A Kitchen Re-do; Working with the colour of love...

Firstly, let me give you a little background, as to why the colour red features so heavily in our home...
It's the late 90's Philippe Starck, blonde furniture and white walls are the order of the day. Minimalism is at it's peak. Anything more than a couch and a TV in the living room is considered positively cluttered! The 'then' man in my life has brought into all this and so, my house is decorated white from top to toe... It wasn't the shabby chic white that I have come to know and love, but a stark industrial white... compete with weird modern art sporadically placed around said house... (what can I say? I was young and impressionable, and yet to find my voice)...


Fast forward 5 years, a failed relationship and many other life experiences under my belt by now. I've landed in the USA, and living with my new found love (the hubby). Life's exciting and colourful, and as far removed from my old life as it could be. I want our apartment to reflect this shift. White, is replaced with red and rich warm tones. Blonde wood is replaced with dark wood and even our appliances are red...no industrial chrome pieces for this gal anymore! I am colourful and vibrant now!

Flash forward another couple of years and we've been busy... a toddler running around and a baby on the way. Having finally scraped a deposit together, we turn the key in our new home, complete with the red kitchen.... err won't that clash with our appliances or are we going for the camouflaged look?? This is not the look I have in mind... Unless I'm thinking 'gothic chic'...

Flash forward to this past winter...We have 'major' structural repairs to do to the house and so the kitchen is nowhere near the top of any list... until I snap... Christmas is over, it is cold and I'm sitting in my coffin room and it's just not going to fly any more! So I paint the walls 'Bleached Wheat', a colour that will compliment the red accessories, and yet not make it look like a late night diner... (I knew those red appliances would come back to haunt me one day)... Have you ever changed walls from red to 'Bleached Wheat'?... It's not easy... not when you're doing it after the kiddies have been put to bed! Anyhoo, I go to the UK for a month to visit the family and stock up on new accessories for the kitchen...the hubby sands the kitchen cabinets and everything comes to a grinding halt...

Flash forward to this past June... I'm reading http://www.abeachcottage.com/ and feeling inspired,  I decide to paint the kitchen chairs... They're a darkish wood and, I don't have a sprayer, but I'll get these chairs to 'Swiss Almond'... All in all, this is a very proud moment for me!!! I even drag the neighbour over to view my handy work...  I pick out some cheery seat pads from Ikea (in an attempt to pull in those darn red appliances) and a picture is hung (to compliment the red... why did I chose red again)... I am on a high. Then the summer hits and I've pretty much done nothing else...

Painted chair; complete with cream cheese smears!

Present day, and it's now coming to the close of summer... the summer whereby I was supposed to paint the kitchen cabinets, but instead procrastinated over the colour, went on lots of bike rides and vacationed... Now, my brother is visiting from the UK and so, they're on the back burner again... The thing is, the hubby offered me a sweetener... If I can paint the cabinets before the end of summer, then he will spring for some new butcher block counter tops!!! (I loathe with a capital L, my current faux butcher block style counter top)... I need to get this job done by the end of August... I need all the encouragement I can get... I know this is a huge job and I'm dreading it.... but, oh, how I want those counter tops....

Have you ever been too hasty with your design choices and now find yourself trying to work them in with a new scheme... or is it just me that follows her heart a little too freely?

Oh, and for anyone still reading, here's the kitchen prior to the make-over (it's the only photo I could find). It was taken at our first Thanksgiving at this place... My youngest was two weeks old (hence the mess) and that's my eldest, she was not impressed with the turkey hat.... or maybe it was the kitchen...