Kitchen Reno: Chapter six-Holding On

Last week we put all 23 door knobs and 10 draw handles. In the end the brushed nickel won out over the rubbed oil bronze because it matched the stainless appliances better and we also have a silver light fixture from Ikea hanging in the kitchen. I think it looks pretty good. We also finished a small project this week in the kitchen, more pictures soon!

Things we still have to do:

1. Install countertop lighting

2. Find a good reliable tile installer, we don't want to do it ourselves because I'm not comfortable using a wet saw, don't think Dave is either. I've ordered the tile for the backsplash (picture coming soon) but we have yet to find anyone that will return our phone calls. Contact me if you want my do-not-call list or have a good contact. Don't want to announce it over the WWW if others have had good experiences with these local contractors (marble & tile people in particular...)

3. minor decor decisions, watercolor art in the kitchen. Maybe a project tonight? Fun Friday,huh?

4. Paint the door in the entryway (never got around to that!)

5. FLOORS.....

Happy Weekend!

Spring is Here

Spring is finally here and our azaleas' are blooming! This past Sunday I took a few pictures of our home to show off our great spring weather. Hopefully it will stay nice for a while. We still haven't done much to our yard except the occasional lawn mowing and general grooming. I do know that we have tons of plans for our yard, like growing our garden, building a deck/patio and removing trees! And when I say, We, its all Dave. Unfortunately my green thumb hasn't hit me yet. I promise my time will come soon. In the meantime, I'm great with documenting all his progress!

Guest Room: Revealed

You've seen glimpses of the guest room when I was working on the desk and lamps, but its pretty much complete now. I call this my fun, artsy-fartsy room. Its full of color but not too loud. I think my mom would call this chaotic! The guest room gives me a chance to show some of my paintings without them being so out of place. I do have to finish a few minor decor details and replace the ceiling light fixture with a ceiling fan. I do plan to hang something over the bed but I haven't quite started on that project yet. My great-aunt did a lot of crochet throughout her life, but now she isn't able due to her health. I've recently come to own a good deal of her work though some of it is unfinished. I want to take a few of her patterns and get them framed. A collection of sorts...It will add great texture to the room plus it will be nice to have my Aunt E's work hanging up near my own. Here are a few more photos of our guest room. Photo note: I think that we need something in the far corner with the chair. The chair is huge, it goes with the sofa that is in the living room but our living room is too small to pair with the sofa.

Photo Collages

There are several different variations when it comes to creating your own photo collage. It all depends on your particular style, how you want to showcase your gallery and what area you have to work with. You can go with black and white photography or color, it all depends on what kind of statement you want. You could go for something very symmetrical.

Or you go with something very asymmetrical.

 

Your collage could possibly have more than just photography. Add a canvas or two. Have a four leaf clover, a map, a concert/play ticket stub, or something that might mean something to you or you just happen to like it? Throw it up there. Get creative with it. Your frames can match in style or color or if you if have a collection of different frames, lay them out all together and see what looks good to you. Keep in the area that you are working with. You want to get creative with your collage, but there is a point when you need to edit. Take a step back and think. Maybe take something away or change its placement. But when it comes down to it, do what you think works best. I tried to do my very own photo collage in our bedroom. First I took a measurement of the area of wall I had to work with and then I just started playing around with it. I laid everything out on the floor and once I was happy with my layout, I took a picture so I could remember. Some people like to measure everything and get very technical. I would do that with a very symmetrical collage. Anytime that I don't have to deal with math the better I'll be and the better David will be. 

I wanted to add a shadow box of our wedding announcement and other wedding stuff. With a little bit of white spray paint, I pulled everything together. Here's take two and I'm ready to hang! It was super easy and it add instant charm to any room!

Photo example courtesy of Little Green Notebook and Young House Love.

Hangin' In There

We got more curtains hung! I'm not too good with a drill so David graciously hung the curtain rods up for me while I ironed our white linen curtains and then I put them up myself. I only need one more pair to hang in the kitchen and I'll need to purchase two 27"x77" bamboo blinds for the french doors in the den whenever we move into that room. 

David's mother recently had a yard sale due to the fact that she is moving, so we have acquired some new furniture pieces. We took home the Ethan Allen chairs that you see in the photo above, a console table that I plan to refinish and put in the living room and a black coffee table that we are going to use in the den. Please excuse our floors!

I think it will go nicely with our sectional sofa, which is currently in storage and plan to get it re-upholstered as I'm sure I've stated once or twice. Its a great sofa, good 'bones', but just needs a little update. I can't decide whether to go with a microsuede or a velvet fabric or a combination of the two. I'm not very knowledgeable on fabrics, but I'm kinda leaning toward the velvet although I do like this Crate & Barrel lounge sectional that is shown in a high pile microfiber, in coffee. What do you guys think?

Home Sweet Home

Dave and I have such wonderful friends and family! They help us move, paint walls with us, some help us knock down walls (figuratively & literally), some bake us cakes & cookies, some provide support and tons of great fun-filled memories. We are very blessed to be surrounded by great people. And as we get older, move away or stay around, get married, attend graduate school or professional school, change jobs or have a baby; I hope that David and I can maintain our friendships and even gain new ones throughout the years. So even if we are slowing finishing up our home, it isn't much of a home if you don't share it with the ones you love. Corny, I know. Feeling sentimental today for some reason, not sure why, sorry guys.

Let There Be Light!

I hope everyone is having a glorious Friday! This week was yet another exciting week at the Simon household. It was like Christmas morning as each box arrived. What was in the boxes? It was the light pendants that I've been dreaming about, the CB2 Eden pendant and the Ballard Designs amber pendant that I saw on the show Cougar Town. Which by the way, they have changed that gorgeous light to some generic almost ugly light. I'm not sure the set designer would've changed it. Why change when you've got a good thing going, thats what I say. The lights really make each room. We put the Ballard Design light in the kitchen and the CB2 pendant in the dining room area. 

I must apologize for my photography skills. I really need to update our family camera too. But don't the lights look great? The kitchen chairs are from David's mothers home, they are Ethan Allen circa 1977. We could pass up the opportunity to own something vintage. The chairs are very comfortable and give our kitchen a nice 'cozy casual' style. We still need to hang our bamboo blinds and curtains in the kitchen. Did you notice that we did get Vivan curtains hung in the living room though? They really bring a nice quality to our living room. A great upgrade for a great price, only $9.99 at IKEA. We found our curtain rods at Target, another great deal. 

 

The light fixture that was originally in the dining room was a simple five light brass chandelier. I didn't want to toss it out or purchase another light to go over our entire way so with the help of some white spray paint and some electrical work in the attic; we were able to save this poor dated chandelier. Now we got to patch the ceiling, so much fun. Does anyone out there know how to get that 'star' texture effect on ceilings? We've tried on other areas that needed patching but it doesn't quite look right. Any suggestions?

Happy Weekend! Soak up some sunshine!

All Tuckered Out

I guess from all of our work in the kitchen, Tux is ready for some quality time on the sofa with the folks. He has worked pretty hard these past few weeks. I think he believes he's a good painter because he's always trying to help us out, but bumping into freshly painted walls, doors and cabinets. Maybe he's trying to smooth the paint out for us. Unfortunately, the only praise Tux gets is a bath. Poor guy. I also think that our little guy has been asking for a brother or a sister. There's no chance in extending our family in human numbers, absolutely not. Too young! But maybe in puppy numbers. Not right now, but maybe later. I didn't just cook this idea up all by myself. Tux has been hinting for a while. Here's how we know. Tux was born in October 2004 and we were able to take him home that December. Tux was my Christmas present to David that year and I wanted to remind him that the cute little thing sitting on his lap then was a gift from me. So I found a schnauzer stuffed animal and put a red bow around it to remind David of Tux. Silly, I know. Well that stuffed animal turned into one of Tux's toys a few years after that. He's ripped the nose off and it almost got shredded in a tug-of-war fight with his friends Georgia and Houston. (Atlanta schnauzers, what can I say!) Just kidding, they are the sweetest. But anyways, beginning of last year Tux has been doing odd things with his schnauzer. Nothing inappropriate! But he's been carrying it around to each room of the house checking out everything. Making sure its safe of course. Then he puts it in his bed. We've even seen him "tuck his schnauzer in", dog owners you know what I'm talking about (moving the bed cushion around to make it just right.) He carefully places his doggy in the area that he's fix. Odd. And thats why we think he might want a buddy. Here Tux with his schnauzer.

Well if we get a puppy later, I'm not sure if its gonna be a schnauzer. I've always loved the look of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels but I don't like their hair and the fact that they shed. I've actually grown quite fond of the terrier group. Maybe an Irish Terrier? Who knows! We gotta get out of our "construction zone" before we get a puppy! Tux will just have to wait for now. Plus I don't think he's gonna like sharing the spotlight. We do love our little guy and wanted to give him the spotlight he deserves so we framed a photo of him in the hall. It was a good photo of him, as you can see he either loves or hates the camera, depends on his day!

What a Load of Garbage

Staying with the trend of our kitchen updates, we needed to get some upgrades. After the under-mount sink was put in, we needed to replace the garbage disposal. It was loud and half the time it didn't work, granted we only used it just a few times. Most of all this thing was nasty, plus it hadn't been used in a while because David disconnected the old dishwasher back in November and its just been sitting there festering. Ew. David ended up going with the InSinkErator. Its the mid-grade of our choices of food/garbage disposal. Isn't it pretty, as David does his best Vanna White and/or Price Is Right girl. Wasn't sure what he was channeling.

Although it came with directions and David said it wasn't difficult to install. It did look quite complicated. You have all these pipes and things to connect to it. He said the hardest part was disconnecting the old one only due to the vile smell that was coming from it. He replaced all of the pipes under the sink and everything runs very smoothly. My only request was that he take a shower before doing anything else after that. Didn't have to tell him twice. I am pretty proud of my plumber, electrician, semi-carpenter, painter of a husband. Not to mention, that this is the most quiet food disposal I've ever heard! If you are looking for a new disposal, I definitely recommend this one.