Snow Day!

Last Friday, AU gave us a snow day! It doesn't snow much in Alabama so when it does everything shuts down even if its only 2-5 inches. I was starting to get a cold so we didn't play all day in the snow but since we don't see snow that often we had to get out in just a bit. The hot coco made up for the runny nose. Tux sure loved it and his coat.

Kitchen Reno: Chapter Three

So last time I believe filled you guys in about the kitchen was the destruction of wall in between the kitchen and the living room. David was able to finish the wall and put in a new door frame between the two rooms. I'm so lucky I married a 'handy' man, or a guy that isn't afraid to get his hands dirty! Take a look at my guy at work!

After that we removed all of the cabinet doors. We were thinking that we would just re-face the doors with some fresh paint and maybe a glaze but after much thought and consideration, we decided to scrap 'em. After all that sanding, I called Dykes Cabinets. Mr. Dykes is going to create a new kitchen for us! We'll be getting all new doors with interior hinges, more cabinets that will go on right side of the new gas range, plus he will be building a 'refrigerator wall/cabinet'. I'm not sure what you call the thing that wraps around your fridge and it has cabinets above it? What can I say, I'm a blonde. We also plan to add top molding to the existing cabinets and the new ones. Once its all said and done its gonna be great! But for now this is the kitchen, beware...hazardous viewing...

 

Since we have been waiting to get our kitchen cabinets, I've been able to really brainstorm on how I want the kitchen. As I said before the cabinet color will be Woodrow Wilson Linen by Valspar and the kitchen walls will be the Churchill Hotel Wheat, a light goldish-tan. The countertops will be a brown/tan granite from Marble and Granite Works in Opelika. They will install an under-mount sink too when they cut the granite. So in the mean time, I went window shopping. Here is what the granite will kind of look like, for the backsplash, I'm thinking a field tile like you see in the photo or maybe subway tile, we will just have to see once its all together.

Possible kitchen faucet, I think I'm leaning toward option #2:

 

Cabinet Hardware, rubbed bronze knobs and pull handles for the drawers:

  

Kitchen Lighting: I've already purchased a track light for the kitchen from Ikea. Its stainless and it will match the stainless appliances. I wanted to go with track lighting to obtain the best lighting for a narrow space and our ceilings are only 8 feet tall so I didn't want a pendant that might hang too low. I would like to add under-the-cabinet lighting, we'll see if Dave will let me have that! Cross your fingers! For the kitchen dining area, our friend Alex gave us a old pedestal table that he wasn't using. We sanded and painted it a slightly different cream color. Here is the pedestal table, I haven't put a top coat on it yet so it still might look a little rough. And the table will actually go in the kitchen area, not the den of course, if you can even call it a den yet!

Here is my shopping list for the eat-in kitchen: 4 chairs from Pottery Barn but I would like to some something with a pottery barn look but a flee market price. I'm not sure if I go with the woven wicker look or the modern metal look?

The lighting is a big issue! Does anyone watch ABC's Cougar Town? I like the show but I love, love, love the set design. If I find this light pendant that Jules (The cougar) has in her kitchen I am buying it! One problem, I can't seem to find it! Anywhere! A little help? If I can't find it, Pottery Barn never lets me down, that will be an option 2. But seriously, where might I find this amber light pendant?!

All the pretty things

I don't quite have the closet of Christina Aguilera and I'm no Carrie Bradshaw either, but I do think every women should have an accessories closet if possible. That is exactly what I was thinking when I was trying to figure how on earth I was going to share a closet with David and have a space for my shoes. See, I'm one of those people who don't keep shoe boxes, my mom always nagged me about that. I like to see my shoes. Well, it takes me forever to figure out what I'm gonna wear each day, I don't have the time to go through several different shoe boxes. If that happened everyday, then it would pretty much look like a tornado would hit sanders street at least two maybe three times a week! Given that knowledge and rather than making David move his closet to the office, I decided that our guest room walk-in closet is going to be our accessories closet. It contains all of our shoes, my jewelry, hats, scarves, etc. Plus there is still room for guests to hang any clothes that might need to be hung during their stay at our house. We haven't had any guests yet, but when we do I will need to get myself together before hand and have all that I need for those weekends so they won't be disturb. We don't have guests very much so it won't be much of an issue and we don't plan on extending our family anytime soon so that isn't anything to worry about anyways! Here is our (my) accessories closet, I think there are a few more things that I want to do in there like change out that nasty light-pull string!

 

See tons of space on the other side of the closets for guests belongings! Now that I have that closet done I went on to work on the other doozy. Our dining room closet. I'm not sure if this goes for the same as all couples when they marry, but we got a lot of serving platters. Chip and dip bowls, salad bowls, snack trays, silver platters, glass, ceramic...you name it, we got it. We can certainly whip up a nice appetizer spread and tablescape. No but seriously, I love all of my serving pieces and I so happy and thankful that all of our friends and family are thoughtful to Dave and me. But here is what was awaiting me a few days ago. 

 

Ok. Remember people this is a work-in-progress! Don't judge the mess! Side Note: You may have noticed that we still don't have window treatments. I promise to ourselves and our dear neighbors who we've still yet to meet as well that I'm getting window treatments ASAP! But take a look at our sweet storage closet! It has everything that I need and I can see everything too. All my serving pieces, china, flower vases, plus those small appliances you don't use everyday all available at my fingertips!

Now look at the living room, not too much better but you can see underneath the table. Oh, anyone need a table for college activities...feel free to let me know. I'm dying to get rid of it! 

Keep it in the closet

In the previous post, you saw that we had painted horizontal stripes down the hallway well I have finally been able to organize some things. Dave and I now have one fully-functional closet. We have a total of seven closets which I believe is a nice average for a home that was built in the '60s or I could be wrong. Here is the simon-house closet breakdown: a coat closet in the living room, a nice size storage closet in the dining room, the hall closet, two closets in the office, a walk-in closet in the guest room and the master walk-in closet. When we moved in the closets were pretty gross and dingy, so they are needed to be painted. I have painted four closets so far (*all closets will be white) but I'm still arranging a few of them so if any of you are reading this you'll get a chance to see the finished product really soon. Our fully-functional closet is the hallway. I decided to keep with the now and try to completely finish an area of the house! But can you believe that I was able to get rid of two or three boxes? It felt amazing to break down that cardboard and have Dave recycle them. Our linen closet is not special it contains all your basics: bath towels, hand towels, washcloths, kitchen towels and rags, bed linens, beach towels, TP, spare pillows, blankets/quilts and comforters. I used baskets to help keep things in their place. Heres a glimpse of our hall closet. A side note, I think I need a new camera. Something fun and flashy...

 

 

Gotta Love Stripes!

Dave and I have been steadily working on the house. It might not seem like we are doing much of anything because I haven't made a post in almost a month! I've been painting closets, doors, etc. But we have our carpenter lined up to start on our cabinets in our kitchen. We got our granite picked out and once we get our awesome tax return back we will be able to get it all finished. I know I am so ready to have a real kitchen! I've give everyone a sneak peak real soon about the kitchen, but this post isn't about the kitchen. Dave and I might have actually, maybe 95% to 98% be complete with one area of the house! Can you believe it? After 5 months or so, we could be done with something, decorating and all! Can you guess what it could be....the HALLWAY! It was actually quite complicated especially when you are dealing with an older home that has settled over time and your ceiling isn't the same height throughout the entire hall. Wondering what I am talking about? Well, I didn't want to have some boring taupe hallway. I wanted something that was subtle but not a sold color. When I saw this post on my favorite blog, YHB-they did it in their bathroom but I knew thats what I wanted in our hallway. Yup, thats right, Stripes.

Dave was skeptical at first, but it really turned out well. For the color choices it was easy. I went with our lighter tan color, Valspar Lovely Buff that is in our living room (our LR isn't worthy of having its picture taken yet so you'll just have to wait and see) and Valspar Woodrow Wilson Linen which will be the color of our cabinets. The two colors complimented each other very well. We wanted even stripes so we followed John & Sherry's helpful post on how to paint chic and subtle horizontal stripes step by step. Dave had to do a little extra math because of our ceiling issue and with the help of our handy laser-leveler and painters tape, we now have a chic hallway. Here's the break down from start to finish. 

Before...

Dave was getting a little tired of all the taping so I told him I would paint the but I didn't know he would catch me in the act of painting, bad picture I know. Thanks Babe.

We have Stripes!!!

Look at all the painter's tape we had to use, a trash can full. I feel wasteful.

After...

Pretty cool, huh? All we need to do now is get a new light fixture. Oh, and I'm still crossing my fingers for hardwood flooring in the hallway, we shall see. Keep looking for more updates on the house and please comment! We would love see see what you think! 

Happy Painting and Happy Weekend!