My Sad Little Kitchen

I need help.

Ideas. Inexpensive ideas. Ideas that I can carry off by myself.

This home we bought was the first home we looked at. I walked in, saw the kitchen, and said, "Absolutely not." I walked through it anyway, appreciating some of the good qualities, but I said a few times, "Absolutely not."

Then we looked at about twenty other homes; we even considered building a home, looking at lots, drawing up floor plans, investigating various materials. After exhausting those homes and ideas, we decided to come and take a look at this home. And it all came into place. This was the best neighborhood for us, best location, best school, and it was a great price. Fantastic price.

So we purchased this one.

I still don't like the kitchen. And this feeling leads me to this post. Because we aren't going to remodel soon. (Though I've already gone on the computer and printed up some floor plan remodelling ideas that will give me my dream kitchen.) Geoff keeps pushing what I thought was a one-year plan to remodel the kitchen, to five-year, then ten-year and lately to a twenty-year plan. And rightly so.

It is a money drain to buy a home. There are so many little things that need fixing or adjusting, and all those costs add up. So I am willing to be patient (however unlike me) and make do with what I've got. And I am grateful. Actually, though the kitchen is small, it is very functional as a one-cook kitchen.

But the aesthetics. I'm not into these cabinets, I don't like fluorescent lighting, and I can't stand wallpaper-borders.

Well, let me take you on a tour. Put on your thinking caps and give me some suggestions, please. (And excuse the mess-well, it's not bad really, but I didn't clear off the counter tops for the photo shoot, and I am just going to go with these pictures anyway.)

The first picture is of the oven wall. It sits on the other side of the descending stairs and faces, obviously, a window and the sink and fridge.

The wallpaper border (that my brother said to keep because it most pleasantly says, "I'm from the 90's, won't you come in?" --though my mother corrected this by saying the borders are actually 80's) is the first thing to be taken down.

Another thing I do not like is the counter tops. I wonder how much it would cost to replace them.

I am more than willing to paint the cabinets....but what color?

And the hardware will definitely need to go. I dislike brass with a passion. (Geoff, since I know you read this, take some deep breaths...I know that as you read this you are seeing my debit card being swiped, swiped, and swiped again through Home Depot's machine...it's all one thing at a time...relax...I'm just brainstorming.)

We really like rich browns, and I'm thinking, budget wise, to use the laminate counter tops that look like granite. There are so many choices in laminate, and since (crossing my fingers) we will remodel eventually, I don't want to put a whole lot of money into the higher-end materials if we are just going to take it down. But the kitchen is small; can it handle dark wood tones?

And here is the other side of the small kitchen, with the window.

The light fixtures. They fade into the background and I don't notice them so much while I'm cooking, but those are something I definitely want to do something about. There are some decent light fixtures that I saw on our last trip to the 'Po (our short for Home Depot) and those will do fine. But will probably be the last to go. Cabinets, walls, counter tops--those are the priority here.

Oh, and speaking of top priority-who on earth thought that a wood back splash would be a terrific idea? GROSS! It is a nasty danger zone behind my sink. I bleach and bleach and bleach. I purchased the caulking and gun and so badly want to pry off that back splash...but I don't know what to put up instead.

For now, while I wait for your brilliant, money-savvy ideas, I am working on that awful border.