Kitchen Remodel

We've got ants in our pants - err - cabinets.

They are literally emerging from the cabinets and it totally creeps me out so we thought why not rip everything out and start over again.

No really we are ripping everything out but not ONLY because of the ants.  It is just time it gets a face lift. 

I mentioned in an earlier post that we've been tile shopping for the kitchen and now we are cabinet shopping too.  We searched around a bit for cabinets and finally landed on a set from Ikea.  We were really surprised by the features and quality they offered for such low prices.  Plus we have heard amazing reviews from consumers and contractors who have been really pleased with the product.  After visiting the store and exploring all the finishes and features we went home and were able to create our future virtual kitchen through the kitchen planner webpage.  

Here is how it turned out.

So it is pretty much the same layout but with much cooler cabinets full of great organizational and storage features.  Since the above picture is hardly complete here is a sample of some of the finishes we are hoping to use.

The floor will be a grey, textured slate or slate look-a-like with white cabinets, a white and grey/black marble or granite countertop and white subway tile backsplash.  We will be keeping but upgrading our butcher block storage unit in the corner to bring in some warm, wood tones.  And then I found a charming glass pendant light for over the sink.  And to finish off the look I will keep the yellow/grey/black fabric to introduce some fun pops of yellow and brighten the whole space.

I sooo badly want to put in a farmhouse sink and I even had Brandon's approval but then our contractor dashed my dreams.  Apparently a farmhouse sink won't fit since our dishwasher is so close to the sink.  Such a bummer - bit a classic undermount sink will be fabulous too!

I am so so excited to start this project.  We meet with the contractor again on Tuesday but I am sure it will still be awhile before we get into demo mode......

but no worries I will track the whole transformation here.  

Stay tuned.

I want to squeeze that bum.....

Scrumptious.

Let me introduce you to Erin Tole, my new favorite photographer.  I visit her blog and website daily and always find the most delicious babies and children EVER!  And that's not it, she just posted an elegant and sexy photo-shoot in a rainforest.  Very dreamy.  You must check it out...

Erin Tole Photography

I am excited to say that Erin used my hats in one of her recent photo-shoots.  Well she tried to use them.  You see I may have made the hats too small - for even newborns.  I was warned by many that newborn heads are smaller than they appear and apparently they are super, teeny, tiny in my mind.  But she managed to squeeze this poor child's head into the ear flap hat (a favorite of mine) and shared two of the photos with me.  

Thank you Erin!  I absolutely love these photos.  Mostly because I am a total sucker for naked babies and you are freakin' amazing.  I wish you were closer to the midwest.  You would be my resident photographer.

My fellow blog-readers if you live in the Vancouver area you must check Erin out!!  And if you don't then you must check her out because it is just so fun to explore her photos.

New Bench, New Dining Room Look

First of all I want to apologize for being so MIA lately.  We have had a very significant event to plan at work which has sucked up all of my waking (and some of my non-waking) hours.  Now that I've have made it through the event I am back to blogging and hope to make it up to you with some fun posts this week.

For awhile now I have been wanting to find a nice upholstered bench to place at our dining room table to add some color, fabric and more seating.  Since we have such a small space and it is a living/dining combo I thought a comfy bench that could be pushed towards the table or the sitting area would be helpful.  It has taken me awhile but while perusing my local Homegoods (a weekly habit of mine) I found this unassuming piece.

And it was on clearance since there was a stain, which didn't matter to me since I do not like this fabric.  So it was only $55 - I love those little red stickers stuck over the already cheap prices.

And then it did this and I about fell over on the little old lady walking by.

So I brought it home and immediately took care of that nasty fabric.  I know there was a better way to go about reupholstering it but to be honest I did not have the time to do it the right way....so I did it the quick way.  I did take the time to remove all the hardware and separate the base from the top but that was as far as I went.  And I even happened to have the fabric laying around and I think it adds a lot to the fabric already in our space.

So here is the finished product.

Here was the room before the bench redo.....

And after.....

Now I just need to get some things up on the wall.  Baby steps.

I want that

courtesy of coastal living

While I do love these split stairs - like L-O-V-E them I am actually talking about the stair runner.  For the past few months we have been searching for the perfect runner to install on our steps.  The pups with their oversized paws have a tendency to fall down ours, which is not so good.  Plus it would look so amazing so I need your help.  Any suggestions as to where I could find this runner or one similar?  Or maybe just a good place to check for rugs?  I am up for being creative and putting some elbow grease into it so any suggestions would be WONDERFUL!

Thanks y'all!

(yea I'm from the midwest but sometime it's fun to pretend)

DIY: $20 Ikea Chair

Ikea: Ivar

For the longest time now I have been looking for the perfect chair for my office desk.  I still don't know what I want and I am wiling to put in a lot of time and effort to customize but since it has taken so long for the chair to find me I had to go out and find a temporary chair.  I was using one of those exercise/balance balls for the longest time but found that I accomplished nothing while sitting on it so while I was at Ikea picking up some butcher block for a project, my friend and I wandered over to the chairs to find the temporary fix.  And the winner was the Ikea Ivar coming in at $20.   It is the cheapest, crappiest chair ever.  I cannot even begin to explain how light it is but it holds my weight and is a great, cheap blank slate.

My original plan was to pad and upholster it (or at least create a sleek slip cover) but finding the time to figure it out has been far and few in between so last weekend I finally decided to do something quick and easy.

Since it was so cheap I wanted to do something fun so I bought some turquoise spray paint and went to down on this sucker.

From the above cap color I was hoping for a toned down fun but in reality it came out quite bright.....just a little too much color.  Hmmm...maybe a nice seat cushion will help.

Now again I went for easy....like a monkey could do it easy....

So I took an old seat cushion that was heading to goodwill and decided to wrap it in fabric - as in literally wrap it like a present and yes - hot glue it together.......you think I am crazy right now but I have been sitting on it and it has held up perfectly.

just like a christmas present....

I think it turned out well.

(this photo is more washed out - more the color I was intending)

(In reality this chair is still BRIGHT)

So I decided to paint the whole chair white and take my sander to it to reveal both the turquoise and the natural wood......

Here is the chair before the massive sanding which is still its current state.  It is more washed out but that is the way I like it.  This room is more soft and well feminine.

Here is a small test/peak at the turquoise showing through.....That was all I was able to accomplish before I was summoned to paint the living room.  So this weekend I will whip out the electric sander and give this puppy a buff....come back and check it out.

Thanks for visiting!!

It's About Time

Finally I am back to this little thing called blogging.

Finally we painted our living room which has looked like this since January:

I tried hiding it with those branches but there was a lot of random colors on the wall....and I hated them all.

So after posting about my indecision here and asking for help I waited another 3 - yes 3 - months to actually make the final decision.  Ok, well actually Brandon forced me to make a decision - the random patches of color were driving him crazy so he escorted accompanied me to the hardware store and forced helped me take the big plunge.

So I took a big risk and chose.....

OFF-WHITE

hah....seriously.  I didn't even choose a color.  But I have to say.  I love it!  I don't have all my things on the wall yet but the room is completely changed from that hideous mauve the previous owners had on there.  

It is open, bright and fresh - as soon as I get the room pulled back together I will re-post with an update but here are a few snapshots from our fun day painting - even my sister Kate came over and helped. 

The original nasty mauve color - yuck!

Kate - too busy painting to smile at the camera

Brandon - prepping the walls

Me - ok so we just hate the camera I guess

So here is the preliminary before and after:

Ok, so not as dramatic as I was hoping on camera but trust me - even though the only thing we updated was the paint, the room looks 100% better.  I love it!

And I mean, at least there are no nasty color samples on the wall.