T14mo

The time has arrived….to write about one of my favorite house projects to date, our kitchen revamp!!  Honestly it is amazing what a little bit, ok lot bit, of paint can do!  As I mentioned in t0, the previous owner added quite a few sweet updates to the kitchen, like granite countertops, a stainless gas oven cook-top and SPACE, glorious S-P-A-C-E!  The kitchen used to be confined to 100 sq ft, of which the basement and bathroom doors took up prime real estate!  Now the kitchen is spread out over 300 sq ft and boasts an eat in kitchen/sun-room, vaulted ceilings and more than sufficient peninsula workspace and cabinetry.  The only problem, well at least in our opinion, is the color he chose.  YELLOW, for eeeeverything.  Don’t get me wrong, yellow is one of my fav colors, but it has to be complimented appropriately and in my opinion it needs some contrast to really set it off.  Contrast we did not have here.  Every surface, ie:  floors, ceiling, cabinets and walls was either full on yellow or a had seriously yellowy tones.   And, let me just say this yellow did not make me feel mello.

When it came to paint colors for this room, I had done my homework, ie; torn out magazine clippings like it was my job, and had the colors set to go.  I was picturing white cabinetry and trim, neutral walls and an accent color to highlight the large peninsula.  We were on the fence about what to do with the wood ceiling in the addition.  I found some great images of both painted white wooden ceilings and natural ones, but ultimately we decided to prolong the decision and finish the cabinetry and walls before making the call.  Once we did, we felt relieved because we loved the warmth it brought to the room, and we really didn't want to have to paint a ceiling like THAT!  Speaking of painting, it was all done in phases, by my loving mans.  First the walls, then the cabinets and lastly the trim.  I helped out on the weekends, but he deserves all the credit for this job well done because not only did he bear the brunt of the labor, but he had a deadline to boot.  We were hosting his family for Thanksgiving that year, and really wanted to have the project wrapped up since most of the action on turkey day happens in the kitchen.  Actually, as proof that the project was completed on time you can see the beginning of our Thanksgiving meal in some of the after pics! 

I have to say that I know many people out there prefer wood cabinets and trim, and maybe someday I will too.  But for now I prefer white, nice clean matchy matchy white!!  Especially in our case, because the wood throughout the house varied in tone, and in many cases is not the greatest of quality, so painting it glossy white unifies the rooms with  common feature.  We did however choose to leave the insides of the cabinets unpainted, and while I was uncertain at the time I am now very happy with the decision.

We also chose to round out a small exposed edge on the peninsula with flexible wainscoating. The countertop had a nice rounded edge, but underneath the cabinet had an awkward cut in that didn’t offer any additional storage or function.  The nice rounded edge is a huge improvement in our book because it cleans up the lines a bit and adds a bit of charm to boot.

As you can see in this in progress pic, we tried painting the basement door with a paneled scheme.  Yea, FAIL on that one.  We ended up going with white, surprise surprise…but hey we tried!

To be honest, I am infatuated with the way it turned out.  It is exactly the amount of character and country that I was hoping for.  There are a few things I would like to add, like say a valence to the windows to introduce a great pattern.  I was also thinking of adding a patterned backing to the glass door cabinets in perhaps a second pattern.  Long term I would also LOVE to have the floors refinished with a nice rich mocha color, but that’s toward the bottom of the priority list currently.  Since doing all this painting, we have added a few key items to the eating area.  First and foremost we’ve added more seating courtesy of an antique store bench that my love brightened up with a great barn red hue and an amazingly affordable jute rug from Ikea.  Honestly I’m embarrassed I ever tried to make a 4 x 6 rug work for this area…but you’ve gotta make the most of what you’ve got, right? 

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Oh and this guy didn't make it into any of the after pics, but he is a favorite of mine.  He's cute, has a load of character, and he's magnetic to boot.  

On the topic of painting and kitchens.... I mentioned previously that we had plans to paint all the trim in the house white, and our progress on the kitchen got us significantly closer to that goal.  But my man wanted extra credit.  So he did the dining room trim at the same time.  It was great because as I mentioned we were having our first Thanksgiving guests soon after and we got to show off all the progress over the big meal.  Here is a shot of the moody blue dining room after being paired up with some crisp white trim.

You'll notice we ignored the 'crown molding' for now because we plan to replace it with something a bit more substantial soon.  We need to get those radiators addressed too....Here we are adding some last minute touches...like a mirror to accent the new and improved chandelier.

This last picture I wanted to share because they really capture how big the trees on our property are.  As in they produce A LOT of leaves.  Which require A LOT of raking.  Someday I'm gonna buy my mans one of those sweet jet pack leaf blowers....He'll be running around singing 'Who ya gonna call? Ghost Busters!!'

t1yr

After spending most of the summer working outside, I was more than ready to tackle a project indoors.  I certainly had some momentum after having transformed the pool area from an messy ho hum retreat to an oh-la-la oasis by focusing on eliminating the clutter (ie: mis matched stepping stones leading every which way) and cleaning up the plant life (ie: saying farewell to the iri’…plural iris?).  But enough of me bragging, I’ll let you be the judge…..

It also helped that the summer brought some free-to-me-furniture additions to the house.  When mi madre relocated for a new job in the ATL, she decided to downsize from a spacious 5 bedroom suburban home to a trendy down town loft (yea she’s a hip one, that mom o’ mine).  So she had a truck sent up my way and she loaded it with a rod-iron outdoor dining set (seen in the ‘after’ pic above), a solid oak tv cabinet and matching coffee table, a leather loveseat and some great outdoor tools to boot!  Unfortunately I wasn’t in the blogging frame of mind back then so I didn’t photo document each piece, but here’s the metal/glass table headlining in the breakfast nook.  Oh, and please ignore the waaay too small rug.  It has since been reassigned, but was all we had at the time.  Also, the two chairs are from Ikea, and yes they were an adventure to assemble without having like 8 hands.

Anyhow, back to the indoors progress.  We wanted to tackle the bedroom so that we had a retreat to relax in when we needed a break from all the home improvement.  So I started with the solid oak cabinet mom donated to the Green Pond cause and complimented it with a solid wood farmhouse headboard I found at Big Lots (and transported home in my Honda Accord coupe….no joke, see evidence below). 

Oh memories.  I know some may disagree, but I chose to paint both pieces white.  Shame, shame, shame on me….but it really unifies the two making them look almost as if they’re a set.  Plus, I’m a big fan of white furniture, in case you hadn’t noticed!?  As mentioned here, we also had a vintage styled chest of drawers picked up from Ikea last year which is smoky grey in color so it adds a little depth to the furniture color scheme.  We picked out a light grey/silver paint color for the wall called ? from Sherwin Williams and of course went with pristine white for the trim.  It was a team effort on this one (well all of our work is a duo really), but I painted the furniture and Gus put it to the walls, closets and trim.  This was our first experience with painting windows. Ugggh.   Nuff said.  Check out the results!

I picked up the curtains and 4 x 6 rug both at Ikea, and the grey duvet is from West Elm.  The yellow flowered throw and pillows are from Target.  Oh, and I forgot to highlight the old library chairs I also painted….canary yellow!  They’re from Olathe North where both Gus and I went as well as where my Grandma and Grandpa attended back when it was Olathe High School.  I have this thought that it’s possible that all 4 of our bums touched these chairs at some point, though the more realistic possibility is that it was just myself and grandma as the boys most likely didn’t spend much time in the library :).

Excuse my aside….back to bedroom!  One of my favorite additions to the room were two marble slabs we had cut to fit atop the radiators to act as our bed side tables.  Here’s an up-close shot.

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They was mom’s idea…gotta give credit where credit is due!!  Gus went the extra mile and painted the closets too.  This pic is before the doors went back up (totally forgot to mention that my mans painted all the doors glossy white too….those glass knobs really sparkle now!). 

In my side of the closet we put one of those metal shelves in to serve as a second handing bar, and in his we used the plastic drawers we’ve had since the days on Rosewood St.  We also added some hanging storage on the back of the doors, and we both got custom name adornments.

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I must say that having one room completely done really helped to minimize the discouragement that creeps in every now and then as I browse beautiful spaces on Pinterest, and admire the progress of all the amazing bloggers and DIYers out there.  Having my own great spaces to enjoy makes the internet sources more inspirational and motivating than discouraging!  After having lived in this space for over a year (as I write this) I am thinking about a small update to add a bit more color and pattern.  To do so I’m thinking that we may add some fabric covered squares to the insets on the bed frame, spice up the comforter a bit and put up some additional décor on the walls.  I’ll be sure to document all of it here!!

t7months

This post is sort-of like the 't0' for outside.  Since we first saw the house in July, and then moved into the house in September, we really hadn’t ever seen the property in its spring-time glory.  So as the warm weather approached, I was as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve to see what bulbs were planted where, and which bushes bloomed when!  

Let’s start on the back patio.  Right off the bat my green thumb excitement was tempered by the general messiness of the property.  There were pool supplies stored out the open, mismatched stepping stones, and oh the rocks…they were a mess with dried leaves throughout and weeds popping up everywhere (wait until you see what they look like after an hour with the blower!  Hmm … that sounds a bit inapprop?)  Despite all that, the most obvious eye sore is definitely that gigantic blue pool tarp.  You'll have to try and ignore it for now (yes, I know that's hard...trust me, I've been there).  Or maybe you're distracted by the lovely pool pump?  Fortunately for our neighbors, there are several bushes which shield the eye-sore from them, but unfortunately for us, we can see it right out our kitchen window.  That will need to be addressed. 

As for the plantlife, there is a single rose bush and three rhododendruns in the back right corner (if you're looking our the kitchen windows.  Unfortunately though, you can barely make them out from all the Iri’ (plural Iris?)!  Mom taught me that these things spread like wild-fire, and have to be dug out with diligence!  

Aren’t those pink blooms on the trees in the back of the property beautiful?  They only stay that sweet pink hue for about a week, but for that week my day always includes at least one awestruck gasp.  

The tall evergreen hedges were certainly looking a little worse for wear after the heavy winter snow, but surprisingly they kinda just popped back up by the end of the spring.  Somewhat more surprising however is the spacing the previous owner chose for these bushes around the pool.  Maybe it’s just me, but they don’t seem to provide much privacy when planted individually versus in a solid line like they are on the opposing side of the pool.

There is a property just down the street from us that is lined with these and from the outside it seems like some sort of enchanted secret garden.  I always try to sneak a peak inside!  I don’t mean to invade on them, but it’s just so enchanting.  Back to the patio (and yes I am aware I have a bad habit of getting off-track, thanks for bearing with me).

If you turn and look at the house, you’ll immediately notice the light post which is both chipping and leaning like the PA version of the tower of pissa.  Behind it are the ivy ground cover and holy bush which are engaged in a fierce battle for the most invasive award.  I’m not sure if you’re picking up on it, but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point…so much to do!  And since we were still adding to our list of projects indoors, I began to feel torn between the two.

Thank goodness the front yard was a bit less overwhelming!  If you’re looking out the front door, the yard is triangular shaped and is bordered on the west by a line of mixed trees.  Most are evergreens, which is nice because they keep the property somewhat green during the winter months.  

If you turn and look back toward the house from the west point, there’s a sweet pear tree (non-fruit bearing) framing the house.  Then along the front there is a nice symmetrical balance with a few fushia azalea bushes, some low blue conifers flanking the sidewalk and then two yew shrubs on either side of the front door.

If you continue in a circle around the property (working your way back to the garage area) you'll see  another bright fushia azalea that is in serious need of a trimming, and then the big oak tree which shades the house, pool and garage area.

I must say my favorite part the property are the trees.  I’m particularly smitten with this oak as well as the maple one in the front.  I’ve got no idea how old they are, but they make my heart smile just thinking of all the lives they’ve seen.

So that’s how it all began.  We haven’t done anything major, mostly just small stuff here and there to try and clean it up a bit.  Not to downplay the effort though, it was quite an undertaking!!   

t5months

As I looked back on the pics from our first winter in the house I found myself thinking, we didn’t really accomplish too much…?  Then I remembered two things.  Number one, we got Stella.  And number two, that was the winter we watched all 8 seasons of LOST.  Love that show.  We had several snow days that year (one storm brought almost 2 feet!), and my mans and I spent those days cuddled up with our two lil’ girls watching episode after episode on Netflix.  Good times.

Anyhow, we did get a few things accomplished.  Like re-doing the downstairs half bathroom.  It was top on our list after we got home from our 2 week Christmas trip to OZ and found that the toilet had been running the entire time!  As we took down the large mirror, we stumbled across an interesting artifact of the kitchen addition.  A hole.  In its former life it was a window, and while some people say having windows inside a house is coming back, I don’t think anyone likes to be spied on whilst using the john.

I stripped the wallpaper border and we painted the walls a light cheery blue.  I might have chosen a different color looking back, but it’s still a huge improvement.  We ended up using the existing pedestal sink and mirror as well as the cabinet above the toilet, so the only things we bought were a new toilet, faucet, towel rod and tp holder.  Oh and I can’t forget the baseboard heater cover.  Coming in as a close third to the lighthouse wallpaper and horribly yellowed toilet, changing the baseboard heater cover was probably the greatest improvement, and for only $18!  The old one was rusted or else we might have tried to spray paint it back to life. 

     
  

    

We have yet to put something back up over the hole.  There are currently three options in the running: put the old 80’s mirror back up, find an oddly long wall frame or build in a shelf/magazine rack.  I’ll keep you posted! 

   

We also painted the dresser in the guest bedroom to match the existing two pieces, and even added some Target curtains (no rods yet, the good ones are pricey!). 

Lastly, we added some shelves in the office using pieces the previous owner left in the house (painted white, of course).  If you’re thinking that top shelf looks a little too loaded up, you’re right.  It fell after a few weeks and thankfully the only sacrifice was the piggy bank pig.  We were able to put it back up and are careful now to use it only as decorative, lesson learned!

So that’s all I got for this one.  Looking back at the pictures what strikes me is how bare some of the rooms look.  What I focused on first was the big pieces, but what the rooms need now are the soft touches to give 'em that cozy feel!  Bit by bit it's coming together!

t3months

After the progress we made on the house in day 1 (well to be honest it was weekend 1), I set an imaginary standard in my head that we would have the whole house painted and filled with furniture by the end of the year.  Looking back I can’t imagine what made me think this was possible, given the amount of work and money that would entail, but a girl can dream!  As I am writing this, we still have not quite achieved this goal, though we are getting REALLY close! 

Before heading back to OZ for the holidays (December 2009), I walked through the house and snapped some pics to show our friends and families how we were settling in.  We had managed to paint a few rooms, but what I think is most interesting in looking back at these pics is the hybrid state they reflect.  You can see our furniture in the house for the first time, and begin to see where our progress might take us, but still they look an awful lot like t0 (gotta stick with the lingo). 

Before we start I should point out that you can refer to the radiator colors in each pic for the original color of the room.  Sadly this is still true today!  Since we moved in during the fall, we were told to wait to paint them because they needed to dry for a good long time before they are used.  We are still waiting.  Not so much on the weather though, but rather I still can’t settle on whether we should paint them all white to match the trim, or perhaps silver or better yet maybe make some of those wood covers for them?  Needless to say, when we get to that point, it will surely be a post of its own!

I should also add that all along we have planned to paint the trim throughout the house white, which I know a lot of people would cringe at, but I absolutely die for!  To be honest, it had been stained and polyurethaned in various manners and nothing matched nor were they done with much care, ie: several areas had black dog hair under the poly … made me crazy!!  We have 2 cats, so we know how hard it is to keep their hair under control, but when you are doing an important project, you make the effort!  Bit of a sore subject for me, sorry! 

The very first paint choice we made was the dining room.  I’m not sure exactly why, but this color choice was very easy for me which is comical considering how difficult every one since then has been!  The room was a burnt orange before (at least that’s what I called it) and we chose ‘Rainstorm’ by Sherwin Williams.  I wanted something very dramatic like this informal dining room I fell in love with in a magazine, and then found recently on pinterest.  It has a luxurious and sophisticated sense about it, yet a very comfortable feel that I couldn’t resist.  

Also on display in this v. 1 picture is our gorg dining room table and chairs.  I’m quite proud of these purchases so I simply must divulge the story behind them.  This might turn out to be a post within a post, so I apologize in advance.

      

The dining room sat empty, I’m talking straight up echoing, for several months after we moved in.  For our first Thanksgiving, my mom came up and because we had no table, we all sat on the couch for Thanksgiving dinner.  This really irked me for some reason and lit a fire under my toosh to get serious about getting at least the basics for our house.  So that very same weekend, I begged my mom to go shopping with me for Black Friday.  While I certainly looove to shop, I'm not a huge fan of crowds, but this store was different.  The Crate and Barrel outlet in New Jersey is a stand-alone store on the campus of the distribution facility.  When we arrived we found that they were having a HUGE sale on dining room tables…. it was destiny!  I quickly scanned the selection and was gravitating toward white or distressed wood tables when mom called me over to the modern version of a farmhouse table.  It wasn’t what I had been picturing for the space, but it was big enough to fit 12, it had 2 maybe 3 scratches and nice clean lines.  Best of all it was only $149!!! No joke.  The only thing standing between me and a non-echoey dining room was getting it home.  It was lucky she had suggested driving the Ford Escape she rented for the drive to PA, but still we weren’t sure it would fit since it was all one piece, ie: the legs don’t detach.  So while mom guarded my treasure, I borrowed a tape measure and went out to the parking lot.  The verdict was uncertain.  The width was close but it would work, but the length was a real problem.  We formulated a plan and decided to go for it.  We got no help from the stockroom guys who brought it out other than to help us lift.  Apparently they aren’t allowed to help secure anything because of potential liability (how sad is that?).  So they watched (likely in amusement as we secured the hatch down between the two legs (we had the table laying on its top with the legs sticking up) and headed back to PA.  It was a chilly ride with that hatch open, but we made it (and still were able to stop at Chipotle on the way home, mmmmmm).  Later that month, Mom looked up the table in an old Crate and Barrel catalog and sure enough it was originally priced at $1,999.00.  So basically we got it for 92% off!  I love a good bargain and I’m not the type who tries to hide it when I get something at a discounted price (obvious from this post I guess)!  The chairs we picked up at a local antique place.  They aren’t a matching set, but I thought they went pretty well together and added a little character to the table.  You can see in the picture that the seats were velvety gold and maroon, but I’ve since recovered them, so I’ll make sure to point that out when it shows up in the pictures.  I don’t want to spoil all the progress, so I’ll stop there on this room.

         Next up is the living room.  We painted this one “Down Home” also by Sherwin Williams and looking back it’s the only one I want to repaint.  It was a good first step because it neutralized and calmed the space down compared to the orangy red that the room was before (again, see radiator).  But now I think it’s a bit too dark, so we’ll see if we get to the perfecting stage of settling in sometime soon. 

Because of the cable access, we oriented the room with the TV at one end and the couch facing it.  I was never sold on this because it left half of the room feeling void and it also detracted from the fireplace.  But for the time being it worked, and we’ve made baby steps since then toward the grand finale (this is making me so excited to share the current pics!). 

As I mentioned earlier, I have a really hard time picking out colors and a perfect example of that is the office and mudroom.  Why?  Because I defaulted to using the same color as the living room!  I’m sure there is some design rule out there that says you absolutely mustn’t do this, but I did and in fact I think its going to work out quite nice because the office has so many windows and is such a smaller room that the color looks great with all the white trim (sorry that’s in a future pic).  And since as I mentioned I have plans to repaint the living room I will no longer be in violation of the unknown design rule!  As you can see from several of the pics many of the rooms are only about 50% furnished, which is how we lived for the first year or so, but its really come a long way since then and it’s been fun to search out the perfect pieces instead of buying an entire store of the same style items (not that we could afford to do that anyway). 

Here are a few views of the mudroom (as I call it).  Thank goodness one of the cats knocked over that silver vase, cuz it was U-G-L-Y (and it ain’t got no alibi, haha).  This space is probably one of the most functional because it corals all the bags, coats, keys, etcetera into their ‘homes’ (yes for me cleaning is putting everything away, where it belongs, ie: into it’s home). 

Next up on the tour are the bedrooms upstairs.  As you can see the master was pretty bare bones for a while.  This pic was actually when I had the sheets in the laundry, we did at least have those!  We used TV treys as our nightstands for a good year, which made our current ones a dream (sorry I keep alluding to future developments its just that looking back makes me so proud of what we’ve accomplished)!  One thing that was a challenge moving into the house was many of the rooms didn’t have any ceiling lights, which meant we needed a lot of lamps!  Luckily our apartment had prepared us for this because it too had no ceiling lights, but we were/are still under-lamped (one of my current projects is in fact a lamp face-lift)!
 

We did purchase this dresser from Ikea, which has a lot of functionality and character for the price.  And because the upstairs rooms came with metal blinds (which I immediately eliminated with the Berber carpet) we tacked up our old curtains with pushpins for the time being.  You can see over in the corner that I was slowly piecing together items for our bedroom…little by little just like all our progress!

The guest bedroom looked a little more put together from the start because I had painted this furniture while we lived at our apartment.  It belonged to my great grandma and I was thrilled to have it.  I wanted to spice it up a bit so I chose this punchy blue and I’m really happy with how it turned out.  I picture my daughter using it someday and it makes me smile J. We purchased the clear nightstand cart at Crate and Barrel outlet for $69 and patterned yellow rug at Pottery Barn outlet for $11.  The sheets (actually you can’t see them here, but trust me they’re cute!) and duvet cover are also from Pottery Barn outlet, and overall I think they each bring a little depth to the space.

Anyhow, the bedroom set had only come with two pieces, the bed and the vanity table, but I got super lucky one day and spotted the matching dresser sitting outside at an antique store (actually the same one that I found the dining room chairs at)!  To my pleasant surprise it was only $125!!  It’s another great old sturdy piece and I’ve since painted it to match the set.

Last on the list is the small bedroom, which I really wanted to be a dressing room.  I loved all the extravagant examples I had seen in magazines, and now on pinterest here and here.  You can see my attempt below, which worked for a while, but has since been axed.  I now use a closet like most normal people, but still dream of having some sort of walk-in closet/dressing room someday. 

So, that’s where we were after 3 months of living in The House on Green Pond.  I have to admit that early on I was really stressed about the number of projects on our to do list, and it still gets under my skin a little bit.  But I like to think that I’m adjusting to life ‘in-progress’.  Since living on the East Coast we have done a pretty good job of exploring our new surroundings and taking some weekend trips to see the sights.  I’m thinking that someday this blog may become a depot for those pics as well as DIY projects and maybe even documentation of a scientists attempts to be a cook (you would think those two might go hand in hand, ie: good at following stepwise instructions etc. but somehow the connection just isn’t there?).  We’ll see about that when we get there, but first I want to get all our past progress in nesting documented on this here digital diary!  Although I do have to add one current tidbit to this post…. yesterday was 11-11-11 and my cousin delivered her first child… a little girl!  I can’t wait for our holiday trip home this year to see her!!  What a great birth date that will be for all the little ones born yesterday!