Kitchen Evolution

A couple of people who follow this blog have remarked that Hippie and I seem to be doing a lot of home projects lately.  While I can't argue with that, the real truth is that we are always working on this house.  Like myself and my garden, I consider every room of The Cabbage to be a work in progress.  My kitchen is the perfect example.  From the day we first moved here to now, it has been slowly changing and evolving.

The first change I made (at 2am the night before we officially moved in) was to paint the plaster walls an ochre color.  Not long after that we replaced what I believe were the world's ugliest countertops (they were textured vinyl!), along with the sink and faucet.  We also ripped out the painted tile backsplash and I did a paint treatment and mural there as a "temporary fix".

Before and after we removed the kitchen backsplash and got new countertops.

That was all our budget allowed at that time but slowly over the years we made other changes.  I redid the flooring and came up with some creative storage solutions involving vintage finds.  Hippie installed our oven fan and eventually treated himself to a new dishwasher (which I hear works really great). 

By summer of 2014, more than eight years after we moved in, our kitchen was finally starting to shape up.

The Cabbage Kitchen in July of 2014

Then, after years of searching, I just happened to stumble across what I knew was the perfect tile for our backsplash and managed to install it myself.

Our new kitchen backsplash and wine bottle light pendant.

It made a huge difference and inspired us to make a few other changes, like painting the cabinets (I decided to just paint the inner panels of the upper cabinets for now) and adding the wine bottle pendant light we made.  We also were finally able to replace our huge, old refrigerator.

The Cabbage Kitchen Today

It's still far from perfect and it will always have its quirks (most of which I have learned to love) but, like myself and my garden, I think my kitchen has evolved quite nicely.  I look forward to realizing even more of its potential in the future.

The Cabbage Kitchen Sink Side

The Cabbage Kitchen Stove Side

Visit The Cabbage Blog for more posts about my home.

"Rooted" Tree Goddess Art Canvas Prints by Victoriart
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"Rooted" Tree Goddess Fantasy Art Hand Towel by Victoriart
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"Rooted" Tree Goddess Art Tile by Victoriart
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Eye Opener Print by Victoreeah
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Bottle and Glass: Wine Lovers Grocery List Grocery Bags by Victoreeah
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"I'm Not Washing The Dishes" Dishwasher Magnet by Victoreeah
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Begin Imperfectly

My New Year's Day Permission Slip (Feel Free To Borrow It)

I woke up on January 1 feeling simultaneously excited and anxious.  I was looking forward to the many possibilities of the new year, only I wasn't sure exactly how to begin pursuing them.  I had this notion that whatever I did that day would set the tone for the rest of the year, so it just had to be perfect.

Of course that was just my anti-muse talking.  She would have liked nothing better than to see me overwhelm myself with the pressure to accomplish too much too soon.  Fortunately I remembered that imperfection is my new perfection and chose to take just a couple of small but significant steps towards my goals instead.

When you are a recovering perfectionist like me it is easy to forget that beginnings are supposed to be humble.  We want every step to be carefully planned and to get things right on the first try but beginnings without risks or mistakes lack the power to teach or transform us.   Achieving anything new or worthwhile often requires that we start small and slow and give ourselves plenty of room to stumble. 

So if there is something you really want to accomplish this year, please ignore any voice that tells you that it's too late or that you don't know enough or aren't good enough to even try.  Instead, do what I did and give yourself permission to begin imperfectly.  I promise you it will be infinitely more rewarding than never beginning at all.