kitchen decisions

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How gorgeous is that kitchen? I have discovered that I am obsessed with globe pendant lights. I adore them. Just doing a quick Google image search for them has me dreaming new glorious dreams of our future kitchen, with our little island topped with the magical orbs.

Kitchen decisions are often the most difficult, and the most impactful, when imagining the final vision for a new house. The kitchen is where so many important things happen. Namely, the eating of food and the sharing of food. These things are sacred and the space in which they occur is crucial to establishing the central ambiance of the home. 

This past weekend we moved mountains. We went to visit our siblings in California, and their home happens to be full of white cabinetry and grey walls - and my husband finally received that eureka moment when he realized that my pleadings for a white kitchen might actually be brilliant. He just needed to see it in-person to be able to really imagine our kitchen that way. Thus, the mountains were moved. He's on board, and I couldn't be more ecstatic about it!

Our kitchen progress has been slow but sure. All of the tile has been ripped out, we're in the process of purchasing brand new countertops, and our new black granite sink (yay!) is waiting patiently in our garage to be installed along with the countertops. Our entire kitchen and living room is painted a beautiful light grey (with that fantastic blue pantry accent wall), but going that extra mile and picturing this dull kitchen brightened up by white cupboards and some cabinet hardware lights up my life.

I know that people are really strange about painting wooden things of any sort. Everyone cringes at the thought of painting over wood as if it's inherently priceless or holy. I am quite blasphemous in this regard. I wanna paint it all. These cupboards are not particularly beautiful to me. While they're in relatively good shape, they are mediocre color-wise and very plain...I think this space would be enhanced greatly by painting them. I don't think white can ever really go out of style, although I do understand that it's all a matter of personal taste and opinion. It might be a risk, but it's one that I'm more than willing to take. Our first home is bound to have some decisions we end up regretting or redoing later on, but I think that's part of the fun and the freedom. I'm ready to experiment, take on big projects, dream a little, and delight in this new space that's all our own.

More inspiration: 

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our color story

valspar paint colors: new penny / woodlawn colonial / midnight bayou / sweet currant
shop: peacock pillow / lantern / marquee / starburst mirror

One of my favorite blog posts that I came across this summer was over at A Beautiful Mess, and it was about choosing a color story for your home. While you may feel a little bit hippy saying "my color story" out loud, I've always found that feeling a little bit hippy at times can be good for the soul. And for the humor. Besides that, creating a color story really has been a fantastic way for us to plan ahead and dream about our home together. 

My husband and I have vastly different decorating styles. I'm not sure he really has a style, per se, but he likes anything that's of good quality - which to him generally means it's made out of dark wood. I feel a manic desire to paint anything that's wood, so we're already starting off on a rocky ledge of conflict. That's where the color story comes in! This summer we spent a day date browsing the paint aisle at Lowe's and choosing our favorite colors. We then put them all together, narrowing them down until we had a handful of colors that we felt represented our vision.

Now, when we're shopping or painting or trying to make various choices for our home, we have this color story in the back of our minds. It's not to limit ourselves, but to focus our decision-making and design. As far as decorating goes, I like to color outside the lines. Having a color story that we were both involved in creating helps me to recognize and appreciate Dusty's input and to bring him into the process of my mind a little bit. It also gives me a reason to say, "look at all this dark wood! Now let's bring the rest of our color story in here...by painting that table...or that chair..."

As I was putting together the little color story collage above, I was realizing how incredibly different it is from anything I'd have previously imagined. Figuring out the color and feel of our home has been such an innovative process. It looks pretty cozy, yeah? I can't wait to see how it all comes together!