Kitchen Mini-Makeover Mood Board

The hubs and I have decided to give our kitchen/dining area a face lift! We have lived in the same apartment for almost 3 years now, but have never really attempted to make it feel like a home. Neither of us really likes it here (there aren't many - scratch that - any amenities) and I think we've both felt that we would be moving soon....yet here it is several years later and we are still here :)

This year we discussed various options - buying a house or condo, renting a nicer place, moving to a different city - but all of these would come with increased expenses. So to keep costs as low as possible while we are paying off our student loans, we have decided to stay put for awhile longer. BUT! And this is the exciting part for me - we have also decided to stop living with our mishmash of college furniture and the odd hand-me-down! Basically we are re-evaluating everything we own room by room. Purging, reorganizing and streamlining to make our place really feel like it's our own. Before we purchase anything new for the kitchen/dining area, I have agreed to fulfill the following tasks:

1. Find a storage spot for our 5 gallon water bottles when not in use

2. Find a place for our reusable grocery bags

3. Throw away one of the cheap bookshelves we bought from Wal-Mart (there is still another one in there for now)

4. Move a small wooden bookshelf to the hallway and use it to store books rather than dry goods

5. Move my sewing supplies to another room

6. Find a spot for my kitchenaid stand mixer

7. Sell our current table and chairs

All but two of these tasks have been completed! So I made up a mood board of what I would like to purchase for this room:

Kitchen make... by ashtonia

Cost breakdown:

Ikea Jokkmokk table and 4 chairs: $129

Ikea Expedit bookcase: $129

Crate and Barrel Harper rug (30"x 50"): $30

Lampshade: I would like to budget $25 for this purchase

(The art and plates are there to show the color palette of what we already own and see daily in the room)

Total: $313

The hubs has 3 paintings that are primarily yellow and red that are hanging in the kitchen and our dishes are the peacock and navy blue colors you see in the mood board. I have been having trouble figuring out how to make these different colors work cohesively, but I think that rug may be just the trick! I love the shade of blue, yellow and red in the rug and I think it will help tie the room together.

The smaller ikea table would replace the large round table we are using now, which I hope will make the room seem bigger.

The bookshelf cubbies would serve as an open pantry and storage for some of our appliances. One large bookcase will look much cleaner than the three mismatched ones we are using now :)

I'm sure this make over will be a slow process, but I will post pictures once the transformation begins!