One Room Challenge Reveal – Fall 2016: My Charming Kitchen

{If you are new here, you can follow me on Instagram here, to see what I’m currently up to.}

I’m so happy to be able to share the renovation of my kitchen with you which I completed in five weeks for the One Room Challenge.  (Caveat: of course it’s not truly five weeks as a lot of planning, scheduling and ordering has to happen before the actual work begins. ) We moved into our new home mid September and it has been a whirlwind of activity to not only get the kitchen renovated but to spruce up some other areas of the house to make it more us. I truly feel that a home should make you happy and the dark, “brown everything” house we bought wasn’t doing that.

Here’s a Before to remind you.

I’m calling it a “charming” kitchen as it’s not over the top with embellishments or busyness – it’s a classic white kitchen with a dose of colour on the furniture-like island. The walls and cabinetry are Benjamin Moore Silver Satin, OC-26.

And it has traditional details like the faucet which I love. I can’t do a modern faucet in my own kitchen.

I splurged on some items like the custom lanterns from Lamp Cage in Toronto but I saved by using items I already had – the stools (I bought a fourth and just painted the worn tops of the three I had), the large print, the runner and most of the accessories.

Here you can see the Metrie crown moulding and the 7″ baseboard – links at the end of the post.

I just love the 8′ island that I designed and had built. It really acts like a piece of furniture especially painted in Benjamin Moore Night Train, CC-720. I was going to go with  a bolder teal colour but I’m glad I ended up with something a bit more subdued.

You can see a close up of the beautiful quartz counter called Snowy Ibiza from Silestone in the photo below. It is tricky to photograph as it doesn’t have very dark veining which is a good thing. I like that it is light and not busy. I also like that it has warmth to it and I would call it more beige than grey. Stay tuned for a more in depth post on quartz counters, my go to material for kitchens and baths.

I love this shot below. I shared a similar one that I took on Instagram. It shows the quietness that I was trying to achieve with the beautiful linenesque fabric, the large sepia print of the Taj Mahal (a nod to my Indian roots) and the beige/linen colour quartz.  Also note that the runner above has the same tones.

I have to share a little secret. As some of you know, my husband passed away in March of this year. It has been heart wrenching, still unbelievable and utterly sad. Some days, I cannot stop crying. Other days, I’m doing OK (thank you hot yoga!) So, making decisions on the entire house and the kitchen specifically seemed daunting. I had long admired the work of Margot Austin when she was with Style at Home magazine and then Canadian House and Home. We had met a few times over the years so I asked her for advice throughout the process. We created a secret Pinterest board where we would both pin items and I would text her on occasion with an immediate question.  As an example, when I was styling the kitchen and while the photographer was here, I sent her some photos to get her thoughts. She immediately said, move the flowers over to the right as they are blocking the faucet. I was so busy cleaning the kitchen, specifically my streaky patio door, the morning of the shoot that I didn’t even notice how ridiculous that looked.  Another example was I was going to paint the black stools a lighter colour as they seemed lost against the island and with the dark floors. She gave an emphatic “No” as the black colour was true to the look of the bentwood stools so I quickly had to call the paint company to put a stop to that. That’s just a couple of examples of the expertise she provided gained from designing and styling hundreds of photo shoots over the years. Plus, she has impeccable taste. So, designers, if you want another opinion on things because sometimes it is so difficult working in isolation (everyone needs a Tommy, right?)  shoot Margot an email. Her rates are well worth the brilliant outcome you will achieve. Case in point – my kitchen. 🙂

I’m really happy with how the kitchen turned out and it’s exactly what I envisioned when I first saw the house. I look forward to cooking up a storm and inviting family and friends over frequently. I just wish a certain someone was here to enjoy it as well. 🙁

All photos by the lovely and talented Ashley Capp.

A huge thank you to the following brands who I LOVE working with and urge you to check out their products:

Cosentino North America: Silestone counter

Blanco Canada: Sink

Blanco USA:  Faucet

Metrie:  Crown, baseboards, casing

Top Knobs:  Matte black hardware

JFF Fabrics: Drapery fabric

Fiori Oakville:  Flowers and greenery

Williams Sonoma:  Small blue ginger jar, copper utensils, tea

Bosch:  Dishwasher

Benjamin Moore

Minted:  Taj Mahal print

You can catch up on my previous posts or find answers here:

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5

And you can see my previous One Room Challenge makeovers from my former home here:

Kitchen

Teen Bathroom

Principal Bedroom

Teen Bedroom

Thank you so much for following along and encouraging, engaging and being supportive here and on Instagram. I really appreciate it!

Go check out what the other guest participants are up to here and the 20 designers here. There is so much inspiration! Thank you Linda for hosting.

Have a happy week!

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save