Home on a Budget-Kitchen and Dining Room

I've teamed up with my daughters house to share how she has been able to create a lovely home for herself with minimal investment in most areas, hand me downs, and a few splurges. Last week I posted a picture of her porch-that is an area she has not yet done anything to mostly because she never came across a seating options that she was willing to pay the asking price. She, and I on her behalf, will keep looking at options between now and spring. In the meantime, she has just a camp chair for reading outside positioned under her window.

She put up just a simple café curtain below the stained glass in a neutral gray.

Speaking though of that window, that is her dining room. To describe the house, now turned into three units, it was a traditional turn of the 19th-20th century large home. The main floor, which is DD1's place, has a dining room and kitchen, and then what I think was originally a front and back parlor. The bathroom is adjacent to the back entrance of her place that goes to the back entrance of the house and down to the shared laundry (though all three have their own washer and dryer) and basement apartment. What I think was the back parlor is DD1's bedroom, and the front parlor her living room. Because there are pocket doors separating the parlors from each other, and the front form the dining room, and a regular door separates the bedroom form the kitchen, someone could use the dining room as a living room and use both parlors as bedrooms.

Today's post will be on the kitchen and dining room as she uses them. It was hard getting a full picture of the kitchen, so I'm showing as segments. Here is her stove area.

It sits between her back door and a built in cupboard nook. She uses the bottom open part of the nook for her garbage and recycling and the top cupboards for her coffee and tea mugs. It's an old stove and oven, but she keep it shiny, with her teakettle, bought second hand, and a gifted painting party flower hanging. She doesn't have the traditional triangle of fridge, stove and oven, and sink, but makes it work . Her refrigerator is on a wall opposite the sink, seen in the picture below. She is very limited in closet space, so uses the back of her one kitchen closet for coats scarves, and bags. 

Quirky undesirable features? Yes, there is odd wallpaper borders, and interesting nooks throughout the kitchen. While her land lord might be fine with her taking down the borders, there probably would then be a need for repainting, and that would be charged to her. Instead, she just left things alone and is using her own items to sort of cover up what she does not like. Her London Wood plaque is an example, and a reminder of her year of grad school. 

The corner area is her coffee and prep area. She is loaded with cupboard space as these go all the way to the ceiling. Her coffee maker was a gift, a little four cup job, from me, thinking it was a full pot when I bought it, but it does work for her. The wine rack was a Goodwill purchase for $10, after we had seen comparable ones at Gordman's, already a discount store, for nearly $60. She has assorted crocks for utensils bought second hand or at the Dollar tree to keep her utensils organized.  I'm not sure if you can see, but the little orange and turquoise items are dinosaur planters. Sadly, the plants died and she needs new ones. She did not put any window covering or curtains up as they have a frosty glaze for privacy and let in a lot of natural light.

In her dining room, a built in cabinet with glass doors separates the two rooms. Not a fancy china or dishes gal. She put it to better use to hold books and DVDs, but still found room for her wine glasses. The dining room itself is a good size. The little key tray is New York City, another of DD1's favorite places, at least to visit, and I bought that for her for her Wisconsin apartment, on clearance for something like $1.00 from Pier One. It found a home on the cup bard as well.  She recently got this table from my sister, complete with six chairs so plenty of room to have guests over for a meal. For now, she is leaving it as is, but may decide to upcycle it. She would verify with my sister first to make sure they didn't want it returned or moved elsewhere in the future once DD1 is done with it. 

One of the favorite little touches in her dining room is her fish pitcher/vase. I found this little guy for $ .90 a couple years back at a CVS summer clearance. The color was her, and I thought she might like it, and clearly she has as it has been a part of two of her places now. She chose dried flowers so she wouldn't have to keep changing them, plus has other vases for fresh. 

What isn't in the pictures, because I didn't snap one is the far end of her dining room that she has as area for photography lights. The table is light enough she can move out of the way should she need more space for filming. Also, in her kitchen is a small table and bench that she uses for extra working space when cooking or baking, but also as sort of an office area. 

Nothing is cluttered, everything has a place. She blended using stuff she already had, second hand purchases, practical requests for gifted items, and gently used hand me downs. If financial issues hit her, she could covert the dining room into a living room, and get a roommate for the space that is her living room. It's not a high probability, and her rent is pretty affordable with her income, but don't we all need back up plans for unforeseen situations? I wish the photos were better, but I hope this gives you a glimpse of her little abode, and how she is making it  a home.