It’s been busy, busy, busy here lately and I took an unintentional week off from blogging. In fact today’s photos were originally supposed to be for last week’s {p, h, f, r} and Theme Thursday’s: Rooms but since I didn’t take these photos until last night, it didn’t work out. haha! So instead of wallowing in my procrastination I looked on the bright side and started a fresh week instead. (Way to keep in theme, right!)

Seriously, I happened to be looking at some old photos of our kitchen before we moved in and the room is SO MUCH BRIGHTER that I thought heck, I can use the kitchen photos for this week’s theme “bright” instead. So here we go with a TT and {p, h, f, r} mash-up.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

To put these photos into context, you have to see what our kitchen looked like before we moved in. The home belonged to Brian’s grandmother but she passed away and his aunt that lived with her was moving into a retirement home because she could no longer care for herself. (She has since passed away too.)

To make a long story short, Brian and I (along with a then 4 year old Bella ) would move out of our apartment and into this home. The house was built in the 70’s and I was both elated to have a place of our own and overwhelmed by the remodeling that would need to be done.

We couldn’t afford to do everything at once so slowly we worked on it and little by little and nearly 8 years later, we’ve made our kitchen one of the bright spots of our home.

And before you start thinking, “Wow, she has such a clean kitchen!” you must understand that it took me not minutes but HOURS to wash all the dirty dishes piled in the sink, clear off all the junk and clutter of the counters, wipe off all the smears of peanut, butter, jelly and other sticky substances on the cabinets and vacuum up all the crumbs and stray legos off the floor, wipe the layers of dust and grease off the stove and oven AND start another bag of unused kitchen items overflowing from the cabinets that I will donate to charity. I started cleaning when Brian left for work in the morning and wiped off the last counter when he came home for dinner. He walked into the kitchen and said, “Whoa!” So this is my kitchen after I’ve spent all day cleaning. I would have taken photos of it a mess but that was just too stinkin depressing. Okay, carry on!

It may still seemed a little cluttered to someone who prefers a minimalist approach, but it reflects me. It’s a collage of different items that evoke happy memories or people that I love.

My favorite aspect of the room is the kitchen window that looks out to trees and mountains. I waited until the evening to take this shot because it was the first time we saw any blue sky. It is normal for our summers to be covered with a thick fog, which rolls in from the ocean to the right of us.

I think this is Brian’s favorite spot of the kitchen. His coffee station is ready to wake him up in the morning. Which reminds, me if you are a fan of Mystic Monk coffee they now make single cup coffee pods called Monk shots. (They work just like k-cups.)  Brian loves the stronger flavor so much he finished the last box and now I have to order more. 😉

I think Matthew’s favorite spot is the fruit corner where he loves to take an apple and make his own apple sauce. This would be fine except that he uses his mouth to do it and all the peelings can be found all over the house. Something like this…

But when I look for the culprit, all I find it this under the bed…

Okay, back to the kitchen. Remember this wall?

I had a hard time figuring out what to do with it.

I finally got a small metal shelf from Costco and use it to hold our microwave toaster and other larger appliances. We have finally reached a point where Matthew no longer opens up and dumps the flour on the floor (he’s too busy with his fruit) so that’s sort of a good thing I guess. Behind the door there is our family calendar and bulletin board/ command station

Finally, these pictures are the latest things I’ve added to the walls.

These two are my favorites. I looove the retro feel. I picked them up awhile back at my favorite store. (Target, for any newcomers. ;-))

I need this reminder ALL. THE. TIME. (Picked up at Hobby Lobby.)

I saw this at Staples (of all places) for 75% off. I love it because it has six birds, the size of our family, and because it matches the bird “home” decor in the family room.

Okay, I think I have subjected you to enough photos for the week so I better sign off. Thanks to Cari and LMLD for hosting!

PS – Don’t forget that next Tuesday is our Pinterest Party. Share your creativity! (Or epic fails. ;-))