I love looking back at before/after pictures and boy, do I have some good ones for you today!
Here is our eat-in-kitchen maybe 2 years after we bought our house. We hadn’t done much except paint when we first moved in.
So at some point, probably about 5 years ago… I added a chair rail and painted the wall on the bottom originally a soft green.
But then changed that about a year later to the current color. We had ceramic tile installed, put up a new light fixture, I got some cheap curtain panels, purchased a new table and then sold our old table on Craigslist, made a DIY coffee filter for the door, and added some other décor and wall hangings. Looking much better!
The eat in kitchen stayed about the same over the last few years – you can see a house tour post I did of it last year here.
Last year I removed a cookbook stand and it cleaned up the room so much!
And in the fall, I added a kitchen rules sign and changed out the wreaths.
I have been working on repainting our entire house minus a few rooms that I have already repainted a different color than our main color. The new main color in our home is Wheat Bread by Behr in Eggshell and I love it! It is the perfect “greige” color – a grey beige. You can see the new color on the left and the old color on the right.
So here’s the before…
And here’s the after!
Yes, I made a few more changes – one being the curtains! Go back and scroll between those 2 photos again. Do you see what a difference hanging your curtains HIGH makes?? Oh, how I love curtains hung HIGH and WIDE!
Here’s a few more angles of before and after.
Before…
After!
Before…
After.
And one last one. Before…
After.
I just love the new paint color! Can’t wait till all the old beige paint is gone from my home. Still have all of upstairs to do unfortunately.
I debated about what to do about the bottom part and a lot of you weighed on in this facebook post. I think I have decided to just leave it for now. I like the contrast and the one option I would really like to do (beadboard below the chair rail) would just be a lot of difficult cuts around all the windows. I still would like to add beadboard on the back of the bar area and hope to get that done soon. The other option I have considered is actually painting the bottom part of the wall the same color as the top and leaving up the chair rail – you see that a lot in dining rooms in modern homes. So we’ll see… I will live with it like this for now and see what I think in a few weeks/months.
I have 3 more things I would like to do in here – add beadboard to the back of the bar, create a DIY sign to hang where the “EAT” letters are and move those back to above the door, and stain the table darker. Hoping to get those done soon.
I will be back to show you how I made my curtains later this week, but here’s a hint – I only paid $15 total and a reused another household item to make them. 
Any clue what they might be?
So what do you think of the new color? What would you do about the bottom portion? Do you hang your curtains high and wide?
Love the new paint color but would definitely change the bottom. It makes the room look “bottom heavy.” Love the bead board idea. Another idea would be to add “picture frames” to the bottom then paint the entire bottom a high gloss white to give the illusion of wainscoting.
LOVE the curtains!!!! …nuf said. 🙂
Fabulous! It’s so much lighter and brighter over time. I love the curtains hung high.
Such a nice bright eat in area. Luv the curtains hung higher 🙂
Hugs, Gee
Lightening up the lower wall color would seem to me to lighten the entire room. Is it possible to make the tabletop the same color as the countertop, or is that an island? The way you hung the curtains seems to be a great idea, especially if you have low ceilings.
Looks great! I’m considering beadboard for my eat-in kitchen also. Even though I just have a plain wall, the outlets/light switch have me scared. (Yes, we are DIY wimps, not a handy bone in either body-hubby or me.) I’ve been seeing beadboard wallpaper on Pinterest. Might that be an option for you?
I have watched your kitchen transform over the last several years, I must say, I love it! I like the darker bottom personally. I think the changes you have planned will be lovely! Who would think just by changing the hieght of the curtains would have such impact. My guess is you used sheets to make the curtains? Looking forward to your next post!! Also, the red, white and blue on your dining table is so perfect for Summer 🙂
Have a blessed week…
~Sherri
Have you considered the “wall paper” bead board that Southern Hospitality sells? That would be an easy option for getting the bead board look without all the nasty cuts. You should check that out. I love the look of your kitchen as is – even the darker color on the bottom. Your table is a delight for this time of year.
To me each stage your kitchen was in was beautiful but my fav is the latest one! Very lovely!
Love the new color of the kitchen…I would leave it,…I have been hanging curtains right from the top for a few years now…I also use the rods that are open ended I’ll send you a pic 🙂
You might also check into wall paper that looks like bead board. I saw another post where the wallpaper was used on the back of an island, and until I read that it was wall paper, I had no idea what!
All of the changes look nice! It’s so amazing how the clean lines of the curtains and flooring make the room look so much larger.
Yes! the curtains and flooring changed the room so much!
I am inspired by what you have done! What are the colors you used?