"Kitchen Counterspace Solution" Reveal...

I think it is safe to say that every {mom} one loves a well thought out kitchen. A kitchen that is not only pretty to look at but one that it is organised in such a way that whatever you're making everything you need is at your fingertips. 

For me, the perfectly designed kitchen has been elusive. It has literally been the thorn in my side ever since we moved into our house. As I have mentioned before, my kitchen was picked out and fitted for me when we bought the house. Although one of the major selling points of the house was in fact the kitchen with its granite worktops, lovely cream cabinets, fitted out by one of the best kitchen suppliers in our area, the reality has been much less inspiring. 

It turned out to be too small to make cooking an enjoyable experience and really even making a piece of toast created a huge mess due to the lack of counterspace. To add insult to injury, because the kitchen was so "high quality" it was ridiculously expensive to make any additions! Nothing I was trying to add would come in under €2,000! So I  really had resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait until my next house to have a well designed kitchen.

That was until I had a brainwave. I was always thinking that the only way for me to have more space was to either add a breakfast bar or an island that matched the kitchen and as I said, this was just way too expensive. But then I was thinking, why does it have to be an exact match? Maybe adding some different pieces could look more rustic rather than mismatch and cheap. 

The end result has been more brilliant than I could have hoped. I picked up this stand alone kitchen island from Ikea.

  

Rather than use the island as a space to actually "prepare and cook", I have used it to house all of my essential kitchen "gadgets" {well you can't really call a kettle a gadget, but you know what I am getting at}. Now that my kettle, coffee maker and {monster} bread machine are off the counter, I now actually have space to cook there! 

And to add extra utility to the island, of course, I had to put wall shelves above it. 

And a nice little tea holder over the kettle. 

In total, rather than spending €2,000 on an island or a breakfast bar {which I'm sure would have been lovely, but €2,000!!}, I got:-

• Kitchen Island = €170
• Wall shelves x2 = €40
• Spice rack = €3
• Total = €213

So while it's not a state of the art, fancy shmancy, breakfast bar with granite work tops and cream cabinets, I think it looks pretty good and it serves the all important purpose of creating more space for storage and prep. 

While I was shopping for all of the above, I managed to score a few things for my {actual} kitchen as well which I will post up next. See you next weekend!  

"Dining Room" Reveal

Food has always been a big thing to me. I love cooking and I love sharing food with family and friends. I come from a long line of women who love entertaining and who have taken as much care to set the table as to prepare the meal. So trying to get my head around what I was going to do with my huge dining room table which was taking over a space which was needed for much more than just dining was difficult. 

First, I had to be practical. Myself and the Mr. don't do a huge amount of entertaining, maybe a dinner party once a month or so. We live outside the city so we do most of our socialising in pubs and restaurants where it is easier to gather with friends. So essentially it is just me, the hubs and baby Dylan who are doing the dining, most of time. This meant I could settle for a small table. 

So what to do with my existing dining table? It was expensive and it was one of the first pieces of furniture we bought together so I didn't want to get rid of it. But everywhere I tried to move it to, it was just too big or awkward. This is where some major thinking outside the box started. As I mentioned in my last post, our house is 3 stories with the main living room on the middle floor {when I say "main" this does not mean "most used"} so I thought, why can't this be the dining room instead? Convention would say no, but convention has not worked for me so far so, problem solved - Dining room = upstairs! 

Next problem, new table. Definitely against spending lots of money on another table which is only slightly smaller. No, I wanted lots of space for us to relax and play with Dylan. I needed to really open the space up. 

Enter, Mr Ikea, my trusted small space solution friend. So after much deliberation and assessment of space, I finally settled on this very strange little wall mounted, fold down table {which is more suited to a studio apartment, but filled my space perfectly} €40, thank you very much.

The table is tiny, so I needed some tiny chairs, but I was not sacrificing on comfort this time. Those benches were such a pain the butt (literally) that I wanted somewhere we could sit comfortably and enjoy a glass of wine after dinner, while Dylan did laps around the room. More Ikea, et voila...Perfect!

Well not quite, the table was looking a bit sterile all alone on that wall. It looked very unfinished, so I was thinking a picture or maybe a mirror. But the whole idea of doing up the room was creating more space and the best way to create more space is to have more storage and wall storage is the best. Yep, you guessed it, more Ikea. A wall mounted plate rack, what could be more adorable and rustic looking, but still serving a utilitarian purpose!

Unfortunately, I don't currently own a set of plates so pretty as to put on display, but I certainly have loads of cookbooks...

Herbs...

Wine glasses....

And, stuff...

How pretty is that? I feel very continental now, its all pasta solo and wine in a mug for me now. 

 And if you're wondering where Dylan sits, it's at the head of the table or course.

Now that my "dining room" {I can't help but find that funny!} is complete, I couldn't be happier. There is so much more room and you may have noticed the grey walls are gone too which makes it feel bigger and certainly brighter!

This whole dining set came in under €200! While I know it only seats 2 and a half, it totally suits us as a family right now and that was all I was aiming for. 

Next up, "Kitchen Counterspace Solution" Reveal...

Setting the Mood...

In my last post, I outlined how our daily lives have been altered by my husband's new job, adapting to our new lives as parents and me returning to work after maternity leave. Things are hectic {to say the very least} and being uber organised has become more of a priority than ever before. Not only have we had to step up the level of organisation, but I have had to really step back and assess how our home works for us in a functional way. Unfortunately, with each manic morning and exhausting evening, it has become glaringly obvious that the design of our home doesn't serve us very well.

Before I launch into my plans for the revamp, I thought it would be better to give you an idea of what kind of space I have to work with. My house has 3 stories. The ground floor {below} is where we spend most of our time and this is the room which is causing us the most stress. The middle floor has the main living room and the guest bedroom and the top floor has the master bedroom and the nursery.

So let me set the mood for you...it's 6am, you have exactly 2 hours to get a 16 month old baby boy, his daddy and his mommy ready for the day. This includes making breakfast, eating breakfast, making lunches {with said baby boy pulling on your skirt and wiping porridge mouth on your top}. Daddy running around trying to get his shirt ironed, find his socks and take calls from work {which can start at 7am!}, etc., etc., you all know the drill. Then imagine this is the space where you try and do it all...

{Dining Room}

Huge, hard, cold piece of wood as your dining table 

{not nice to go from warm bed to hard benches}.

{Kitchen}

Tiny kitchen counter with loads of wasted floor space.

I have a love/hate relationship with this room. On the one hand I love the contemporary colours, the oak and the minimal, clean lines, but on the other hand I am starting to hate it because it's not functional and it doesn't suit our personalities now that we have a child. Now that I am a parent, I want light and bright - a space that says that I am a mom and shows that a family lives here - but most importantly {for the sake of my sanity} I want a space that works. 

So that's it. That is the space I have had to attempt to transform into something that not only serves our needs better as a family, but also without blowing the bank on new stuff. It hasn't been easy, but {slowly} we are getting there. 

Next post...Dining Room Reveal {you're going to laugh at what I now call my "Dining Room"}.