Wabi-sabi is the Japanese concept of finding beauty in imperfection. Or so I’m told. I’m actually not that up on design philosophies.

My kitchen has lots of wabi-sabi.

A local company is having a contest to find the ugliest kitchen in the city; the winner gets their cabinets refinished. Here is the image that I submitted:

Let me point out some of the features…

1. We’ve got mismatched cupboards – about 65% are worn out wood and the remaining 35% cupboard doors are cheap laminate
2. The countertop was cut too short, and so there is an extra inch that sits between the counter top and the wall. It’s not attached or anything, it just sits there.
3. The door beside our dishwasher is about 3 inches wide and fits absolutely nothing.
4. The backsplash is faux brick that doesn’t come off without damaging the whole wall. We painted one wall white, but that took so long that we never bothered to start the second wall. I realize now that white was a bad choice – painted brick doesn’t wash well at all and so the wall is always dirty. I’m thinking it would be fun to do them aqua instead?
5. The counter-top is so old that we can’t fasten the tap to the counter top – you have to hold the faucet down with one hand if you need to switch it from one sink to the other

I had assumed that we’d redo the kitchen fairly soon after moving into the house. That was back in the days when we rented and had things like disposable income. Oh, silly us.

But despite that I don’t have the kitchen of my dreams, there are things that I love about my kitchen – little quirky things that make me happy.

1. The matryoshka dolls on my oven. They’re actually measuring cups, but I don’t know that we’ve ever used them to measure anything. They are there mostly to make me smile.

2. The sign my mom randomly had plaqued for me. I’m not sure what inspired her to do it, but it matches my kitchen and makes me laugh. Because I’m awesome.

3. Our worm composting bin. We like digging through it and looking for worms. Okay, the girls have lost interest, but I still like digging them up to say hi.

4. Our bulletin board covered in art work. Honestly, I love seeing how my daughters skills grow with each new picture she creates.

This next picture shows two of my favorite things:

5. Our chalkboard wall filled with lists, inspirational quotes, goals, pictures and words that we’re learning to read. In June, I’d like to make the whole board into a giant summer bucket list.

6. Our dresser that we use for baking supplies. I really love the dresser – it’s unexpected but so totally practical – it just fits the space perfectly.

It’s funny. My house doesn’t have a lot of character in itself, but I’m happy that we can still fill it with whimsy. And even if we never redo the kitchen at all, it’s still one of my favorite rooms to be in.

What room do you want to redo? What is your favorite thing about that room as it is right now?