Ah, the kitchen! To me, the kitchen is often the center of a home. It's where you cook meals. It's where friends and family gather when they are over to snack on tiny bite-sized snacks and chat about life. It's the place where my children will have meals, learn to bake cookies from scratch, and where my husband and I will prepare meals for our family. Here's a peek at some of the plans for our kitchen…

Our current apartment rental (where we have lived for 9 years) has brown wood cabinets, black countertops, and rust-colored tile. I don't own it and have therefore left it exactly as it is. It has served us well over the years, and we have made the best of a smaller kitchen and limited countertop space. But, it's dark and not inviting at all.

So, for our new home, I wanted the kitchen to be light and bright and feel open and inviting. The new kitchen isn't huge, but we will have space for a small island which I am very excited about to be able to have a surface to prep and also to have a few counter stools where we can also have meals. The white cabinets that will fill most of the kitchen are accented with texture from the countertop, backsplash tile, and accent wallpaper. Smaller doses of brass and wood will warm up the bright and light space.

Shown: 1. Clare paint in Timeless, 2. Tabarka Basel 1 cement/brass tile for a small backsplash area, 3. Concrete Collaborative terrazzo tile on floor, 4. Makelike wallpaper for an accent wall, 5. Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo 5131 for countertop, 6. Fyrn stools, 7. Schaub appliance pulls.

Here's a peek at the floor! It has brass accents in the flooring (with schulter strips). This was a way to bring in the look of something custom without the price tag of a completely custom poured floor or brass detail. It still needs to have grout put in between the tiles, but it's all happening!

Shown: Reform Degree cabinets, Tabarka Basel 1 cement and brass tile for a small backsplash area.

I love the mix of texture and shine with the combo of cement and brass and wanted the tile to be a way to bring in a bit of pattern since the cabinets will be all solid white. Here are some tile studies we played with for a small area of backsplash. Some feel heavier while some feel lighter. Which one do you like best?

I can't wait to show you more as we go!

{First photo by Morgan Pansing, all others by Lily Glass. Construction by Boswell Construction, Architecture by Project M+, Interiors and renderings in collaboration with Cleo Murnane at Project M+. All other layouts by Joy Cho. My dress is past season Gorman, boots are Red Wing Heritage. Written by Joy Cho.}