A record of Kitchen & Sitting Area, Six Months In

*We updated this post to add additional pics & a video, so if you see something here that you do not remember when you first read it, that is why. You are not going crazy ;)

We shared this space three weeks after we moved in and now we are back with a six month update. Much like we said in that first post, we have some long term plans for this room, so this is simply what it looks like as of this moment in time (I highly recommend photographing rooms to see how they evolve because it is so much lively to look back on).

Since that three-weeks-in post, we did a series of inexpensive updates that have truly made this room so comfortable and useful for our family (first we made these 5 small changes, then we painted the cabinets, and here is a post about how our much smaller kitchen is organized for anyone who likes to peek behind cabinet doors & drawers like me).

We have plans to fully renovate the kitchen down the line, but thanks to our updates, nothing about this current kitchen is spurring us on to get to that sooner rather than later – which is a pleasant feeling. We like to live in a house for a few years before any major updates like that whenever possible (we were in our last house for 4 years before we redid the kitchen). It simply seems to lead to a better result when you live with it for a while and make sure you know exactly what would be the most useful, efficient, etc. Plus you can save up over time.

You might notice a few new changes in that photo above – mainly, some room-rearranging (we moved a bookshelf & scooted the table more towards the center of the room). And some new appliances! Can you hear my excited dolphin noise from here? (I have an extremely accurate dolphin noise that I make when I am extra glad.) We got them secondhand for a steal – and a counter-depth fridge was included too, so that is coming soon! I mean, look at this stove.

We have never had such pleasant appliances, and it was $500 for the whole suite of Café appliances that we got secondhand (fridge is still coming!). They are only a few years old and in ideal condition. I pinch myself every morning that I walk into this kitchen and make myself tea on the new stove.

After starting out with an older white stove and a black dishwasher, it feels like a large upgrade to have appliances that match – and they in fact function better too (the dishwasher is extra quiet!). Here is the original appliance situation a few weeks after moving in, for comparison:

The impetus for moving one of our two Ikea bookshelves across the room (and more into the “kitchen” area) was to free up more room in the sitting area – and to make the room feel more balanced with a more central table (like some of these inspo photos with a table in the middle of a kitchen). But we only hoped to stick with the new layout if it did not feel too tight in the kitchen (remember I married a quite practical man who lets me get away with zero impractical furniture layouts because he’s in short The Efficiency Grinch). But instead of trying this and pushing everything back, we anchored that shelf on that left wall & rehung the art, which officially means it passed John’s we-can-leave-it-like-this test.

That photo above makes the table look weirdly close to the fridge from that angle, but here is how much clearance there is when you see it head-on:

It is by no means a football field of space around the table, but thankfully it works for us without feeling annoying. We can still get into these drawers on the left, which hold tools because that is who we are (the shelves across the room are the ones that hold our pantry items).

Here is a shot with the drawer closed. When there are people sitting around the table you cannot get into them as easily, but we have not needed tools while sitting down for lunch or dinner yet so I’d say it is a non-issue.

And now, let us move back over to the side that John loves most of all. See how the fridge sticks out into the space a little more on this side…

… well, remember that we got a counter-depth fridge as part of that secondhand appliance suite that we picked up. So that will be coming soon and it’ll shift back a bit to give us a little more clearance. But John in fact loves this new setup even as it is right now because he can grab something like ketchup from the fridge if we are eating. Without getting up. While sitting at the table his go-go-gadget arm shoots out and opens the door and grabs the soy sauce or the butter. I know. I wish I had a picture of that in this post.

You can see from this shot that there is still plenty of room to get stuff from the fridge when people are not in the chairs – but when they are in them… well, that is when John’s magic ketchup-retrieving arm truly enjoys the new layout. Perhaps I will make a video demo for InstaStories for you. It is hilarious how glad it makes him. It is the little things.

Ok now back to the seating area. Having this chill space down here is so pleasant because when we all want to lounge and watch a movie we head upstairs to the family room, but when someone’s cooking or doing dishes and the kids simply want to be nearby and read or do a puzzle or have a snack or whatever, this bonus little informal hangout zone is so pleasant to have.

One perk to moving that second shelf more into the kitchen zone is that it freed up more space for a little settee in this area. So now we legitimately have seating for four, which feels strong! Technically we could get a much larger rug to define this whole zone (an 8 x 10′ would fit with room to spare if that gives you a better idea of the size), but I enjoy our existing rug for now. Here I am petting the cutest dog in the world for scale:

Oh and we got a new coffee table! We especially enjoy the brass hardware and the large surface area on top – and best of all, it is FULL of hidden storage! Two large drawers that pull out. It is such an improvement! I lately shoved a bunch of winter stuff in there in case we want to grab a hat or gloves or a jacket when it is frigid out (aka: under fifty because we are wimps). And the other side has all of our tool batteries & charging stuff (once again, because we are those people).

I simply noticed that this wider photo of that sitting area makes it look like the chairs block the door, but it is simply the angle…

… here is a shot from the other side to show you the big landing we have at the bottom of the stairs and in front of the front door (which also gives us plenty of clearance to open those laundry closet doors on the right):

*Update: This all makes a lot more sense in 3-D (aka: on video, which is the next best thing to being here) so we filmed this swift video walk-through to give you a real feel for the space. Please enjoy a few loops around our kitchen:

Note: You can also view this video here on YouTube

*In the video we brought in above, you might notice that the table base was spun so the chairs did not nest over the pedestal base, they sort of terminated at the sides of it, like the do in this photo:

… versus the way the base is spun in the rest of the photos where the pedestal base slides between the chairs and sort of nests that way:

Debating the merits of each setup led to a fairly remarkable Instagram Story rabbit hole (involving polls, some live walking around the room, more polls, a copious amount of GIFs, etc). It was QUITE THE FRIDAY NIGHT. Essentially we have tried it both ways, and at first we were leaning towards the setup in the video, but other pedestal table owners pointed out that it is easier to push the chairs in when the legs “are hugging” the base (seen in the photo above) as opposed to them sort of hitting the feet of the pedestal. So for now, we are going with that. But I am known to spin this table around depending on my mood, so we will see where we end up. #WildWoman

Anyway, back to the sitting area. That six drawer dresser under the window is CLUTCH (is that what all the cool kids are saying?) because it holds all of the things we grab when we go in and out like doggy bags, Burger’s leash, sunscreen, umbrellas, chapstick, sunglasses, etc, etc, etc.

So it makes for the ideal entryway dropzone, and it was necessary to still be able to pass through here easily (and to be able grab whatever we need from the drawers).

And since we are thorough, here is the view from our bedroom.

The camera was too close to truly give you an idea of how far that blue side table is from the door in that shot above, but this angle gives you more context.

We certainly think this little zone will evolve over time as well. For example, a floor lamp could be truly pleasant to fill that empty space and illuminate any reading or puzzle-making that goes on:

And once we got this settee in the space we realized that the room could likely handle something even bigger down the line – like a more substantial chair-and-a-half or perhaps a small loveseat (it could absorb the area that the side tables take up, since they are not needed due to now having a pleasant big coffee table). And a larger loveseat or double chair might benefit from some bigger art above it. So perhaps that is how this area will evolve over time…

Even exactly as it is right now, it is comfortable and functional for our family. So we are extremely glad with “the journey” when it comes to this room. I think small tweaks like this frequently have to occur in order to get you to the best possible end result, so embracing those little changes means they can lead to the best possible room in the end.

So that is how this sweet room of ours has been coming along so far. It is fairly remarkable to realize that many of the major components in here are still what came out of our moving pod back in May (both Ikea bookshelves, the kitchen table, the kitchen chairs, the two armless sitting area chairs, the rug, the entryway dresser, and all of our art and accessories). Also let us take a moment to appreciate how much Burger and all of my plants enjoy Florida. Never been happier.

Let us end this with a few before photos for comparison. This one was taken on the rainiest day ever so it is especially gloomy looking:

And here is the “right now” shot from the same angle:

If you turn around and face the other way, here is that before:

And here is a similar current view. Ah. Feels good.

If you have questions about how we renovated things like the bulkheads & stuff, this post has all of that info. And if you are wondering how we redid the floors, here is a post about that. We still get the occasional question about how we like having all of our bedrooms on the main floor and the family room upstairs, and the bullets in this post truly quantify how we feel about this floor plan. There is also this archive about our Florida house that covers every single change, listed chronologically for anyone who wants a deeper dive. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to await John’s ketchup arm and try to catch it on video…

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