Cursive T: The AFTER!!

I can't tell you what a great feeling it is to come home to such a bright, creative cooking space and I'm actually excited to show you the final result. Welcome to my home!

The History: Our lofty space is in a great vintage building built circa 1920. We are located on the 3rd floor. I often wonder what kinds of people lived here before us and especially what they cooked in that kitchen space.

I started the makeover with paint!! The trim/door/window got a fresh coat of bright white paint. I chose a key lime pie color wall. The simple addition of color made a nice difference. Then, I removed the hardware and painted all of the cabinets a deep chocolate brown. The two shelves above the sink also got a coat of that rich brown which kind of pulls the cabinetry together a little more. Now I can also hang up the pots and pans and utilize the wall space.

I wasn't up for splurging on new hardware, so I gave all those little handles a coat of black paint. What a difference. Design on a dime, lemmetellya!!

The fabric (which I showed you previously) is an Alexander Henry design that I fell in love with as soon as I saw it. It fits perfectly with the rest of my house and all of the art within! I created counter skirts for the open shelving areas as well as used the fabric as a contract on the new curtains.

I knew with the green walls and the dark contrast that I needed a bold accent color, so what is my favorite??? RED of course. Remember the ugly trapezoid built in shelving with the faux wood adhesive? TADA!!! I admit the photo shows the countertop is a little hazy. That's because the painted counter is covered in a foodsafe surface that hadn't completely dried and in my excitement I shot a photo :)

I am ecstatic about this cool red counter now!! It tooks about a hundred coats of paint to get it covered properly, but I think the final result is quirky and stunning!! A little unexpected, but it totally works in this space and since it would never have matched anyway, the red explosion is just perfect!!

To bring out the red even more, I used a simple red broadcloth to create a tie up shade for the door and made a quick valance for the window.

The floor was probably the most dramatic change that occured in the room!! And no I did NOT pay a floorer (is that even a word?) to come in and do it. I laid all those beautiful tiles myself and only spent about $50 for the entire kitchen and pantry area. What a deal :)

I found this adorable wall decal on ETSY (my fave) for around $13. It suits me well. This was so easy to put on the wall. It's not one of those sticker ones either, this is rubbed directly onto the wall itself, so it gives the illusion of it being painted on.