Randomness

That's right, no posts in August.  Not one.  It's been busy, but here are some random goings on from the past month.

1. A new batch of 17 little nuggets, ready to be trained and molded into the workforce of the future.
2. A million blogs to read (obviously this is an important thing on the list). Here are most of my faves:
• Elements of Style
• Pretty in Pink Megan
• Emily A. Clark
• This Lil' Birdie
• The Southern Eclectic
• Bonjour
• Simply Seleta
• Style by Emily Henderson
• Lila Was Here
• She's {Kinda} Crafty
• Lonny
• Urban Grace
3. Seeing my best friend and meeting her sweet baby!
4. Paint 8 doors, front and back, which takes 1 1/2 hours per side!!! [I officially hate painting]
5. Almost last graduate class.  Yay!
6. Lots. Of. Work.  How can it be that I have done the same thing for so long and it still takes forever?
7. Bags are on super clearance and an extra 40% off at Loft--Look! Only $2.10!
8. New throw pillows in the living room (well, soon-to-be once I get the fabric for the back, the down inserts, and then I actually sew them)
9. Oh yeah, and I put a soaked paintbrush in paint thinner in a red plastic cup on the super light/white part of my granite counter top.  The thinner ate away at the plastic and spilled ALL over.  Since the thinner is acetone-based, it cleaned up with a dry cloth, but the PINK ring from the cup is still there.  In a VERY obvious spot.  AHHHHHH!  So I've googled a million suggestions, tried poultices of baking soda + water, bleach + flour, Comet (DO NOT TRY THIS ONE), nail polish remover, just bleach, Shout stain remover gel, and nothing has worked so far.  I'm  moving on to the hydrogen peroxide + moulding plaster poultice and leaving it on overnight.  If that fails, I'm trying bleach + baby powder overnight.  Way too much stress for a holiday weekend.

*****EDIT***** The bleach and baby powder poultice for 24 hours (covered with Glad Press 'n Seal) worked!!!!!!!!!!!

Tailored Touches

It has been six months of renovating, rebuilding, and repairing. It's time to bring in some softness. I've been putting off making a pleated shade for the kitchen window.  It looks way too challenging, and I get super stressed and sweaty (gross) when I am sewing because I freak out that it is not going to turn out perfectly the first time.  I absolutely hate redoing work, especially when I try to make it perfect the first time!  So I tried to follow Martha Stewart's (somewhat vague) tutorial on how to make a custom roman shade. My window in the kitchen is wide and short, so the formula for determining the space between pleats was tricky. And I'm pretty sure I did not put the rings in the right place, but the pictures were like 1x2" and I couldn't enlarge them.  Anyway, I'm obsessed with this fabric.  It's Covington's Bosporus Toile in Flax. I want my whole home to feel that relaxed, calm, and cozy in classic toile way. Ahhh, I am so happy to see this project finished!!!

My other kitchen project is still incomplete. My hubby wanted a kitchen nook with a bench, which I thought was a great idea for the small space.  So I picked out the lovely upholstered Tribeca bench with tufted back from Ballard Designs (LOVE!). But at 36" deep (and $899), it's too bulky for our 1950's home. We ended up building a frame with the intentions of upholstering it. Well, more like me upholstering it.  After staring at the plywood frame for a month and a half, I was ready to tackle this enormous project.  Let me start by saying I had no idea how to make this.  Google is amazing, and I am consistently floored by the amount of information I can find and apply immediately.  I found a fabulous tutorial on making box cushions.  These are actually portable cushions and not at all in line with my project, but I needed to learn how to do piping--so easy!  I was going to need about 6 yards of fabric, so I ended up getting two large drop cloths from Home Depot.  The fabric is sturdy and much like canvas duck cloth, plus it has a great neutral stone color that goes with my Antique White cabinets without being too matchy.

 

Long story short, I ordered 4" medium density upholstery foam, cut it with an electric knife--so cool!, measured the top, sides, and skirt for each bench, then I made 12 feet of piping from the drop cloths.  I sewed the top L-shaped piece to the piping, that to the sides, the sides to the bottom piping, the sides to the skirt, and then hemmed it.  Easy enough, right?  Eight hours and lots of sweating and stress later, I now have an upholstered bench in my kitchen.  It's so cozy!  I'm now in the middle of using every throw pillow in our home to make it even cozier.  So far, my favs are the toile (of course) and the pale blue and tan stripe on the far right.  Or maybe the brocade.  Or the flap pillow.  Well I clearly don't really have a favorite, but when I have a tiny round table, I will never want to leave!!!

Stay tuned for my next upholstered project--a headboard!!!

What Could Be Better

Than a neighbor with giant blue hydrangeas growing outside my bedroom window?!  Lovely Mr. J (aka Grandpop next door) came by after dinner to remind me to clip some of the hydrangeas before our backyard neighbor came to call.  Happily, I trotted on over and gathered a beautiful bouquet for my kitchen.  LOVE.

I could be happy forever with a fresh vase of hydrangeas each week!  What a great start to the work week.

Springtime is Here!

Well this is a smorgasbord post of sorts.  Mostly because I am bewildered by the fact that the last post was 21 days ago!  I'm super-excited the warm weather seems to be here to stay--aside from the weekly tornado warnings and downpours.  Since we bought the house at the end of last year, we've been saying, "Oh, we'll take care of that in the spring."  Well guess what?  Spring is here and summer is coming! April has brought the rain and the azaleas that have since died.  Now I'm ready for the May flowers to come out!   I feel like a broken record every time I think that we've almost finished painting.  Now we only have four rooms of baseboards, five fronts and backs of doors, and this left:

Be sure you know if the existing paint is latex or oil-based.  Our house is full of surprises--different finishes and bases in every room.  Thanks, previous homeowners.

I painted the doorway trim in the kitchen and the pantry and swinging door two weekends ago.  The Sherwin-Williams label says to wait three days for the paint to cure before taping.  Done.  Well I taped it off today to take care of this convenient two inch space of wall between the pantry and the adjacent wall.  Needless to say, I peeled off the blue tape, along with half of the trim paint.  Agh!!!!!!!!!!!  If I keep taping one to paint the other, then this viscous cycle WILL NOT END.  This house is going to send me to the place they keep the crazies.  If there is anything I hate more than painting, it's redoing work that I've already done.  One reprieve was the fact that all of the touch-ups (of wall paint only, obviously) are done, and the back entryway is painted just like the kitchen.  By the way, Meditation by Benjamin Moore is the awesomest gray/green saturated wall color.  I wish my whole house was done in this color instead of my safe, ultra-neutral Powell Buff. 

On a side note, it's time for summer cuts.  I'm thinking something short and piece-y instead of my standard long bob curled under.  When Dear Husband says my hair is getting long, it must be time for a cut--especially since he knows to never comment on my hair unless it's a compliment!

Not my favorite person, but maybe this cut a touch longer.

This looks like it could be perfect with my thin, non-volumized hair.

Even Bear Bear was ready for a fresh cut!

I'm pretty sure he is the most adorable baby ever!

Box Pleats, Please

Until Dear Husband a) learns how to use the circular saw, b) learns how to use the jigsaw, and c) finally builds the U-shaped surround for the farmhouse sink, I took matters into my own hands.  I bought a yard of medium-weight linen blend in gray from fabric.com and read up on sewing a kitchen sink skirt.  Sometimes sink skirts look really country, especially when they are gathered and made of a mini floral print.  So by using an adjustable spring tension rod from Wal-Mart ($3), my iron, and needle and thread, I followed a box pleat tutorial to make a skirt for my sink.  I went with a 5 inch center pleat and hand-stitched a blind hem on the rod pocket and the hem, leaving the sides pressed instead of sewn.  A perfect fit!

An Outsider's View

It's always nice to hear your friends and family tell you "I love it!" but let's be honest, they have to.  Today I put the kitchen on Rate My Space, and 177 people have already looked at it!  That is insanity. My only wariness comes from the fact that I signed over 100% of my rights to my kitchen photos--they have free reign to license, feature, publish, etc. without any obligation to inform me.  I thought that was a little over the top.

The [almost] Finale

Funny how a renovation can jump from the beginning to the end in just three posts.  Not at all like real life, *ahhh* wouldn't that be nice.  We've been working/hiring contractors/painting/tinkering for the last two months, and we are settling in nicely.  The kitchen and baths were the biggest projects, by far, and will add the most value to the house. Drum roll please...

The Kitchen:

*Most Recent Photo!! (minus the awesome roman shade above the sink)

This bump-out into the third bedroom gave us a refrigerator nook with extra storage.

 The Hallway Addition:

Now there is a clear entrance to the third bedroom.

The extra closet is the perfect place for the desk. *Doors still to come*

The Hall/Master Bathroom:

 

The Laundry Room:

The Guest En Suite:

Pretty much everything came from Home Depot, aside from the farmhouse sink and the pedestal sink.  The flooring is red and white oak stained with dark walnut, the beadboard, cabinets, and trim is Sherwin Williams Antique White #6119.  Kitchen paint is Meditation by Benjamin Moore, and all other rooms are painted in BM's Putnam Ivory.  All that's left on the to-do list is finish painting the trim and move to the outside of the house!