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Nick + Alicia

Lifestyle

December 8, 2016 | by Alicia

Simple Christmas Kitchen

I am excited to be joining Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday Housewalk Link Party! 

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

Welcome to our simple Christmas kitchen!

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

Our kitchen truly is the heart of our home, especially during the holidays. We love to spend time together in here, cooking hearty meals, baking holiday treats or simply catching up on the day’s events. It’s the place everyone gathers when they come to visit – perched around the island to chat and sneak a taste of dinner before it’s served. It’s a beautiful, bright and inviting space, and probably my favorite room in our home.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

But it wasn’t always.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

We have spent countless hours creating this beautiful space for our family (do you remember what it used to look like? Take a peek here). It never quite seems to be complete, there’s always one more project to finish or one more update to complete to make it more functional or enjoyable for our family.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

But that’s ok, it’s part of the fun of creating a home you love.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

Do you recognize the changes we’ve made most recently?

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

Let’s start with these pretty new bar stools at our island. I think they look so simple and light compared to our previous upholstered stools. The give the space an airier feel.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

These stools were an amazing find, and come with a bit of a funny story. Early this fall I headed out for an early morning walk with our little one and noticed three of these stools sitting on the curb of a neighboring home. The homeowners were moving and no longer wanted them, so they had set them out for free.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

We had been looking for new stools for our kitchen island for a while, and I’m not one to pass up free furniture. So it was decided, they were coming home with me – one way or another. I’m sure I was quite a sight, harried mom pushing a baby stroller with one hand and simultaneously attempting to drag three bar stools behind. 🙂

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

It wasn’t an easy feat, but we made it – baby, mom and all three stools. They were finished in a dark stain with a few scratches on them, but I simply spent some time priming and painting and they are as good as new.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

We’ve already made good use of them, crowding around our island to bake Christmas goodies, like this simple holiday cake. We whipped this up using a simple boxed cake recipe (see how we make a boxed cake taste homemade here), created a naked cake look with whipped frosting and topped with these pretty sugared cranberries (you can get the recipe from my sweet friend, Kristen at Ella Claire). Pretty, isn’t it?

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

And did you notice the beautiful new desks underneath our built-ins?

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

We replaced the small black tables on either side of our built-ins with these gorgeous natural wood floating desks. Aren’t they beautiful?

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

For a while, we’ve known the black tables weren’t really working in our space anymore. Because of their dark color and temporary feel, they stood out (not in a good way) and didn’t flow well with the rest of our kitchen. We had talked about building desks in these spaces to create a more functional and cohesive look.

So one afternoon, not too long ago Nick got to work building these beautiful floating desks. Originally we planned on all white desks to match the built-ins, but a last minute decision took us on a different design path. We opted to stain the desktops to match our butcher block island top, and I’m so happy we made that choice.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

The natural wood really adds warmth to the space, I think if we had painted them all white, it would have felt stark and cold.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

I styled the shelves above using my collection of glass and white ceramic pieces and added in touches of wood and wicker to pull in the natural wood tones. Fresh sprigs of cedar add a little color and life to the space. Nick also built me these sweet little chalkboards for each side, I like that the black of the chalkboard helps to ground the space. They are the perfect little spot to hang holiday cards or jot down messages.

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

A simple Christmas kitchen with farmhouse charm

I hope you enjoyed today’s little tour of our simple Christmas kitchen, I know we enjoyed having you. And don’t forget to take a peek at the rest of our holiday home.

Alicia xo

Don’t miss out of the rest of our holiday home!
Take a tour of our home room by room!

Simple Christmas Entry | Simple Christmas Kitchen | Navy & Gold Christmas Tree

Inviting Holiday Dining Room | Cozy Christmas Living Room | Cozy Neutral Christmas Bedroom

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Thank you for helping support our blog.

Get the Look


kitchen sources


  • Wall color – Pale Oak by Benjamin Moore
  • Cabinet color – Cloud White by Benjamin Moore
  • Custom cabinets – Tutorial
  • Cutting boards – Vintage (similar)
  • Pendants – Union Lighting (similar)
  • Valance – Tutorial
  • Island – Ikea
  • Bar stools – Thrifted (similar)
  • White dishes – Wayfair
  • Glass beverage dispenser – HomeSense / HomeGoods (similar)
  • Wicker trays – Thrifted (similar)
  • Cake plates – HomeSense / HomeGoods (similar)
  • Glass pitchers – HomeSense / HomeGoods (similar)
  • Bronze and glass vases – Canadian Tire
  • Desk lamps – HomeSense / HomeGoods (similar)
  • Chalkboards – DIY (similar)
  • Upholstered desk chairs – Ikea
  • Foot stool – Ikea
  • Mat – HomeSense / HomeGoods (similar)
  • Hand lettered sign – The Signery
  • Glass canisters – Walmart (similar)
  • KitchenAid stand mixer – Wayfair

 

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Comments

  1. Tess says

    December 11, 2016 at 1:56 pm

    You have my dream kitchen! I love all the white in it! Thanks for sharing it with us.

    Reply
    • Alicia says

      December 11, 2016 at 3:26 pm

      So glad to have you here, Tess! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Dianne says

    December 14, 2016 at 5:50 pm

    Love the updates you made in the kitchen. Those built in shelves are perfect
    and fun to style. I’m sure.
    Love your kitchen.
    ,

    Reply
    • Alicia says

      December 16, 2016 at 3:09 pm

      Thank you so much Dianne, I sure have fun styling them each season! xo

      Reply

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Our living room got a little refresh for spring wi Our living room got a little refresh for spring with these beautiful pillows from @rainsfordcompany. Aren’t they amazing? 😍.All four of these pillows are from their new in-house pillow collection and they are so good! The quality is incredible, and the colours and prints are perfection, seriously, I could go on forever about them. You can find out why I love them so much if you visit our blog today, nickandalicia.com.And if you want to give your home a little extra love this spring, head on over to @rainsfordcompany and order a new pillow or two! You can even save 15% with the code ALICIA15, it doesn’t get much better than that!#rainsfordpartner #rainsfordathome #stylelivesforever
Even though we have this amazing office nook in ou Even though we have this amazing office nook in our basement I've been working from the kitchen island lately. That's because our kitchen renovation is 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 finished, and I just want to spend as much time as I can in the bright beautiful space we've created! It's so good, and we will finally be sharing it with you next week!
We're starting to think about transitioning Ella f We're starting to think about transitioning Ella from her nursery into a big girl bedroom. She'll be three in a few more months and she's eager to say goodbye to her crib, although I'm not sure if we're ready! 😭 ⁣ ⁣ So I'm brainstorming ways to create a space for her that suits her spunky personality and will grow with her over the years. And while I'm at it Zoe's requested a little refresh to her bedroom too. It's been four years since we moved her from her nursery into her bedroom now and she's ready for a change too.
We're getting a little sneak peek of spring today We're getting a little sneak peek of spring today with sunshine and mild weather, and it's so refreshing! It has me thinking of sunny days ahead and fresh-cut lilacs from our yard. 💜
I am so glad we added miniature trees to the girls I am so glad we added miniature trees to the girls' bedrooms this year. They absolutely loved having their very own tree to decorate with their collection of ornaments and handmade treasures.It was a simple and inexpensive way to add an extra dose of holiday magic to their rooms, after all, there is nothing better than witnessing Christmas through the eyes of a child. They truly find such beauty and magic in even the smallest of details. 🎄

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