Summer Tour: Kitchen & Dining
Welcome to the second part of my summer tour. Yesterday I showed you around our porch, entry and front yard, but today we are going to take it inside to the kitchen and dining room. I am joining several other bloggers on this tour hosted by Marty at A Stroll Through Life. If you’re stopping by from Anita’s at Whispering Pines Homestead, welcome! Isn’t her home so gorgeous? I always love how she uses jewel tones and vintage to create an artfully unique abode. You can find the full week’s line-up at the bottom of this post along with a shoppable gallery in case you’re looking for anything you see in my photos today. Alright, well, come on in to our humble home.
Kitchen
Our kitchen is one of the first spaces that people see in our home. The view above is as seen from standing in our entry. Because it’s such a focal point, I wanted to make it into something special when we renovated a couple of years ago.
Summer is all about peeling back to the basics here and keeping it simple and usable for our family of 5. There are just some small seasonal touches I’ve added. And, as you can see, Wilder added his own with the sun painting he made in school.
Our open shelving always remains functional, filled with every day useful items. In this area for the summer, I have added a couple of little plants to bring in a touch of green and nature, and a vintage print that features a sun.
That poor little neon pothos was being neglected in our family room so I brought it in here where I’d see if every day and – hopefully – not forget about its needs.
As we round the corner in the kitchen, the biggest summer touch of all scream in your face, “I scream, you scream . . .” I know you know the ending to that. Say it.
See it? It’s that vintage-looking sign. While the sign itself is not authentic, it was painted on the leaf of a vintage table. I purchased it at an antique market several years ago when I was with Emmy, who is probably the most passionate about ice cream in our family. And that’s saying a lot. (BTW you can also see how poorly our contractor installed these shelves in the corner here. Just wanted you to know we did not do that!)
This little corner is also an essential part of my morning routine because it’s my coffee corner. And coffee ranks right up there with ice cream on my list of must-haves in life.
And of course, we can’t come into my kitchen without talking about that brass apron sink which is the real star of the show. Even the mat on the floor is impressed.
Just to the right of the sink, you can see the other vital part of my morning kitchen routine: My Ninja blender. I never thought I’d be a smoothie girl, but I was converted a year or so ago and there’s been no looking back. It’s now my go-to breakfast. And we’re always well-stocked with bananas here for that reason. Wilder loves a good peanut butter and banana smoothie, too.
On the shelves above the smoothie area, not much has changed, but I did get a little playful.
As you can see, I put my wooden letterboard there with a silver mushroom I’ve had for a while. Summer is the season of road trips. 😉
On the other side, I added a plant as well. This one seems to require a lot of water, so I figured next to the sink was ideal placement. And inside a chicken planter is always ideal placement.
That’s it for this side of the kitchen . . .
But did you know my kitchen has another, rarely seen because usually a hot mess, side? Yes, it has a huge pantry, but also features our family calendar and command center, thus the mess.
It isn’t so bad at the moment, so I thought I’d share While it’s certainly not the prettiest or most well-styled, it’s SO functional and needed.
The calendar allows us to keep tabs on who needs to be where and when and the files help us organize our paperwork. Or shove it all in there in hopes that it spontaneously combusts. This calendar was actually a really simple DIY and has been so helpful! Also, can you tell school just ended and suddenly our schedule was pretty open socially?
Dining Room
When we renovated the kitchen, we opened it up to our dining room to make it more like a huge kitchen with an eat-in nook, which suits our family so much better. I’m not one for formal dinners.
Adding the banquette to this space really gave it more room to pass through and a much cozier vibe.
Last summer, I painted this sun mural on the wall, so now it’s perpetual summer in here. 😉
There really isn’t a whole lot of space in here for seasonal touches, but I did add a couple of my favorite old Anthro nesting doll vases to the table. I filled them with roses from our yard and baby’s breath from Trader Joe’s yard.
Our vintage cabinet is another spot where I have a little room to play around.
I had been looking for one that didn’t have glass because I knew I didn’t want to worry about keeping the inside styled well – and, hello, we have a three-year-old. I was so excited when I found this piece that is absolutely perfect for our space and stores everything we need it to.
I kept its surface very simple. My record player stays there and I added a new piece of art that Emmy made, actually last year, but just got to take it home. It’s a collage art piece of a highland cow. Next to him, I added a little growing pothos and a vase filled with more baby’s breath from TJ’s yard.
Other than that, there really is not. much “play space” in this room. Here’s a little peek into it from the living room, which I will be showing you next week.
While not much is able to change in here with the season, I did get some new angles that I haven’t shared before to give you a better idea of how our dining room connects with our kitchen.
Almost every morning I sit on the end of the banquette that has the sun, laptop open, working. It used to be Chris’ spot but I’m home more often so I’ve stolen it. And I’m not sorry. This is the view from that seat.
Sawyer prefers to relax into the corner pillows of the banquette, so this would be his view.
Thank you so much for stopping by to tour my home today! Be sure to head over to Laura at Inspiration for Moms next. Her home is always filled with attainable ideas we can all use. And find the entire lineup at the bottom of this post.
If you’re looking for anything from this post, I’ve made you a shoppable gallery here:
Other items of interest:
Find the whole line-up here:
Monday June 7th
A Stroll Thru Life – Worthing Court – A Pretty Life – Pink Peppermint Design – StoneGable – Hymns & Verses
Tuesday June 8th
Southern State of Mind – This Is Our Bliss – Up To Date Interiors – It All Started With Paint – Decor To Adore – Cuckoo4Design
Wednesday June 9th
Remodelando la Casa – Whispering Pines Homestead – Cassie Bustamante – Inspiration For Moms – Making It In The Mountains – White Arrows Home
Thursday June 10th
Our Southern Home – CitrineLiving – The Wood Grain Cottage – Grace In My Space – Thrifty and Chic – Designing Vibes
Friday June 11th
Casa Watkins Living – Follow The Yellow Brick Home – Chalking Up Success – Bloom in the Black – Quarters One – Clean and Scentsible
