Wanna see what our kitchen looks like so far? Take a peek at our kitchen decor and how we decorated our kitchen on a budget!
In this episode of “Operation Finish Our Home” we’re focusing on the kitchen – an area we frequently use and spend time in. We’re hoping to have our home at least mostly organized and finished by the end of this year so that I can stop staring at brown boxes that have not been unpacked yet and so we can finally fully feel settled. Blame it on our insanely busy schedule during the week and weekend or just pure fatigue, but every time I’ve started unpacking and organizing, I stop and do something else. Not this year though!
We revealed our kitchen not too long after we moved, but I ended up deleting the post and the pictures because something about it still didn’t feel done. Yes, it was one of the most updated areas of our house, but it was also one of the areas that I felt needed more personalization. It needed a little “something something” as I often say causing Han to shake his head because he knows that usually means we’re heading to the store to grab something or that I am planning to search the internet for items.
I think more than anything, I wanted to take my time with our house because furniture is expensive, but also because I wanted to be intentional in getting things we liked or that fit our home. I have made so many mistakes in the past, buying things just because they were cute without thinking of whether or not I actually had a place for it, and I wasted a lot of money in the end as a result. While it was important for us to get nice items, we also wanted to get items that were budget-friendly since neither of us has hit the lottery yet. As a result, it has taken us over a year to furnish.
Our kitchen is still pretty simple in terms of decor and I am sure there are things we will add to it as time goes on, but I feel we’re at a place where the kitchen feels a little less cold than it once did. I walk into it and I see more of a home that’s lived in than before. Here are some little decorative additions we made to make it feel a little more us so far.
How We Decorated Our Kitchen on a Budget
WALLS
One thing I knew I wanted in the kitchen after we nixed the idea of a bold runner was a small gallery wall. I wanted something that would provide a pop of color with different hues, typography and art prints to enhance the space a little. However, it was also the part of our kitchen that I was nervous about since I had never done a gallery wall before. I didn’t want to get rid of the wooden canvas we purchased since I thought the wood frame warmed up our space a bit, but I wasn’t sure how it would look to have these artistic prints next to a more rustic-inspired piece. How do you make sure the prints work well together without looking cheesy? How do you create a gallery wall that looks classic and not cluttered?
I am not sure if I achieved a gallery wall worthy of Architectural Design magazine, but I feel pretty content with what we have so far. I wanted a wall with fun prints that weren’t exactly uniform. Just little references to food, brunch, and coffee to give one of the largest walls in the kitchen a little love. I’m also convinced that eventually, we will be adding more to this wall as time goes on.
The Prints
FRENCH BREAKFAST PRINT
One of our favorite places to grab brunch is a French restaurant. There’s nothing like grabbing a cup of coffee and a delicious croissant after church or after a day of activities. I thought this print was a cute nod to our many French-inspired breakfasts while sitting in bistro chairs outside of our favorite cafes in the summer. Just a heads up, this print is 11×14 so you may have to custom order a frame if you don’t already have one that size.
PHILADELPHIA MAP WATERCOLOR PRINT
As a Philadelphian, born and raised, I love prints with Philly references on them. I was particularly drawn to this map because of its pastel colors and its references to food and sights that you can find in Philly.
CITRUS PRINT
To fit our kitchen theme, I grabbed a lemon print and an orange print to add a little more color to our space in a nuanced way. I didn’t want it to be too bold with color, so I felt allowing most of the color to be in the prints would keep it from being too colorful, which wouldn’t be our personality. The background coupled with the colors of the fruit itself adds a nice pop of color in a way that we could not accomplish with our rug.
CHINOISERIE JAR PRINTS
I actually made this print myself by using a vector I purchased from Etsy, changed the background to the colors I desired and printed it on photo paper. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I knew what I was hoping to go for. While I cannot offer you this particular print since the vector is not my own creation, I can share with you some similar chinoiserie jar prints in different colors at the end of this post!
LET’S GET COFFEE
This was another print that I made myself because I wanted a particular phrase in particular colors. I wanted something pink as a pop of color with pink script because I felt it would ultimately look the best paired with the other prints I was planning to cluster it with. It’s simple, a little preppy, but more importantly, I think it looks great in the frame and with the other prints.
FAMILY NAME IN A CREST
I purchased the oval-shaped frame before I brought a print for it because I know how hard it is to find oval-shaped frames. I was surprised to find them where I found them, honestly. After toying with a few different prints, I eventually decided to use this design that I made. If the crest looks familiar that’s because it’s actually our logo! Around the same time I made our logo, I made a crest just for fun with our last name in the middle. Super cheesy, but I like the way it turned out.
THE SHIP PRINT
This print was supposed to go in our bedroom, but I really liked it downstairs instead. While it’s not necessarily food-related, it reminds me of going sailing in Newport and smelling the fresh scents of cooked seafood as we left the wharf. Very random, I know, but it’s sort of food-ish. I also just like it better with the assorted colors around it.
NEW CURTAINS:
I was back and forth about the curtains the most since I wanted something neutral. Yes with curtains, like with sheets, you can have multiple designs because you’ll need to switch them out to wash them, but I wanted something I knew that I’d be able to keep for a long time. We also wanted something that would both match the rug on the kitchen floor and the colors in the kitchen.
So, I purchased these ones in this pretty, blue color. I was originally going to go with something a little more earthy in tone, but I felt the blue brought out the blue tint in the walls. I also felt this matched the best with the curtains we were hoping to buy in the living room.
I’m not going to lie, I was a bit disappointed with the sheerness of it, but I like the way it looks right now as it allows more light into the part of the home where we want the most light.
SURFACES
JARS
GOLD SCALLOPED JAR
I actually had this one on my desk at work and has followed me to two different places of employment, but ended up bringing it home. It was my desk with nothing in it, so it was essentially just taking up space at that point. I decided that this jar would be a cool way of holding some mints, so that’s what we ended up using it for. Speaking of, I need to get more dinner mints. 😉
CHINOISERIE JARS
Right now, both of these jars are there primarily for decorative purposes. I love the way it adds something interesting to our countertops and it feels good knowing I managed to score them for really reasonable prices. As you can tell from the photographs, I moved them around a lot before finally settling on keeping them separated.
SOAP DISPENSERS
I was originally planning to replace the ones we have with some different ones, but I ended up keeping them for now until.
DISH TOWELS
I’m not sure if I mentioned this in a previous post, but something I like to do is change out our dish towels for the season. While there are dish towels we use for the function of drying dishes (that aren’t pictured), there are around eight decorative towels that are only put out for decoration. My mom decorates the windows for every holiday, so perhaps this is my way of acknowledging holidays too.
The ones on display now are the ones I usually have placed out for. the spring and summer. Eventually, I’ll get some Easter-themed ones, but I love these towels because they bring out the blue in the decorative items around the kitchen. The Newport towel I think I like the most because it’s one that we grabbed as a souvenir from our trip. It reminds me of the relaxing visit we had to Newport.
FLOOR PLANT:
Our kitchen has a lot of surfaces, but most of that surface is the kitchen island. Since we have so many cabinets, I decided to focus our attention on plants on the floor by picking this pretty, faux floor plant for our home. I was hoping to pay a little bit less for this plant, but I realized in my search that when it comes to faux floor plants especially, you are paying for the quality. There were some that were relatively inexpensive, but were very poorly made and looked too fake. This one is clearly not real, but it looks nice and has some details such as in the branches, that a real plant would have.
Eventually, I’d like to get some real ones to increase the flow of oxygen in the house, but we’re waiting to see how Kimi does with this one. I will admit, though – I love having something evergreen that we don’t have to worry about going bad.
Overall, we wanted a space that helped to add a bit more color to it. We wanted little pops of color, blues, and golds without it feeling so grey. While there’s still some work to be done, I think we’re pleased with how it turned out so far. One of the pluses has been that all of the decorative items we’ve purchased are reasonably priced!
P.S – Stay tuned for another post sharing about what other ideas we have for the kitchen and what we almost purchased, but did not.
