Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Closing out summer...ringing in the fall

It's that time of year, when the kids are deciding which of their new clothes they'll wear the first day of school -- next week already; they're packing their backpacks with all their new school supplies; wondering if they'll know where to go and where all their classes are.  Since I work all summer, the "back-to-school" attitude doesn't faze me, although it means I won't have to worry about my 2 teens at home all day being "bored." 

It's also the time I start putting away the red, white and blue decorations that have adorned my dining room and kitchen since Memorial Day and look forward to bringing out my fall colors and decos. Today I gave it a gradual start. I have an assorted collection of Longaberger pottery in paprika, cornflower, ivory and butternut.  The cornflower got swapped out for the butternut and I started pulling my baskets' fall "dresses" out of storage (aka liners).  I don't buy "seasonal" baskets, unless they are a GREAT deal on eBay.  But I love swapping out the liners. It changes the look for a very small price.  I do hate that LB is getting away from the liners, especially having them available for a large assortment of baskets. There are just a couple that get the honor of having fall fabric liners available.

I haven't taken a pic of the kitchen yet. I'll have to make sure I do that once the transformation is complete and our final kitchen redo project is finished. 

We (my Dear Hubby & myself, with some help from the kids) totally redid our kitchen last year - all by ourselves. We had a limited budget and went to Ikea.  I have a small kitchen, 12x14, so I wanted all white cabinets, white walls, a new laminate floor (oak), and a black granite-look countertop, and my apron front double basin sink! We ended up going with a custom formica countertop from Lowes. I'm really pleased with the look, especially since the cabinets are bead-board design.  I placed new cabinets in a corner where there were none before -- doubled my storage & countertop space; got all new appliances, a new white trestle table, with black ladderback chairs. I LOVE it!!! Whereas before, it was my LEAST favorite room in the house, that honor know goes to the Master Bath -- next summer's planned project. 

The kitchen had old, old, old cabinets, whose shelves were not adjustable. It had a soffit (which is now gone - to make room for my 39 inch cabinets).  It had 5 ceramic tiles permanently attached to said soffit -- of 5 different types/species of mushrooms.  OMG!!!! Seriously??? They came down within a week of moving in. We actually had to cut huge blocks of drywall out to get them OFF!!! But it was just the soffit, and we knew that was coming down eventually, so we just did a temp patch job.

The only things left to do are (1) hire someone to finish off the tops of the cabinets where they meet the ceiling, as their is a gap and my DH and I cannot, absolutely cannot, cut crown molding. And believe me, we tried, and tried, and tried. And had to stop because we were wasting wood and money; and (2) tile the backsplash. At first I was going to go with a faux-tin backsplash & stick with my country kitchen theme, but I really would like it tiled.  Next dilemma: white tile w/ black grount; white tile/white grout/w/ a decorative thin black tile stripe going all around; or black tile w/ white grout. I'm really leaning towards the black tile w/ white grout, as I think it will blend into the countertop nicely and couterbalance all the white happening in that room.  I'm not regretting going all white.  The kitchen feels light, airy, and larger when I'm in there -- before it was just oppressive.  But I think the black tile will look really nice.

Here is an inspiration pic  
and it just happens to be an Ikea kitchen.(The original image is not on the Ikea website anymore.)

As a matter of fact, the shelf on the wall on the left if the one I also have in my kitchen (well, 4 of them), displaying my baskets and pottery.

So what do you think?  Black subway tile and white grout?  Let me know what you think...

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Beginning of a beautiful ..... something.

Okay. 
First step -- create blog - check.
Second step -- find something to write about - ummm... be back soon! ;)

Seriously though, I've been wanting to create a blog for a long time. And finally, after reading and following some awesome bloggers, I've been inspired. I'll be taking pictures and finding subjects/ideas to post about. Some of it you will find interesting, some of it - probably not so much. But if I have fun doing it, then the free therapy is working it will all be worth it in the end. I think...

I collect Longaberger baskets and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE decorating my home with them and finding uses for them.  I love to decorate for the seasons and holidays. I love to do all sorts of crafts (beading, crocheting, scrapbooking).  I collect ball-jointed dolls and Tonner dolls.  I love to build miniature houses (1/12th scale).  I love to read.  I love my dog (2 yr old American Bulldog named Kai) and she is not your typical dog.  So out of all of that, I'm hoping somewhere along the way, somebody will enjoy one or two of my posts. 

Okay everyone, in your best Arnold Schwarzenegger voice say this out loud, "I'll be back."