Our coastal farmhouse kitchen

 

 

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Two years ago, when we lived in a very traditional, very un-farmhouse-y type of house, I would have never thought I would be typing the words “our” and “coastal farmhouse kitchen” in the same sentence.  Just a couple of years before we sold our old house, we had installed brand new granite countertops, a new backsplash (subway tile with glass tile accents), and new stainless steel appliances.  Put together, all three would look completely out of place in our new kitchen.

Not gonna lie, I miss that old kitchen sometimes.  Especially the double ovens.  They were nice.  The granite wasn’t half bad either.

But, the potential, and the challenge, of this new old kitchen is kinda exciting.  With this house- built in 1895, farmhouse style with some victorian undertones (is that a real thing?  I might be making that up), it would feel weird to use the same finishes that I used in the other house.  While I don’t believe that you have to completely bow to the style of your house (you really should do what makes you happy), I’m going to respect it.  This house has actual skinny shiplap in it.  What’s that stuff called?

Huh. Well, according to Google, Joanna (you know who I mean) calls it “skinnylap”.  I thought it had an official name.  Anyway.  It’s in the main hallway and in two bedrooms.  Not in the kitchen, but you get my drift.  It’s an old country house.

Back to the kitchen.  When we bought it, it was decorated in a true farmhouse style:

 

This is the view from the eating area.

 

Lots of big plans for this room, but mostly stuff that will come with time.  We’ll live with the the big elements (floors, countertops, and appliances) for awhile, because they’re in great shape.  And, you know, $$

However….I am a big believer in doing things in phases.  Do what you can with small changes to make the room livable for you until you can tackle to big stuff.  There was no way that I was going to live with this room like it was until we could everything we want to do- that might be years!  So, I did what I could with paint, fixtures, tile, elbow grease, and furnishings of course.

Here’s what we’ve done so far:

 

 

I don’t know why, but I just can’t stand to have a huge long bank of upper cabinets.  I feel like it closes off the room.  So one of the first things I did was take the doors off of those uppers and repaint.  I did the uppers an off white and the lowers in Mystic Sea by Valspar.  Eventually, all of the uppers will be entirely removed, but I have to rework the lowers so that the storage is more efficient first.

I also tiled the backsplash with subway tile (simple and timeless, plus inexpensive!) then carried it up over the tops of the cabinets all the way up to the ceilings.  Tiling a backsplash is such an easy and inexpensive way to make a huge visual impact.

That chandelier came from Wayfair.  We love the beach, and while I didn’t want the room to scream “beach house!!!!!!”  I did want a few touches here and there, and I love the coastal farmhouse look it gives the space.  It is huge, but the ceiling in this space is high- 12 feet-and I wanted something with a big visual impact.

 

 

 

Notice the different cabinet pulls?  I bought the milk glass drawer pulls online and got enough of them, but I found the pink and the aqua ones from Miss Mustard Seed’s online shop.  There were only 8 of each, but I really liked them all, so I just mixed them together.  Then, I used a few that I had from Hobby Lobby.

 

 

 

 

My boys have brought me these treasures on the window.  They keep bringing them and I keep lining them up 🙂

 

 

This is the mudroom view from the kitchen.

And, our little eating area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The hutch I inherited from my grandparents.  Some of my relatives on my dad’s side were furniture makers, and this piece was made by them.

 

What do you think of our kitchen?  We still have lots of work to do, but I think we’ve made a good start 🙂

 

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