The Kitchen & Phone Nook

The Kitchen & Phone Nook BEFORE AND AFTER

5/15/2020

Welcome back to Figs and Flights {at home}. This post covers the kitchen and the phone nook.

The kitchen is the only room that my husband Bryce and I upgraded ourselves.

Do It Yourself (DIY) Projects

There are links to specific items included here. When you shop using my links I make a small commission.

Here's what we did between the before and after photos.

Replaced the faucet and sprayer in the sink - the white faucet EXPLODED on our first day in the house! We replaced the faucet and sprayer with a basic one very similar to this.
Removed the wallpaper and border and painted - the first project on our list! It was moderately easy and very satisfying to remove the wallpaper and border with a clothes steamer. We taped and painted ourselves and learned that we aren't skill painters!
Enhanced kitchen efficiency - this is my main priority! The magnetic knife holder and hanging fruit basket keep my counters clear. The sturdy paper towel holder allows me to rip a fresh towel with just one hand. The countertop compost bin stores my food waste without stinking! (Composting is mandatory in Seattle.)
Decorated - I added a white valance to the window and included magnets and artwork from our travels on the fridge and walls.

Would you buy a house with a kitchen this ugly? I did!

Before and After Photos

All of the BEFORE photos include the yellow walls and the perfectly clean kitchen. The AFTER photos follow each BEFORE photo. In the AFTER photos you'll notice the green walls and real life stuff in the kitchen. (I cleaned for ya' but left the stuff that is supposed to be there, regularly used and in the proper place.)

The photos will take you around the kitchen in a full circle, returning you back to the window which looks into the back yard.

Wish List and What We Love/Hate about the Kitchen

We've always meant to do a BIG and full renovation of the kitchen with new appliances, counters, cabinets, and floors. There are several reasons that we haven't done so including the odd layout of the room. There are three doors in our kitchen making it hard to reconfigure it without getting WILD with knocking out walls or sealing up doors and taking us into a much larger budget.

We LOVE the counter space, size, and functionality of the kitchen. We still HATE the blue countertops and parquet floors the most.

The Kitchen

BEFORE: The photo from the house's listing makes the kitchen look less ugly!

AFTER: We've come a long way especially when it comes to the walls.

BEFORE: The border, wallpaper, and faucet/sprayer pictured have all been updated. DO YOU LIKE THOSE APPLES?

AFTER: Our kitchen is much less ugly and highly functional. That wide section of countertop is where I do all of my cooking prep.

BEFORE: Yes that's striped wallpaper topped with apple border. The blue counters make me think the kitchen was last updated in the 90s.

AFTER: The walls are so much better but the counters are still blue!

BEFORE: The angles, arch, and too many patterns here give me a headache.

AFTER: The walls are much better. This clutter-y area keeps my headache coming back!

THE CORNER CABINET: I thought this was stupid at first but it holds pots and pans perfectly!

BEFORE: A close up of the colorful apple border. Apples, names, little pins, and borders ON THE BORDER. Wild.

AFTER: Art from our travels, plenty of fruit that's not stored on my counters, that good paper towel holder.

BEFORE: Wallpaper creeps above the arched doorways but not above the stove. WHO DID THIS?

AFTER: Great improvements have been made but the electric stove with differing sizes and positions of burners NEEDS TO GO.

BEFORE: A wide view of the border back at the window and sink.

AFTER: The paint is so much better! Two coffee makers and drying dishes can't and won't be hidden!

The Phone Nook

This phone nook takes you from the kitchen into the hallway that leads to the bedrooms, bathroom, and living room. It's to the right of the stove in a few pictures above.

Bryce and I fought and fought about the phone nook! He wanted to remove the light and little shelves. I insisted that we keep them! I love the evidence of a home phone and the shelves that likely held the phone book, a pen and paper for taking messages, and the light above that needed to be turned on to take someone's number down.

I won the battle and the phone nook STAYED! I'm so glad we kept this, it's a useful spot in an otherwise function-less hallway.

We updated the light, added artwork, and use the shelves there to collect stuff so it doesn't end up in the kitchen! The nook holds pens, pencils, and markers, scratch paper and notebooks, flashlights, spare sunglasses, and other junk. The gold pineapple holds spare headphones and phone chargers. My daily reads live on the top shelf so I pass by and use them often: The Daily Stoic and Notes from the Universe on Abundance.

BEFORE: The phone nook.

AFTER: The phone nook remains and is highly functional even without a phone.

A closer look at the phone nook. It's the first place to look when you're searching for a misplaced item.

Thanks for visiting my kitchen and phone nook!

Next Friday we'll continue with Figs and Flights {at home} and we'll get into the real renovations in the rest of the house.

Life fueled by food and travel.