A Look Into My Tiny Kitchen (Before and After Photos!)
Even after living in our little apartment for over a year, it never feels finished. If you’ve been keeping up with my Instagram stories you know that I just got a shipment of IKEA furniture that will be going into our office. That is, once I get around to assembling it all! While the rest of my home still has pieces that need to be filled in, one room feels pretty complete- the kitchen. It’s no wonder that this space came together the quickest for us. It’s truly the center of our home. I spend so much time cooking, baking, and blogging right from our dining room table. This is also the room that I get the most questions about on my Instagram! In this post, you’ll find a complete list of everything in our kitchen, and I mean everything! I’ve linked all the products I can so if you love something, you can have it too.
And since there’s nothing better than a good before and after story, here are some photos of our kitchen when we first saw it and our kitchen now! We’ve put a lot of time and effort into finding the pieces that feel 100% us and that also fits our needs perfectly.
My biggest advice for home decorating is this, take time to find what works the best. This probably isn’t going to be the first thing you Google search or the first furniture piece you see at the thrift store. It takes a long time to have a space feel complete, and that’s the fun of having a home to decorate! It's always changing, growing, and evolving! People always ask me, ‘how is your apartment so cute?!’ and my answer is this: We only bought pieces that we knew were going to be perfect. Easier said than done.
I have to admit, I feel like by nature I’m a maximalist. Despite what you see online, I really love when things are maybe a little…cluttered? It’s something that I’m trying to change about myself because, deep down, it’s rooted in wants vs. needs. Luckily, Chaz is the total opposite. If there’s something that’s not 100% necessary, then we don’t need it. A simple philosophy that’s changed my view on my personal consumption.
Alright, let’s get to the good stuff!
Milk Glass Pendant - West Elm // Lisabo Dining Room Table - IKEA // Dining Room Chairs - Article // Wall Art - Amber Vittoria // Gallery Frame - Custom Frame Gallery // Satsumas Plant Stand - IKEA
I spend pretty much all day sitting at this dining room table. I work from this table and I eat at this table…and that’s pretty much all I do! We wanted a really simple table for this space because it’s so small. After looking at a lot of higher priced tables, we ended up going with this option from IKEA. It’s a pretty good dupe for this one by Article. Plus, IKEA furniture is pretty durable if you take care of it!
To really make this space feel like it was ours we also added a new pendant light! This is such a simple way to update your space and it’s renter friendly. Light fixtures can be swapped pretty easily (I learned how to change a light fixture on YouTube in one afternoon!) and when you leave you can just take your fixture with you! This milk glass pendant is classic style from West Elm, I love it because the size is just right for the scale of the space.
Another constant comment is this beautiful print we have framed. We discovered Amber Vittoria on Instagram and we both love her art. She uses color in such a nice way. This is the largest size print she carries in her Society6 shop. We bought the frame separately, and let me tell you it was so hard to find the right size. We actually had this one custom made and it was pricey. My advice, find a frame that fits before ordering a print that’s an odd size!
Wooden Cabinet Knobs - Home Depot // Clash Mugs - West Elm (on sale!) // Vases and Jars - Thrifted // White Powder Coated Utensil Holder - Target // Pink Key Hook - Urban Outfitters (similar)
To maximize our counter space we try to keep them clear of clutter. We said goodbye to our Mr. Coffee coffee maker and instead use a french press that is stored in one of our cabinets. We also opted not to have a microwave simply because we have nowhere to keep it! In addition to limiting our small appliances, we also added this shelf above our sink. The cabinets have a little lip on the inside so we were able to slide a piece of plywood in perfectly to create this nice shelf for our mugs and glassware!
Another renter-friendly update that we made to our kitchen cabinets was switching out the hardware. We picked up these unfinished wooden knobs at Home Depot and they just make the cabinets feel a little bit more us! We’re still looking for solutions on how to change these grey laminate countertops so let me know if you have any ideas!
Steel & Wood Appliance Rack - Food52 // Ingefara Plant Pot - IKEA // Bittergurka Watering Can - IKEA // Tilt Head Stand Mixer in Almond Cream - Kitchen Aid // Horizon Wine Glasses - West Elm // Texas Ware Mixing Bowls - Similar // Cutting Board - Food 52 // Measuring Cups and Spoons - Sur La Table // Clay Pink Trash Can - Amazon // Denim Apron - Similar // Mini Basketball - Urban Outfitters (Sold Out)
The Instagram famous shelf! This is the one thing that I get the most questions about on my Instagram. I found this shelf on Food52 last year and immediately had to have it. Ordering it was the best decision I’ve ever made. It’s sleek and minimal, but at the same time holds so much! The hooks on the side are great for measuring cups and reusable totes. Plus, the shelf heights are adjustable which was great for us because we wanted to sneak our trash can underneath it. It also fits just perfectly into this space in our kitchen. I would buy it again and again.
Retro Kitchen Timer - Amazon // Half Moon Magnets - DIY! // Grateful card - Real Fun Wow
Refrigerators are pretty much always ugly. They're just white boxes with weird receipts and greeting cards slapped on them. A few months ago I was really overwhelmed by the piles of postcards pinned to our fridge so I took everything off of it and organized it. I wanted the fridge to feel just as much a part of our kitchen as anything else so I made these little magnets to display our favorite polaroids. Now our fridge is a little gallery that I can look at when I'm sipping my morning coffee! One day when we're able to have friends over again I'm hoping that we can add some new polaroids to the gallery! I also recently purchased this timer because I always forget to hit start on my phone timer. I love that it's magnetic!
Is this the most beautiful bar cart in the world? No. But it looks pretty beautiful with all that liquor in it! We utilize our bar cart to hold liquor on the top and some miscellaneous glassware and such on the bottom shelves. Between a wanna be photo stylish and a cocktail enthusiast we have accumulated a ton of glassware! I love this cart because it fits so perfectly into this corner. Another great tip for ordering furniture, measure the space you want your furniture to go in before you order it! You'd be surprised how different things can look in real life.
That's our current kitchen situation! I hope that you enjoyed this blog post! I can't wait to continue sharing content with you guys. If you've read this far, let me know what you want to read from me next!