As promised, and despite the fact that I’ve now moved in with a boy (hence the title ‘girly flat’) here’s the long overdue tour of my (old) kitchen. To see the before when we first moved in to the flat check out this post.

We faced several decor challenges with our kitchen. It’s a long narrow space with only one low window so the lighting isn’t ideal and we only have lower cabinets, one of which houses a dishwasher, so storage was an issue. As renters, there weren’t many changes we could make to the room so we had to think vertically, utilising the wall space to maximum effect.

This corner to the left of the oven is where we house all the cooking utensils, oils, herbs and accompaniments you could need when cooking – it was so useful having everything so close to hand. The Le Creuset salt and pepper mill and utensil jar were gifts to go with my inherited Le Creuset enamel pans set. They add a nice pop of colour and really stand out against the green tile.

The spice rack mounted on the wall saved valuable cabinet space, it’s just a cheapy Ikea one. We used a picture hook to hang a chopping board when not in use.

Directly to the right of the stove is our sink, with a low, wide window over it that looks across the back gardens of our neighbours. This kitchen is actually part of a two storey extension that was added to the house, the entrance to it is a large arch that used to house a bay window.

I’m a big believer in having pretty things to look at while washing up, anything to make it a bit more enjoyable ha! We used the windowsill to house a variety of pretty vases, jugs and chinaware. They often sported flowers or were used when extra plates were needed for guests. Love serving delicate bites on pretty china!

To the right of the window we were lucky to already have a metal shelf with hanging bar installed. We used that to store small appliances like a nutri-bullet and food processor.

We used the bar to hang pretty and vintage utensils, our onions (we’re so French ;)) and mini silver buckets which house herbal teas, ginger and garlic.

This corner of the kitchen (ignore the unsightly boiler eek) houses my set of vintage Le Creuset pans. I actually got given these by my parents who no longer wanted them, they’re older than me!

Check out the precarious stack of cookware on top of the fridge, we tried to eek out every last inch of space hehe. That long colourful runner rug is an old Urban Outfitters purchase, ideal for a narrow space like this.

To the right is a little nook with shelves in, this turned out to be so handy and acted as a mini pantry, storage for glassware and our extensive supply of cookbooks – which of course I arranged by colour.

That wooden trolley is from Ikea, it fitted perfectly in the nook and housed all our glassware which definitely wouldn’t have fitted anywhere else.

I decanted our dry goods including pulses, grains and her mixes into Kilner jars – I really love the rustic look plus I find having everything I need visible means I tend to use it more.

The glass bauble is actually a vintage piece from my housemates mum, it fits perfectly in front of the red cookbooks. Speaking of cookbooks, we really need to thin down our collection ha!

So that’s our kitchen. We’ve been really happy with how we’ve managed to maximise storage without making the space feel cluttered. We’ve injected our personality and a bit of colour into the space which makes me smile when I’m cooking or pottering around in there. I’ll be back soon to show you the rest of the flat.

Love, Sarah x