{ project #saskmomfabkitchen }

My family and I live in an infill in the Buena Vista neighbourhood. I am extremely thankful for our lovely home --which we were able to secure just before the boom in Saskatoon. It is comfortable and functional for our family. Yet over the past seven years that we have lived here, I have grown quite tired of the builder-grade feel and have wanted to inject more of my personal style into the decor.

{ saskmom kitchen prior to the fabulousness}

My kitchen is the one room in the house that I spend the most time in during a day {unfortunately that includes time spent sleeping in my bedroom these days}. In this season of life, I am either making a meal, whipping up a healthy snack, packing food for school or outings, prepping for supper, entertaining guests or cleaning up after these activities. Our kitchen is not only the hub of our daily life, it also just so happens to be the central point of our house. It is visible from the front door, back door, dining room and living room.

{ Marilena making measurements for the magic }

Since my kitchen holds such a prominent space in our home, it tops my list for areas to dress up. And yet, I haven't quite known how to start.

Enter my friend, Marilena. I met Marilena a few years ago when she first moved to Canada. {She is a beautiful Brazilian architect who ended up in Saskatoon by way of Nebraska--go figure.}

Marilena is one of those friends who I regularly turn to for fashion advice. On numerous occasions, I have raided her closet before a special event. We have spent many playdates with our children discussing decorating ideas at her house or mine.

Recently, Marilena has joined forces with another local mom to turn their fashion interests into a new interior design business. Marilena and Carissa launched Fabulous Design + in the fall of 2013. Their focus is residential interior design that reflects the needs and style of the customer.

One day last week, these ladies came over after school drop off to discuss my vision for my little kitchen project.  I say "little" because I was unsure what they would think about the parameters set by the other partner in this equation -- my wonderful hubby, who happens to think our kitchen looks perfectly fine as is.

I somewhat apologetically gave them the budget of $500 to work with. I was surprised to see smiles cross their faces. They both saw this as a "fun challenge" to provide a "lipstick solution" that would have significant visual impact on a modest budget.

I am extremely excited to see how the process unfolds and will share peeks into the progress here on my blog. Marilena and Carissa will be documenting the project from their vantage point on their own blog: The Fabulous Design File. Follow along also on Instagram, #saskmomfabkitchen. It's going to be . . . FABULOUS!