The heart of our home would definitely be the kitchen....the most used room in the house. From the time I push the brew button on the coffeemaker early in the morning 'till I turn the lights on above the stove at the close of the day, I am in and out of the kitchen many times in a day. Like the farm house where I lived the longest growing up, you walk right into the kitchen from the entry in this house. These old craftsman houses almost always positioned the kitchen at the back of the home, apart from the other living spaces.

The kitchen had not been updated for quite a few years when we moved into this house. My mother in law, who lived here for over 30 years before me, had been a fan of kitchen carpeting...partly because she thought the old floors were too uneven to work with a hard surface flooring...and she thought it kept the room "warmer." This is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in:

The kitchen is open to the informal dining area...or eating "nook" as my husband calls it. This is the "before" shot of this area:

Shortly after moving in, we got to work, tearing up the dated kitchen carpet, removing the yellow formica on the countertops, and replacing the faulty stove. The existing refrigerator and dishwasher still worked so we decided to leave them for the time being. We also removed the trash compactor which was outdated and didn't work anyway. Our budget was limited, but we repainted the kitchen and eating area, replaced the counter top, installed a tile floor, and purchased a new stove and hood. All the cabinets were scrubbed and cleaned, along with some touch up stain. I know the popular thing to do these days is to paint the cabinets white, but we had so many projects to do and limited time, so we left them as they were. Besides, my husband loves the look of wood!

I added these curtains so I could store things used for entertaining under the eating bar...

The curtain area past the sink is where the trash compactor was...we keep our waste basket behind the curtain now.

In the informal eating area, we also replaced the dated light fixture, removed the window shades and curtains, and replaced them with white wood blinds.

The light fixture came from Seattle Lighting and the frames for the photo wall are from Target...

I put the blue Bing and Grondahl and Royal Copenhagen Christmas plates up in the same place my mother in law had them.

Wooden shelves and brackets came from Lowes. We added trim and  painted them white... — Wooden shelves and brackets came from Lowes. We added trim and painted them white...

One of my favorite things...this beautiful needlework called "hardanger" done by my Aunt Essie.

There you have it...our current kitchen. There are still things I would love to do...like replace the backsplash tile in the kitchen, replace the white refrigerator and dishwasher with stainless, remove florescent lighting in the kitchen, possibly paint the cabinets, and have husband build me a new dining table with benches...but those things will have to wait. Our kitchen and eating area are warm and bright and very functional so that is what matters. As I work in our kitchen, I remember helping my mother and sister in law with preparations and clean up of many family meals over the years and sitting at the table in the "nook" drinking English tea. I'm thankful for these good memories and strive to create our own warm memories here.