Our Home: Before and After Pictures, Part II {Breakfast Room}

Finding out I was pregnant has made me even more motivated to finish decorating the downstairs of the house. There is no way I am going to have the time or energy to be running to and from the Dec Center and furniture stores in my spare time once the baby arrives. I just want it to be all done come summer so I can devote the rest of my time to decorating the nursery. So, I am finally making some new progress downstairs.

Brett was out of town for 2 weeks, and I missed him like crazy, but I made major progress in the kitchen and he was able to come home to a brand new and improved breakfast room.

Remember this post about the slipcovers I was lusting after? http://amyandbrettkummer.blogspot.com/2010/01/to-slip-cover-or-not-to-slip-cover.html

Well, I have finally {almost} completed my kitchen re-do and here are the before and after pictures.

Before: We tore down that awful wood paneling, wallpaper border, and outdated light fixture. The tile was a shiny bright white, which reminded us of a hospital, so we retiled the kitchen in a porcelain tile (color: Allison Beige). Then we painted the kitchen a soft sage green color (color: Sherwin Williams Svelte Sage). Last we put in a light fixture that was more suitable to my taste and put in 4-inch baseboards throughout.

Middle: This is how the room looked up until last week. We bought the parsons chairs at the great indoors and we just used the chair covers they came with until we could get what we wanted. (Funny that I'm saying "we"...I mean "I"...Brett would be perfectly happy with it the way it was...haha) The table was a hand-me-down from my parents. Even though I hated the pine, what I loved about it is the pretty legs that it has, and all the memories that come with it. You can actually see indentions from my handwriting when I used to do my homework at the table.

After last week: I finally got the slipcovers made. (I found the best seamstress. Let me know if you need her number, she does everything--slip covers, drapes, bedding, etc.) Then I found a lady through Memorial Antiques and Interiors (Love that shop!) to white wash the table. I love the outcome! I thought with all that white that a pop of color would be necessary, so I got the fake pears and bowl at pottery barn. (And the placemats). Last, I took pictures of birds from a book on "Birds of Hawaii" and framed them to hang in a grouping on the wall. We spent our honeymoon in Hawaii, so I thought that might be special. The rug works for now, but I would like to eventually get one custom cut to fit the space more properly. The only thing I still want to do it take out the shutters (because they totally block the view to the backyard and pool) and replace with bamboo shades and pretty curtains (still deciding on the perfect fabric for curtains).