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Do you find that little things can make a difference?

16 years ago

Did you make a small change that has a significant impact on the overall look of your kitchen?

We are not changing the overall footprint of our small galley kitchen in our remodel. But, we did enlarge and arch the doorway into the kitchen to reflect the cove ceilings and arched entryways in the dining room and living room areas. We're still in the early stages of remodel, but so far, we're very pleased with how it blends in.

Before:

After:

What are your small but significant changes?

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Comments (8)

cpang74
16 years ago
Wow-changing your wallpaper made a huge difference too! Not just the arched entry! Amazing how that happened!
I think paint color and cabinet hardware are small things that make a HUGE change!
lilyj
16 years ago
I think you will see a big difference anytime you can do away with part of a wall that makes the room seemed closed up or blocks a nice view. I was always against an open floor plan, but I'm at that time of my life now where I want to do an about-face on so many things. We've removed part of a wall and a cabinet that blocked not only a lot of natural light but a beautiful view. The change is wonderful!

Color changes the personality of a room. As much as I love my pinks and roses, I'm searching for a new paint color that still makes me feel good, but reflects my changing tastes. I'm thinking terracotta or something close to Fiesta's persimmon. It seems that I can't totally abandon the lighter shades of red.
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Carol, here's how I make my lasagna pasta: 2 eggs 1/4 tsp salt 1/3 cup semolina flour 1/3 cup whole wheat flour (I use white WW) 1/3 cup white flour Beat the eggs in a small mixing bowl with the salt and dump in the flours. It can be any combination of flours as long as the total is one cup. Stir in the flour with a spoon until partially combined, and then mix with your hand until you get the dough into a ball. It will be sticky at first, but eventually all the dough from your hand will stick to the ball instead of to your hand. If the dough is too dry, add a few drops of water - if it is too wet, knead in some more white flour on a board or countertop. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes to one hour, covered. Meanwhile, prepare the fillings for your lasagna, so that they will be ready for assembly. Divide the dough into six equal balls, and keep these covered until ready to roll out. Add a thin layer of tomato sauce to the bottom of the pan - I use an 8" Corningware pan that has a lid. Roll out the first ball with a rolling pin (I prefer one with ball bearings) into a squircle the size and shape of the pan, using flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Shake off excess flour, and place the first piece of pasta into the pan. Spritz the pasta with a bit of water, and then add whatever fillings you choose. Repeat rolling out the rest of the balls, thus making six layers of lasagna, with sauce and Mozzarella on top. The pasta will be a bit thin (somewhat like ravioli pasta) but will swell up a bit during baking. The Corningware pan is nice because it has its own lid, and therefore you do not need aluminum foil. ------------- I do not dry the pasta - it will tend to be brittle and crack if you do. This is why you need to have the fillings ready before you start rolling out the pasta. If you want thicker pasta, you can divide it into five balls instead of six, and then you will have fewer layers. Of course you can mix your pasta dough however you want, such as in a food processor, but I don't like having to clean the FP and find mixing it in a bowl just as quick, and in fact quicker, if you add in the cleaning time.
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farmhousebound
16 years ago
Paint can do amazing things to a room. To me, the little details also make a huge difference in achieving "a look". I recently came across jgarner's kitchen and loved her attention to vintage detail - all the way down to the push button light switches. I loved it so much that I have talked DH into allowing me to do the same, although only in our kitchen (which I am trying to keep a vintage feel)!
amcofar
16 years ago
Adding crown molding to my kitchen greatly boosted its presence.

BTW, I love that arched doorway--that's a striking architectural statement.
hollylh
16 years ago
It is great to see these pix. We have similar arches and your pictures confirm my feeling that it's important to repeat them in our remodel.

We are also making changes without altering the original footprint/appliance layout (although we are converting some of the family room to kitchen space) and I am hoping that enlarging a window, getting rid of some upper cabinets, etc. will make the space feel much bigger and lighter. We are not doing a gut remodel like many here (because, thankfully, we don't need one yet) but I still keep calling this "redoing the kitchen"!
pbrisjar
16 years ago
We're not changing the footprint, either. The biggest structural change we made was to take out a set of cabinets that hung over our peninsula. As soon as we did that the feel of the whole area changed. We couldn't stop talking about it. Hubby also added some crown moulding to the room. It added so much character and polish.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our WIP
flatcoat2004
16 years ago
Oh, without a doubt ! Your doorway and kitchen look so much crisper and cleaner now ! Looking good !

It's funny, I have always loved the small details that you really have to work hard to see. And surprisingly, my favourite details are often very inexpensive. Well, sometimes ...;-)
budge1
16 years ago
Looks amazing!

Red tulips do it for me -you can't get any more inexpensive than that. A vaseful totally changes the whole feeling of a room - especially a kitchen.

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