I sit in front of my rented, unfinished oak kitchen, looking out from the couch with my frozen, raised left leg. The Bear show is playing on the large TV I’ve propped up on a stool and pushed to the back of the kitchen island. I stop watching, choosing instead to question this abandoned project and my mind.
About two weeks ago, I went camping for my best friend’s birthday and came back a different woman. But not for the better. The trip started out great—a carefree vacation with close friends, overlooking a beautiful body of water. We spent the day paddling, eating dinner by the fire, sitting on inner frames we were using as couches, and laughing the night away. But the next day, the birthday girl broke her phone and made matters worse by accidentally dropping it in the water, rendering it useless. At dusk and dawn, bugs descended on our campsite, literally thousands, to eat us alive. Moths. Mosquitoes. We were all more susceptible to bug bites than skin. The cherry on top was the sunburn adorning my cheek with a swimsuit line so sharp it could cut wood (you’ll soon see why). The good times quickly fade as the frustration and discomfort mount, but we do our best to present a united, positive front. And with one swift swoop, I put an immediate stop to it.
I had a deep gash on my foot from a mistimed axe blow I was using to prepare wood for the evening fire. I was bleeding profusely because the only protection I had were my Birkenstocks over bare skin. Thankfully the high-waisted strap prevented me from removing any toes, but a new gash had appeared in the negative space between them. I was rushed to the emergency room at St. Charles Hospital, 45 minutes away, and I looked down at my foot through tears as I sat on the dashboard, watching the light Kors T-shirt wrapped around my wound change color. From a dirty white to a deep tie-dyed red (soon, I’ll be making my own! All natural dyes!). After a panic attack and nine stitches… I’m basically fine.
But what does this have to do with my kitchen? And why did I only write three paragraphs about a foot injury on a design blog? Well, I write like I talk a lot. Plus, I want you to feel sorry for me. But before all that could happen, I was scheduled to come up with my kitchen design plan last week. That is, before I left on my trip, I needed to start implementing said plan, getting ideas out of my head and my Amazon cart and into the room itself. And so I did. I intended to come back last week to finish the project while Em was on vacation. But life had other plans and instead I spent that week in Bend, Oregon recovering. And now this half-finished kitchen is laughing at me and my tired feet as I try to figure out what to share with you all.
You see, my kitchen is old-fashioned, with warm-toned wood cabinets, dramatic lighting, and ornate silver drawer knobs. A remodel was inevitable, but I’m fairly new to the space and still too shy to ask for the exterior of my delicious honey oak cabinets to be painted because my design constraints are tied to a lease. But fortunately, in the words of Hansel from Zoolander (and more recently EHD), wall-to-wall wood is “all the rage right now,” so I decided to embrace it.
To me, this sounds like covering the kitchen walls with wood-printed, tenant-friendly contact paper (I may eventually replace it with real paper if I can convince myself and my landlord that the “wood-paneled” look suits him). In theory, doing this should elongate the cabinets that are obstructed by the drop ceiling and give me the ’70s look I crave anyway. Plus, Fox’s color has me dreaming of a wood-paneled space of my own since he paneled the space between his bedroom and bathroom. It made me think that maybe, just maybe, a honey glow all over wouldn’t be so bad. It might even be… cool?
So, I went and covered part of my kitchen with a nearly identical wood contact paper from Amazon – a really inexpensive way for me to try out the look. It was super easy to apply (when I had two working feet) and I could remove it 100% easily. I got most of the walls above the cabinets covered before I ran out of contact paper and time. I took it a little over the crown molding and a little bit of the cabinet wood so I could come back later with an X-acto knife and give it a trim. That “later” part hasn’t happened yet.
To really get into the monochromatic vibe, I ordered these beautiful wooden cabinet knobs from Etsy. Switching out cabinet hardware is usually the easiest, quickest, and least expensive way to give your kitchen a makeover when you don’t have the luxury of a permanent design choice like I do. For now, I’m storing the old knobs until I leave the house and stare at these wooden knobs until I get dizzy. I love them on their own, but I’m not entirely sold on their installation. The cabinet guide holes were a little uneven at first, and the curvature of them is catching my eye. The color match isn’t as close as I’d like, but I’m not sure I hate the look of them either, as they provide some dimension. I may try staining the knobs to see what happens to my staring problem. But we’ll see.
Another easy switch is lighting. As you can see here, I have not one but two ridiculous lamps. A fun, garish mantel. They just need to be gone. I can replace the fixtures with a new pair—and I may eventually—but this first round of design is all about the easier moves, like contact paper and drawer handles. I’ve been eyeing these tulip lampshades for a while and really want to try them out in my space.
It looks so cool in my model and I love the temporary placement. There’s something about the fabric and the grid pattern on the Gem pattern that really blends in with the backsplash. Plus I love how it adds a little softness to the space. I’m curious how easy it is to install, but from what I’ve seen online, it looks pretty simple! But easy and simple is only fun for a limited time, and this wouldn’t be a project for me if I didn’t choose to add something a little more complex.
My kitchen is connected to my living area, and while I love open plan design, I like to divide up different areas and their functions, and it was difficult to do that here. My home has front and back entrances with large windows, leaving little wall space on either end.
There is a weird, creepy ceiling fan above the intended dining area to the right of the kitchen. In the living area is the kitchen island, which is held up by a support beam. There is room for two high chairs at the back of the island, but with the addition of a small dining table, the area looks very cramped and blocks the way to my balcony. Also, just using high chairs would not leave me enough room to sit and I want to be able to sit in front of my friends.
When I moved into this house, I put my big couch on the wall next to the front window, and the TV along the wall to the right of it. This is just a bad Photoshop edit, but you get the idea. It’s not my favorite layout because it’s not really comfortable to have a movie night with friends that way, as you’re craning your neck to see the screen. But there’s not enough room for the couch to face it unless it becomes part of an island and inevitably impedes the flow of the room. So, I had a “project idea,” a sign that light construction was on its way. To test it out, I rearranged the living room and have been testing half of it for a while now, to see if my plan was worth pursuing.
Basically, I swapped the dining area for a sofa area, moving the sofa from the front window to the long wall opposite the kitchen island. Now the TV sits on a low stool, flush with the island. It looks so stupid and bulky, but I’m enjoying the new layout spatially and think I’ll do the “project” in the hopes that I can turn it into a cool focal point, full of purpose and excitement. It might end up looking stupid too, but I won’t know if that’s the case unless I try!
Project: I’m aiming to build a half wall (renter friendly) behind the island to serve as a TV wall. It will line up with the annoying support beam and wrap around it to form an L, stopping instead of going back along the other side of the island. I’ll obviously need to upgrade to a Frame TV and a much smaller size than my current one, especially since the sofa sits so close, so no need for a huge screen. The wall will be built in a sturdy but not permanent way. It will fit in with the rest of the new honey oak kitchen (integrated seamlessly in my mind). It will probably rise about 18 inches above the counter, and could serve as a visual divider between the kitchen and living room, but more than that it will give me extra space in my “wood wonderland.” Add a half wall and suddenly the island becomes a very deep counter space. I can store my coffee maker and cookbooks next to the new wood wall in the kitchen, leaving me with ample counter space, with unsightly wires and pages completely hidden from view on the other side.
Now, this will definitely require some power tools (and possibly supervision knowing my history), but I think I can do it after I fully heal from the foot section. I’ve ordered another roll of contact paper and plan to follow up with the rest by taking the “wood” across the entire back wall, lining up the porch doors and over and around the support beam. For now, the breast lights are still haunting me and I’m hoping the correct answer to these new draws will come to me in a dream or something. I’m excited to get the ball rolling and see what unfolds as I go along. I can’t guarantee that my ideas will be successful or that they’ll stick by the time I publish “Kitchen Reveal.” But for now, this is where my creative mind is soaking up the sun while I wait for the feeling in my feet to return and the bear from the commercial to return. Stay tuned!
sincerely,
Gretsch
