I’ve mentioned this before, but I have always found the kitchen to be quite a decorating challenge. I’ve never wanted my kitchen to look cluttered with too many knick knacks, but I also don’t want it to look sterile and uninviting.

So, instead of being beautiful, my kitchen became a receptacle for junk that didn’t have a home. I know I’m not alone in this, so don’t try to hide behind your computer screen and act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m calling all of the Internets out on this one.

I’ll show you what I mean, if you promise not to judge me.

Here’s the wall of my kitchen that holds my refrigerator, cooktop, and most of the cabinets. It is apparently also the place where tiny R/C airplanes and all the paper in my house goes to die. I was actually warming some soup when this photo was taken, so you may not snicker because there is a pot on the stove. However, you may snicker at the ugliness of said pot.

Here you will see a smaller counter, some cabinetry, the oven, and the microwave. You’ll also meet my best friend – the coffee maker – and it’s step brother, the cappuccino maker. You can also see it’s third cousin, twice removed – the coffee grinder. The cappuccino maker and coffee grinder don’t get much use, as pre-ground Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is my one true love.

Next, you’ll see our sink and surrounding counters. Do you see the three elevated bar areas? Junk. Magnets. Just in this photo alone you can see my purse, a camera lens bag, a bowl of “crap” (we’ll get to that in a minute), and some gardening gloves – clearly, all things that belong in the kitchen.

This was the scene looking from our living room to our kitchen. Scar-y. And do you see that silver Nambe bowl there in the corner? Um, yeah. My husband and I got that as a wedding gift and he quickly adopted it as his “crap bowl.” There is just random junk in there – change, receipts, gum wrappers – random “guy” junk. Just in case you missed it the first time, let me re-emphasize that this is a Nambe bowl.

Even our pet fish, Blue, had his own little junky home. I let my then-2 year old son pick out his “castle” and rocks, and I’m pretty sure he picked out the most hideous items ever created.

So, when the Nester announced that she was going to have a Mr. Linky party showing 10 minute changes people have made to rooms around their homes, I knew that my kitchen had to be included. She’s been writing a really great series called “Ten Minutes to a Room You’ll Love,” and you should definitely check it out. So far, she’s covered master bedroom, living room, bathroom, and kitchen.

Okay, I will freely admit that my little kitchen spruce-up took more than 10 minutes. Between the shopping for goodies, finding a home for all the random junk that used to live there, and stopping every few minutes to play Hot Wheels or Wall-E with Zack, it took quite a bit longer. Everything from start to finish was completed while DH was at work, though, as most good projects usually are. 🙂

Are you ready for the “after” photos? Yay! Me, too!

Here’s my long stretch of cabinets with the cooktop. It’s still pretty sparse, but I know that DH (i.e. the cook) would seriously freak out if more of the counter space was taken up by pretty things. He had a secret freak out about this already. He thinks I didn’t know, but I could see it all over his face.

Ahhhh, there’s nothing quite as nice as a clean refrigerator.

I bought a little bronze lamp at Home Depot and added a gold tassel from Tuesday Morning. I also bought an amber apothecary jar at Tuesday Morning and filled it with Zack’s rock collection. I added a little photo of a 7-month old Zack to the little vignette, but I’m not planning on keeping it in this frame (and maybe even printing the photo in black and white). It’s just what I had laying around that wasn’t in use. I wish that I could figure out a better way to hide the wall outlet here, but putting anything directly in front of it would cut off too much prime counter space. I’ll have to think on that one (and I welcome your suggestions!).

I totally stole the mirror above the cooktop idea from Nester. I had this little mirror stored in a closet, and it matches my appliances perfectly. It doesn’t reflect anything beautiful like I know a mirror should, but I really felt like I needed something in that space and it was free. We’ll see if it lasts or if I find something else to hang there. On the other hand, I totally love my little french rooster! I thought he was a steal for $7.99 at Tuesday Morning and couldn’t pass him up.

My little coffee station saw a change as well. I put the cappuccino maker and coffee grinder in the cabinet, since they don’t see much use. That freed up some space to add my two-tiered server that I bought a few years ago at a Southern Living at Home party.

I decided that our staple bananas would look nice on the server – or better than they looked on their chintzy old banana hammock. I also thought it was a nice place for the beautiful footed coffee mugs my parents sent me for Valentine’s Day (I think they are too pretty to actually use). I also added some odd glass vessels I purchased a while back at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for 5 cents a piece (I bought 5 of them for a grand total of 25 cents!). I stuck another Tuesday Morning tassel on one of them, because I thought it dressed it up a bit.

On one of the little elevated bar areas, I added this glass jar and two finals from Hobby Lobby (all three from the 80% off section, people!). I filled the jar with some Spanish Moss and twigs that I’ve used in other parts of my home.

Next, you’ll see that the “crap” bowl has been greatly reduced! Also, the hodge podge of pictures that were on the right side of this ledge has been replaced with a new piece. I had this hurricane vase collecting dust in a cabinet, so I cleaned it off, added some more of the moss, twigs, and branches, and then added a little birdie.

That little bird was marked down to $1 at Hobby Lobby. He’s all chippy, which I’m sure is why he was on super sale, but the chippiness is what makes me love him even more! See how cute?

Even Blue got in on the action with new digs. I used another glass vase that I had on hand and added three stalks of Lucky Bamboo (I stole this idea from my mother-in-law). Blue is very happy there, and I’m even happier to have the rainbow monstrosity out of my kitchen.

I’m so excited about my new kitchen! It was a pretty, cheap, and simple update, but I think it made a world of difference. It still doesn’t look like it came out of a home decor magazine, but it’s liveable and it’s “us,” and that’s all that matters.

P.S. Don’t forget you have until Friday night to enter the big giveaway! If you win, you could even use the plates to decorate your kitchen.