kitchen eye candy

Short post today! It's so rare for me not to be wordy, but these are busy times, people.

I've been helping out some friends from college with their new home, and the kitchen is the first major room they want to tackle. All of the cabinets and appliances will stay, but they are open to painting them, replacing wall and floor tile, and new countertops.

You DON'T have to replace everything in your kitchen to make a big difference in your space. Just changing one of those surfaces can have a huge impact. Especially if you buy a pretty light and mint green toaster.

Three pretty kitchens, for your viewing pleasure.

Dramatic: This kitchen is so New Orleans. High contrast, deep painted base cabinets, brass, luxe, and enough white to keep it from being dark. Somebody pass me a pastry.

Light & Airy: This kitchen is bright and inviting. Lots of different textures and warm touches keep it from being boring.

Eclectic: This kitchen has personality. Painting your base cabinets a color is a powerful move, but in the right space it can give you a warm, cheerful feeling. Also, that toaster. The mid-century barstool and traditional wood floor keep it just serious enough that it doesn't feel childish.

I didn't link to all of the sources here (because holy wow I'm just too busy right now), but you can find all of the sources on this Pinterest board. Have a specific question on any item? Just drop a comment!


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Classic + Bright Kitchen

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monogrammed newlywed pillow

Couples spend quite a bit of time on their wedding registries. I did when I got married. It makes perfect sense. "We'll make a list of all the things we like, and then people will go buy them, and we won't get any weird gifts!"

Enter Tara.

I am notorious for shopping off-registry. Don't get me wrong, I look at the registry, but then I tend to make something that (I hope) will compliment it. Anyone who dislikes this practice might want to mention it to me in the future before their big day.

B-T-dubs, Interior Designers are notorious for shopping off registry. We think we know better than you what you need. Right, wrong, or indifferent, it's just who we are.

Such is the case for Kyle and Summer. Kyle is my boss' son and Summer happens to like handmade things. Or so her Pinterest boards would have me believe. So for their nuptuals, I decided to make them a little something something.

Their registry had lots of classic items. Blues, navys, and whites. And the one thing that all couples' registries have in common - MONOGRAMS.

It makes sense. If the gal is going traditional and taking the guy's last name, she naturally wants it emblazoned on everything they own. This happy couple will now be sporting an equally cheerful monogrammed pillow.

I actually started with this side, which is basically a simple square mini-quilt. These are 3.5" squares, 5 high by 5 wide. It's a simple checkerboard pattern with whites and navys. It came out to roughly 15.5" square when it was done.

I bought a 16" pillow form. The rules are that I probably should have made the pillow top finish at 17" (because you lose 1" when you sew the front and back of the pillow case together with a 1/2" seam allowance), but I tend to like my pillows either - A) a little overstuffed or B) insanely squishy with a feather pillow form that feels like it's vintage. I went with Option A on this one.

At any rate, I made the top and quilted it with navy thread, 1/4" off of each seam to make a grid. Nearly all of these fabrics are from JoAnn's.

Then, the back. Drumroll please....

This turned out even cuter than it was in my brain. My plan had been to do a blue monogram on a plain white background. But then I realized I had enough of this preppy polka dot fabric left over from the front to make the back. It's so darn cheerful!

I love it when things work out.