Welcome to the Kitchen – Before and After

The Heart of the Home

Welcome to the kitchen! Grab a cup of coffee and pull up a stool as I show you around this newly renovated space. We have all heard it said, the kitchen is the heart of the home and I believe this to be true. The kitchen is a multi-purpose room where people congregate for a myriad of activities. First and foremost, it’s the central gathering place to prepare and share meals with friends and family. But if you think about it, we not only share meals…we share laughter and stories (sometimes tears) which ultimately create memories. Daily discussions are initiated in the kitchen. Conversations about our day, mixed in with dreams about our future as well as time spent reminiscing about our past are all shared in the kitchen.

Hospitality

According to dictionary.com, hospitality is the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers. It is the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way. The “heart of our home” is the perfect place to strengthen our current relationships and create new relationships by sharing hospitality with friends, family, and strangers. While I clearly appreciate a home that is beautifully decorated, I have learned there’s beauty in imperfection. Spoiler alert…my home is rarely spic-n-span perfect. There are usually crumbs on the counter and dishes in the sink. Let’s face it, we should be “living” in our homes rather than treating each space like an exhibit at a museum. Along those same lines, there is a distinct difference between entertaining and hosting. According to Annie May Lewis, Still Living By Faith, she writes the following:

Entertaining says, “I want to impress you with my beautiful home, my clever decorating and my gourmet cooking.” Hospitality says, “This is not mine. It is a gift from God, and I’ll use it as he desires.”

Epicenter

The kitchen is truly the epicenter of the home. In addition to the obvious, it’s the perfect hub for completing homework, paying bills, creating to-do lists, and occasionally administering first aid. The kitchen can sometimes be a revolving door where we pass family members coming and going. However, it is also a space with minimal distractions; a space that evokes a magnetic attraction where we are drawn to engage with and do life with those we love.

Budget Friendly

With so many activities taking place in the kitchen, we certainly want the “heart of our home” to be welcoming and inviting. The question is, how do we do this on a budget? Trust me, it can be done! I will be posting all the details later regarding how I turned my current kitchen into a light and bright – beautiful place to gather and practice hospitality. For now, I hope you enjoy the before and after photos. It’s amazing to see the difference side by side.

When renovating any room, paint can make such a huge impact. I just love how the white paint updated the space and made the kitchen look lighter, brighter, and more spacious. I’ll  post paint colors and how I achieved the “look” of shiplap in my next post.

Stay tuned! I will share the “sensory details” I utilized when designing this kitchen. I hope my budget friendly tips and tricks will be helpful if you are planning any kitchen updates in the near future. Until next time…

Truly,