Welcome to the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge Week 8 Reveal Day!

We made it! The reveal day is here and after so much toil, sweat, and tears, I must say I’m excited to present my new Haute Bohemian kitchen. Even though it’s not in the most perfect and pristine state of being just yet, it’s baked well enough for presenting in today’s reveal.

If I had to create a themed title for this post it would be an emotional transformation in kitchen renovation. The design was ambitious. The labor was hard. The tears were real. However… we somehow rocked the design I had envisioned and finished in time to snap photos and create this post for reveal day. If you’ve followed along my journey in the previous posts then you’ll understand why this design means so much to me. Not only does reveal day signifies the completion of a beautiful new room, but it also means that I get the room of my dreams. As I said, go back and read the other posts. Then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

The goal for this project was to renovate my old outdated Tuscan-style kitchen without any demolition and to spend less than $3000.00. While we made the first goal with charming design left to spare, we sailed past the limit on the 2nd goal by about a clean $500. Given that my rule of thumb for renovation markup comes in around a 20 – 25% increase, we still hit the goal at $3549. Unexpected repairs and a series of oops and bloops increased the bill a bit. These things happen during a renovation.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the before just before we get to the reveal of the after.

Before my kitchen was outdated and filled with greasy crevices. The design lacked balance since I basically have a u-shaped kitchen with an eat-in dining area. While the terra cotta color rocked 15 years ago when I first added the orange hue to the design, the walls had faded. The only thing I saw was the color orange. The tired Venetian plaster wall was cute back in its day. However, my need for a more sophisticated design had changed in taste. Like the old chipped laminate countertops, the kitchen needed a complete redo. To the edesign drawing board, I went and came up with a new design.

And here my friends is my new Haute Bohemian kitchen.

Filled with tons of dark and loveliness to spare, the kitchen was inspired by this photo of a French Parisian cafe.

I wanted to recreate the same romantic vibe in my kitchen. Shades of a rainy Parisian stroll, unique statement pieces such as this flush mount crystal chandelier, and a combination of timeless paint colors brought my Parisian cafe dream to stunning life. Don’t get me wrong light and airy is beautiful. However, I felt the world of social media needed something a bit mysterious and different.While I adore the charm of a Parisian cafe, I wanted to stay true to my love of the Mediterranean and Italy. So I kept the kitchen floor, installed a Venetian bronze double curtain rod, and chose exotic plants to adorn my new shelving space.Can we talk about my new open shelves and the bead chandelier light that brings this new section of my kitchen altogether?As mentioned earlier in the article, I have an average-sized u-shaped kitchen layout. The island is attached to the wall closest to the patio door. The cabinets take up most of the area by the fridge and over the stove. The whole layout created a heavier design near the window. Adding the open shelving, storage, and mobile cart created balance in the room. I no longer feel as though I’m walking into one half of a kitchen the way I did before we renovated. Both the closed cabinetry and open shelving compliment and balance the other element out.

Storage wasn’t left out of the game plan. My pantry was long overdue for an overhaul in the design arena. Especially since I left the pantry design out of the last kitchen refresh we did. The pantry’s walls received a dark and moody makeover the same as the other areas. Instead of painting the shelves, I chose a bit of Haute BohemianThe final piece of the Haute Bohemian kitchen puzzle came in the forms of wall art, plants, and yes! Rugs! When making the decision to include rugs in the kitchen, I went with a washable design for the main area. This pretty baby was waiting for me on Home Depot’s website.

The colors and design were perfect for my Parisian cafe-inspired design.

Let’s talk about the power of paint. While I called in the pros for the electrical work and the plumbing, my sons and I handled the paint job and shelf installation. And believe me, there were a LOT of paint-related tasks in this design. In fact, I could easily label this as an artisan kitchen due to the fact that the paint colors we chose created the backbone for the design. The ceiling, walls, cabinets, countertops, and yes, even the hardware received painted makeovers.

Overall, I learned a great deal from my participation in the 2021 Spring One Room Challenge. I’m extremely happy with the way the design turned out and can’t wait for my countertops to cure so that I can add the finishing touches.

I hope you had as much fun following me along in this journey as much as I did traveling this design road. I’m not sure if I’ll be participating in the Fall ORChallenge yet. However, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head into my new Parisian style, Haute Boho kitchen now. Details on the brands and paint colors and all those goodies will be in a follow-up post scheduled to go live later this month.

Thanks so much for joining me on this emotional and life-changing adventure.

Don’t forget to have a look at the reveal rooms of the Featured Designers and Guest Participants!