It is finally time! The big reveal for the Fall 2023 One Room Challenge! Over the last weeks (and a few items even earlier, I have been working on a MUCH needed kitchen makeover.

While the kitchen was functional, it was a relic from a rather unfortunate design era. It has been through a few incarnations over the years, but I have been wanting to make it beautiful for a very long time.

I needed to do it on a budget, and truth be told, even a ‘light refresh’ like this one is still not exactly cheap. But I am SO EXCITED to FINALLY get a pretty kitchen!

What I am sharing today is a partial reveal, because the all important centerpiece - the stove wall and hood - got delayed when my contractor had an unfortunate encounter with his table saw the night before he was scheduled to be here.

He will be fine, but needed a couple weeks to recover before her could do the tile and hood installation, and my new stove was not going to arrive in time either.

The great news is my stove is ready for delivery so now I just need the plumber (to unhook and cap the gas lines), the electrician (to run the new power lines from the basement to the kitchen for the induction range), and my wallet, to get that all squared away!

If you want to see the process and details along the way, there are 7 weeks worth of ORC posts here:

Week 1 the plan…along with the before pictures that put the ’challenge’ in one room challenge!

Week 2 with the saga of the hood and an update on the the possessed appliances

Week 3 with the decisions still to be made and our process for choosing patterns

Week 4 with progress!  Yay!  we can move most of the stuff back from the various other rooms?!

Week 5 with finally, some of the pretty stuff!

Week 6, will we make it??

Week 7, the finishing touches and last minute details

As a refresher, here is where we started…with our honey oak cabinets, laminate counters, and faux backsplash.

And here are the views with the new counters, faucet, and sink in place and some of the cabinets moved to make way for a bigger window…

And now, here are the reveal photos of the parts that are done! I’ll update with new photos in a couple of weeks when the stove wall and backsplash are complete, but for now - even in it’s not-quite-done state, this room is making me SO happy!

Our classically elegant, bistro-inspired kitchen…tada!

Pretty botanical wallpaper in my favorite colors covers the back of the open shelf cabinets.

We added millwork to take the existing cabinets to the ceiling and built an alcove for a new counter depth fridge.

Matching fabric was fashioned into a custom Roman shade valance banded with solid green trim. I love this pattern so much!

A new bridge faucet in polished nickel and new gold cabinet hardware are the jewelry in the room!

A back door was painted in green, a color that carries into the adjacent dining and living room fabrics.

Pretty brass brackets support a shelf for a functional display of my favorite much-used white pitchers.

A cute retro-style countertop microwave replaced a demon possessed over-the-stove model.

And new chandelier shades were given the royal treatment with hand-sewn green trim that serendipitously turns out to be an exact match to the paint for the table.

I found the trim while visiting Berlin, Germany 3000 miles from my paint chips…my #colormemory is still alive and well!

Mirrored cabinet doors bounce more light around the room and make everything glow. They also hide the cabinet contents, so I can keep some of my less than display worthy baking supplies close at hand!

I made my favorite lemon tea cake (recipe here) to use for photo-styling. Now we get to eat the styling props! :)

Many thanks to the myriad of people who helped put this all together!

Sherrie Morey @ Furnishings with a Story, for the stellar cabinet door, hood, and table painting,

Ralph Hanrahan for the new millwork, meticulous hardware installation, cabinet relocation, and the new lazy susan insert (a challenge he rose to!),

Dave McIver for the bay window installation (and eventually the tile and hood installation),

Lucy and the team at Granite Plus for the countertops, and

Joan Wood for the beautiful window treatment.

Resources

links are supplied where available - these are affiliate links meaning I may make a small commission on any purchases at no additional cost to you

Cabinet Paint: Sayerlack Coatings in Black

Cabinet Hardware: Top Knobs - Davenport in Honey Bronze

Table and Door Paint: Sayerlack Coatings in Benjamin Moore Central Park 431

Faucet: Signature Hardware Bellevue Bridge Faucet in Polished Nickel

Shelf Brackets: Anthropologie Constance Bracket

Lampshades: Amazon

Lampshade Trim: Berlin, Germany

Wallpaper and Valance Fabric: Thibaut, Yukio in black

Valance Trim: Stout Fabrics, Erwin in apple

Seagrass Rug: Safavieh via Amazon

Bistro Chairs: HomeGoods similar here

Click HERE to see the inspiring reveals from the rest of the One Room Challenge participants!

It is so easy to be too busy and never get started on my own projects. Thank you to Apartment Therapy and the One Room Challenge for the motivation to get this project done!

UPDATE!!!

Part Two with the pictures of the hood, backsplash, and stove wall can be found here: Kitchen Refresh Reveal Part 2