One Room Challenge: Week One!

Okay,  I will be honest up front. It's not easy for me to show my house, never mind where it's really dated. ;-) But to participate as a link-up to the One Room Challenge that Calling it Home hosts?  Well, I'm gonna just get right over it!  It's just too fun to let pass by, and, let's face it, there's nothing like a deadline to get something done.

So, I give you my very tired kitchen (unstyled and real life), which will be the room I will be redoing during this 6 week challenge...

My small kitchen has two areas -- the eat in, above, and the cooking, below...

Don't you love how I left out the cleaning stuff?  Well, this is me, people.  No airs.  The light was good, so I took the picture ;-)  Don't get distracted by the red trash can.  I know you want one.

Now, here's the story.  We moved into this house over 7 years ago, knowing that the kitchen was inadequate for the house and we would have to expand it some day.  I hung the mirrors and the print on the empty dining wall because I had nothing else, and they were what was left over after everything else from our old house went up.  I made valances with fabric I already had.  I kept saying everything was temporary.  They are still there 7 1/2 years later.  Life is vast.  Budgets are small.  Time Flies.

Enter the ORC Link Up.  

I'm on a mission to update my kitchen, with a goal of making major impact without a major budget.  All the big ticket pieces will stay, because this is meant to be a "spruce up" to get us a few more years before a total overhaul.

I'm going for:   New Paint Color
                        Affordable Backsplash
                        A Better Looking Dining Area without new furniture
                        Texture, Personality, and lots of  #6WilsonStyle (my fave instagram tag)
                        A New Window Treatment, maybe a roman.
                        A Cozy, Homey, Inviting place to drink my excessive amounts of coffee ;-)
                        A Surprise Element I can't wait to share (of course, I hope it goes as planned!)

Where will she start with that, you ask?

Well, about a month ago, I scored these two signed watercolors at 70% off, and when I saw them, the heavens opened, the angels sang, and I finally had a vision for my kitchen.  It struck like lightening.  Originally, I was going to do my powder room for the ORC, but this artwork changed the game.

It has the earthiness I was longing for, clean lines, and botanicals (which I adore).  I immediately saw a plan for the entire space starting to take form right there as I stood contemplating them in the clearance room of a small shop.

I'm not going to say much more (okay, because the plan is really still forming ;-) but I will add that when I was putting these stones in an orchid my girls gave me, inspiration struck again, and so I put the little stones in a bottle, to act as my guide...

And now, I say to you, "Wish me luck."  I will need it, to accomplish this in 6 weeks!  I hope you will come along for my ride.

So say goodbye...

                        

And thanks so much for visiting!  Check out all the other Linking Participants here for great inspiration.  See you next week for the Week Two update.