the kitchen renovation: progress report

Guys, I have a new kitchen. And I'm thrilled. It's not quite done - the windows are sitting in the boot of my car (do you not keep your windows in YOUR boot?!) and there is a whole lot of newly plastered walls screaming out to be painted, there is no rangehood yet - or even wall to put the rangehood on - and my fridge is still hanging out on the wrong side of the room. BUT. I have a dishwasher, and sink with running water, lights complete with a dimmer installed, a cooktop that is magically fast and so much better than I thought it'd be (I just went with the look of it, but it turns out the function of an induction cooktop is pretty tops too) and handles (opening the cabinets and drawers without handles became quite the competitive sport) and a beautiful slab of Quantum Quartz on my three-metre island bench. I love how it's coming together - want a peek? Just ignore the chicken breast waiting to be chopped and the general crap that is hanging around - I just took some snaps while I actually thought about it.

I painted the island the other day (British Paints Rhino Grey) and it's made a huge difference to the space and really tied in the black cast iron hardware and matte black lights to the grey flecks of the benchtop. I really need some stools, but the kids are not going to let the absence of higher seats stop them from sitting at the island - they just kneel on the chairs! 

 I'm still undecided about the colour of the cabinet doors and whether I need to paint them or not. I'm leaning towards not as they don't bug me constantly and it's only certain light that it looks pink - I'll wait till it's completely done before working that one out! In these close-up shots, they look totally fine!

 I really love the knobs. They're from Restoration Online and for just $4.50 each, they're heavy cast iron and great quality and I am so glad the Ikea handles I was going to get were not in stock and I was forced to search elsewhere.

The lights from Wayfair are another fave. And because our house is so open to the street (we have a big window which will eventually be replaced with a whole wall of glass doors and windows), we knew we'd be in a bit of a fishbowl so installed a dimmer switch on the lights just to tone down the "HELLO HERE WE ARE"ness of the space. Yes we could close the blinds earlier, but we much prefer the open feel and the kids are always outside until the last possible second before bedtime anyway! We centred them over the island and one is pretty much smack over the centre of the sink, which I was worried would look weird, but all is good. I love the slight industrial feel, matte black coating and especially the chain over the electrical cable. 

One day the view from this angle should be really nice - white subway tile splashback, two windows flanking a rangehood, some timber shelves and nice stools.... One day!

And now.... painting! Whoo hoo. I have lots to paint - including the bathroom still. Might make the undercoat a Wednesday job when there are no children in the house to "help" me! The walls, doors, ceilings and architraves will be Dulux Lexicon quarter strength like the rest of the house, but I'm planning to do one wall Dulux Domino (the same black I used in my old bedroom). And slap a nice big gallery wall above my Parker sideboard that is currently home to some of my clothes in our bedroom. I'll show you some inspiration for that tomorrow. And in other exciting news, the kids are in their proper rooms (Zak has his own room and the girls are sharing) and we're feeling much less cramped and - dare I say it - slightly more organised for the first time in months! Such a foreign feeling! Now if I can just sort out some clothing storage (no rooms have wardrobes and we no longer have a linen cupboard either. Eek) I'll be even happier!