ONE ROOM CHALLENGE // WEEK 3 // MODERN RANCH STYLE KITCHEN

It's Week 3 of the One Room Challenge and I am finally sharing a look at my design plan with you all for our soon to be modern ranch-style kitchen. 

You guys, this one has been a long time in the making.  I've been dreaming up this kitchen for many years, collecting inspiration from far away places we've visited, restaurants we've enjoyed meals in and designer kitchens I've admired. My mainstay neutrals of black, white and woodsy accents will come into play for the foundation, but I think my design will really take shape in the composition of lines, textures and mixed materials that will be put to use in the room.

For visual inspiration here, I am sharing four designer kitchen concepts above - a modern-rustic amalgamation of dark and light, each - a cook's kitchen to be sure. That vibe is ultimately what I want to achieve with my final reveal in 3 weeks.

I should stop and mention that I sort of dislike pigeonholing anything with labels. In the end, I'm hoping my design will stand on it's own and be a collective mix of several styles I admire and ultimately something appropriate to our home. 

But I'm hoping that by calling my design scheme "Modern Ranch Kitchen", that the moniker will resonate with someone out there searching through the 200+ guest participants in the One Room Challenge and pinpoint something they are looking to achieve in their own home - and that there is an aspect or two here that might work as inspiration for them too. I feel like that's how it's done best - we all get a little something from each other creatively to turn around and make it our own.

So with that out of the way - let's talk paint.

Budget always comes into play when renovating a room - or as we are doing at the moment - several in our home. So it was no surprise that we resisted temptation to move walls and install brand new cabinets and instead, opted to doll up the ones we already have. I don't look at this as a compromise though. I know the power of paint and I have one of the best painters in my back pocket. Yes, my Pops has returned for another round of the One Room Challenge and will be painting our cabinetry out in a two-toned scheme - light uppers, dark lowers.

I've tested paint samples for months by the way - knowing our kitchen looks different in the Spring than it does in the Fall. The five that got slapped on our pantry cabinet a couple of weeks ago made the final cut and ultimately - we had a winner and I have to say, it was completely unexpected.

They call it "Astronomical" and it really is to me. This dark grey cures with some khaki green and I've even seen some blue in there at the right time of day.  It will play nicely with our "house white"- White Dove featured just above.

We went with a slab of Silestone to withstand the wine and coffee beatings our peninsula will surely take on a daily basis. But you'll also find some beautiful wide plank Acacia wood countertops pulled in on the other side of the kitchen. These wood slabs are truly butter you guys and defy any of my old reservations about wood countertops. 

I'm also really excited by the irregular shape of our backsplash tile, though I'm sure it will present a couple of headaches in the installation process.

 Things will warm up in the adjacent dining area, where a textural mix of striped textiles, mixed metallics and woods will collide. There will be acacia and white oak, stripes on stripes and dark, matte hardware on detached cabinetry - much different from the chrome baubles on the kitchen doors.

I'm making over many of the pieces that already exist in this space to save on budget and well, honestly I couldn't find alternatives I really wanted to invest additional budget in. New paint and fabric finishes will make old new again.

Next week's post will be jam packed with progress pics. While I've been dilly dallying with "concept" posts here, we've actually been hard at work with tear down and the great "build back up" on this space. We hired a contractor to help us out this time and we've had a steady crew of construction guys and electricians to schedule around each other. I thought well ahead on this one and ordered up materials and yes, appliances (!) so we're tracking right on schedule for this 6 week project. 

Did I mention we also decided to tear out and replace the floors throughout the whole house as well?

It just happened, it really, really did.

See you back here next Thursday! In the meantime, please be sure to check out (and lend some support to) the other participants in the One Room Challenge over at Calling it Home.

Inspo image sources: [1] Devol Kitchens [2] Amber Interiors [3] BHG  [4] Blair Harris