I love me some chartreuse.  But its days in my kitchen are numbered.  I don’t think it ever REALLY fit in our kitchen space with the light wood cabinets and the multi-colored flecked granite counter tops.

(Please excuse the empty paper towel holder and the Tupperware; just keeping it real folks)

So after these little beauties caught my eye, I knew it was time for a change:

(West Elm Oven Mitt – Cafe Stripe)

(West Elm Cotton Apron – Cafe Stripe)

I’m obsessed with the old school stripes and I think the blue & white combo will look clean and simple.  They also happen to compliment a lot of the red utensils we already own from Williams-Sonoma and have out on our countertop:

So what’s the next step?  A rug for the floor obviously.  I’d love to find one of those cushioned floor mats to help save my feet for the few times a month I actually spend more than 5 minutes at a time in there.  But it’s rather difficult to find one that isn’t covered in grape leaves, flowers, or cartoonish chefs or doesn’t look like it was pulled from the kitchen of your local Olive Garden.  So for now, in keeping with my life-long love of stripes (and sticking with my non-existent budget), I’m thinking of picking up one of these guys from Ikea this weekend:

For art, I’m thinking of going a little non-traditional.  On a recent outing to our favorite brunch spot, Toast, Jefe and I saw this tea towel from Crate & Barrel underneath the glass of the tabletop.  I’m thinking it would look great framed on the wall (not to mention helpful for this neophyte cook):

Lastly, I’m thinking of a little accessorizing for the counter area to the left of our stove top which is basically just dead space.  There’s a solid 3′ by 2′ of counter space, however, it’s wedged in the corner rendering it completely unusable for use while cooking.  So it’s really just a storage space for a wine rack, a bottle of balsamic vinegar that’s too tall for our shelf inside our cabinets, and my recipe box that admittedly hasn’t gotten much use in the last few months.

While meandering through Marshall’s last night, I came across some white ceramic canisters with chalkboard labels, similar to the ones below from Crate & Barrel that I think would be a great addition to that area (although mine would be filled with coffee beans, ground coffee, and Splenda):

Consider this kitchen on its way to being fully updated!

In other news, while walking past a pet store in New York last weekend (and lots of pestering on my part), Jefe FINALLY agreed that we can look in to getting a dog.  We still need to do our research in terms of costs, finding the type of dog we want (Miss Sneezy here has to be a bit particular), and everything that’s involved in training a dog, but I can’t help but let my excitement get the best of me.  So you may see an upcoming post or two that’s focused on aesthetically pleasing dog beds, leashes and food/water bowls.  Consider yourself warned 😉