Finally... the kitchen reveal!

Remember way back when when we remodeled our kitchen?  But then I didn't share any photos because Capella was working to get it published in a magazine.  And, I am sure I totally could have since I have approximately five readers of this blog.  ;)  Well, the magazine finally came out so here it is in all of its glory.  Go check out the Summer 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Kitchen + Bath Makeovers!

It's the final countdown...

Sorry if like me, you'll now be singing that song all day.  I am officially full term... 37 weeks today.  It's crazy to think of how far we've come, and that we're really oh so very very close to meeting our daughter.  We are "officially" ready.  Her room is as complete as it will be before she comes, though I'd eventually like to add more art, accessories, and pillows for the daybed.  The carseat is installed.  Hospital bags are as packed as they will be until it is time.  Now, we wait.  :)  Work has been crazy and I definitely have some things to wrap up here, but whatever will be will be.

Wonder how many more of these I'll take... 37 weeks to come after tonight.

This weekend, Matt and I did the Junior League's Shamrock n Roll 5K/10K.  To be very clear, we walked the 5K.  And it took us almost an hour.  Ooops.  Hey, that's what happens when you're having major Braxton Hicks the whole time!  :)  I usually run it in about 30 minutes, so it was funny to be lapped twice by many of the 10K runners (they start 15 minutes after the 5K race).  Matt actually has a hairline fracture in his tibia and a sprained MCL thanks to his ski trip and doing a double black bowl (why I ask?  a professional he is not), so he couldn't run either.  Just thankful that his injury doesn't require surgery, because we thought it might be a torn miniscus.  Anywho.

Three of the loves of my life.

Good morning, Atlanta!

This just makes me laugh.  Whoa belly.  Probably doesn't help that I crammed by 37 week belly into a non-maternity, somewhat fitted shirt.  Haha.

After the race and a nice nap, I finished up Greer's room (for now) while Matt was taking care of other things.  I swear, when it comes to nesting in the sense of organizing and throwing things away, Matt is the man.  He's done virtually all of that, but I definitely am more into the cleaning side of things and want everything to be spotless (please note that this is impossible with two large, hairy dogs).

The iPhone photos aren't the best, but they're the best I'm going to do for now.  :)  The colors aren't quite as bright as they appear in the photos (the pink is a salmon/coral pink rather than hot pink, the monogram is a softer aqua than it appears, etc.).  Capella did the base design, sourcing things like the daybed, rug, wall color, etc., and I came in and added the more personal touches that any mom (um, weird... mom) would want to have control over.  The pups were painted by Amy Yeager, and she did an AMAZING job.  There's still some things I'd like to do in there, but that will happen eventually.  I am very happy with the way it turned out.  I find it both calm and playful at the same time, and I hope she will grow into it and love it... and maybe share a room with a little sister or brother some day.  :)  It's a big room!

For 37 weeks pregnant, I'm still feeling pretty good!  I had a couple of weeks of pretty good sleep (this is relative, of course), but now I'm back to sleeping like crap, so I'm pretty tired.  Hoping I get back into a good groove and get some restful sleep before she comes.  I haven't had any swelling (still wearing my wedding rings), and I can still move around as well as could be expected.  I did have a baffling 7 pound weight gain between 34 and 36 weeks that I cannot figure out, but oh well (nurse said I was probably retaining fluid but wouldn't I be swollen if that was the case?).  Maybe it was a fluke... or maybe I need to not be so tempted by sweets.  Paleo what?

Living Room and Dining Room - How It All Came Together

Warning: This is going to be a long one with as much detail as I can remember!

So, as you saw in this post, after almost three years of living in our home, we finally decorated!  And  boy does it feel good to 1) have it done and 2) be able to walk into your home and enjoy it.  It's frivolous, certainly, and wasn't something that we needed (heck, we do/buy a lot of things we don't need), but I'm glad we did it and it's done!  And, now we're already talking about our next projects.  Haha, I don't know what we'd do if we bought a house that didn't have projects... I guess we'd come up with some just to stay busy.

But, back to the matters at hand.  As I've mentioned time and time again, Capella Kincheloe was the brain child, and we just executed her master plan.  Since I'd worked with Capella before and we'd become friends, she had a good idea of my style and how far she could push it.  We gave her a budget, not a small number but also not too much when considering furnishing three rooms that included some big ticket items.  We splurged in some areas and saved in others.  She put together the plan and idea boards, and we got going.

The basic plan remained the same, but small things evolved along the way like pillows, accessories, paint colors, light fixtures, etc.  If you pin any of these photos, please credit Capella Kincheloe Interior Design!!



Capella Kincheloe Interior Design

Capella Kincheloe Interior Design



Capella Kincheloe Interior Design

Living Room Source List:
Paint - Benjamin Moore (I think we ended up using Sweet Caroline but I will have to check on that and edit as necessary... it's a light minty green)
Sofa - Pottery Barn Landon in Oatmeal Slubby Basketweave
Sofa pillows - ABC Home and Etsy (Suzani from seller Pillowcoversetc)
Ottoman - Crate & Barrel Willow Large Ottoman in Spruce (I don't see it on their website now) with trim added by moi
Woven ottomans - Crate & Barrel Samar Ottoman
Small Gold Side Table - Overstock
Chairs - craigslist
Sofa Table - Scott's Antique Market
Round Scalloped Side Table - craigslist
Lamps - Scott's Antique Market
Lamp Shades - lampsusa.com
Art - from our trip to Greece
Frames above Sofa - Ikea, painted champagne gold
Mirror installation above fireplace - Ikea Lots mirrors, trim painted BM Van Buren Brown (HC-70), decorative tacks where the corners of the mirrors meet (you can't see the tacks in the photos but you can see them in person)
Deer head candelabra - Scott's Antique Market
Accessories - West Elm, Scott's Antique Market, Goodwill, things already owned
Rug - Pottery Barn Malika (already owned)
Built-ins - Custom (Big Bear Construction in Atlanta), painted your basic white and the backs are BM Van Buren Brown, knobs are from Lee Valley

The built-ins were the most expensive thing in this room.  In fact, they were 33% of the total budget for all of the rooms, but they really needed to be redone.  We contemplated trying to retrofit our existing ones, but ultimately decided that we didn't want to do the work necessary for that and wanted to change them a bit more than retrofitting them would allow.  They were built for a mid-90s TV (i.e., deeper than we needed), and we knew we could gain a few extra inches by only making them deep enough for our TV components (DVD player, receiver, etc.).  We also made them wider and had them made to fit our TV perfectly, as Matt said we'd never get a bigger TV for that room (I think we have a 50").

The big DIY stuff was in this room.  When purchased, the lamps were originally tarnished brass or copper or something.  We cleaned them up, spray painted them keeping a little band of the brass showing for fun, put in new electrical components, and got the chocolate brown lamp shades.  The deer head candelabra is some sort of rough, heavy (dull) metal (maybe iron?), so I also cleaned that up and spray painted it.  I added the trim to the ottoman to make it a little more custom.  I spray painted the Ikea frames, and Matt and I hung them (some work trying to get 8 lined up perfectly... plus you have to put the hanging hardware on them yourself).  Capella doctored the photos in the frames to make them a bit more artsy (all ours from top L-R: Maddie, sunset in Santorini, our feet in the Pacific, walking down the aisle; bottom L-R: church where we were married, an engagement photo, Max, tree in a vineyard in Sonoma).  It will be fun to be able to change the photos out as we add to our family (the photos are 16x20).  We installed the mirrors over the fireplace (after a failed attempt to antique them) and trimmed them out (probably at a total cost of less than $60).  It might not sound like a lot of work, but as you know if you're a DIYer... these things take awhile, especially when you have full time jobs and other responsibilities too!

Now, onto the dining room...

 

Capella Kincheloe Interior Design

Capella Kincheloe Interior Design

Capella Kincheloe Interior Design



Capella Kincheloe Interior Design

(I like this last shot because you can see into the LR... if you were looking straight through that doorway, you'd be staring through the kitchen to the back door out to our screened-in patio... probably the next sprucing up project.)

Dining Room Source List:
Paint - BM Pacific Ocean Blue (this scared the crap out of me, but I trusted Capella and I'm glad I did)
Table - craigslist
Chairs - craigslist (from a restaurant furniture liquidation - $220 for 8!!!)
Shelves - French Shopkeeper Shelves from Wisteria
Rug - Crate and Barrel
Light fixture - Savoy House Forum Four Light Pendant in Gold Dust (purchased from Wayfair.com)
Curtains - West Elm Luxe Window Panels in Ivory
Accessories - Ikea, Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Container Store, things I already owned
Mirror - already owned (Ikea)
Frames - Pottery Barn
Art - Etsy (seller RSJakeGraphics)
Corbels (used as candle sconces) - http://crown-molding.com/Corbel-C8030-mantel-corbels.aspx

This room didn't require as much DIY.  We hung the mirror, curtains, light fixture, art, etc., which of course all takes time, but I didn't have to "create" anything for this room.  It came together pretty easily.  This room is small (11.5'x11.5'), so we had to play around with it to make it seat 6-8.  You can seat 6 comfortably at the table (and that's how we have it set up), but it's pretty small.  Eight is doable, but would be tight and would have to be a buffet set up because there wouldn't be any room for food on the table.  The shelves double as a bar, and we would use that to set up food if we entertained for a group.  The nice thing is that there's enough room for a small card table, so we could have a kids table in the future and all eat together.

The kitchen will be kept under wraps until after the magazine comes out, which probably won't be until Spring 2013.  The shoot went great and it was really fun to see the editor and photographer in action.  I can't wait to see the pictures!!  (And, I still can't believe my kitchen will be in a magazine... so funny.)

Published (& the house transformation of late 2011/early 2012)

Enough depressingness.  Pardon me and the moment of self pity I was having last week.  So unbecoming, but it's where I was at, so whatevs.  Just keeping it real.

In other real news, you may remember that we did some major kitchen remodeling and also decorated our living room and dining room, thanks to the incomparable Capella Kincheloe.  The reason I have not shared any after photos (unless you're a facebook friend) is because we were trying to get a room (or rooms) published.  Well, the fine folks at BHG's Real Life Kitchens & Baths decided to use our kitchen in their next publication.  I don't have all of the details yet, but we miiiiiiiight be on the cover of the winter issue, and they are coming to shoot the kitchen in late June.  So, I can't share any kitchen photos, but here are a few living room and dining room shots.  These photos were shot by my very good friend and ultra talented photographer, Jenny.  Pretty amazing, especially considering she has no experience shooting interiors!

(I am only posting photos Capella has on her website until I get the all clear from her to post more... and I'll tell you a secret, she has two shots of my kitchen on her website... it's the photo you'll see before the ones below.  The photos were taken before my fabulous Roman shades arrived and were installed, but they definitely finish out the kitchen wonderfully.)



My kitchen might be here... crazy.



Dining room before

 

Living room before

 

Living room before

More old house posts here, here, here, here, and here.  It's been quite the transformation!  I will do a post eventually with sources, what we did (a fair amount of DIY, per the usual), etc.  Suffice it to say, we are happy to have it done and are enjoying our beautiful home!

Loving Today

Yeah, yeah... besides my husband, dogs, family, friends and all that mushy stuff... this.

A little sneak peek of some of the things we've been up to in the living room.  I failed miserably at antiquing mirrors (side note: Ikea Lots mirrors are antique proof), so we just went with a clean version.  Five wide by five tall and framed out with 1-3/8" trim creates an inexpensive mirror installation above the fireplace that has a HUGE (literally and figuratively) impact.  It was also easy and quick... maybe took us 2-3 hours total to put up the mirrors, cut the trim, paint the trim, install the trim, then wood putty/touch up paint.  Stay tuned for more...

{happy dance... I love my house!}

I've got nothing.

Well, hello there.  I don't have much to say except that we've been busy putting the *almost* final touches on the house (you know, in addition to our normal duties like working and cooking and cleaning and caring for our dogs), and I cannot wait to have it done and show it off!!!  Capella is beyond amazing, and the house is looking really good.  My good friend Jenny is going to come take some pretty pictures in a week and a half, so I will be posting them in the next several weeks.  The only thing that won't be done is the Roman shades for the kitchen, so we'll take a few shots of it now but the rest later.  And, the entry way probably won't be done (need a new console and to hang a new light), but that's not being photographed anyway, because that wasn't part of what Capella was doing for us.

Besides that, I'm just feeling a little sorry for myself today and trying to snap out of it.  I hate feeling like this.  I prayed for a long time last night... I thanked God, I pleaded with God, I asked God for contentment.  We want children.  This is not news to anyone, especially Him.  So besides asking Him to get with our program and make this happen (ha!), I am just begging Him to help me be content with what I have (in all parts of life) and thanking him for it.  I don't love my job, but I have a job.  I want to have a baby, but the time that Matt and I have together to ourselves is priceless.  I have so much more than I need.  I am so incredibly grateful for my husband and our marriage. 

And, I know all of this will be worth it... the doctors, the waiting, the hoping, wishing, willing, praying, believing, doubting, hurting.  There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that every little ounce of it will be worth it the first time we hold our child.  I just don't understand why we're being made to wait.  I know this isn't true and everyone has their demons, but I look around and see people that seem to have it all and haven't had a lot of heartache (or seemingly any) in their lives.  And then I look at my own life, and while I have had a wonderful life, I have faced more loss than most.  But, I know people who have had it way worse off, too.  And, I just wonder why we're being dealt these hands?  I am a believer that God won't give you more than you can handle and that He molds faith and character through hardships (James 1:3, James 1:12, James 5:11).  Sometimes I just want to ask if we can catch a break, but then I feel so incredibly selfish and shallow and ashamed of myself, because I know my life is good.

So, you see this little conundrum?  This vicious cycle of feeling sorry about my circumstances and then feeling sorry for feeling sorry about my circumstances.  Yeah.  Maybe I need a shrink.  :)  That is all.  Good day.

P.S.  Apparently I had a lot more to say than when I started this post.  Okay, now I'm really done.

Just What I Needed

Last night I "prayed" (really, more like just putting it out into the world, because this is not something I felt the need to put on God) that we would get our appraisal back (the new one) and it would be good (i.e., what we needed... good would be to say that everything we've spent on our house has tacked on to what we paid for it).  :)

BAM!  Woke up this morning, checked the ol' e-mail and there it is... do I open it and possibly ruin my day?  But, if it's good, then I'll have a super day.  When I saw the appraised value, the heavens opened and a light shone down upon me and the choir of angels in my head began singing, "Hallelujah!"  Now, we can refinance!  {happy dance}

Plus, next week our new built-ins are going in, we just got a quote on painting that is excellent, Capella Kincheloe is escorting me to Scott's Antique Market to get all kinds of fun stuff for her beautiful design for our home, and I'm confident we can have it all put together by mid-February (with some hard work and $, but it can be done).  Things are looking up.  :)

Visual Interest

I'm going to wait until it's completely done, rug in, curtains hung, etc. before posting any more photos BUT I had to let you see a little sneak peek of what kept us busy all weekend.  Tile saw + Kristin = BFF.  It's not grouted or caulked yet, but isn't she beautiful?

P.S.  On a much less superficial note, I went to the hospital last night to see Jenn, Matt and sweet Davis.  He is hanging in there... such a strong little guy.  No news is good news, and while as of yesterday, his heart "looked" the same on the echo, his vitals were very good.  Praying that the worst is over and that God heals him completely.

Update on the kitchen... or why I've been driven to the bottle.

Renovations are not for the faint of heart, especially when you're renovating the heart of the house.  If we aren't sleeping, all of our time is spent in our living room and kitchen, both of which are currently rendered useless and have been for almost three weeks.  Now, this truly isn't a terrible timeframe considering the kitchen was almost a full gut job (no wall removal, but every other surface was removed or altered in some way).  We're looking at another 10 days before we have countertops and 11 days before we have a fully functioning kitchen (but not fully completed).  First, a list of reasons I've started drinking just about every night we've been in renovation mode. 

• Dust.  Everywhere.  (It has since been mostly cleaned, but the dining room/our kitchen staging area is in major need of a deep cleaning.)
• Spending all of our time at home in our bedroom.  With two golden retrievers who are antsy and confused as to why they are permanently confined to the bedroom or bathroom.
• My kitchen renovation diet.  Let's just say that a major paleo lockdown/detox is needed after a very increased consumption of grains and sugar.  And, it's a total reminder of how addicting sugar is and how amazing you feel when you're free of it.  Sugar = crack.
• Washing dishes in the half-bathroom sink.  The toilet is approximately two feet from said sink.  Sanitary much?
• A very laboring Labor Day weekend.  Seriously, worked in the kitchen almost the entire weekend (we took breaks to attend a Braves game on Friday night and to watch the Gators with some friends on Saturday night).  (I felt very accomplished after getting it all done though.)
• Finding out today that our floors need a third coat of poly, when we thought we'd be able to start moving everything back in this weekend.  Have I mentioned that we are a frat house???  Our couches are on our front porch.  Classy, party of two, your table is ready.  (Thank God for a giant covered front porch... I guess we would have had to get a storage unit or pod if not.)
• The fact that we bumped out the depth of our laundry closet a few inches (and a fair amount of $$$) to accommodate solid bi-fold doors and the depth of our washer and dryer only to find that the solid doors do not open wide enough to be able to open the washer/dryer doors.  We need like another inch, so we're trying to figure out ways to make this happen.  Thankfully, our contractors are awesome and even though this was not anything anyone expected (or necessarily should have), they are working to make it work at no additional cost to us.  I'm confident that we'll figure out something, or at worst, have to stack the units.
• The cabinet installer mis-drilling for the hardware on three drawers.  (No worries, they will be replaced at no cost to us, of course.)

Second, what's still left to do.

• Paint the doors. (us)
• Paint the ceiling. (us)
• Pick out fabric for Roman shades. (me)
• Pick out tile for backsplash. (us)
• Sew Roman shades. (me)
• Another coat of poly on the floors.
• Install dishwasher.  (Matt)
• Pick out different corbels and hang shelves. (us)
• Figure out shelving in laundry closet once configuration is known. (us)
• Make/install said shelving. (us)
• Install countertops.
• Install stove.
• Install faucet and disposal.
• Put in the tile backsplash. (us)

I'm sure I'm missing a few things, but that's the gist of it for posterity's sake.  What's left is mostly finishing items, except the countertops are a pretty big one.  I'm hoping to pick out the fabric and tile this weekend, paint the ceiling, and get the doors painted.  We should be able to handle that after all we did last weekend.  Our biggest project was creating the shelving in the pantry... I hate wire shelving, so I was the brain child behind our nice, solid wood shelves and Matt executed (I painted).  Besides the wire shelves, the pantry previously had yellow baseboards and I'm not sure it had ever been painted.  I don't know what it is with me and closets, but having a nice clean and fresh looking closet makes me so happy (same with walls... I just don't like stuff to look dirty).

She's a beaut.

So, besides the pantry, last weekend we did a ton of cleaning, finished painting (including the interiors of two other closets and trim throughout the kitchen and living room), and Matt put in the under cabinet lighting.  And, that, my friends (including trips to HD and said other activities above) took up our entire long holiday weekend.  I was so thankful for that extra day, because even though we worked our butts off, it felt good to cross those items off the list!

To be continued, but it's coming together nicely.  And, truly, things have gone pretty much according to plan, so I am thankful that the hiccups have been minor (and correctable) in nature... and eased by a nice glass of wine.  :)

Better pictures of the progress...

Demo! Not so fun when there are no sledgehammers.

Our dining room turned kitchen storage/staging area

I'm a lucky lady.  Check out those jorts.

Ruh Roh.  Let's just say we had a little mishap with the plumbing.  Specifically, the hot water.  Good thing we have a sense of humor... and Matt knows where the water shut off valve is for the house.  It was pretty hilarious.

Hardwoods went in (now we can do whatever we want on this wall... built-ins, furniture, whatevs.  Got plans for new built-ins though... ones that fit a modern day TV).

Shot of the old lighting.

Paint (BM Seapearl)



This is a little "drop zone" area - there will be two shelves above this, but I need to find different corbels.  The ones I ordered were way too big.





Not completely finished, but recessed lights!

These pictures are a MUCH better representation of the color of everything.  Hardware is mostly up now (need some longer screws for a few cabinets), and it looks great.  We just did very simple Metrik pulls from Ikea.  The cabinets are a grayish green color, but they really change depending on the light.  I had cabinet buyer's remorse (this is typical for me... buyer's remorse, that is) after purchasing, wondering if the color is really what I wanted, but I love them!  Even with a lot of finishing left to do, the kitchen feels SO different... so much warmer and cozier.  I can't wait to get it done (for more reasons than one... have I mentioned that living in a construction zone kind of sucks?)!