kitchen

My kitchen makeover

May 13, 2014

So, it has taken me awhile, but I finally have pictures for you of my kitchen makeover! I have debated waiting until I get our new bar stools, but I just found out they won’t be in until June … and who wants to wait until June? I am also really wanting to get two new pendants for over the island … but that is a future project and I still haven’t decided on the ones I want yet. (More on that later.)

Anyway, let’s start with a before picture. Here’s a picture I shared on my blog before.

Our kitchen is a great size and the cabinets are well made. We’ve got neutral granite counter tops and an ivory subway tile back splash. My problem has always been the color of the cabinets. It is just too much brown with the dark hardwood floors. And on sunny days, they took on a reddish hue that I wasn’t fond of.

Yes, everyone loves white kitchens these days and I’m no exception! So we decided to have our cabinets painted white. Benjamin Moore’s White Dove to be exact. I do like having the island a different color, so that was painted Benjamin Moore’s Stone Harbor Gray.

Ready for the after?

I am in love! Even on dark days, it feels so much brighter and cheerier. We had the majority of it done while we were on Spring Break. The painters we used came in, removed all the doors and then sanded, primed and painted the base cabinets on site. (It took four coats!) The doors were sprayed off-site and then reinstalled.

You might notice I also changed out my cabinet hardware. I have mentioned it before but I love, love, love the look of antique brass. I always thought it would be a great way to warm up a white kitchen and I had collected enough inspiration photos to know that I was drawn to the look.

Brass hardware will also go well with the pendant lights I am looking at for over the island. Something like these from Circa Lighting …

Or maybe more industrial like these from Barn Door Electric.

I wanted to work with the existing hardware holes, so that helped to narrow down my choices a bit. I needed pulls with a 3 inch center-to-center measurement. So I selected these antique brass cup pulls and glass and brass knobs by Emtek. As opposed to regular lacquered brass, these have a nice patina that I really like.

But wait … there’s more! Remember our breakfast room?

It got a little update too!

I have always wanted to do plank walls somewhere in our house and when I came across a company called Stikwood that creates ready made planks out of reclaimed wood, I just knew it was meant to be.

We went with the Reclaimed Weathered Wood in Gray … but there are a variety of finishes and each plank comes ready with adhesive strips along the back for easy application.

At first, I was a little concerned about how well they would actually stick to the wall … I don’t want them falling off after a few months or years, but the Stikwood website says that it is meant to be a permanent solution and the planks will not remove easily once applied.

I love that each piece is unique and you can even see the old nail holes in some of them.

The website also helps you determine how much to order based on your measurements. Once my shipment arrived I had Klaude come and install. (Many of my clients know Klaude, painter/handyman/do-it-all extraordinaire!)

I really love how this natural element helps to create a flow between indoors and out. It’s given this nook a cozy organic feel.

What do you think? Do you have a kitchen that needs a little makeover? If the bones of it are good, you don’t necessarily need to rip everything out to get the feel of a whole new kitchen. This makeover only involved paint, hardware and a new wall treatment! But I am definitely feeling like I have a new kitchen!

Sadly, the completion of this project was very bittersweet for me as just 2 days before it was all finished, we lost my sweet cat Leo, who would have been 15 years old in June.

You may remember him from this picture I posted a while ago …

He was such a loveable little guy and I still miss him everyday.

And so does his brother Luke …

(This was them awaiting the arrival of Kyle over 10 years ago!)

Leo used to hang out in the kitchen with us all the time … in fact, he spent his last afternoon laying under the kitchen table watching Klaude put up the new plank walls. I like to think he would approve of the new look.

And these tulips are in honor of him. (He loved tulips … so much so that he would bite the heads off each and every stem whenever I bought them.)

I know he is running through a giant field of tulips now watching down on us.

We miss you Leo!

Dream Home 2012

April 13, 2012

Wednesday night Kristy and I had the pleasure of previewing the 2012 Dream Home at the Merchandise Mart. Some of the city’s leading interior designers collaborated with the the Mart’s incredible showrooms to design these unique and sophisticated rooms.

We wanted to share a few of our favorites with you … and where better to start than this stunning kitchen?

(Most of the photography is from the brochure we were given, done by Dave Burk Photography. Because there were so many people in each room for the event, it was difficult to get many of our own pictures … some rooms were very crowded with admirers!)

Gorgeous, right?

We swooned over the thick slab marble countertops, the crisp and clean custom cabinetry from Plain & Fancy, the glass-front cabinets painted black inside …

We loved the cozy butcher block table that was an extension of the island, perfect for a cozy dinner for two, breakfast for the kids or homework area.

The adjacent wall housed inset glass-front cabinets and a whole row of beverage refrigeration!

Here is my little snapshot … I cropped out some of the people …

I want this refrigerator!

And how’s this for a cute idea? Instead of the traditional chalkboards you see in a kitchen, they used pretty antique mirrors.

(We are trying to figure out what kind of marker you can write on a mirror with that will erase? Does anyone know? Maybe just a Crayola Washable?)

We also loved the dining room for its flexibility in functioning just as easily for large scale entertaining as for intimate gatherings.

The large reclaimed wood and iron table pushed up to a banquette sofa by Henredon serves as a place to dine or lounge. One of the designers suggested using the table to serve food buffet-style while your guests sit at the glass “Bubbles” table. It’s a great way to turn a “used-for-special-occasions” dining room into an every day living space.

We especially loved the huge sea urchin from Holly Hunt hanging on the back wall!

And check out this outdoor patio … the pergola is draped in rectractable sunbrella fabric for a waterfall effect. With that fantastic chandelier, lamps and upholstered chairs the idea was to create a space that felt as comfortable and stylish as indoors.

Dream Home opens to the public today, April 13.

Cheers!

In a black mood …

October 20, 2011

Ok, so I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer. It’s just that I have a folder of black rooms saved on my computer. I’ve been saving them for awhile. Maybe it’s because I’d like to work up the courage to paint a room black in my own house and I feel like I need to look at these every once in a while to work up the courage to do it.

On a cold blustery day like today these rooms seem perfect … cocoon like. One of my favorites is a picture I saved several years ago of Jenna Lyon’s bedroom in her lovely Brooklyn townhouse. Perhaps you remember it from the cover of Domino.

The black, white and coral color combination still feels really fresh.

Here are some other black bedrooms I like …

both images found on pinterest

The black creates a sexy drama yet also makes these rooms feel cozy.

house beautiful

What about a black kitchen?

While somewhat unexpected, these soft pastel colors look lovely paired with black.

What about in an office? These have me rethinking my home office plans.

Built-in black bookshelves make me swoon.

via adore

via design dump

via pinterest

via isabella and max rooms

But then again, I would also love this black dining room …

What about you? Are you in a black mood?

My quest for romance with a kitchen rug …

July 20, 2011

Up until two nights ago, we did not have a rug under our kitchen table. I’ve gone back and forth on it for a long time. Of course, I thought it would look better with a rug, but since I spend inordinate amounts of time on my hands and knees wiping up what seems like half a meal after each breakfast/lunch/dinner, I have been afraid to put a rug down in fear of what it might look like after just a few meals.

Then I thought that perhaps if I found one that wasn’t too expensive, I wouldn’t feel so bad about it if it didn’t hold up for very long. Several fine candidates crossed my path.

First there was Mr. Nate Berkus Rug. It was love at first sight when I saw it on the set of his daytime talk show when it first aired. (Swoon.)

At the time, I didn’t even know that he was selling it on HSN.com. Sadly, by the time I figured it out, they were all sold out in the size I needed.

Now they are no longer available at all. (I go on periodically to check, but no such luck.)

With that in my head, I was attracted to other bold stripes. I love how Nate himself used a boldly patterned rug in his own Chicago pad.

So then along came Mr. Wisteria Rug. I loved the soft green color and the thin dhurrie-style. My heart fluttered when I saw it in the catalog. The price was right, but the size wasn’t. A 9 x 12. (I needed a 6 x 9.)

It’s been a while and I have searched around but nothing else made me swoon. Sure there where some handsome ones, but they may have been too fancy for my kitchen. I needed one that wasn’t afraid to get a little dirty. I found more stripes but not in the soft colors I was looking for.

Then maybe just a month ago I opened the latest Ballard catalog and …

Perfection. Suzane Kasler’s Wide Stripe Jute Rug. I loved the durability and texture of the jute. And, he had stripes to boot! The paprika-orange would tie in nicely with the rug and some of the pillows I have in my adjoining family room. And, there was even a 6×9. (Which, I discovered, are somewhat hard to come by.)

Ok, so with the start of summer, the weeks began to fly by. Finally, one day I had a free moment, sat down at my computer and pulled up the rug online with my credit card in hand. Choose color. Choose size. But wait … there in parenthesis next to 6×9 were the dreaded words I hate to see. NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Ugh!

Surely this couldn’t be so! He was my perfect match! Right away I called Ballard just to make sure. Nope they were all gone. Sold out quickly. Won’t be making any more.

Really? Are you sure they won’t be making any more? I mean, if it was so popular, couldn’t they … pretty please … make some more?

Sorry. No more information.

Where to turn? Now that I had been thinking about that rug for several weeks, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. And while I had been unsure about getting a rug at all before, I was now determined that my little breakfast area was definitely in need of a rug.

Hmmm. Okay … so none of those other rugs were meant to be. Usually things happen for a reason. Maybe I just wasn’t supposed to get stripes. But jute … one of the things I loved about the Ballard rug was the natural jute. Maybe I should just look for a plain jute rug.

So I started looking again. But I was a little like Goldilocks … a 5×8 is too small. An 8×10 is too big. A 6×9 would be just right. But no one seemed to carry a 6×9.

When I run out of places to look, I often check on Overstock.com. It is hit or miss, but they have such a large inventory of, well, everything at such great prices so I figured it was worth a look.

And that’s where I found him. A beautiful 6×9 jute rug for under $200!

It was meant to be.

I didn’t want fringe (too hard to get crumbs out of) and I didn’t want binding. So it was perfect. The reviews were great too. Done.

So the rug arrived last Friday and sat all rolled up through the weekend since we were out of town. I was excited to get back and lay it down (after a thorough cleaning of the floor below the table) … but of course, as often happens … I was still feeling a little nervous that I had made the right decision. After all, it is not easy to send a rug back.

Back home, I was reading some of my favorite blogs and came across this one by Emily A. Clark all about finding the perfect rug for her family room. What did she decide on? Jute!

And in her post she mentioned how another of my favorite bloggers, Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home had influenced her decision with her post comparing all of the different kinds of natural rugs.

I clicked on over to Pure Style Home and was so pleased as I read Lauren’s words …

“1) MAINTENANCE: laughable. I took the WORST care ever of our jute rugs & they looked fine. They kind of eat your dirt. You can just vacuum them. I’ve had ours in the kitchen & even spilled salsa (I know, gross!) in ours and just wiped it with a rag & then blotted it with a wet rag to get the stain out.

2)PETS: Great for pets. Like I said, these things eat your dirt so they just sort of suck up the hair & you can vacuum it off.
3) SOFTNESS FACTOR: There are a lot of jute-chenille blends that are actually very soft but full jute isn’t as soft. Jute is thicker than sisal & seagrass and also softer, but still not super-soft unless it’s a blend. Ours is full jute and it is more like a foot-massager (which I love to walk on) but I wouldn’t recommend it for a kids’ play area or somewhere that you want to hang out on the floor.

4) STYLE FACTOR: I LOVE the look of jute. It’s so chunky & warm-looking and adds so much texture to a room. “

(excerpted from this post “Natural Rugs”: Seagrass, Sisal, Jute, Synthetic & Wool Rugs; The Low-Down)

A foot massager that eats dirt? Who could ask for anything more? I think these two ladies were sending me a sign.

So we rolled him out and yes ….

… he makes me swoon.

And two breakfasts, two lunches and one dinner later, he still looks good.

He might actually save my sanity because I can no longer see (i.e. obsess) over every little crumb that falls. Yes, I know they are still there, and I will still vacuum … just maybe not after every meal.

Small treasures

June 30, 2011

So, as promised, I’ve got pictures of the things I purchased last weekend at the Randolph Street Market … and they were each under $25! Truth be told, that’s one of my favorite things about this market … the little things I sometimes come across that just make me smile. The big pieces of furniture or mirrors aren’t hard to spot. But the true treasure hunt begins when you stop at a table filled with items and take the time to look and find that one special little thing you just have to have.

My first find was this wonderfully weathered, hand-carved corbel …

(That’s Kyle all dressed for the pool but willing to be my blog assistant before we headed out.)

I like to imagine what old building it came from … and where its siblings are currently residing.

For us, it will reside on a wall in the kitchen as a little shelf.

We haven’t hung it yet, but Kyle wanted you to get the idea.

The cost? $25.

I recently saw another great use for something like this, if you were ever able to snag a bunch of them. This is especially great if you have a rather uninteresting kitchen island that you’d like to spruce up. Like this one.