O Kitchen, I Love You!

Our kitchen remodel is done! We have a few minor painting touch-ups and oddities to finish, but it's finally done! And we love it which makes it even sweeter. If you've ever done a major remodel without a "designer" (...do I actually know anyone who pays for a designer or interior decorator???...), you know how badly you hope the decisions you are making work well together in the end. I now have justification for the many hours watching HGTV and poring over decorating magazines and books...it was relatively easy to make our selections and they look awesome together!

So, here are the before kitchen pictures





Here is the before half bathroom off the kitchen


Here is our new kitchen...more cabinet and counter space, deeper sink, recessed lighting over the sink, microwave above the stove, tile on the floors in the entryway, bathroom and kitchen. We kept the same appliances since they were all new within the past 5 years...the white is growing on me, but only because I don't have a choice in that one! The wall color is "Dry Leaf" by Valspar. It looks a little more yellow in these pictures than in person. The curtains are store bought...eek! But given our schedule and trying to make the BEST things priority, sewing curtains was not an option. Besides, that's why I work at the library for $7.50/hour for "fun" money.


Same "lots of stuff" on the fridge, but that's real life! My house will never be showroom quality for pictures, thank goodness, because I'd be a psycho woman about perfection and my boys would have to wear straight jackets.

Because we added more cabinets, we were able to move the large pantry to our living room for storing school books and stuff creating our "school area." I love having a place to work everyday and still have the dining room table free for meals. I spend so much time in the kitchen anyhow, it works really well to have the boys set up here so I can keep an eye on things. We use the wipe board everyday for a variety of classes and hang special things on the cork board (like Elijah's spelling test...100%...third one in a row!!!)

Here is the half bath. We moved the mirror and light fixture higher on the wall and added the pedestal sink and new toilet. The wall color is "Fairmont Suite Gold" from Valspar. It's the same as in our dining room...the original room we bought the paint for. But because I love my husband and he hates having half used gallons of paint sitting around, I chose this color for the bathroom, too. And I love the color, so it wasn't a hard decision and we're both happy!

My first window mistreatment following instructions from The Nester. I love it and it took me maybe 10 minutes to complete! ACH...why, oh, why did I spent "fun money" on kitchen curtains when I could have done this for peanuts??!!! My kitchen curtains, while I still love them, are so totally not fun now! I had the curtain rod from before the remodel and the black toile fabric on hand. I bought the ring clips on clearance for $2.97 and the ribbon for $1.99. A couple folds, clips and safety pins later and voila! It's a beautiful window! I gaze at it when I am in there...

Here is my dining room...just a bonus picture because it was clean and crumb free. The pedestal table is from my Grandpa and Grandma Given's house. I won it at their estate auction. I was determined to hold my hand up there until it was mine and that mean lady bidding against me finally quit! Before this table came to live with my grandparents, it belonged to my great-grandmother on my grandma's side. COOL! The chairs are from an antique/primitive shop near my house that I visit way too often. The benches are from Craig's list which I also visit way too often.

I'm starting to work on hanging things back up and in the process changing things up a bit, too! I've gotten some great decorating ideas from some blog friends across the country. I'll be sure to post those things in the future. Until then, it's chili feasting time and waiting for daddy to arrive home...

Confirmation Quality

I can confirm, without a doubt, that we bought quality tile flooring for the kitchen...not so much for the Corelle!!!

Bathroom Bliss

The bathroom is DONE (except for painting the door white)! After two friendly comments on how I "teased" my readers with only a picture of a hem in my last entry, I was motivated to stay up until about 2am on Sunday evening...or should I say morning...finishing the sewing and hanging our shower curtain. It was definitely worth the loss of sleep for the end product. You know those times when you spend lots of time or energy on a project, then you're not satisfied with the result???!!! Not the case here...I just knew that I would really need a nap the next day and the boys willingly obliged mostly because they were allowed to watch TV while I napped. Anyhow...check out the old pictures first then see our new bathroom!

No more robin's egg blue tile

Wall color..."Cincinnatian Hotel Vandersall Red" by Valspar




Yeah, a medicine cabinet so everything isn't displayed on the sink top!

My shower curtain fabric..."Pretty Paisley" by Waverly

Ring Clips to hold up the shower curtain so no messing with button holes or rod pockets! What's even better is the clips were on clearance at JoAnn's...8 clips for $2.19! What a deal!The shower curtain hangs so nicely and quite evenly...maybe my best home decorating sewing project yet! It's got to be Husky...she's a trooper and so cool! The blind hem stitch is now my favorite...but then again I haven't tried her other 70 stitches yet!

There you have it! We're getting close to having our kitchen completely done as well! Currently we're kicked out because the grout is drying and little boys might not remember not to step on it!

Finishing Touches

We've been busy little beavers around our home the past few weeks. When our contractor is not here working, we are doing odd jobs to keep the project moving saving a little money along the way. Painting, installing light fixtures & toilet paper holders, demolishing kitchen cabinetry, etc., etc. My main job has been keeping the boys busy, painting the trim and cutting in around the ceiling, windows and corners. But I have had one fabulous job...shopping for the "accessories."

In my quest for the right shower curtain I found that nothing fit what I had in mind...too bold, to pastel, too metallic, too cutesy, too expensive, too ugly, too modern, too country, too boring, too white for little boys. I determined that the only solution was to sew my own curtain...how's that for fancy?! Walking through the isles of JoAnn Fabrics was like heaven. Have I ever mentioned how much I love buying fabric?!

It seems that I just get the shower curtain laid out when real life interrupts and sewing gets pushed aside again. Or my "new-to-me" sewing machine, Husky, gets an attitude and quits working on me. Okay, I admit, it was user error that took the Husqvarna sales girl thirty seconds to fix, but I just didn't get the pictures in the owner's manual. I told her she was my hero and promptly hauled Husky back out to the van. Now I actually know how to thread my machine when changing presser feet...


I'm one quarter of the way there...one blind hem stitch done, three to go. Be on the look out for pictures!

Bathroom Before

Our lovely blue bathroom has changed very little since the end of construction back in 1978. We haven't touched it other than to change out the toilet and clean a time or two. A previous owner chose the blue on blue and even did a number on the vanity...I've often wondered if the plastic drawer fronts were originally white.

What you can't see in this picture is the sink stopper missing from our sink. It must have rusted out because one day it wouldn't stay up anymore. Fortunately we've only dropped a few unimportant non-clogging things down the drain.

Yeah, our shower...I swore I would never bathe my children in it before we moved into this house. Numero Uno Priority. (Funny thing - two weeks after moving in, we found out we were expecting Elijah. Three children later and still the same nasty tub and surround). We are assuming that the tiles behind the surround were broken or grout was coming out therefore making it necessary to fix it. And this was an interesting fix. The surround was glued over top of the tiles and has never been adhered well since we bought the house.

The best part of this room, though, is the robin's egg blue tiles (see shower picture for best color). Don't get me wrong...I love blue, but this is too much and too permanent. The only thing I'll regret is that this bathroom reminds me of a car I owned while in college. It was a 1978 Mercury Zephyr painted robin's egg blue complete with 8 track player. Blue Gill. That's what we called her. She had "gills" on each side above the front tires and she was lovely. My parents bought her for $600 with only 60,000 original miles. Because of Blue Gill I learned how to drive stick shift. It was a sad day when we sold her and I gave my three bags of 8 tracks back to the Goodwill. Tom Jones, Karen Carpenter, Kenny Rodgers, Chicago...memories!

Kitchen Before

Our home remodel project begins this week with the contractor. We've been busy this past week sorting and packing "extra" things that are able to be removed from our living spaces. The boys spent the weekend with Grandpa and Grammy Potter so we could prime and paint the living room and prep the kitchen. I feel like we are moving with all the boxes and packing, but it's also a great time to simplify as well. I know we are going to be in this state of "moving" for the duration of the project and pray that our best attitudes and behaviors will be shown during the midst of all of it!

Here's our kitchen facing the backyard.

Here's the opposite wall of the kitchen on an interior wall

Our little "eat-in-kitchen" area...wasted space in my mind since our dining room is eight steps away. We love the windows and all the light that is allowed to warm up our space. We usually have a kid sized table in this area where the boys work on art projects, play games and help with cooking.

The kitchen flooring that never, never looks clean despite my best efforts (well, my momentary attempts at best efforts...). I can't wait to see it gone!

This flooring is in our entryway/hallway closet. Fake rocks, anyone? Atleast this one hides some of the dirt!

Our half bath off the kitchen. My parents helped me paint and change out fixtures 2 years ago as a surprise for Mike while he was in New Orleans helping with Katrina relief efforts. We're keeping the newer fixtures but changing the sink and raising the light fixture higher which will allow the mirror to be hung higher which will allow Mike to actually see his face in the mirror without bending down...minor mistake on the surprise remodel! We didn't account for the old fixture's design and installation to not work with a new fixture.

Mission Home Remodel

We are in the final month countdown until the start our kitchen and bathroom remodeling projects. The past week, Mike and I have been talking over ideas and making a few purchases to get our part ready for the contractor. Our friend, Dan, is doing the work for us. It's one of those situations where I don't want to have to be stuck at home during the chaos everyday and can leave Dan with a house key to come and go. I can't think of a better way to complete this project - Dan will do an excellent, careful job and I don't need to feel awkward with a stranger in my house for 5 weeks.

The first step in our remodel was having a garage sale this past weekend. We...er, I...have accumulated a lot of stuff. One quarter of the basement was piled high with things that needed to find a new home. I find things I like at other garage sales, Goodwill, Salvation Army, clearance, etc. and buy it without having a specific purpose or place in mind. I was amazed and appalled to lay out all the stuff for our sale. But, thankfully, we unloaded most of it. Either I priced it really cheap or people will buy anything...it's probably a combination of the two together! At the end, we still had a few "nicer" items that we didn't want to just give to a thrift store so we listed them on Craig's List. So far we've sold 3 of the 7 items. Yeah!

Wrapped up in this whole remodel is the idea that I need to organize our home better than it has been. I have pockets of awesome organization, but many areas are lacking. In the midst of all this garage sale business, I found a great 12 drawer "dresser" on Craig's List to place behind my couch for storing the boy's art stuff, desk necessaries, etc. I had a pretty sofa table there, but it didn't meet my goal or need for organization or "hidden but easily accessible."

There is much to do around here, but we've made a few decisions...now the deliveries will start with floor tile this morning. We're choosing paint colors and I usually have a hard time find the "right" color. The top picture shows our dining room floral curtain and kitchen plaid curtain that we'll be drawing colors from. The dining room is already painted a mustard yellow and we want to choose a green for the kitchen...in person I think that darkest green works but here it looks a bit off. Uh-oh...any suggestions on how to get the "right" color?

I'll post a few before pictures soon prior to demolition. Here's to upheaval and chaos for most of the summer with a sweet and slightly pretty, boy friendly result at the end!