Dreamy

Sometimes I come across those pictures that are almost exactly the way I would want my dream home to look.  This kitchen is one example~

{Soho Design via decorpad.com}

I love the large center island with the dark countertop, the aged bronze pendants, the dark walnut cross beams, the gorgeous stone backsplash, the openness of the entire space and last but not least, the dark herringbone pattern floor. 

Ooh La La

I am proud to be an Arkansan.  I may live in Texas, but I'm not a Texan.  I'm an Arkansan.  I love to feature fabulous talent from my home state.  At the top of the list is Bear-Hill Interiors, a Little Rock-based boutique and interior design firm.  Here is one of their projects.  Don't you agree that it's completely divine?  And, the fact that I'm in love with purple right now makes my crush that much stronger.  Check it out~

{all images via Bear-Hill Interiors}

Home of Tomorrow

We took the day off work on Monday to head out to the State Fair of Texas.  One of my favorite exhibits was the "Home of Tomorrow," which was actually made up a three proto-type homes.  This is one of the kitchens~

The backsplach is a Schumacher fabric protected by raised acrylic.  It was really cool and designed to be changed out as the homeowner wishes.  I thought it was such a neat idea.  The oven is painted Ferrari yellow--paint from the factory in Italy.  Interior design by Denise McGaha.

Island Time

If I ever get to truly have a kitchen (or house) my way, I want to keep a formal dining room but lose the breakfast table.  I love the look of a wide open kitchen with plenty of island seating.  Aren't these just dreamy!

{all images via my pintrest}

And does anyone know how to enlarge Pintrest images without them getting grainy??

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day- Living Room Updates

If you've followed the blog for a while, you know my biggest ongoing project is our living room.  I've been working on it for almost a year now taking things step by step adding furniture and accessories as my budget permitted.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was my living room.  It's not finished yet...but it's getting there.

Last year I got to a point that I was so frustrated with trying to manage the space.  I completely failed to make it cohesive.  So when my husband went out of town on a business trip, I invited Emily Hewett of A Well Dressed Home over to give me some advice.  I wanted to remain very involved in the design, but I needed help.  And, I'm just sneaky like that. 

Later that night when my husband called, I confessed that I'd had company.  He asked who, and I tried to soothe it over by simply explaining that a girl around our age from Dallas who was starting her own design business came over to give me some advice about the house. 

He quickly summized, "So you hired an interior designer without discussing it with me?" 

In my effort to maintain my status as a good wife, I corrected him.  "You could think of her more as a rug finder...an accessory guide, if you will.  And, her name is Emily."  He was aware of my burgeoning design blog addiction.  This should have come as no surprise to him.

He followed up with, "Seriously, Jenny.  A 'rug finder'?"  And that was the end of our conversation.  His silence was consent.  And, so the journey our my living room really began.  Emily was such a pleasure to work with--I highly recommend her! 

When your husband moves you away from all of your friends and family only six months after you get married, it's really amazing what you can get away with.

For today I thought I would show you the current state.  Later this week, check back and I'll take you on the evolutionary tour.  You'll be thoroughly amused.  I promise.

Without further adieu~

I must learn how to use Photoshop...  And, that white chair desperately needs a pillow.  It's so naked!

At Home in Arkansas: A Tobi Fairley Kitchen

Even though we live in Texas now, I still maintain my subscription to my home state publication, At Home in Arkansas.  It features Arkansas homes designed by Arkansas designers.  Arkansas' own design darling, Tobi Fairley, is a staple regularly featured by the magazine.  This month's magazine features kitchens and baths.  And, much to my delight, Tobi is the September 2011 cover girl--well, one of her designs is.  Here are a few shots of the perfect kitchen.  Check back tomorrow for a feature on the bathroom.

Check out the online article here.  I L.O.V.E. every part of this kitchen, but if I had to pick three favorite features, I'd choose (1) the coffered ceiling; (2) the turquoise cabinetry; and (3) the draperies--the roman shade and the panels.  Ok, and I love the large island, too.  It's a feature I definitely want in our next house.  What's your favorite part?  What are your dream kitchen must-haves???

{All photos via athomearkansas.com}

Mirrored Cabinets?

I love the look of glass in cabinet doors, but I hate styling the contents of the cabinet.  I have a set of glass cabinets myself, which really need some TLC.  I'll add that to my ever growing to-do list. 

Today I got the House Beautiful newsletter that featured this image by designer Jonathan Berger~

{image via House Beautiful}

When I first glanced at it, I thought the cabinets had glass fronts.  Oh no, though, they're mirrored!  And, I love it!!  What a great way to make a small kitchen seem bigger without having to worry about the less than stellar contents of each cabinet.  I ran a few searches, but it was hard to find others who took this bold step. 

One other image I found ~

{via Decorpad.com}

I'm not sure this is something that would really work in our current house, but the idea is tucked away for future use!

This Old House - Day 5

This week I took you through the progress of the kitchen "update" at my first house.  We started by replacing our out-of-date ceiling fan and fluorescent lights with sleek canned lighting.  Then we tore out the down-hanging cabinets that divided the kitchen from the dining room.  Next we refaced the cabinets and added new hardware.  Finally, we finished things off with new stainless steel appliances-oven, microwave, refrigerator and dishwasher. 

Remember, here is where we started~

And, after our labor of love~

Extra touches to finish the room included removing the scalloped edging above the kitchen sink and replacing the knobs on the cooktop along with spray painting its edging black with appliance spray paint  for a more finished looked.  The cabinetry is painted Sherwin-Williams Pure White.  The walls are Sherwin-Williams Rainwashed.  We also replaced the old patio door with a new vinyl patio door.  It took us almost two years to complete these projects.  We had to spread the expense out to meet our budget!  All in all, we ended up with what looked like a brand new kitchen and dining room for around $5,000.  Far better than I expected a new kitchen to cost!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

This Old House - Day 4

This week I've been sharing the renovations of the kitchen in our first house.  After we updated the lighting, removed the cabinets separating the kitchen and dining areas, and refaced the cabinets, the next step was to update appliances.  Honestly, this was the expensive part of the project and didn't happen fast.  The dishwasher went out on it's own.  The refrigerator, microwave and oven were purchased over time as my budget allowed.  This was all done before we got married, so my budget was pretty tight then!  We sold what we could of the used appliances on Craigslist, which helped.  We used a local company, Metro Appliances, to buy at warehouse prices.  They could usually beat Sears and Lowe's prices by several hundred dollars!

Here is the picture of the original appliances~

And, here is the picture of the updated appliances~

Check back tomorrow for the final before and after pictures of the project!!!

This Old House - Day 3

This week I'm reliving the glory days of my first major home project--the kitchen.  We started off by replacing the kitchen lighting and then removed the down-hanging cabinets that seperate the kitchen from the dining room. 

Our next step was to reface the cabinets.  We sort of stumbled into this phase of the project when one of my neighbors who I did volunteer work with recommended her carpenter.  He was so easy to work with and very reasonable.  We originally brough him in to patch the hole left in the ceiling when we ripped out the down-hanging cabinets.  He actually taught us how to do the work ourselves and made us an offer on refacing the cabinets that we just couldn't refuse.  We refaced all of our kitchen cabinets for only $500!  Painting was seperate and cost around $1000.  If I remember correctly, we had 22 doors and 5 drawer facings.  Cabinets that look brand new for $1500, though!  How can you beat that!  It's amazing what a difference it made in the kitchen.

Before~

After~

Check back tomorrow for the transformation to all sleek stainless steel appliances!  Goodbye 1960s oven!  You'll see the work finally come to life!

Something fun: The carpenter who did the cabinets also makes solid surface guitars (out of Corian, I think) for several country singers including Zac Brown and Jake Owen.  Pretty cool, huh!

This Old House - Day 2

Yesterday, I told you about about my first house, and the start of our low-budget kitchen renovations.  Our first project was to replace the ugly kitchen lighting with a few sleek recessed canister lights.  Our next project was to knock out the hanging cabinet that seperated the kitchen from the dining area.

Before~

 
I wish I could still find the pictures of us tearing the cabinets down.  We very foolishly thought this would be an easy project.  We started with a rubber mallet trying to just slowly knock each board apart.  I can remember the first few taps of the mallet.  No luck.  Slowly, we started hitting harder and harder.  Still, no luck.  Finally, I stepped back and let him just whale on it.  All we could hear was the sound of the revurberation of the unwaivering wood.  We ended up using a reciprocating saw to essentially cut the cabinet from the ceiling. 

It left a hole in the overhang, which you can see above.  We drywalled in the open space and added trim to finish. 

After~

Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures.  These were taken long before I really even knew what a blog was. 

Check back tomorrow for the before and after of the cabinet refacing and then later this week for the before and after of the appliance upgrade!

This Old House

This time four years ago, I was in the middle of negotiating my first home purchase.  I was single and about to turn 27, tired of renting and wanted a yard for Bobbie the Beagle.  I focused on an older neighborhood with great starter home potential.  When it was all said and done, I bought this little girl~ 

A three bedroom, 2 bathroom 1400 square foot ranch built in 1960.  I bought her all by myself.  No help from family.  She was all mine.  I was so proud. 

She had some minor updates, but for the most part she was a project.  I wish I could find more pictures, but I think I have enough to tell you her kitchen story.  When I moved in, this was the state of the kitchen~

The previous owner had used some decent ceramic tile on the floor and counters, but otherwise, the kitchen needed some help.  I quickly set to work painting...red's not my color, so the top accent was the first thing to go.  For everything else, though, I had to save-up. 

About four months after I moved in, I met Eric.  There's a really long list of reasons why I love him, but his love for DIY is high on my list.  The first project we took on together was the kitchen lighting.  You can see in the picture above that there were two strip fluorescent lights with a nasty white and gold ceiling fan in the middle.  After several failed attempts to make a different type of light fixture look right in the room, we decided to just go for it.  We removed all three fixtures, moved the wiring, patched the existing holes and cut in canned lighting.

Yes, that's my kitchen dishtowel wrapped around his face to protect from the drywall dust.

So much better than the fluorescent lights and the gold/white fan!  The funny part of all of our project at that house was how quickly discards would disappear from the front curb.  I think that white fan only last about 30 minutes!!

Regardless, if I wasn't sure about marrying him before this project, I was when it was finished! 

Check back this week for more on our kitchen adventure!