Show Us Your Life - Kitchens

Today over at Kelly's Korner, she is hosting her weekly Show Us Your Life blog hop and I thought I would participate this week since the topic was "kitchens" and I spend so much of my time in that room of our house.

This is our dining area - our table is counter height with matching leather chairs and I love it!  I wish we sat at it more often, but instead we usually eat in the living room...does anyone else do that?

Here's a close up of the fall centerpiece that's on my table right now...

A recent addition to the kitchen is my chalkboard... A friend of mine was remodeling her kitchen and was getting rid of her old cabinet doors and so I asked her if I could have one... I had been wanting a chalkboard for the kitchen for a long time and now I have one!!  It was SO easy to make.  I spray painted the outside white and then used chalkboard paint (yes, they make such a thing!) to paint the inside - Viola!  I have used it to write out our grocery list, scripture verses, the menu for the week, etc...lots of options!  

I love all my cabinets - they are all filled to the max - I have a small obsession with anything kitchen...and the fact that I own multiples of everything in our Pampered Chef catalog doesn't help either :)

When we built our house we added the island in the middle - it meant we would loose some space and not be able to have quite as big of a dining table, but man was it worth it!  The island is by far my favorite thing about my kitchen, I don't know what I'd do without it (plus it's additional cabinet space)! Atticus usually eats his meals at the island. 

 A few other views....

Between the large kitchen window and the back door have this quote from Shakespeare on the wall...I think it's perfect for the kitchen!

Right off the kitchen are double french doors that lead to the library - this is probably where Aaron spends most of his time, so it's nice that they are so close in proximity and Atticus can run back and forth between the two of us while I'm getting dinner ready! 

And while it's not in the kitchen, you can sort of see if from the kitchen, soI thought I'd include it anyways - my fall mantle this season...