Design

Powder Bathroom Refresh

August 12, 2019

Here’s the deal with owning an old house – it’s always a work in progress! It’s room by room, and getting spaces to a place your are happy with can take YEARS. I am not complaining, I just want folks to know that I’m not Emily Henderson (who I adore) and I don’t have a “team” working on my house. Most of the time it’s just me tackling these projects (and roping in my brother and husband from time to time). Sometimes, I wish that everything was just DONE and then we could start living and enjoying this house. But, the truth is, I probably wouldn’t be happy with nothing to do, I love the process and having a “project” to work on is kind of my way of living and enjoying. So, even though they are a lot of work, old houses are kind of my jam.

We have been in this house for almost 3 years, it’s hard to believe. But, I kind of thought this bathroom would be one of the first rooms I would tackle. This is the powder bathroom or guest bathroom off of our main living area. It really has a great Kohler toilet and sink, but the room was dark and outdated and really needed a little more pep-in-it’s-step. Originally I thought this would be a great room to add some tile. But, I priced that out. Next a considered adding wallpaper, so I ordered wallpaper samples over 2 1/2 years ago. But, have you priced out wallpaper lately, even for a tiny space? Then I thought about adding some sort of chair rail, bead board or board + batting. There was no shortage of ideas, I just didn’t have the budget to execute those plans.

Before I go on, can we please appreciate this $30 mirror that I bought at a thrift store over a year ago? It’s sooooo good.

So, this week I decided to take on this little bathroom with the tightest budget possible. It felt like a fun challenge to use what I had already, buy some paint and see if I could make this a space I was proud of. And you guys, I am so proud! It’s a space that feels modern but still honors the 1918 vintage of our house. And I even took a “risk” and surprised myself by painting the walls BEIGE!!! What the heck? We call it mushroom or putty now to be fancy, but let’s be honest, it’s BEIGE (and I don’t hate it).

Let me make a quick note, these are NOT my best photos. But, this room gets ZERO natural light and I really only shoot with natural light. It’s also a tiny space to maneuver around. So, I borrowed some camera lights from a friend. So, if the shadows and colors seem a little off, it’s because they are. But, I hope you can get an idea of what the room looks like even with these crappy images.

So, let’s talk about the room. I decided that I wanted to try a two-toned paint situation. This room has two doorways with wide baseboards and trim. I decided that if I took this straight line of paint all the way around the room, even across the trim, jams and doors that it would make the room feel a little less choppy and small. And it worked! When the door is closed, seeing that straight line go across the door and the door jam is really very pleasing to look at. It’s a little unexpected and quirky and I think that’s why I like it.

I had always thought I would either install a dark moody wallpaper or paint the walls half black. But, after I got the first coat of white on the top half of the walls, I knew I needed to go with a brighter color. With no access to natural light in this space, I wanted to be done with dark and dingy for good. BEIGE for the win! This color is called Shiitake (so we really can be fancy and call it mushroom) and it’s by Sherwin Williams and I’ve paired it with the only white I ever use, Alabaster.

This room also had some sad, very basic, lighting, like just boing builder grade fixtures. It also has a light in a weird spot – up high over the toilet. Because it’s a weird spot for a light, I figured a simple, industrial light would be the best fit. The light over the sink also needed some upgrading, so we installed the light that used to hang in our kitchen before we renovated this Spring.

Ok, and so that you can fully appreciate the AFTER, let’s look at the before.

So, sooooo dark. Right?

This angle gives you an idea of how much trim there is in this room. It’s a lot going on, especially with the dark walls and white trim.

Oh and the door and outside trim in the hallway was still a very yellowy off-white, so I finally go those painted as well!

Now it’s your turn, is there a room in your house that could benefit from a quick coat of paint? You just don’t HAVE to have a giant designer budget to get some great results.

Food & Drink

Coffee + Tonic

August 2, 2019

When we were in Iceland last Summer, I noticed this odd pairing of Coffee + Tonic Water in coffee shops. I mostly wanted hot coffee in Iceland, so I didn’t try it. And then this Summer, while we were in Australia, I saw it again and was reminded of this unusual pairing. I am a fan of both of these things, but up until now I enjoyed them separately. But, YOU GUYS, it’s really such a great combo. It’s like no other drink. I don’t really think it tastes like a “coffee” drink. It’s way more refreshing, but still has all the same caffeine benefits as your morning brew.

Coffee + Tonic
Coffee + Tonic

With Summer still here in a big way, I feel like I can’t get enough to drink. My 1 pm latte pick-me-up is now Coffee + Tonic!

Coffee + Tonic
Coffee + Tonic

And if it isn’t obvious, this is a super simple recipe. Fill a glass with ice, pour a shot of espresso over the ice, top off the glass with chilled tonic water and a squeeze of lime juice. It’s sweet and bitter and just perfectly delish.

Coffee + Tonic
Coffee + Tonic
Coffee + Tonic

DIY

DIY Round Raised Garden Beds

July 29, 2019

This post is sponsored by Gilmour. Thank you for supporting the companies that help make this blog possible.

Well, we are back from our big trip and I am inspired more then ever to up my gardening game. Everyone is Papua New Guinea has some sort of garden that is helping feed their families. I want that! I want to know where my veggies are coming from and the best way to do that is to grow my own. My husband and Olivia, my youngest, have always had a little garden spot in our yard, but with us having such a big yard I knew we needed more space allocated for growing food.

DIY Round Raised Garden Beds
DIY Raised Garden Beds

Raised beds are such a nice way to contain a garden. There are a million different designs and shapes out there, but I really wanted to add some garden beds that had both a little form and function. I looked into buying some cattle water tanks, but they were a little more expensive then I wanted to pay. So, I started to look for some other options, and that’s when I found round galvanized fire rings. These do not have a bottom to them, but I decided that wasn’t necessary and at under $45 for each ring, this was way more economical.

Raised Garden Bed

I started with 3 raised beds, but I feel like it would be super easy to add more at anytime. I wanted to give these beds a little modern, clean look, so a coat of white enamel paint did the trick. Plus, I feel like the paint with help protect the metal from water and weather.

Raised Garden Bed
DIY Raised Garden Bed

This is a really easy project and these fire rings need very little prep at all. In just over an hour, you can be ready to plant some flowers or veggies.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Raised Garden Bed

Start by scrubbing down the metal with a little white vinegar and some steel wool. The metal can have a bit of an oiled/greasy finish on it and you want to remove this before painting.

DIY Round Raised Garden Bed

Prime the metal! We loved this easy to use, spray primer. This is just one more layer of prep that will insure you paint adheres really well. The raised bed will be exposed to weather (both heat and cold) and water.

Raised Garden Bed

Finally, brush on the oil-based enamel paint with a disposable brush. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to deal with paint thinner, so I just tossed the brush away after applying the paint. These raised beds took two coats of paint to get a nice bright white finish. Oil-based paint can take a while to dry, but on a warm, sunny day I found they were ready to go in less then an hour.

To create an inexpensive weed barrier at the bottom of the bed. We cut up cardboard boxes and layered them in the bottom of the bed.

Raised Garden Bed

These planters are just over 12 inches deep. To fill these with just soil would require A LOT of dirt. So, we filled the bottom 4-6 inches with leaves, grass clippings and compost from our compost bin. All this green waste with pack down under the weight of the soil and will eventually decompose.

Raised Garden Bed

And then finally we filled each raised bed with organic garden soil. I filled each bed with two 3 cubic feet sized bags at the hardware store that cost under $9 for each bag. Then I gave each bed a good soaking of water before I planted my veggies.

It wasn’t easy to find seedlings this time of year. It’s pretty hot, but I did plant some herbs, stawberries, squash, tomatoes and pepper. Because we live in California, in another month or so I’ll be able to put in a Fall garden as well.

DIY Round Raised Garden Bed

I also wanted this little corner of our yard to be a hangout spot and have some sort of seating. So, because I have access to a very handy brother, Ash, he made me a couple of really awesome redwood curved benches to sit around my new beds. I’m already enjoying my morning coffee out here and really they offer a great place to sit while I’m tending to my new little plant babies.

I will post instructions for these cute little benches soon. I kind of feel like that really make these raised beds. I love how that can be moved, repositioned, and even joined together.

Raised Garden Bed

Watering is a big deal in this part of the world. Our Summers are long and hot and water is usually hard to come by. So, I did a little research and invested in some great watering tools to keep my plants happy, but also no waste any water in the process. Gilmour has every watering tool you could dream up – here’s two of my faves:

  1. The Rectangular Sprinkler with On/Off Flow Control
  2. The Flat Soaker Hose

The Rectangular Sprinkler with On/Off Flow Control works like a dream. There is no over watering with this sprinkler, you can adjust and aim the water to exactly where you want it to hit.

Raised Garden Bed
DIY Round Raised Garden Bed

And the Flat Soaker Hose is perfect to laying right in the raised beds to soak the ground and not just wash away the top layer of soil. We have never owned a soaker hose before and now we find we use it more than any other tool in our garden. It’s perfect for wrapping around our citrus trees and targeting their roots specifically. If you don’t own this hose, I’d definitely highly recommend it.

Raised Garden Beds
Raised Garden Beds
Raised Garden Beds

I’m really excited to see my little plant babies take off. I’m looking forward to spending more time outside messing around in the dirt. So, do you have a veggie garden? I’d love to hear about what you are having success growing.

DIY

DIY Redwood Compost Bin

June 19, 2019

This post is sponsored by Gilmour. Thank you for supporting the companies that help make this blog possible.

Gardening is one of those things that I WISH I had more time for. I actually really enjoy spending an afternoon weeding a flower bed. It’s one of those tasks that feels good for the soul. You get to be outside and I think digging in the dirt helps keeps you grounded (literally). But, until my life is a little less hectic, it’s actually my husband that spends more time out in the yard planting, weeding, watering and maintaining. Olivia and him have a little garden and they are always growing something weird and wonderful for us to eat.

I’ve shared before, so you probably know that I’m married to a real life biology nerd. Lonnie is an environmentalist, and a High School biology + ecology teacher. Needless to say, we compost! But we actually have just had a compost pile/heap. And I’m a bit of a neat freak, so I wanted to contain the mess just a bit. It was time to build a compost bin!

Using inexpensive Redwood fencing boards and some mesh fencing – we built a large compost bin to hold our yard and garden clippings as well as our veggie and fruit scraps. We kept the design simple, but it has all the components you need to compost properly. It has ventilation, a lid to keep out critters and removable front access so that the compost can easily be turned and the bottom decomposed material can be removed.

For this project, we used 12 linear feet of 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″, and then just 1 dozen redwood fence boards. To save money, and also use redwood (because it’s so great for outdoor projects), and we used a table saw to cut all the boards down to 2 inch strips.

This compost bin is 3 ft. x 3ft x 3ft. There is an order to building this bin that makes this very easy to assemble. You are going to start with the back wall of the box. This will give you something sturdy to build the other walls off of.

The 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ pieces are the four corner posts of the frame. Attach those to two 3″ wide by 3 ft long pieces.

Then you can attach the 2″ rails. We started in the middle and then spaced these out evenly.

Then you can attach the mesh fencing with a staple gun. I LOVE Fiskar’s new DIY line of tools and this staple gun might be the best one I’ve ever used.

Once the back wall is complete, you can built the two side walls off of it and attach the mesh fencing to the inside. You will then add a lip to the inside of the front of the bin, it needs to be at least 1/2″ wide so that you can slide the fence boards down the front.

The lid is just a repeat of the 3 ft x 3 ft walls and attached at the back with a pair of hinges.

I’m so excited to have this neat and tidy box in our backyard now and I can’t wait to have nutrient rich compost for your garden and flower beds in no time at all.

There are really 2 tools you need to help you be on your best compost game – 1. a hose to soak your compost from time to time and 2. a garden/pitch fork to move and rotate your waste. I highly suggest Gilmour’s Flexogen Super Duty Hose and Fiskar’s Garden Fork. Excuse me while I brag about this hose for a second. Because, over the years , we have purchased and invested in so many different hoses hoping to find one that wouldn’t kink or crack with time. The Flexogen Super Duty Hose is the strongest, lightest hose in its class. It has a patented 8-layer construction with reinforced core maximized both durability and kink resistance. And this hose comes with a Lifetime warranty!

We add grass clippings, leaves, and even veggie and fruit scraps from our kitchen. To help the decomposition process, it’s a good idea to move the waste around. This garden fork is the perfect tool for this.

I feel like I’m one step closer to being a legitimate gardener with this new compost bin. Right now we are in the hottest part of the year. In another month of so we will plant some more garden beds so that we can have more produce throughout the Fall months.

Design

Headed Home to Papua New Guinea

June 18, 2019

I really can’t put into words how excited I am to be headed to PNG in just a couple of days. (Before I go any further, if you don’t know where Papua New Guinea is, you aren’t the first to ask. But, if you want to know more Visit PNG is a great site). Chances are though, if you’ve been around here for any length of time, you will know that I grew up in Papua New Guinea and actually Lonnie and I lived and worked there for 2 years when we were first married. And…..our oldest, Denali, was born there. We haven’t been back in 12 years, so this trip is a BIG deal! The last time we visited, it was the Summer before we moved to Yemen, and Denali was about to start Kindergarten. It was time to go back and take our graduated senior so that she could experience and see a little more of her roots.

I’m so excited to take along my O+P friends with instagram and IG stories. PNG is such a big part of who I am, and I feel like this is my chance to really share ME by sharing the place and the people I love so much. If you have ever met anyone who has lived in PNG or even visited, I’m sure they spoke of this magical place with deep affection. Papua New Guineans are the BEST! They are passionate, generous, and really just fun loving people. The land is lush, wild and untouched. Air Niugini, the national airlines, used to have a slogan that describe PNG perfectly -“Land of the Unexpected”.

We will be in Papua New Guinea for 3 weeks (really not long enough). We are headed there with my parents, my youngest brother, Ash, and a couple of friends. While we are there, we have two projects planned. First, we will be helping Lae Christian Academy. It is the school my parents started just over 25 years ago and this is where Lonnie and I worked. The school is located on the banks of the Bumbu River and actually the river is washing away their property. Some of the building are actually hanging over the river bed already. We are going to help them come up with a plan to stop further erosion and possibly even relocate one of the buildings. We will also be doing some children’s programs at the school and helping with some teacher in-services. The second part of our trip is more on the medical side, we will be flying out to the village of Imane in the Morobe Province. This is a village I spent a lot of time in as a child. We will (mostly my mom who is a nurse) hold a clinic there and we will also be doing some repairs on the church building that was built when I was a teenager.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been hustling to raise funds for the projects we will be working on in Papua New Guinea. I sold a bunch of Bakersfield Bags and my brother, Ash, has made some beautiful pieces that I’ve been selling on Instagram. He made some gorgeous walnut framed Tapacloth art pieces. Tapacloth is a bark-like fabric from PNG that is painted with natural dyes. These Tapacloth pieces he framed were actually from the 60’s. He stretched the Tapacloth, framed them in walnut and then added some geometric walnut details.

We sold all but two of them, so if you are still interested, please send me a message. He also made another run of cutting boards and all of those sold out in one day!

We are extremely overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity in making purchases to help support the work we will be doing in PNG.

If you didn’t get a chance to buy one of our handy crafts and you wanted to help with these projects, I have a couple ways you can still give.

We have a GoFundMe page (which also has more info about the school is Lae) and you can also give through The Church of the Nazarene with THIS LINK (this is a charitable donation for tax purposes.

We would really appreciate your prayers for our safety and health over the next month. And pray that we can be a help to the people of Papua New Guinea. And now, follow along on IG, I’ll share whenever I can find wifi!

Design / DIY

Spring One Room Challenge Week 6 (THE REVEAL!)

May 11, 2019

Well, we made it! I can’t really believe we have a brand new kitchen and we got it done in less then 6 weeks. I’m so glad we took on this One Room Challenge, at times I thought it wasn’t possible, but gosh this room is gorgeous. I’m hoping my pictures do it justice, because it’s really so pretty in person.

Before we look at all the afters, when I say “we” and the work, I mostly mean my brother, Ash. Lonnie and I have been his assistants, but Ash has led this project’s work load and I really can’t thank him enough. The guy is a perfectionist and a jack of all trades (oh and today is his birthday) and this room shows his handy work all over the place.

And now for the “afters”. I will try to link everything, but this post also has a lot of the sources too. This room really is exactly what I wanted. It feels modern and fresh, but still fits into my 100 year old house. When we started with week 1, I was positive that the lower cabinets had to be black. But, now I can’t imagine anything but this gorgeous green in this space. The room is so much brighter. I think it’s the combination of the fresh white paint, the lighter marble countertops and the white backsplash. I just can’t wait to shoot some recipes in here. No more hauling everything to the sunroom and shooting on a large marble cutting board. I now have over 12 feet of marble to shoot on.

Ok, before I go into all the details, let’s look at some side by sides of “befores” and “afters”. Just in case you forgot what our kitchen looked like just 5 weeks ago.

As you can see, we did not change the floor plan, foot print or cabinets at all. This was really a cosmetic makeover. But, finishes can bring a lot of style to a space.

I teamed up with Bedrosians Tile and Stone on this room makeover and they have been a dream to work with. The team here in Bakersfield are the best! I couldn’t have found better floors, countertops and backsplash anywhere. They have so many options, but I think I went with the best! This honed marble is pretty much the prettiest thing I’ve ever owned. I’ve been wiping it down and polishing it over and over.

We hired Pat Callahan to fabricate our marble counters and install the tile. These guys are the best of the best and we are so happy with the work they did.

In our first house, I went with a very bold backsplash, it was avocado green glass. I LOVED it, but I’m excited to have a neutral, clean back drop. And while subway tile is a classic, I wanted to play with something with a little more pattern. So, this Reine 3″ x 12″ Wall Tile feels like a nice updated version of subway tile.

I think the floors make this space. And early on in the process I wasn’t sure if we would replace the floors or not. Oh gosh, I’m so glad we pulled the trigger and added the floors. I paired this modern starburst tile floors with a very traditional style rug and I think it works. I would have loved to have found a vintage rug, but I’ll be on the hunt. And until I do I actually really love this runner I found. It’s comfy under foot and it’s all the right colors. Often these Persian style rugs have a lot of reds and blues, which are colors I do not use very often. I love mixing old and new styles and I never wanted this kitchen to feel tooooo modern, so I think to rugs check all the right boxes.

Every inch of this room got a fresh coat of paint. I think we spend about 3 full weeks just sanding, filling, priming, painting and then sanding and painting some more. The walls and cabinets were a very yellow/cream color. We primed everything with UMA primer and then painted the walls, ceiling and upper cabinets Sherwin Williams Alabaster White and the lowers a Benjamin Moore color, Dark Olive. We used Sherwin Williams, Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel Trim Paint in Satin. I actually had a hard time deciding between a semi-gloss or satin finish, but I’m really glad I opted for something with very little sheen. The paint sprayer saved the day! We just wouldn’t have gotten this awesome, professional finish with a brush or roller.

A friend came over last week and thought we had replaced our windows. I was flattered, these 100 year old windows look fantastic because we sanded and filled and sanded some more. It’s really amazing the power of a fresh coat of paint.

You can see here that having a paint sprayer really paid off. Everything came out looking like brand new cabinetry.

Changing the hardware on the cabinets had a really big impact as well. I actually think these matte black handles really add to the Craftsman feel of this space.

We also changed out all the hinges on the cabinets. If you look back at the befores, you can see that the hinges were exposed on the outside of the cabinet doors. It took some research to find the right hinges, but I think this was a really a great investment for our kitchen.

We kept all our old appliances. Just the stove is semi-new from what is in the “before” pics. We got this new stove last Fall. The old stove was very inefficient and actually heated up the entire house whenever I baked anything – hence no cookies in the Summer. The only appliance I would like to replace in the near future (but probably won’t happen until it dies) is the fridge. It’s a great fridge, it is just too big and sticks out too far from the cabinets. We brought it from out old house. Ideally, I’d probably like a counter depth fridge at some point. This isn’t a huge kitchen, so those couple extra inches might be nice to gain. But, until that day, I’m totally a-ok with my fridge sticking out a bit.

A new kitchen needs a new kettle. I love this simple Japanese one I found. I really didn’t buy any other new accessories for the space, all my old stuff just looks new in this space.

The sinks we installed are amazing, they are big and deep and have cool components like cutting boards, drying racks and colanders. The bar sink is huge and has a cutting board and the main double sink has a ton of cool accessories.

No more dish drainer taking up real estate on my counters, this drying rack is one of the coolest features.

The little wet bar, or as we refer to it as the coffee bar, looks fantastic with the new lighting and the two-toned cabinets.

We also got rid of the random lighting combinations and the “boob” light fan and replaced then with two really cool globe pendants.

We hung them in different directions for a little interest. Nothing about this kitchen is very symmetrical, so we decided to play a bit.

I also changed up the art that was on the wall a bit and added a little more color and pattern.

This is one of my favorite before/after pairs.

Well, that’s our new kitchen! What do you think? I wanna know. And if you in the neighborhood, please stop by for a cup of coffee (I mean it).

DIY / etc.

Spring One Room Challenge Week 5

May 9, 2019

Well, I’m a little late with this week’s One Room Challenge post. We’ve been going full steam ahead. We are SOOO CLOSE to being done. And full disclosure, I am so completely exhausted. I think I’ve cried at least once everyday (maybe that’s more hormones too – who knows). But, this room has been no joke. It’s taken a toll on my body, but I think it’s really going to be worth it in the end. And if you follow me on IG stories, you know that my brother, Ash, is really doing most of the work. I can’t thank him enough.

I’ve also missed cooking. Sometimes I get sick of making meals everyday – but currently, recipes are on my mind all the time. Like, I can’t wait to bake some chocolate chip cookies and poach an egg for breakfast.

This week some big changes happened. The tile went in! The backsplash and floors were put in just before the weekend and then both were grouted on Monday. Oh man the tile is gorgeous you guys. And one point in this renovation I thought I might just save some money and just keep the floors as is. Oh gosh I’m glad I changed my mind. These hex tiles from Bedrosians make this room! The backsplash is even better then I thought it would be and I’m so happy that I went with the matte white finish. The room feels so much bigger and brighter with light countertops and light backsplash. It’s amazing the difference it makes.

And while tile was being put it, we were still PAINTING and working on touch up. I thought we’d never be done and as I was hanging the last couple of cabinets I realized that we had painted two of the uppers dark olive and two of the lowers white. Grrrrr. That meant sanding, priming and spraying TWO MORE TIMES! It’s not that the spraying is tough, it’s just all the set up and clean up.

While the grout dried, we couldn’t move the appliances back in, so we worked on plumbing. Plumbing is always a nightmare, as far as I’m concerned. The simplest jobs require so many parts, that you end up making 15 trips to the hardware store. Just finding a big enough basin wrench is tough, I had to go to 3 stores. Because our cabinets are older, and my sink is HUGE, there is very little space between the wall and the sink for the faucet. So, needless to say, it was not easy to get tools up in there to tighten down the fixtures.

One of the last things we have left to do is hang the lighting fixtures. I hope I love them once they are in. I really wanted something unique and had a little funk to them. These lights are not exactly the look I was going for, but they are close and they were reasonably priced. So, I’m taking a risk and installing them. I have a feeling, I’m going to be really happy with my choice.

I really can’t wait to share this whole space with you. Tomorrow I get to style the space (my favorite part). And then, PICTURES! The full reveal is coming soon friends. Thank you so much for following along.

DIY

DIY Mother’s Day Coupons and Gift Basket

May 1, 2019

Let’s be honest, moms deserve ALL THE TREATS! With Mother’s Day right around the corner, I think it’s time to chat about what moms really want and some fun gift ideas. Oh and keep reading, because there is a fun giveaway this week as well.

Being a mom is the hardest, but most rewarding job there is. I don’t know very many moms that couldn’t use just a little time to themselves and maybe a little self care time. So, I teamed up with Ghirardelli to put together a Mother’s Day basket to help make that happen, because “Ghirardelli Makes Life a Bite Better”. I filled this basket with all the things to create a little oasis at home – a yummy candle, a mini bouquet of fresh flowers, a couple journals, some pretty pens, a bottle of bubbly and cute little printable Mom Coupons filled with Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Caramel Squares and Chocolate Fudge Caramel Squares. What more could a mom want?

I created a little printable template for these fun coupons. All you need to do is simply print, cut and then fold. And a Ghirardelli square fits perfectly inside. There are two templates, the first is filled in with coupons like “Breakfast in Bed” and the second template has fill in the blanks so that you can make custom coupons specifically for your mom.

Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Caramel Squares have long been a favorite treat of mine, but I might have a new favorite with the new Milk Chocolate Fudge Caramel Squares. Oh my, the best chocolate filled with gooey, decadent caramel!

Wouldn’t this be a fun gift to give to a special mom in your life, or even better, have it gifted to you?

And now for the GIVEAWAY! Head over to Instagram, where I am hosting a fun giveaway for a special mom in your life. You can enter to win a mom pampering gift basket filled with Ghirardelli chocolate, a robe, slippers, a manicure/pedicure set, and a branded mug. How fun, right? Enter to win for yourself or give it to your favorite mom. The giveaway is open till May 5th, 2019.

This post is sponsored by Ghirardelli. Thank you for supporting the companies that help make this blog possible.

Design

Spring One Room Challenge Week 4

April 28, 2019

Each week of the One Room Challenge I start off feeling like “oh ya, we can do this is 6 weeks”. And then, halfway through the week, I start to panic and the to-do list doesn’t seem to be getting shorter. Then, by the end of the week, I’m exhausted, but also feeling pretty accomplished and hope is back that we will finish everything in this short turnaround time. It’s the end of the week, so I’m feeling quite good about our renovation.

Well, it was a week of painting, painting, and more painting. We were under the gun to get most everything painted before the countertops went in on Thursday. We wanted to save ourselves the headache of masking off everything and trying to protect brand new countertops and floors from paint. So there were many days of paint and actually it was a lot of prep work as well, but all with the goal to get the cabinets, wall, and ceiling painted. And we are sooooo close. Everyone pitched in this week, me, my dad, Lonnie and of course my brother Ash (who are we kidding, he’s doing most of the work). But, I’m happy to say that we are ALMOST done with the painting. Everything is done, except for the cabinet doors and drawers and those are actually sanded and primed, they just need their final coat. I spayed the upper cabinets white, and with Ash’s help, I think I’m feeling a little more confident with my spraying skills.

The BIG news is, we have countertops!!!!! Our Honed Montclair Danby Marble from Bedrosians is in and it’s beyond gorgeous. Pat Callahan Tile and Stone did a amazing job with the fabrication of this stone. We ended up having to have quite a wide lip/edge on the stone, to cover up the damage of the old counters on the cabinets. I was worried it might look a little weird, but it’s actually so beautiful. They matched the grain in the stone so that it looks like the stone is waterfalling over the edge. It actually looks like we have really thick countertops. And all my sweating over the exactly right shade of green has totally paid off, the green looks fantastic with the marble. I’m so glad I didn’t go with black for the lower cabinets.

Monday morning, tiling is starting and I’m soooo happy. While tile is going in, Ash and I will be painting the rest of the cabinets.

I few other important details arrived this week as well. The cabinet pulls are here! I found a very inexpensive version on amazon, and I’m really happy with them. Also the wall sconces will be here tomorrow, and fingers crossed, they will fit beside the door trim, because I think I might be cutting it a little close. I’m dragging my feet on the hanging pendants. I still feel like we might regret no having a fan, but I also think they are kind of ugly. And after all of this work, I’d hate to throw in an ugly fan because is “practical”. And finally, we are testing out a new kind of hinge tomorrow to see if we can eliminate the exposed hinge barrel. I think it will really modernize the cabinets if these specific ones work – stay tuned for results.

Ok, I’m going to hit the hay and call it a week. Tomorrow is jam packed, and I want to be ready to take on week 5 of ORC.

Design

Spring One Room Challenge Week 3

April 21, 2019

Well, we are halfway there with the One Room Challenge! Yikes…… there is sooooo much more to do. But, I feel like we are on a good path and we were very productive this week.

Ok, if you are new here, I should give a little update. We are on week 3 (of 6 weeks) to making over our kitchen. If you want to know more of the details, check out the blog posts for week 1 and week 2.

First thing this week, I headed to Bedrosians and picked out the marble slabs that we are using for our counter tops. EEEEKKK!!! They are so gorgeous you guys. I can’t wait for you to see them cut and installed.

We were actually planning on having the tile and countertops installed early this week, but we decided to put off that installation till later next week so that we could get most of the painting done. We felt that it would be the easiest way to tackle this. I don’t know why we thought it would be fun to cover up brand new tile and counter tops in order to paint the cabinets.

Old hinge holes filled with wood fill and then sanded.

This last week we demoed the kitchen (and by we, I mean my brother Ash)! It took two days to rip out all the granite tile countertops and the floor. It was a bit of a beast to remove, the glue and grout used was very tough. Once everything was out of the space, we started sanding and prepping everything for paint. It was a good 2 days to get everything ready. We filled all the old hinge holes with wood fill, caulked all the cracks and holes, sanded and then sanded so more and then wiped everything down with TSP. And then we taped and masked off the room, which takes longer than you think.

We used a new primer, called UMA.

We are new to the sprayer game, but I think I’m a believer. We bought this Graco machine before Lonnie painted our guesthouse. For painting the interiors, we bought a the new blue housing and a FF LP 312 tip. And I’ll be honest, it was much easier to use then I thought. I primed the whole kitchen yesterday in just over an hour. I definitely have lots to learn, because there are a few drips that I need to sand.

And here’s the to-do list from the first week with a little check in of what we have accomplishment so far.

To-Do List:

  • demo countertops + backsplash
  • demo tile floors
  • replace countertops (ordered and being fabricated this week)
  • replace backsplash (tile ordered)
  • install tile floor (tile ordered)
  • replace cabinet hardware (selected, but need to order)
  • replace cabinet hinges (still trying to figure out what will work for our cabinet doors)
  • repaint back door
  • replace 2 wall sconces (selected, but not ordered yet)
  • replace ceiling fan and light fixture (selected, but not ordered yet)
  • paint ceiling (primed)
  • paint lower cabinets black or dark green (Benjamin Moore Dark Olive)
  • paint upper cabinets white
  • paint walls white (primed)
  • select and order sink and prep sink
  • select and order faucets
  • cut large butcher block for work surface
  • source and hang art
  • source rug for under sink and back door
  • replace switch plates and outlets

Tomorrow we are going to start painting everything that will be white, white. Wish us luck!

Be sure to follow along on Instagram for lots of BTS.