Kitchen Progress!

It turned out to be a not totally productive, very stressful week/end.
However- the kitchen is finally almost 100% painted (there is a spot above the refrigerator that we just can't figure out how to reach- anyone with super long arms?)!
The kitchen has always been one of my favorite rooms- whenever we'd tour the house we would end up spending most of our time chatting in there. It has a ton of space, custom cherry cabinetry (from the 70's but I love it) and lots of windows. The fellow who "renovated" the place before we bought it added cherry paneling all throughout the bottom half of the room- I appreciated the thought but it made the room feel dark and just too cherry. I'm glad I followed my intuition and painted the excess cherry paneling- it looks amazing. I wish I had a functioning camera (other than my phone to show you the real transformation).

BEFORE- so much cherry and drab beige walls...

AFTER- much much brighter and cleaner!
 (The grey is Palisade by Sherwin Williams and the white is Snowbound also by Sherwin) 

I seriously wish I had a better camera so that you could see what a difference the paint makes!

The frames are the first things ever to be hung on the walls of this house (since we've owned it anyway) and it makes me feel so accomplished. I was struggling to think of what pictures would look good in the kitchen...Mike suggested we hang large paintings of vegetables because they always look so good in Subway (haha he was kidding) so instead of committing to a photo or a veggie I went to Michaels and found these great scrapbooking pages:

I wanted to compliment the "Saffron" color of the dining room as well as yellow Fiestaware I was gifted and the green pyrex I've been collecting.

The Ikea frames make the paper look like art- for 10$ I think its totally worth it.
I also found this print at Michaels on clearance for 5$ and I'm hoping to find a really funky antique frame to go with it:

Eventually I'd like to replace the cheap white blinds with these beachy blinds...

Even after spending the entire day in the kitchen we still have much to do:
-Hang shelves
-Plant herbs to place on shelves
-Buy and hang grass shades
-Paint the random spot above the fridge
-Bring in a bistro table and two tall chairs
-Update light fixture with something large and modern
-Find a large indoor/outdoor neutral rug
-Eventually replace all black appliances with stainless steel
-Eventually replace the ugly linoleum floor

I'm super thrilled with the progress we've made- it feels and looks amazing.

And I leave you with a picture that warms my heart and reminds me how blessed I am to have a place where family and friends can come share this life with us...

Father and Son guitar time <3