Amanda new what she wanted in a kitchen and these are all of her ideas put together to make this beautiful vintage kitchen.
Amanda is our youngest daughter and the last to leave the nest.We had empty nest when she went off to college and now again as she moves in to her own house but we are so proud of her doing all this on her own.
Amanda and Patti are celebrating the closing of Amanda's new house. Patty and Amanda have been best friends since they have been very young. The house Amanda bought is very special to us all because we have all spent time there one time or another. The very special lady that lived there cooked many of meals, took care of everyone and brought so many of us together for some wonderful memories. So this post is dedicated to Pat Kowalski, a wonderful, beautiful person, that we loved dearly.
The before pictures of the house that I will show are not from when Pat owned the house but from previous owners after her. Pat was a wonderful decorator and cook! ( her daughter inherited her talent)
Amanda had decided to start in her kitchen...
The original cabinets are very nice and the hardware has a vintage look.
Every project needs a beginning and this is Amanda's...
She began by removing all the cabinet doors and all of the hardware. She took an old slow cooker and placed the hardware inside with water and 1/4 cup of borax leaving it to cook overnight. The next day she brushed off the paint with no problem.
Make sure if you do this project, use an old crock pot that will not be used to cook food in the future. (This is a small crock pot I use to melt wax for my fire starters in the fall.)
This is a close up of the hardware after she painted it in this hammered gold.
Cabinets were painted in this beautiful mint green to accent the gold hardware. Amanda wanted to display some of her vintage pieces, so she left two of the cabinets doors off and added bead board to the back (with help from her dad). The back splash is not wall paper but stencil. The peach she used brings out all the green and makes it pop. Trying to save money was a must so instead of buying new counter tops she just refurbished the tops with a coat of white paint and a epoxy top coat.
This is a before of the linoleum floors. Amanda has always wanted to do a Chevron floor so here was her big chance. Starting with a bonding primer she put two coats. Next two coats of a regular white paint then she was ready to tape off. Using painters tape Amanda taped off the design and used a gray paint to create her chevron floor.
A water base sealer was used to protect the top.( using three or four coats is a must.)
To coordinate the room further Amanda wanted to bring the gray,that she used on the floor and use it some where else in the room.So she decided painting the wall to the right would be perfect, this wall on the right extends to the dinning room letting the house flow together.
The curtain topper was made when Amanda was young. I used old hankies, sewed them together and added a white band for the curtain rod pocket. I tried to find these over the years, all this time Amanda had them packed away to use on her own house one day. Needing some where to display the collection of salt and pepper shakers, Amanda came up with the idea of a little shelf .
All the colors tie in so beautiful together.
I love the bent spoons that hold the measuring cups on the wall above the sink.
This is the first half of decorating the kitchen. The second half will be coming up in one of the next blogs. We are so happy with the way she took charge and put all these wonderful ideas together We love you the big wide world Amanda!
Amazing! <3
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