I have a tiny.....kitchen.

Really, it's gotta be the smallest non- apartment kitchen I have ever seen. The kitchen space itself is 9 ft long and 8 ft wide...so when you take out the space for the cabinets the kitchen is 9 ft long and 4 ft wide. We have a large walk in pantry that is another 4 ft by 6 -but it's in the hallway to the basement and so not really IN the kitchen, although that pantry makes it possible for us to use the kitchen space.
When we decided on the house, it was due to its location and view. Certainly not the 1970's tri colored (sticky) shag carpet, the fake wood cabinets, the smokey mirrored shelves in the dining room or the fake brick fake fireplace in the living room. It also wasn't the bathrooms that are both smaller than 4x6 ft, the bedrooms that are 8x10 ft or the hobbit sized kitchen. No, it was because this....

is my backyard.

In order to get that though...we got this....

and something like this...

now, these are not MY kitchen. I wasn't into blogging when we moved here and I was pregnant, had just survived a horrible roll over crash AND was fighting cancer. I didn't take many "before" pictures. These are to show what my kitchen looked like-although my appliances were avocado and biscuit- not mustard colored- the similarity is frightening!

Now, this bad boy IS my kitchen...after I painted the cabinets white. Look at the beautiful carpet. The fantastic white PAISLEY counter tops. The whole 4 FEET of counter space available! I mean, how could you pass up a kitchen like this? The microwave large enough to cook a Turkey and the fluorescent light fixture just takes my breath away to this day...

The first thing we did after I painted was to rip up the sticky carpet. We laid down vinyl tiles. I know, vinyl.  BUT that was 7 years ago and they are still fantastic. I love them. We bought Armstrong tiles and they are one of the changes we made that I have NEVER second guessed.

We pulled up the 2 ft counter by the stove and installed a butcher block top on that, then installed a small 12 inch cabinet we got off craigslist with a butcher block top on the other side of the stove. With a small child having a kitchen that ended with a hot stove didn't make a lot of sense.  

Then we decided to use what used to be an eat in kitchen area ( and we used as a walkway) as an extension of the kitchen. We built a bar height table with a butcher block top we got out of a home remodel a friend did. My husband also built the header that now seperates the area from the dining room.

We bought new appliances. A smaller white microwave, a new stove and dishwasher. All white to go with the cabinets and counter tops.

And we put bead board on the back splash area and the soffit.

The bar area became the computer area. We found an old maple cubby in a barn sale and after cleaning it (many many times) it's perfect for our day to day stuff .

It's not done by any means. I need to do a back splash on the stove side of the kitchen. One day I want to blow out a door and make the room bigger. I want new cabinets.... BUT, instead of being a tiny eyesore, it's just tiny. And, I do want to say it works. I cook in this kitchen every day- 3 meals from scratch. I have cooked every holiday dinner for the entire family every year we've been here. I've had many dinner parties. It might be small, but it works.

And the carpet is gone.

You've come a long way baby....

Installment one of an ongoing series!

We moved into Casa De Ranchero 6  1/2 years ago. It was a rundown, ramshackle rancher on an odd piece of property overlooking a swamp. It was in our price range, in an area we wanted and close to my parents and due to my cancer and the impending birth of the little farmer that was something we wanted. 

Inside you can tell no one had lived in it for over 3 years- or cared about it for over 15. The tri color shag carpet in the dining room was sticky, there was no furnace (and it gets mighty cold up here in the woods!) , no landscaping, plastic trim and fake wood doors and no light fixtures. It did have a finished (1970's) basement and three bedrooms, and the teeny tiniest kitchen I had ever seen. If we knew what we were up against, I doubt we would have done this again, but that boat has passed now and we are knee deep in this project.

First, we had to paint the house. The siding was in bad shape and needed to be worked on. I chose a dark green for the house to make it blend more into the environment and stand out amongst the white houses in the area.  I like the size of the weed in this photo a lot!

Then I painted all the horrid dark brown cabinets in the kitchen white. Sorry I have no brown cabinet photos- 6 years ago I didn't have a digital camera(!)-We removed the carpet from the kitchen floor and the upper solid cabinet doors and we made this-

We added another cabinet on the side of the stove, beadboard, butcher block counter tops on the one side, I got a new white fridge, dishwasher and stove. We also put in a new vinyl floor. I took down the country not so cute wallpaper and painted.

This ends installment one of the ongoing reno saga of case de ranchero....

series 2- outside!

a working kitchen

with all the cabinets and counterspace I want. It's not too much to ask for- is it?

Transitional kitchens....

I like white, transitional style kitchens.  With or without open shelving. I prefer white cabinets and butcherblock countertops, farmhouse sinks and white appliances. I am NOT a fan of granite counters and stainless.  

I also like kitchens to look like kitchens, so a lot of modern kitchens that are mostly bare with solid cabinets leave me cold.  And I like to see kitchen stuff OUT. Not all hidden behind doors and "garages" and in closets. Show off your stuff people!

Here are a few I like....

A few kitchens

A fantastic beachy cottage

Fantastic and open with great marble and wood counters. I especially love the blue shade with silver lining.

More open shelving and subway tile. Although I am concerned this look will date a house quickly to some people, I think it's far more timeless than the river of granite and the stainless steel that is showing up in far too many homes these days.

Kitchen inspiration.

This pic has been posted everywhere-I love the open shelves and the farmhouse sink.  I of course, would have a modern table and light fixture instead of the more traditional ones pictured here.