wall cost you only $40. Little $ for adding so much character. I bought shiplap for a ceiling but wish I got plywood cut down – that is such a smart idea. Hope you are enjoying your refreshed space.
Wow, this looks great. I had no idea how to make ship lap. I watch fixer upper on HGTV and know they sometimes find it on the walls of older houses, but this tutorial lead is great. You have really made the kitchen magazine worthy.
Thanks for sharing the particulars.
Karen
Those botanical prints are such an amazing find – thank you for sharing. Your kitchen is beautiful and full of so many special details.
We have a soffit just like yours. We ended up having to do an entire gut remodel because of water damage and mold and I've documented the whole process. In this post, it shows how we did the trim above the cabinets: http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-kitchen-remodel-phase-18.html
And I know this isn't for everyone, but we put in shelves above the trim on the soffit, and this post shows that: http://rindymae.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-kitchen-remodel-phase-20.html
And yes, I did paint the backsplash white. Anyway, thought you might like to see another version of disguising the soffit. I'm still obsessed with your two lights over the table, and the shiplap wall and botanical prints are what dreams are made of.
I love your kitchen – everything about it! It's just lovely, just the way it is 🙂
It's the small details that do make the difference! I, too, would like to make some major changes to our kitchen (flooring, more granite, new sink etc ) but for now I am doing new lighting and hardware. It's the most lived in room in our house, so very important to have it both stylish AND comfortable!
I love your kitchen, and the shiplap wall is my absolute favorite!
I love all of your kitchen updates Rene, especially that fabulous shiplap wall with the framed prints. I've been thinking about going with open shelving over our sink and dishwasher so I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed yours.
Would love a DIY on the roman shades! Thanks!
The kitchen looks great! Where are the pendants lights from?
I love your kitchen window….would you know the dimensions by any chance?
I LOVE the botanical prints. What size are they and what kind of paper did you have staples print them on. I would love to put these in my kitchen. Thank you for sharing your beautiful kitchen.
I LOVE the botanical prints. What size are they and what kind of paper did you have staples print them on. I would love to put these in my kitchen. Thank you for sharing your beautiful kitchen. Also, The frames are perfect but when i click on the link it just goes to the website and not the frames. Can you please share which frames they are. Thank you, Mary