Ahh. The kitchen. I had many sleepless nights and painful headaches trying to figure out what to do with the kitchen.

Here it is before..

I went through the major dilemma of whether or not to paint the cabinets white (we have

SO

many cabinets), and I finally concluded not to do it for two reasons 1) It would be such a

big

job and probably wouldn't come out as perfect as I would like it to (we're on a budget people - as in not hiring painters) and 2)

EVERYONE

has white cabinets and as much as I love how clean and organized it looks, once they're white, there is really no going back to the original look and who knows if the white trend is here to stay.

Hmm maybe three reasons. 3) All of our appliances are black and in very good condition, and well, I just can't do the whole black appliances against white cabinets. And I certainly can't do the whole buying new appliances thing.

I also debated for awhile about a backsplash/hardware for the cabinets, but I really haven't found anything I am in love with. So for now, cabinets are staying as is. And you know what..they are growing on me.

Here was a weak attempt at our kitchen in the very beginning..

That weirdish above cabinet wall was giving me lots of trouble. I had never seen it before in another house, and I had no idea what to do with it. It always just stuck out to me. I figured if we were going to keep the wood cabinets, we should try to bring more woody warmth (yep, that's right - woody warmth) into the kitchen. So, to convince the man, as I always do, I did a quick photoshop job of what I was hoping for (at a very low cost).

Sold on it, we got to working. The grey chair we had already had in our bedroom, but never used it, and it was the perfect size for next to fridge. We went hunting for an antique table. Added a pendant light above it. We opted for stripes at the breakfast bar, but didn't go with it on the backsplash in case we ever actually do a real backsplash (I'm thinking white subway tile - original, I know). And we painted above the cabinets a much lighter color with blank wooden frames. And the best part of it all is we have a little kitchen nook, which I always wanted!

So here's the before and after.