It’s day 4 of our Martin Family Home Tour and today we are venturing into our bright white kitchen! Our kitchen is home to my most favorite piece of furniture in our home, Mema’s blue hutch.

 

When we visited our future home for the first time, the first thing I noticed was the kitchen. And not in the good kinda way. It wasn’t a dump. Quite the opposite actually! The previous owners made a handful of really nice upgrades in our house, including the kitchen. They upgraded the builder grade kitchen that came with every house in our neighborhood with new cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and granite countertops, but the one thing that I really didn’t jive with were the cabinets.

 

I l-o-v-e a white kitchen. And hoped to find a home that we could buy with a kitchen that needed to be updated so I could make an all-white kitchen happen. But this home was perfect for us, both in size and in price. With our budget in mind, there was no way we would update the already upgraded backsplash and granite countertops, but Jeremy graciously agreed to have the cabinets refinished. Love that man 😉

 

We decided to hire painters to complete the job instead of me doing it. I have refinished cabinets in the past, but it is truly a huge undertaking. And if you caught our first room tour, you know I don’t take my painting skills seriously… aka I’m a total non-perfectionist. It was so nice to have them professionally painted! Our painters did a fantastic job creating a completely smooth look.

 

Going from brown cabinets to white completely transformed our living space!

 

 

In the spirit of fun and seeing how the space changed, here is a little before:

 

 

Updating the cabinet and hardware color completely changed the look in here! We also painted the walls in the entire living space in a shade of white as the walls used to be a true ivory. Those two changes really brightened up our home and created the foundation for the rest of the design!

 

One of these days I would love to replace the flooring of our living space and kitchen, but that will just have to wait. 😉 Even though we wouldn’t have picked it on our own, having carpet through the main living space is actually kinda nice for tiny humans. Our kids can run around the house as they please without Mama and Daddy fearing falls, bumps, and bruises every five minutes.

 

I’ll be dreaming of pale wood floors throughout the living room, dining room, and kitchen till then!

 

 

This vintage gold curio (in its original condition!) is another one of my Mema’s pieces!

 

 

#reality

 

 

Our eat-in kitchen nook is where Mema’s hutch lives. My Mema was a master of hosting family dinners and holidays. She cooked delicious Southern meals, was a gracious host, and loved by many. When my Mom let us pick what pieces of furniture of hers to fill our home with, I was over the moon to bring her hutch to life again!

 

My Mema loved her wood furniture. When I brought her hutch home, it was in its original pine finish. At first, I refinished it in a vintage white color with heavy distressing. When we moved here, I knew I really wanted to make it shine. With our bright white kitchen and all white walls, I felt like the hutch just blended in painted white. So I decided to make a bold choice.

 

Paint it blue.

 

I will admit I was super nervous to paint Mema’s hutch blue.

 

“Would a piece of furniture that size look silly in such a bold color? Should I paint the interior shelves a different color? Should I go matchy matchy and paint it navy or a different shade of blue?”

 

I would go back and forth over those questions until finally, I decided to go for it. If I really hated it I could change it, right?! When it came down to choosing what shade of blue, I decided on a medium blue chalk paint color called Rugo from the Amy Howard Home line over painting it navy. With our navy bar stools, navy and white rug, and all the navy ginger jars, I figured we had the navy department covered. I decided not to paint the interior a different color after spending some time looking at pieces that were refinished that way.

 

On a Sunday afternoon, Jeremy took the kids down the street to play with our friends while I carefully painted Mema’s hutch blue.

 

And I don’t regret it one bit! In fact, it is my most favorite piece of furniture in our whole house. I love knowing that it has graced many years, meals and faces of the past in Mema’s home and will do so for many years to come in our home. It is my forever something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. <3

 

 

The Details: Our white kitchen table and chairs were thrifted and spray painted! The white curtains are from Ikea. The Gold Cage Lantern Pendant is from Lighting Connection. Our white dishware is from Pottery Barn and Gold Flatware from West Elm! The navy Windsor bar stools are from Target.

 

 

I love doing life together here!

 

Photography by Sarahdipity Photos