Kitchen plans:Calling an audible

Things are plugging along here and soon I'll need to make some actual decisions about this kitchen.

(I'm still working on getting an actual floor plan together from my last post.)

 If you don't follow me on Instagram then you didn't see this Sciolari chandelier that I scored for free a few weeks ago.

I had most everything planned out for the kitchen until this beauty came along. 

I would LOVE to use it above our dining table but I'm at a loss about what other lighting to use. I was planning on using a big lantern for over the table, oil rubbed school house lights in the kitchen and a pair of those white sconces (all pictured below) on either side of the window above the banquette. All pretty different but they work together. 

The Sciolari on the other hand does not play well with others, she's a diva!
What other light fixture (in my minuscule budget) could I possibly hang within 10 feet of her!? 

This is not a rhetorical question so if you have any ideas please let me know!

The only thing that I could think of was to do recessed lighting in the kitchen and nix the sconces.

I was also planning on doing either bead board or tongue and groove vertically on every wall (see in above pic). Clean, simple and relatively inexpensive. I'm not sure that I could still do that with the Sciolari. I would probably end up doing subway tile similar to the below picture.

Thoughts?
Suggestions??

Talk it out peeps......

Thank you and a real estate re-do

Thanks for the support peeps, you're the best!

I had a hard time writing that last post because I seriously LOVE blogging (and reading

blogs). It's kind of an internal struggle for me and I just came to the point where I

 was spending too much time invested in my blog/others blogs/pinterest etc. instead of in

 my family and myself. It really made me stop and think about what am I teaching my boys

 by doing that. Not anything good, that's for sure!

Kati from so happy home made a great point too:

 "Doesn't it feel like so many blogs/bloggers are pushing you to buy something new, or to

constantly produce new looks/vignettes/trends, etc.? It's hard to keep up with the pace being set on social media et al."

It's so true!!

So, thank you my dear readers for your emails and comments and general awesomeness!

 Obviously it's been a while since I've done a proper post because I can hardly figure this all out anymore, sorry the text is all screwy! Ok, moving on.  :)

I love real estate. If we weren't so busy on Sundays I would go to open houses every 

week. I'm that crazy lady who likes to drive slowly by awesome houses at night just to 

sneak a peek through the lighted windows!! When we lived downtown Stanley and I would 

go on evening walks in the summer. His goal was to get out of the house for a while and get 

some exercise, mine was to snoop. Our new neighborhood is less than spectacular in the 

awesome house department but I still look online. It's a habit I've gotten in to after buying 

(twice) and selling our house(s). When I look through the listings I can't help but 

think about what I would do if it were my house. A friend once told me that she never saw the

 potential in our current house like I did, so I understand that it's a hard thing. 

I saw this vintage gem a few weeks ago and automatically the wheels were turning, so 

whether or not this is helpful for anyone it sure is fun!


This is a great split level house, 4 bedroom, two bath, great neighborhood, huge yard, 

a little over 2300 sq ft., AC, SS and a heated attached garage-listed at $199,000. This would

 be a great family home!

So, if I had a $320,00(ish) budget this is what I would do:

New exterior paint and a little landscaping would do wonders for this house! I would also probably remove the iron railing at the bottom of the landing. It's not really needed and removing it would really open up the front entrance.

Easy, beautiful and timeless!



Let's go inside now.....

You can see that there is some mid mod tile in the entryway and as long as it isn't an awful color I'd keep it. Paint out that paneling, throw down a rug and a basket for shoes and you're done!

Upstairs there is an open concept living and dining room. Since the carpet looks to be pretty old I'd rip it up and install hardwoods in the living, dining, hallway, bedrooms and kitchen (which is off to the left of the dining room). I would paint the entire upstairs a creamy white, all windows would have bamboo roman shades and I'd add some built ins in the living room most likely with closed doors on the bottom and shelves on top.

Last but not least, the dining room.

Come back next week to see the rest of this house, next up is the kitchen.

Have a great weekend!

Saturday musings

Wow, you guys are the best! Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments and emails about our bathroom, I'm definitely feeling the love.

I have an exciting project that I'll be working on in the next few weeks, refinishing a table/desk and chair and a vintage rocking chair that will be up for auction at a fundraiser for a local school. Be watching for the (hopefully) stunning befores and afters, I'm also donating a one hour design consultation! 

I've been playing around with the design for our kitchen remodel this week. I'm still not sure if we'll be able to do it this coming spring or if we'll have to wait another year so I'm trying to not get my hopes up. Here's where I'm headed so far, hope you all have a great weekend!!

Nightstand Styling Contest

Source: serenaandlily.com via Katie on Pinterest

Want to help me win a PAIR(!!!) of these gorgeous ombre nesting nightstands from Serena and Lily??

Wouldn't they be fab in our master bedroom!?

Yes, yes they would.

Emily Henderson and Serena and Lily have an awesome Nightstand Styling Contest going on and I just entered.

Here is my styled up nightstand

Go here to vote...please and thank you!!!!!

*It may take a while for my entry to be approved before you can see it to vote, thank you!

Juju hat love

This eclectic bedroom all started with that beautiful lucite box framed Juju hat. 

                                                                        Source: onekingslane.com via Katie on Pinterest

(You can find it here at One Kings Lane.)

After posting it on my Facebook page, one of my friends sent me a link for a DIY version from Vintage Farm Furniture. (Thanks again Jennifer!) 

                                                          Source: vintagefarmfurniture.com via Katie on Pinterest

Doesn't that look like the real deal!?

Check out the full tutorial here.

If you can't stand the ugliness, get out of the kitchen

We had high hopes of getting new appliances and doing some upgrades in the kitchen with our tax return this year but it's looking like that won't happen. Hooray for medical bills and upcoming root canals/crowns! :(
 Regardless, I'm revisiting our kitchen/dining plans today because I've had new epiphanies and it's fun to day dream right!? I especially need those day dreams as I'm potty training our toddler this week. Pray for me!

  (FYI- this is the longest post ever so if you can hang in until the end kudos to you!)

Here is our hideous, disgusting, 80's kitchen. I can't believe that I'm showing you pictures it's so embarrassing. By the way, aren't soffits the best!?  I'm pretty sure that there is nothing in the one below, except the electrical for that awful track light, either way it will be coming down! 

NORTH WALL

A view into our beautiful dining room. Yep, you read that right...... not breakfast nook, DINING ROOM! That stupid peninsula is an absolute waste of space and will be ripped out...dishwasher will go flush against the wall and we'll add an L shaped banquette under the window and down the far wall. After we rip out that faux rock of course.

EAST WALL

SOUTH WALL

Yet another wonderful soffit, not sure what's in there.

See how far the fridge sticks out into the dining area? Counter depth fridge for sure when we get new appliances and then we'll build it in on the right side.

Isn't it lovely?!? 

(Some of those pictures are from the real estate listing...can you guess which ones? Yikes!)

Enough of that hideousness....here's the plan.

NORTH WALL

SOUTH WALL

EAST WALL

So, here's the specifics:

Brass hardware, probably something similar to these ones on the far right, from Lee Valley Tools...

                                                                           Source: leevalley.com via Katie on Pinterest

Black and white checkerboard flooring, set on a diagonal, probably will be linoleum.

                              Source: habituallychic.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

I know you're all going to tell me to do tile or continue the hardwoods into the kitchen and believe me wood would be my first choice (that's what she said..sorry I can't help myself :) . However, not only do we not have the funds to add more hardwoods, we would have to refinish the entire first floor which means $$$$$$$. The floors are in AWFUL shape in the living room and the hallway....it's seriously a minefield of drywall screws IN the floor. I guess it was too squeaky in some spots for the previous owners...WHO DOES THAT!??!?!? Also, if we sunk all that money for wood or tile into this house we'd never get it back out if/when we sell in the future.

  Anyway, my in laws have a great checkerboard lino in their laundry room and I'll probably do the same. 

See....it's pretty!

Ok, bottom cabinets will most likely be darker but not as dark as my moodboards. Farrow and Balls Down Pipe is a favorite of mine and look how pretty it is with brass hardware!

                                                      Source: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                                             Source: littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

I think I want something with a little more green in it though, like this.

                                                        Source: danielleoakeyinteriors.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

I'm definitely planning on painting the window sashes black. It's such a beautiful detail!

                                                                Source: makingmacy.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                                                      Source: houseofturquoise.com via Katie on Pinteres

t

                                                             Source: Uploaded by user via Katie on Pinterest

                                                                              Source: papernstitchblog.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                 
Counter tops will most likely be laminate, yeah, yeah I know it's not ideal. Like I said though we have to think long term and keep the budget VERY small. I love the look of wood counter tops but they are pretty high maintenance. At least there are some decent looking laminates these days.  

                                                                              Source: lowes.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                                                        Source: lowes.com via Katie on Pinterest

Banquette will be built in and look similar to these.

                                                                  Source: georgianadesign.tumblr.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                                        Source: chinoiseriechic.blogspot.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                                                    Source: bhg.com via Katie on Pinterest

                                                               Source: indulgy.com via Katie on Pinterest

So, there you have it. Any amazing ideas or advice you have would be wonderful. 

Anyone have wood counter tops and love/hate them?

Got any great resources for brass hardware or awesome paint colors I should know about?

Talk amongst yourselves while I potty train my two year old........


(All images except laundry room are from my Pinterest)

An eclectic entry and some paint plans

Thanks for the well wishes concerning our anniversary everyone!! We unfortunately haven't been able to celebrate yet.  I am just getting over the cold-flu and two of our boys have had the stomach flu this week. On top of that I've working on refinishing a huge dining set for a new client, which I'll be sharing soon! Hopefully we'll get a chance to sneak out sans kids soon.....Anniversary lunch or coffee? ; )

Been playing around with some paint colors in our living room and bedroom....what else is new huh!? The above wall color is Brinjal by Farrow and Ball aka 'fancy paint we don't have here'. Since I love the color so much I've been searching for something close and I did find a similar shade by Behr called Ripe Fig.

I have a test spot up in our living room and I love it, I'm thinking it's exactly what this room needs.

Also tested Behr's Realm (below) in our bedroom.

Source: farm5.static.flickr.com via Katie on Pinterest

I'm loving that color too, dark and moody. Perfect for our tiny bedroom!

Eclectic Dinette

Happy Friday! The hubs has been off since Sunday and it has been SOOOO nice!! We are thoroughly enjoying this time together with the boys and we'll all be sad when Daddy has to go back to work. I've been thinking a lot about our dining area and my plans for it and the kitchen. I recently found a vintage settee on Craigslist for my Aunt to use for photo shoots. When she's done using it I'm planning on buying it back from her to use instead of building a banquette. We have a crazy faux rock wall that will cost a lot to replace and since we'll have such a small budget for this project it will probably have to stay. I mean what would you rather spend money on? The kitchen....counter tops and appliances or removing a 'feature' wall? Yeah, definitely the kitchen, I can live with the faux rock. The plan is to reupholster the settee in some kid friendly outdoor fabric-have a good source for me?? I'm thinking a crazy print is in order or some stripes like the above settee. 


I love this space by Caitlin Wilson too!! I've always wanted a chalkboard wall somewhere, maybe in the kitchen?

Source: assets7.designsponge.com via Katie on Pinterest

We'll see though, you know how I change my mind!

Have a great weekend!!

Cozy bedroom

Well the living room carpet is out! The area rug is being bound and will be done tomorrow morning. So looking forward to getting our house back together. This moodboard is all I got for you today, pictures of the living room tomorrow!!

Happy Thursday!

Well, I can hardly believe it but the hubs is taking a whole week off! The last time that he took vacation time was when Isaac was born. He stayed home with the boys for 10 days pretty much by himself while I was in the hospital with Isaac...nice vacation huh!? The day after Isaac came home from the hospital he went back to work and hasn't stopped since. He gets super busy at work through the holidays so it's now or never. Definitely looking forward to some family time! We do have quite a few things to do around the house though. The garage needs cleaning...again. Am I the only one who is REALLY unorganized when it comes to my kids clothes? We need to go through the 592 storage totes of clothes for the boys and reorganize them according to size. Stuff always seems to migrate to different boxes! Our boys grow so fast that I need to have a good system in place for keeping their next size clothes handy. Isaac is already into 9 month clothes and I only have up to 6 month stuff out.

 Anyway that's the boring chore we get to do next week. Tonight, however the nasty carpet in the living room is coming out. Yay! As of right now all of the living room furniture is piled into the dining room.....it's a wreck. Kind of wishing my living room looked like the one above. It's a ton of work but it'll be so worth it! I'm also planning a little drapery switcheroo in there. I'll post pics next week.......or maybe I'll take the week off too.

Enjoy the weekend!!