Week Two
It’s week two of the One Room Challenge. Demo of the existing perimeter cabinets doesn’t happen until next week, so I don’t have much to report. Let’s talk about a few things we have completed.
One of the big problems I am trying to solve is that our kitchen is very dark. It has adjoining windows in the breakfast area that face north, so what little light the area does get is cool and blue-toned. When I brought in cabinet color samples, there were areas of the kitchen where I couldn’t even read the difference between dark green, dark blue, off black.
After living in this home for nine months, I finally realized that even though this is a two-story house, the second floor only extends partway over the kitchen. Once this lightbulb went on in my brain, I immediately called a skylight company and had them come to verify that we could, in fact, install a skylight to light the space. The answer was YES.
As with everything these days, we had to wait three months to get our installation appointment. It was completely worth the wait! We went with a smallish skylight, 24”x 48 inches. It brings in just enough warm sunlight throughout the day and I’m thrilled with the results. The before and after photos below are unedited and you can really see the difference. Mornings are glorious with the sunlight coming in.
before skylight
after skylight
after skylight
One casualty of the skylight install was that the installer dropped a tool from up high on his ladder and it broke one of these original green glass island pendant lights. I was not upset at all, because it was an excuse to go ahead in update the lights. I gave a sneak peek of what I chose in my Instagram stories last week (watch the ORC kitchen highlight).
You can see the two-tone paint on the ceiling after the skylight was installed. The original kitchen was painted Sherwin Williams Agreeable Gray so once the skylight went in, I repainted the entire kitchen Sherwin Williams Alabaster. I always look at the LRV (light reflectance value) which measures the amount of visible light that is reflected off a paint color. On a scale of 0-100, Agreeable Gray has an LRV of 60 and Alabaster has an LRV of 82. Going lighter with the paint color definitely helps to bounce more light around this kitchen.
So speaking of colors, is it time to reveal the new scheme for the space? See below!
Other notes (aka things that are making me nervous):
The range is not here yet.
The cabinet knobs I ordered had a projected arrival of mid-April and now they’re telling me July. So I need to completely revisit the cabinet hardware plan.
Next Week
Week three is when things get exciting. Kitchen cabinets will be removed. Electrical work happens. Laundry room cabinets will be installed. Meet me back here for all the details.
Now go check out all of the other One Room Challenge participants here.