decorating the roost

Welcome to our simple farmhouse kitchen!  Of all the rooms in our new house this is probably my favorite next to our master bathroom and screened in porch.

There are so many things we deliberately did or did not do for this kitchen to not only save on costs to be able to afford the quality we wanted, but also to achieve a Shaker-inspired, “farmhouse” look for our new farmhouse on our budding homestead.

FYI–this is not how our kitchen normally looks 🙂  I’ve cleared off all the clutter so that you’d be able to see the details of everything.

The overall layout of the kitchen is a large, open, plan with no island. I wanted traffic to be uninhibited and to me, an island always makes it hard for folks to get through when there are a lot of people in the kitchen at once. Although we don’t have as much counter space without an island, we use our kitchen table for a lot of what we would be using an island for. We still have plenty of counter space for prepping, baking, and general day-to-day use.

Our cabinets are a Shaker style painted in Sherwin Williams “Sea Salt,” with a simple Shaker panel inset door. The color is a cross between a light grey, light green, and light blue and looks different in all kinds of light. I like that it is neutral but not white and adds some contrast to our white quartz countertops. The floors throughout most of the downstairs except for bedrooms are a standard oak hardwood, stained in Dark Walnut.

We chose a Kohler cast-iron farmhouse sink that I absolutely adore. It is so deep and large to hold our biggest pots and pans for washing. An oil-rubbed bronze faucet that I won in a blog giveaway works beautifully. The three windows above the sink are casements and can be opened all the way–I just love having the fresh air and being able to look out over the garden while I cook and do dishes. The dishwasher is a Bosch with a wood panel placed on it to match our cabinets. I really wanted this feature since we were going for a farmhouse kitchen instead of a stainless version.

Our builder made some open shelves for us that hold a lot of everyday dishes and serving pieces for us. We opted to do very minimal upper cabinets (only on one side) and it saved quite a bit on costs. All the cabinets on the bottom are either drawers or cabinets that open up with pull-out drawers, even the smaller ones.

The stove is a GE Cafe slide-in range with four burners and a grill in the middle that can be converted into an additional two burners if needed. The lower oven drawer also functions as a double-oven where temperature can be adjusted like a normal oven. We chose a very simple, white subway tile backsplash above the stove and our builders crafted a stove hood that matches the look of our trim and cabinetry throughout the house.

One cool little feature that my husband requested are these two appliance garages below each of our large upper cabinets that have the look of small Shaker drawers when closed. When opened, they hold all our small appliances on the counter that can remain plugged in.

We reused our refrigerator from our old house as well as our old kitchen table–except we painted the table “Sea Salt” to match the cabinets. Our builders constructed these movable benches for us that create a little banquet seat by the windows around our table and they are perfect for cleaning up after small children. Overtop of the table is a $20 pendant light fixture we bought from Lowes. The rest of the lighting in the kitchen is recessed in the ceiling. We will eventually figure out some type of artwork to hang on this wall above our table…yet another project to complete at a later time.

We use the small space entering the kitchen from the living room to hold a little table and chairs for the girls that was made for me when I was little 🙂  Above it is a Shaker-peg wall shelf that we had our builders make for us to hang things like aprons, dried herbs, etc. and display some of our collectibles.

Our kitchen is super functional for us, has plenty of storage and is an enjoyable place to be–our old one was quite dark and lacked ample counter space and storage. There are some days when I wish we had more counter space or I wish we could see into the living room with more of an open plan, but those days are few and far between. I am really loving this kitchen and since we cook from scratch a ton, it is truly the workhorse and heartbeat of our house 🙂

I apologize for being MIA lately–I’ve been both lazy and so busy that blogging is not at the top of my priority list. But I miss it just enough I’ve decided to try and finish out the room tours of our new house. Next up on my tour of our recently completed farmhouse is the guest room and guest bath. I’ll start with the guest bath:

Because we have quite a bit of company that visit us all throughout the year (lots of family and friends), we really needed a guest room that had its own bathroom. Both the girls’ room and guest room have a bathroom embedded in the greater bedroom area that is entered from the loft area on the 2nd floor.

Since it is a small bathroom, we were able to fit in our budget a classic grey and white tile pattern on the floor as well as on the shower floor. The shower is a walk-in shower with glass doors, grey and white subway tile walls and oil-rubbed bronze hardware. We added a wooden teak corner seat for seating and extra storage.

The vanity has a interesting story–we actually found it on Craigslist early on in our house building journey as a washstand and our builders converted it for use as a vanity. It already had the marble top and we selected a vessel sink with a wall-mounted, oil-rubbed bronze faucet. Most of the shelving and cabinets in the vanity are still usable and offer much-needed storage. Because a lot of the counter space on the washstand was taken up by the sink, we installed a little glass shelf above the faucet as well as some storage shelves to the right of the sink for additional storage/counter space.

The mirror is one I already had–a family heirloom. The light fixture is fun and different–I think it fits the vibe of the bathroom pretty well.

We installed hooks for towels on the walls instead of towel bars and I hung some pictures with black frames that contrast nicely with the white walls.

The guest room, on the other hand, is far from “finished.” We really have only outfitted it with the bare necessities needed right now for guests–a bed, a chair, a luggage rack. A few furniture pieces like the trunk in this room simply because we don’t have another spot for them right now.

The room has two nice big closets with shelving which has been glorious for storage and space for our guests to hang their clothes!

I have not developed much of a design scheme for this room except with what we already had on hand. Perhaps it will get updated later on down the road. I did hang family photos on the walls and above the bed are two Ale-8 One wooden crates (A Kentucky soft drink) that add some visual interest and texture to the space.

The floor throughout the upstairs is carpeted in this color, and even though it may not be the most attractive–I LOVE how it feels and I love its functionality for the girls, us, and guests. It is so comfortable, cozy, and easy to maintain–great for kids!

The view from this room is exceptional–overlooking the rear of our property and the side yard where our chickens and vegetable garden are located.

Before I leave you (hopefully for not nearly as long this time), I’d hate to not share some exciting news our family has been blessed with lately: we are expecting our third baby–a total (and shocking!) surprise. The girls are so excited to welcome a baby sister in late January. Stay tuned for future posts because you’ll never guess where we have set up the nursery 🙂