to start : we're building a kitchen nook

It's gonna happen because it has to happen. Our galley kitchen is rather small, say 120 square feet, and it's had at least two eat-in areas that I know of. The previous owners thankfully removed a bar-height double-stool counter that faced the dining room, backs to the south-facing window (fools!). We've been using a small table and chairs for anything but eating. It's become the dump-all, and we all hate it. Waste of space, waste of furniture, and totally unhelpful for all those kid paintings I want to make with, well, the kids. And if you know anything of kids, which I'm sure everyone does, then you know this is bound to happen unless you have a proper area.

Here's a flashback to the kitchen we purchased, and a bit about what we did with it the first 4 months.

We did a lot of cosmetic work, and then it looked like this:

And it mostly looks like that today, with minor tweaks.

Here's the area in question:

We've since removed the two garbage cans, and the table area is never that clean. Just sayin'. Never.

Here's what I'm looking for with the kitchen nook:

1. Seating for 4-6 adults, 5-8 kids
2. Something that looks like it fits
3. A pedastal table for greater legroom
4. An overhang so that legs can kick back, swing, etc. without hitting the bench itself.
5. An area for coloring, painting, snacking, help with baking, homework, etc. 
6. Not the place we really eat meals (we really like using our actual dining room for that!).

Source: designsponge.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: simplyseleta.typepad.com via Larissa on Pinterest

And this is another option, a bracketed bench. I'm hesitant about the added cleaning space underneath, and I prefer the permanency of the previous two looks, but this is a great alternative.

Source: desiretoinspire.net via Jennifer on Pinterest

I tried something and it failed. And then I found this light tutorial and it hit me, I was trying too hard for something so simple. There's a better way.

Source: inmyownstyle.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

Mom Hawk is on board to help, and Hawk and I are hopefully evicting the current table and chairs this week (to the Hawk-family lending circus we call Mom Hawk's basement storage room).

We figure we can build our whole piece, minus paint, for under $100. Seriously. If not, we'll fail and you can enjoy the results. Either way, I'll have my dinging nook!

Anyone else tackle something like this? Anything I should know?

icj,
`j

tweet