I’m back today to share some updates that have been going on in our breakfast nook. We’ve made a decent amount of progress since we last shared what was going on in the room and things have really changed from the time that we moved in.

Below, you can see how the space looked before we touched it. The paint colors were very bright and the room just needed some general updates. We added a couple coats of paint (Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter), as well as finding a new to us dining table, but there was still a lot to be desired.

One thing that made a big impact was to change the lighting in the room. We added this black chandelier, which we love for it’s simple style. I’m not crazy about the light bulbs that are currently in place, but once we find something we like, that will be an easy fix.

We also painted all of our trim and doors white and hit the old hardware up with some of Rustoleum’s Oil Rubbed Bronze spray paint.

For decor, I added two plain old windows to the wall. One was from my grandmother’s home and the other was given to me by my lovely sister. I love that both of these windows have a bit of sentimental meaning, even though they don’t match each other perfectly. Plus, we can add seasonal wreaths or family photos if we decide we want to dress them up a bit.

I always enjoy adding a little freshness with flowers, especially when they are as beautiful as these hydrangeas!

Here’s my little staging/photography helper.

Our breakfast nook is really coming along and we are so happy with how it is turning out, even though the progress may be a bit slow.

There are a few more items on our to-do list, like redoing the flooring and replacing the chairs. (We decided to go with the Henriksdal from Ikea, but have yet to make the two hour drive to get them. Thanks to everyone who weighed in, both in the comments and on Facebook.)

I want to share a secret with you. I have a dark gray thumb. Surprise! Meaning that I tend to kill most plants quicker than you can say “house plant.” Hence the Faux Topiaries. (We do have a few live plants that we have managed to keep around for a couple of years, but I’m chalking that up to luck.)

When I shared our Entertainment Stand Dresser, I talked about wanting to add topiaries. I knew that that would have to be faux, because the area they would be in just doesn’t get good lighting and I wasn’t up for killing any more plants. After a little Pinterest perusing, I found a couple that I liked from Liz Marie Blog and In My Own Style. I ultimately went with the latter, making a few tweaks along the way.

Ready to make your own? You will need:

• planter
• faux greenery
• straight stick
• floral foam
• wire cutter
• needle nose pliers
• floral wire
• moss

I started with the faux greenery…

and began cutting each of the pieces off of the main stem.

Next, I popped the top piece off of each section, set it to the side, and bent the wire at the top with needle nose pliers, so that the other pieces would not fall off.

Using my fingers, I pushed all of the little leafy sections towards the top. (I did this for each of the pieces I had cut off.)

Then, I chose one stem to be the main one and started wrapping all of the other stems around it. Each stem was wrapped around twice and any excess was cut with the wire cutters.

After that, I cut the straight stick (found it in the woods with the vines already around it) so it was about 15 inches long and pushed it into the floral foam that I had already placed in the planter.

Finally, I attached the ball of greenery to the top of the stick by wrapping the long stem around it and secured it in several places with floral wire.

Oh yeah. I also threw some pretty green moss on the top of the foam to cover it up.

And that’s it! I chose not to add anything extra stems or “groom” them any more. I really like the organic look of these, with the little stems all going every which way.

I know that these topiaries may look a little Spring-y right now as we are entering the colder months of the year, but they add the perfect amount life and cheer to our home. What do you think of faux topiaries?

So, this is our kitchen. Galley style. Pretty plain and simple.

And this is what it looked like on move in day. Check out that mustard yellow wall color. And the horrible faux wood/almond cabinets. If this doesn’t scream late 80’s/early 90’s I don’t really know what does.

Anyway, let’s get back to the good stuff. The kitchen does look a lot brighter and open, don’t you think?

We couldn’t wait to get our hands on the space to start transforming it, bit by bit. However, a complete gut and renovation are just not in the cards for us right now, so we decided to update the existing pieces with some paint. For the cabinets, we primed them with oil based primer and then added a couple of coats of Behr Ultra Pure White paint. We will probably get around to adding some poly to them soon for some extra protection, but for now, things seem to be holding up pretty well.

The wall color is Revere Pewter by Benjamin Moore. (Same as the Breakfast Nook.)

And here are a couple of other areas of the kitchen we’ve already shared:

In addition to painting, there’s still tons to do, like…

• Update the hinges – These dark hinges stick out like a sore thumb. Or like a dark hinge on a white cabinet.
• Replace all the lighting – There is an ugly boob light and a cheap over-the-sink-light that both need to get the boot.
• Paint the almond colored appliances – I’m a little leery of the outcome. Cross your fingers that it works out for the best!
• Install new flooring – Thinking about something warm to balance out the brightness.
• Update the almond colored countertops – We are going to try DIYing them, but if it is a complete failure, we do have a back up plan to get something new.

You can pretty much guarantee that we will be sharing all of these upcoming projects with you, even if they don’t turn out as planned. But, we’ve certainly come a long way already. Woohoo! So, have you had your own kitchen painting extravaganza? How did it turn out? Anything you would have done differently? Let us know. We would love to hear from you!