Have you ever laid on the floor of your kitchen and really examined your kitchen cleanliness? Okay, maybe that’s an odd question…but I recently did that on Sunday and boy was I amazed at what I saw!

My husband and I are both neat freaks and pretty darn OCD, but I hadn’t realized how deep of a clean my kitchen was in need for! So I busted out my rubber gloves, microfiber cloths and some of my favorite cleaning products and started scrubbing. I cleaned every inch that I could, all the cabinetry wiped clean, countertops polished, appliances gleamed, hardwood floors mopped and rug shampooed. After I was done, I realized how pretty it all looked and while I know it won’t last forever…I thought why not talk about kitchen decor and function? The kitchen is the heart of the home, a major walkway in our home, a hangout for guests and family, and ultimately gets haphazardly messy.

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When my husband and I purchased our first home a year and a half ago, the kitchen of our home was one of my favorite things about it. White cabinetry, granite countertops, and marble backsplash….everything I would have picked had I done it myself. We’ve made a few tweaks and improvements adding in under-cabinet and above the sink lighting, but I love styling the countertops for each season. As a well-known knick-knack lover, I can easily fill the countertops of my kitchen. However, I lately have been embracing the less-is-more mentality. I try to only leave out the essentials (coffee, breadbox, knife block, canister set and mixer) and use the peninsula area for more decorative function unless its needed for prep space. We added the nickel-finish hanging bar from Ikea earlier this fall and I enjoy how it eliminates things immediately from the surface of the countertop. I also attempt to hide outlets where immediately visible, such as behind my cutting board (behind bread box), the picture frame, and behind the canister set.

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If you missed it on a previous blog post around here, the added pendant light was hung via the “Magic Light Trick” and can be found in THIS previous blog post. I also changed the curtains recently in our kitchen window that match the adjoining set in our breakfast area by hemming the length to make them a valance. Our kitchen gets so much more natural light thanks to this and I can’t wait to one day replace this window and make it a functional opening window. As an added element, I also love using the mini cake stand for our soap dispensers. Not only does it look cute (Target dollar spot for the win!), but it also isolates soapy messes that develop on countertops.

Our kitchen also has these adorable built-ins around the fridge area. They could have been used for fine china….if we had that….OR I could use them functionally and to display some of my favorite things! You should always surround yourself in your home with the things that bring you the most joy, which for me always consists of family heirlooms and antiques firstly. I don’t allow myself to get bogged down with whatever is necessarily trendy, especially when I have specific objects that have sentimental value or history behind them. To me, those are the objects that give your decorative style a special twist and flair!

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This entire deep cleaning wouldn’t have started had I not wanted to try my new cleaning products from Grove Collaborative. This post is in no way sponsored, but I signed up for their free kit and purchased some new cleaning products that were kinder to the environment and my home. One of them was this Mrs. Meyer’s Multi-Surface cleaner. I had used this before and didn’t like how it made my granite countertops streaky, but I had the idea to try it on my painted cabinetry because it’s free of harsh chemicals. Boy oh boy did it work wonders! My white cabinets are now so clean and the kitchen smelled amazing! I had no idea how grimy and unclean those cabinets can look quickly, and I cleaned every square inch of cabinetry with this stuff and microfiber cloths and it tackled all kinds of stuck on stains. I highly recommend this multi-surface cleaner for your cabinetry, and all of the Mrs. Meyer’s line of products are great.

So there’s some spring cleaning inspiration for you! I know our kitchen will be nowhere near this clean in t-minus like one day, but it looks beautiful for now and I learned some new cleaning tricks along the way! 🙂

xoxo, Chelsea