Open Shelving

I have a section in my kitchen where I’d like to put open shelving. DH thinks it will make the kitchen look cluttered, I think it will make it look charming. What do you think?

Little Girl Rooms

While in California I was totally inspired by my sister’s gorgeous farmhouse.   One of my favorite rooms was my 4 year old niece’s bedroom. It just looked so dreamy with a canopy above the bed and the chandelier.   The ‘ooh’ factor for me were all of my niece’s ballet outfits hanging on the walls. They didn’t stay there for long since my daughter and nieces decided to do a little fashion show. I am really bummed because I thought I took pictures of the room but it seems I may have deleted them from my camera. UGH! Meanwhile, here are some lovely little girl bedrooms I came across. These should tide me over until I can get my sister to e-mail me some pictures.

Decor Pad

Country Living

Server Makeover

Eons ago I would wake up really early on Saturdays to hit garage sales in search of old, tattered furniture in need of TLC. I’d then bring them back to life by making minor repairs, refinishing or painting them. I don’t do this as often now but still find the time to dabble in projects when time permits. It’s so satisfying to see the transformation of something old to something spectacular. Sometimes a coat of paint and a little elbow grease is all it takes. If you haven’t seen my cane chair makeover check it out here.

Here’s the latest project. This little server needed a little oomph after the kitchen redo.

DH suggested I paint the body and leave the wood exposed on top. It turned out better than I expected. For painting over wood furniture, sand lightly with fine grit paper. Wipe dust off then paint. I used Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint and Primer In One. It worked beautifully and I highly recommend this product. I’ve used this paint on my interior walls too and it sure does save you time!

By the way, I will be heading off to California tomorrow for a little R and R with family and friends. I’ll make sure to share my travels with you.

Ta Da!

Finally, the anticipation is over. Here’s the ALMOST finished kitchen. Still need to tile the back-spalsh/walls, purchase new fridge and stove,  install bin pulls and a few other minor details. DH and I were the designers and project managers through this whole ordeal and our goal was to maximize this small space as best we could. Before, the kitchen was so small and as you can tell not very functional. Now it’s so open. Everyone can be in the kitchen at the same time! I also love the peninsula and my faux Tolix stools. We’ve had a few gatherings already and it’s been so wonderful to be able to entertain. So, without further adieu, here are the before photos.

This is pretty much all the counter space I had to work with.

We removed this wall and what a difference!

See the window? That was closed off and the door we made into a window.

Beautiful formica!

This layout doesn’t even make sense.  The fridge was covering up counter space and cabinets. Even with this awkward kitchen we fell in love with this house and saw the diamond in the rough.

Dining room overlooking the living room. The wall between the dining room and living room was widened and the wall where you see the picture frame, removed.

AND AFTER:

This kitchen reflects our casual lifestyle and I was inspired by this room from La La Lovely, one of my fave blogs. I need to add accessories and put things up on the walls. I was thinking of shelves to the right of the sink. Any suggestions? I’m also getting rid of that family of chickens you see there on the small buffet.  I’m not really going for a country look.

This door was once a window

Topiaries

Remember how I told you I liked plants? Remember? That Andie McDowell movie, Green Card and horticulture classes? Well, during this phase, I also had a thing for topiaries. The small indoor variety, not the big animal shaped hedges. Anyways, I was trying to think of what to put in my kitchen window and topiaries came to mind. I still do have a thing for them, after all.  So on my window, I’d like to have something like these.

You get the gist. This reminds me that I once made topiaries for a craft fair out of dried eucalyptus branches and was amazed that they all sold.  If I was a savvy blogger, I’d have a tutorial of this ready for you right here and now.  Alackaday, I am  ill-prepared. I’ll have something for you next week.  This sounds like a weekend project for me and the kids! Happy weekend everyone.

Pottery Barn Porter Pendant Lights

Happy Monday to you all. I hope you had a great weekend. We sure did. Our windows were finally installed! We’re just waiting on our pendant lights which will be placed above our peninsula. I wanted the mini schoolhouse pendant lighting but DH wasn’t feeling it so we made a compromise on the small white porter pendant from pottery barn.  As soon as we get the pendant lights up, I’ll post before and after pics. Meanwhile, here are some pics of the pendant lighting from Pottery Barn.

Loving These Chairs!

I have a thing for beautifully crafted chairs. Doesn’t matter what era.  If it’s got style, I’m smitten.  So as you can imagine, it was love at first sight when I came across these George Nakashima grass chairs. At $4800 for 2, I doubt they’ll be in my home any time soon so I’m gonna have to swoon from afar.  Howz about a blog challenge? Let’s see who could find these chairs on Craigslist first! Who’s with me? Seriously, I sigh every time I look at these Dufner Heighes images, especially the last one.   An eclectic look never looked so stylish. Sigh…..

photo credit 1stdibs.com

Come On Up

I painted my house this weekend which included stairs-just the basic white.   Looking at these images, I’m thinking I should have been more creative.

by Horst Gläsker for the project “7 Stairways” in Wuppertal, Germany

Another view of SCALA by Horst Gläsker

Gläsker painted then stencilled a word describing human relationships like passion, getting the tingles, to flourish, to fall in love.  Amazing isn’t it?

Not quite the Scala, but still beautiful, right?

How about stenciled stairs?

Have a great weekend everyone!


And don’t forget about the ReDux Goods Yoga Bag Giveaway. Enter if you haven’t already.

Demo Progress

Hi Everyone. I just wanted to share the demo progress with you. The kitchen is still gutted and I don’t think cabinets will be in until the end of the week. City inspection didn’t take place like I thought but the time will come shortly.  Note to self: renovation time-lines are rarely followed. With that said, I’m pretty happy with the progress.  I bet you’re wondering how we’re living without a kitchen, huh?  We’re staying at a  hotel.  Not so fun unless you are actually on vacation!

Day 1

Prep work.  Getting ready to remove the walls between the kitchen and dining room.

Day 2

Walls are gone. The ceiling has been prepared for the wood plank ceiling. Electrical work begins.

kitchen

dining room

Day 3 & 4:

You can now see that the door has been transformed to a window. This is where the sink will go.  The sink was once below the window which has been closed off.

Day 5 & 6

See the boarded up door opening on the right. That was a window.

Electrical boxes are in place.

Thanks for stopping by.  More to come…

Dreamy Conservatories

I came across an image of a conservatory and it reminded me to the movie, Green Card, with Andie McDowell.    I loved that movie mainly because I wanted Andie McDowell’s  dreamy New York apartment which came with a conservatory.  I once tried to turn my one bedroom duplex into a conservatory by surrounding myself with houseplants.  I even took horticulture and botany classes in college!  LOL.  My fascination with plants, conservatoires and greenhouses will stay with me always.  These images are from manufacturers and if I had a gazillion dollars this is what I would splurge on, after trying to save the world, of course.  They’re grand, aren’t they? I can spend hours daydreaming in rooms likes these.

Ideal Glazing Ltd.

Tanglewood Conservatories