gromit's new address

Now that the giant cabinet is gone from the dining room, Gromit's bed has a new location.  I spent the entire day cleaning the floors, dusting, and putting food into the new/old pantry.  It's so nice to take pride in my house again!

demolition derby

We are putting in a new front porch--we're doing the demo ourselves to save a little cash.  Seth removed the boards while I pulled up nails.

light at the end

My new old pantry!  This is our old pantry, which used to be across from the sink in our kitchen.  We moved the fridge where the pantry used to sit (see here for pics), and we've been living with this giant cabinet in our dining room for months.  We paid a professional contractor to retro-fit the cabinet in the space under the stairs.  It still needs to be painted (white), but it looks so wonderful!

happy endings

My father-in-law came and spent most of last week helping us paint the cabinets white.  We went with Benjamin Moore's "Timothy Straw" (avocado green) for the wall color.  I could not be happier with my gorgeous new kitchen--the pictures don't do it justice!

trash to treasure

My $2 yard sale desk...

< Before

 

< After

enCOUNTERed

Our new countertops are in!!!  It makes the kitchen look soooo different.  Seth installed the new faucet last night, so now we have a sprayer.  I can't wait to get the cabinets and walls painted.  It's all coming together!

coming apart at the seams

The new drywall is in place and we're now in the taping, mudding, and sanding phase.









Seth had a bad headache the other night and left the Ibuprofen in the kitchen...makes for a pretty artsy shot, doesn't it?  :)  The new countertops are scheduled to be installed on Monday.  Woohoo!

more kitchen demo

Seth removed our old countertop and all of the backsplash today.  I cannot wait to have my new kitchen!!!

kitchen remix

 

Even though I'm not a gourmet cook or anything, I'm so excited that we're finally remodeling our dated and dysfunctional kitchen.  Seth removed the raised bar and started on the tile backsplash in preparation for our new countertops.  I was on wallpaper-removal-duty; hooray for no more fruity wallpaper!  I also helped Seth move our fridge out of the time-out closet (bottom right picture) and into it's new home, where our pantry used to be (left side of top picture).  We still have such a long road ahead, but we've made great progress this week.

recipe for renovation

Check out my new cart I found for just $10!  It had a little rust on top, so I sanded it down and painted it orange.  I also found an adorable apron, which I decided to use as a curtain.  I stuck a favorite recipe in the pocket.  :)

On the subject of the kitchen, we have decided to finally make some changes.  We replaced all the hardware on the cabinets and we ordered new countertops.  I can't tell you how happy I will be to see the nasty green and creme tile go away.  Now I just need to pull down the Willy Wonka wallpaper and figure out what colors we want to paint the cabinets and walls.

We're a little nervous about home renovations as no project (great or small) has gone smoothly with this house.  The countertop specialist told us that if the cabinets were off by more than 1/8" they would not install the countertops.  I think we can all agree that NOTHING is level in an older home.  This should be an adventure, to say the least.

hey mister postman

Each year I use the Christmas cards we receive as garland. My great aunt started us off this year with our first card, received over Thanksgiving. I waited a very long time for the next card. It's been a very slow trickle this year...

reinVented

I knew I could make something fun out of these guys! All I needed were the awesome patterns designed by Surly Bird Studio and my awesome Dremel tool to attach the hooks for the ribbons. I cannot say enough about how much I love that thing! (Thanks for the early Christmas gift, Santa!)

creative ideas?

My mother-in-law made me the beautiful wreath hanging above our heater. Now if I could just figure out what to put on our mantle. A mirror? Panoramic framed photo? Painting? Anyone have any ideas? (It's about 30" wide.)

brrrr

The weather has turned off cold and it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. At least our decorations don't seem quite as premature now. Happy 1st day of December!

branching out

So I decided to move my new centerpiece to the mantle, and I'm sooo pleased with how it looks. I also broke my rule put the rest of our Christmas decorations BEFORE THANKSGIVING. And yes, it was 75 degrees here today. Nothing like decorating for Christmas in short sleeves with the windows open. :)

We're going to use these adorable little pouches to leave little notes and candies for each other in the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

first signs

The first signs of Christmas are showing up in our house. This project was inspired by a Thanksgiving centerpiece featured in the November 2011 edition of Better Homes & Gardens Magazine. I chopped off a nice curvy branch of our crepe myrtle, spray painted it white, and hung ornaments on it.

couch potato

The dining room is almost done! I just have a few framed patterns designed by Surly Bird Studio to hang from my glass doorknobs (above the church pew). I love this room so much that I almost want to eat dinner at the dinner table. Almost.

cute as a punkin

Gearing up for the trick-or-treaters this year. Our sweet neighbors gave us these silly faces for our pumpkins, which guard each side of the front door.

let there be light

Please pay no attention to the fruity wallpaper or hideous tile countertops. This before & after applies only to the pendant lights. We traded out the brass beauties for some gorgeous Edison-style globes.

tic-tac-whoa

A fresh coat of Chatham Tan and 25 wallflowers make the dining room look and feel like a brand new space. More photos to come!