ORC FALL 2019 - The Kitchen (yep, again)

Are you thinking "Get it together, Marcie?? We've seen this kitchen thing before!
You did your Guest Bedroom ORC twice!!! Are you crazy?" 
So, yes, I did try to pull this off in the Spring. 
I knew I was crazy going in but I tried anyway. #orcfail
And on the doing the same ORC room repeatedly thing I seem to have going on maybe we should just look at it like this - I like to keep on trying until I succeed!

Well, I'm even crazier to try it this round.
(If you don't follow me on IG then you may not know that our Summer was a bit unusual. I will say up front it could have been far worse and a lot of people deal with serious stuff regularly but our daily lives and routines have been impacted so taking this on is a bit crazy! We went to the FL Keys on vacation in July. My husband had a stroke on day 2 of our vacay. What followed was 3 ambulance rides, 8 days in ICU, step down Neuro ward, inpatient rehab all in Miami. Mollie and I stayed in the condo the first week and it was an 1 1/2 hour drive one way into Miami. Then she flew home and I stayed another month in a hotel near rehab. I worked remotely with help from a very understanding boss and staff. We came home to more rehab and I was driving hours each day to appointments, etc. Meanwhile back at the ranch our 80 lb puppy broke a bone in his foot and had to have it casted and he required a lot of my time as well. He also ate a good bit of the couch in the family room so that's another situation to be dealt with another day!! We had another family situation going on in VA and I'm still trying to work from my phone, my ipad -whatever I have from wherever I am in a waiting room. So I'm waaaay behind on, well, everything but I'm so ready to do a fun project and be a bit creative! 
Soooo, I'm just crazily going for it!)

BUT, I will be ecstatic with whatever small progress I make.

So maybe I should call this - The Kitchen - Baby Steps.

 I am shortening my to-do list and lowering my expectations 

on what I can accomplish this Fall.
This is a light refresh with a lot of paint and some fabric 
I bought the last time I attempted this and not a major redo or renovation
because (medical bills, vet bills....) budget.
But, again, I say that I am very excited to be doing this ORC!

It will feel great to have the kitchen spiffed up a bit before the holidays. 
I may even get to add in a little Fall seasonal decor. I painted these Chinoiserie pumpkins with the idea in mind that they can stay in the kitchen until Thanksgiving.

Last time I thought I was going to paint my cabinets something other than white. I love a white kitchen but thought I was ready to make a change.
Apparently not. That was one of the hold ups last time. 
I confidently slapped a swatch of paint on my cabinet door, and boom - indecision. So it has been just like that all these months. I know, embarrassing. 

But now we know - we are white kitchen people. At least in this house where 
our big screen porch affects the light in our kitchen.

And this is my all time favorite kitchen "pin" - Serena Crawford's former kitchen!
If you are wondering what my all white dream kitchen looks like in my head :)

So here's the "Dream List" and I'll cross off as many as possible
 and get to the rest when I can!

1. Paint cabinets and walls white again. It's been a few years and it just needs fresh paint.

2. Use the coral leopard print fabric to make curtains I bought last attempt...

  And use Ballard bamboo curtain hardware I bought on deep sale but give it a coat of white paint.

3. Take down dated wood valance over sink. Adjust glass shelf over sink.

4. Replace fluorescent over sink light with a recessed light.

5.Paint dining nook ceiling pale blue.

6. Change island top. Paint island.
(This one is a stretch)

7.Put bamboo shades at windows.

8. Paint back door? Amazingly Sherwin Williams Color of the Year 2020 was already in the running before they announced! I'm feeling rather on top of that :)



9.Paint ceiling fans navy blue.

10. Runner in front of sink?

11. Clean floors and use a wood restorer. I cannot take on refinishing floors right now. And remember 80 lb puppy is in a hard cast. 

12. Re-fit cookbook book shelves and move microwave from counter to new shelf. 

12. Cover lampshade on light over kitchen table. 

What's staying?

1.The vintage faux bamboo kitchen table and chairs. 
2. Coral faux bamboo server
 (which is basically the only thing I accomplished last time.)

3. The vintage industrial storage cabinet we use for spice storage.

4. The collection of blue and white on top of the pantry cabinets in the eating nook.

So here I go - with an adjusted perspective - just hoping to accomplish enough on the list above to make the kitchen feel fresshhh, bright white and maybe a touch updated!

If you would like to see my previous ORC's then please look here!
(Scroll to the bottom of the post for links.)

If you want to know more about the One Room Challenge or to see what everyone else is accomplishing along the way then be sure to follow along here.