Decisions, decisions….

Welcome to week three of the One Room Challenge  - my Recipe for Renewal Kitchen Refresh.  If you missed the first two weeks, you can catch up here:

ORC Kitchen Refresh Week 1 - the before

ORC Kitchen Refresh Week 2 - the hood saga

While the PITA painting portion of this project is coming along…almost ready to put the baking and storage side of the kitchen back together, YAY, so I can tackle the other side (less YAY 😂 - I am not an enthusiastic painter), there are more decisions to make about the pretty stuff.

The other side of the kitchen is the ‘working’ side with all the appliances and the sink (?!), so it’ll be a steady diet of takeout and microwave meals for a few days once the painting is actually underway.

It always gets worse before it gets better.  Here is the ugly…the space for the hood has just been unearthed and it is quite the look?! 

That navy wallpaper is the ditzy floral that I put in a zillion years ago (you can read about the less-than-stellar decision process that led to that here), the faux tile was from my teapot-themed era, and the greasy patch of gold-veined white formica is the original ugly backsplash from when we bought the house.

And I need to patch that old outlet hole and skim coat the wall and prime because tile will need to go there.

Speaking of microwaves…Karen is in purgatory in the garage - meet Glinda…the new retro countertop microwave.  She looks like a toy and every time I use it, it feels like a throwback to the EZBake oven of my childhood (though THAT was aqua!)  I adore Glinda, at least she’s been wonderful for the 24 hrs she’s been in service so far!

I’m not entirely sure this whole thing is going to happen for the deadline…and I’m away for 2 weeks in the middle of this?! I’m hoping at least the new hood arrives soon so it can go to the painter while I’m gone.

In addition to a lot more prep and painting, I need to:

• Finalize a cabinet hardware choice

• Select a wallpaper for the back of some open shelves

• Select the backsplash tile

• Pick up the cabinet doors from the painter (next week!!! Wahoo!)

• Select a glass or mirror insert for the glass door cabinets

• Select fabric for the window treatment

• Decide if I’m changing my chandelier or not…probably not

• Sand and repaint the table…I probably need to outsource this activity as well

• Get the handyman back to install the cabinet doors, new lazy susan insert, and new cabinet hardware.

• Cajole the electrician into coming back to install the line I need for the new stove (order said stove once I know it can be installed!)

• Get the contractor back to install backsplash tile and install the hood, and possibly new wall shelves if I get it together to get those

• Get the valance made and installed

• Put everything back together, style and photograph.

So the thing that will drive most of the rest of my decisions that involve colors will be the wallpaper accents and the window fabric.

Here are the wallpapers under consideration:

I’m leaning toward the more colorful one - I’m already planning to accent with gold hardware and detailing, and having some of my favorite blues and greens to work with for countertop and furniture accents would be ideal. AND it has birds and flowers, two of my favorite things to view from my kitchen, so it seems fitting!

While I love the antique mirror tile one, the repeat is 20” and the space it is going in won’t line up nicely with with the repeat for this application - I’m just going to have to do another room where I can use this! Any clients out there up for a ceiling with this fabulous paper??

And the black and white botanical is a safe choice, and pretty, so that’s a viable option as well.

Overall I feel like a more organic pattern for the wallpaper would be the right choice.

The fabric for the mock Roman shade valance for over the bay window will depend somewhat on the wallpaper.

Here are the fabric options

The colorful wallpaper has a matching fabric, so that’s a possibility, and I love this pattern - or any of the stripes would work with that paper too.

The stripes (one is embroidered the other is a classic ticking stripe) or the diamond-ish leaf print would all work with black and white botanical wallpaper as they are more geometric and different in scale.

The fabric selection will dictate the tailoring and trim on the shade. There is this adorable scalloped felt trim which comes in a blue or a green that might work (and also in black). And I came across this sort of branchy black tassel trim that could be interesting…or just weird - unsure.

The first wallpaper sample just arrived this afternoon and it is even prettier in person!

What do you think??

Also, I MAY have found a way to introduce some of my beloved scallops into my design in spite of the hood debacle…stay tuned!

You can see what all the other One Room Challenge participants have been up to this week HERE