reality check

I love decorating blogs!  I love blogging about decorating!  Really anything involving creativity,but let's face it sometimes a reality check is required.  Especially when you are in the midst of a remodel.

I have a friend that I have been thinking about alot lately, mostly because I have tons of respect for her.  Her house is beautiful.  Beautifully decorated in shabby chic loveliness.  She lives in a neighborhood next door to mine that is one of the best neighborhoods in town.  There is a lot of social pressure to have the best and the newest.  That kind of neighborhood.  There is alot of pressure if you are into design and living in that type of neighborhood.  She is and her house shows it.  A few months back she and her husband were planning on adding hardwood floors to their diningroom and family room.  During a very long football game she decided to take matters into her own hands and ripped up the carpet and padding.  They were due to have the floors started so why not just get rid of it.  Once she had ripped up the carpeting and padding ( what a woman) she discovered some cracks in the concrete, not good in Texas.  Unfortunately the foundation had shifted, so all the new, beautiful hardwood money went into foundation repair.  Never the funnest choice.

But she made it fun, lots of fun!

She got a big bucket of sharpies and if you come to their house you get to sign the floor!  How fun is that!  Not the prettiest, not as beautiful as the rest of her house, but personally to me it shows a little bit more about her and how beautiful she is on the inside.  Lots of people would have buckled to the pressure, but she is doing what is best for her family and living within their budget.  Plus everyone wants to come over and sign the floor.

In a few weeks a party for my daughter's high school youth group is planned.   Everyone gets to pick their favorite bible verse and write it in the family room, what a blessed foundation.  Who knew that decorating could be so beautiful.

lisa

linking to:
craftomaniac
skiptomylou
running with glitter

Ikea day!

Today will be a fun day, I will be spending hours and glorious hours at ikea.  I'm not buying anything till Friday and want to go ahead of time to figure everything out so that my hubby can just back the truck up and load.  He's not a happy shopper.  Here is what I am going to look at:

I plan on buying this in white and then buying another white slipcover.  Apparently these hold up very well and even though it states to dryclean the slipcover.  It can be washed and dried, if you take it out a little damp and then put it back on the couch.

so excited about this.  we are taking out the cabinet with the hood vent over our stove and adding this.  We will be continuing the subway tile behind it all the way to the ceiling in a zigzag pattern.  It will be beautiful.

 

Two husnes mirrors please.  These I will buy today if I like them.  I want to put these behind my lamps on each side of the bed in my master bedroom.

Plus I will be looking at frames, large area rugs, cabinet knobs and storage hutches for my craft room.  How often does anyone get to do this.  I know for me it's a very, very seldom event.  So I am very excited and even though renovation can be draining and exhausting I plan to enjoy every minute of it and be grateful for it.  Because it will probably be another 10 years before I get to do this again.

lisa

painting done!

Okay so just as a reminder here is my old kitchen

And here is the newly painted kitchen, I'm half way done!

Cabinets and walls painted.

And the old other side of the kitchen.

and the new.

The best part about painting, when you know you will be getting new countertops, is that you can be a sloppy painter.

There is still quite a bit left to do, but I needed to clean up and take a few pictures of this phase.  In the next few weeks we are adding black granite countertops, the backsplashes will be redone with white subway tile a few cabinets will be removed to add stainless steel hood and a farm sink.  The floors are being retiled in a honed travertine.  The lights will be replaced by crystal chandies (I'm very excited about this).  Plus I will be adding new decor here and there. New slipcovers for the chairs, etc. Here is a previous picture to show the hardware for the top cabinets.  I only have these done right now.

Painting took me a total of 11 days!  It was tough, not for the faint of heart or unfocused.  It was especially tough because I used oil paint, lots of waiting for paint to dry, but the finish is going to last a long time.  I had lots of time though because my kids have been off to various camps and missions trips and I knew I would have the time to devote to it.  Plus I am on a tight budget and knew I would have to give up something else to pay for painting.  I'm not sure I would do it again, but I'm proud of myself for getting this far and frankly it helped me get through a 3 week patch of empty nest.

Please keep coming back to see our progress over the next month, it's going to be amazing.

Linking to
funky junk 
tatertots and jello 
under the table and dreaming 
lambing around 
I heart naptime 
just a girl 
craftomaniac 
sisters of the wild west 
making the world cuter
polly want a crafter
skip to my lou
crayonfreckles 
miss mustard seed 
tatertots and jello

The cabinets are done!

It took awhile, but it was totally worth it.  I don't have a new picture because I am waiting for them to dry to hang back up, plus I didn't paint all the cabinets because we are removing them to add something different, so not a pretty stage.  I am now comtemplating wall colors.  So here is a pretty picture first

Still loving the glass hardware, sigh.

So here is the next step, what wall color?

starting from the top.  All colors are from kwal paint.
I don't have the name but it is #cl3051w,  I like it, but it is a little powdery blue for me.
2.  Is the above painted with a 1 to 3 ratio of white mixed in.  1 being the white, not sure.
3.  is called parchment, it's my all time favorite color, but my husband isn't loving it.
4.  is called soya.  My hubby loves it and it is oil paint, so I wouldn't have to prime my kitchen walls that were originally painted with oil.  I think I will live with it for a day, maybe mix the first color with a little grey and white and see if I like it better.

I love color but I learned pretty early on that I like color in accessories, not wall color or permanent fixtures, so I want a basic wall color, not sure which I will choose, stay tuned.

P.s.  The red cabinet will be repainted, probably a chippy grey with french letters decoupaged in the back.  not sure about that either, so many decisions!

linking to
miss mustard seed

Almost there!

Here is the before

And here is the after

The knobs are killing me

I love them so much!

I have 11 cabinets and drawer sets done, with 12 more to go.  I thought I was 2/3 done so this count for you has depressed me a bit.  But just getting the knobs on the door really lightened the load last night.  It's exactly what I wanted.  After the other 12 cabinets I need to paint the walls, still not sure of colors.  I'll show some samples and color names tomorrow.  Everything else is getting done by a tile contractor.

So here are my tips:
1.  Wash down cabinets with tsp and then rinse with warm soapy water
2.  Don't bother sanding
3.  Use a good cover primer, I would do 2 to 3 coats of primer, it covers better and dries quicker.
4.  Use oil paint in plain white.  Mine is from kwal paint and the quality is excellent.  It's similar to sherwin williams or benjamin moore in quality.  The oil paint takes around 12 hours so once you've done one coat your done for the day, but it really dries into a hard working finish and is worth all the trouble
5.  I use a brush to get alot of paint on but then roll it with a mini roller, for the smooth coverage.  I buy lots of rollers in a pack and throw them away, there only about 8 bucks for 12 and much easier then cleaning oil paint.
6. Do sections at a time, that way you don't have to try to figure out what goes where, it's much easier that way.

Once I get the wall paint up I will show bigger pictures and samples of wall paint tomorrow.

linking to
tatertots and jello
under the table and dreaming 
lamb around 
craftomaniac