Oh yes, the reno is in full swing! I feel like I’ve waited for this kitchen for over a decade, and it’s. finally. happening. Finally! I’ll have a full post on the reno and finished kitchen soon(ish), but, right now, I’m going to start with sharing my vision for this baby with my kitchen mood board. I’ve always wanted a dark blue kitchen with white tile and wood accents, but I knew making it not so standard would be my real challenge. In this post I’ll share my modern vintage kitchen inspiration and also some of the choices we’ve already made – if you like the idea of a dark kitchen that is also bright, vintage, and a little funky, this one’s for you!
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Modern Vintage Kitchen Inspiration at a Glance:
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t design a room unless I do some sort of mood board. And I usually iterate a bunch on it just as I did with this one, but I’m finally happy with the balance of dark and light, cold and warm, and modern and vintage. I’m not hating on farmhouse, but I was specifically trying to steer away from that (even though I will certainly have a huge farm sink!). It’s filled with navy blue, gold hardware, cool industrial lighting, and, of course, a vintage runner.
The Color Palette
Where it all starts, the color palette. Most of the walls in our home are Sherwin Williams Creamy – it’s white but soft, and it just seems to make all the crazy colors I add everywhere else look amazing. The navy blue is going on the cabinets; we chose Sherwin Williams Naval (more on that choice in sec). There is a bit of a backstory on the pink, but my kitchen window will be pink, and Sherwin Williams Koral Kicks is the perfect pink that is pink but not kick you in the face pink. And the gold color is Behr Autumn Fest, and that’s coming in through our custom DIY pantry and mud closet doors.
Choosing the cabinet color was difficult. I originally thought we’d go with Sherwin Williams Anchors Aweigh because we painted our exterior that color, and it’s THE. PERFECT. EXTERIOR. COLOR. The end. One day I’ll get around to getting some good pictures of our exterior – I really should because it’s probably my favorite thing we’ve done and the biggest transformation so far (UPDATE: I did; check out our exterior color here!). However, this color just looks totally different as an interior color. A little harsh is how I’d describe it. If you are perusing dark blue colors for your kitchen renovation too, I tried to take pictures of the main ones we considered, and you may find this post helpful. We chose Sherwin Williams Naval, and it’s just the perfect navy blue that has a softness to it. It is also the color I used in my son’s bedroom. This part of the renovation is mostly done, and I can say that I’m super happy with this color choice. Here is my daughter checking out the progress and the best picture I currently have of how the color turned out (see the pink window, eek!).
It’s all still coming together, but here are a few of the things that I’ve already purchased, and I’m in love with all of them (particularly the light fixture going over our sink).
Fixtures and Hardware
I love the idea of mixing hardware, so I chose these two. The cup pulls will be on all of the drawers, and the dangly ones will be on the cabinets. They are not the same brand, so the color matching was a concern, but these two were close enough for my eyes. I was also concerned about the dangly ones being annoying to use on a daily basis, but I’ve been living with them for about a month now, and they don’t bother me at all (plus they are gorgeous!).
And here is the cutie faucet that I just adore – it’s really helping me amp up the vintage vibe of the kitchen. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now, and it is wonderful, heavy-duty quality on top of being beautiful.
Lighting
Not pictured above are the pendant lights for over our island that we actually installed years ago when we moved it. I super love them, and they were incredibly affordable, but I can’t seem to find them anymore, so I’m including a link to some on Etsy with a similar style (these actually offer some customization which looks super fun too).
And, to me the star lighting of our kitchen is this pendant that is going over the sink. We had the cabinets over the sink removed, so this area is becoming a focal point of the kitchen. I think this green glass pendant light really helps to add some industrial vibes – is it just me, or does green glass give a restaurant feel?
Accessories
And, now, the fun part – accessories! I haven’t gathered a ton yet, but I super love all of these. When I saw this “Make coffee, not war” bag on Etsy, I just had to have it in our home. I just bought it, and the Etsy shop is not in existence anymore… I hate when that happens, but here are a few other options that are available on Redbubble and CafePress. I will keep checking, and if this Etsy bag becomes available again, I’ll update this post.
Is a toaster an accessory? Probably not, but it’s so stinkin’ cute. We will have some open shelving, so I’m planning to use some of these prints to get some art into this kitchen. The “Eat More Fruit” print is so fun, and I love the colors in the Flower Market print.
Countertops and Backsplash
We have already chosen the countertops and backsplash. We went with HanStone Quartz in Calcutta Gold for the countertops. I usually would be one to do something funky with the backsplash, but I just really wanted classic, so we are going with white subway tile and dark grout. To make it a little more unique we are taking the backsplash tile all the way to the ceiling though. Our kitchen/living room is open concept which most people love, but I need spaces to be defined. I would really prefer walls, myself, but I’ve opted to just define the kitchen by tiling the whole dang thing from floor to ceiling.
Here’s a little progress photo, dirty cabinets and all.
And that’s a wrap on our kitchen renovation vision. Every day I come up with new little ideas as it comes together, so I can’t wait to share the finished kitchen. It will certainly be any month now…