Curtains

We finally have curtains in the dining room!

before - naked!

after - curtains!

Of course, nothing is ever easy or straight-forward in my life, and I'm on the look out for white curtains to go inside the dark curtains. Not just white, but something semi-transparent in a lattice-work or eyelet type of way. I'll know it when i see it :)

Next on the dining room list - table, chairs, chandelier...

Clearly I have a problem...

Recently, I noticed a theme in our home...


I really really like perforated and textured white ceramic tchotchkes. Thinking this junk would look good together, I placed them on my radiator cover... that was also white and perforated.

Also, I did not realize this until I looked at the photo.

After discovering this illness, I have researched further into its official name - ceramicus perforitis.

Not really - but you saw it here first.

* and everything is from Marshall's/HomeGoods/TJMaxx!

A pointless exercise in aesthetics

I've been pretty adamant so far about one thing when it comes to the house - we do it once and we do it right: no re-dos.

But the kitchen turned out to be the exception.

I was going to leave it be for awhile, but it's the kitchen! We're in here everyday, all day sometimes. We just couldn't keep it the same. And the gut-reno is maybe a few years off.

So after removing the country kitchen wallpaper as mentioned last week, I painted the wall today:
Voila!

As I put it to my mother earlier today, I totally understand that what I've been doing to the kitchen is comparable to putting a band-aid on a broken leg (hence the title). This entire wall I just painted will someday be torn to bits, covered with cabinets, or tiled within an inch of its life.

- - -

A couple things I should point out...

1) A major upgrade which was totally easy, cheap, and worthwhile was staining the cabinets. As you can see in the below photo, most of the cabinets are in this condition - worn, and ragged.

I simply took an old rag, dipped a corner in a small can of Minwax Jacobean stain and ran it over the cabinets, wiping with a dry rag as I went. It made a noticeable difference in the appearance of the cabinets. Cost: $0 (I already had the stain left over from another project) and about 20 minutes of labor. Yes, I could have taken the cabinets apart and refinished or painted, but the main point of this makeover was "cheap and quick" - this step made a pretty big difference for such a tiny amount of time and money.

2) I also painted the doorbell thingy to match the wall:
Much better than yellow-ed plastic!

- - -

And because everybody loves before/after photos:

Before
Country Blue Kitchen


After


Before


After

The paint color is Benjamin Moore "SIlver Fox" - I used the Ben line, eggshell finish.

So far I've spent $35 on this "in progress" makeover (on a gallon of paint). And about 4 days of on-and-off labor. And a ton of elbow grease.

Ok, no, THIS is my dream kitchen... almost...

How perfect is this?

I love the subway tiles with dark grout, and that the tiles reach all the way up - almost to the ceiling.

What about the antique white stove and white hood?

Also the juxtaposition of the white counter with black granite top / black island with white marble top.

But - I could do without the brass hardware. Chrome would be much better in my world.

Dining Room

In West Elm, John pointed out the awesomeness of this table/chair/settee/bench arrangement. There was also a really great chandelier that I forgot to snap a photo of. erghhh.

Other dining room news: Curtains are hung. We need more clip rings. $100 later at Restoration and I think we have enough. When did clip rings become a priority in my life?

Photos soon.

Getting rid of the ugly...

Yesterday morning the rest of the wallpapered kitchen wall looked like this:

By this morning (and why did this take me all day yesterday?) the wall looked like this:

Forgive the construction paraphernalia

The trim is painted white and the walls are patched and sanded. And my wrist is very stiff, even after ice packs and 2 Advil and a glass of wine. But the messy part is over - and that is the best feeling!

So I worked a little Photoshop magic to figure out what color paint to actually use on the wall:
The top row is the boring yet most-likely-to-be-used row:
A. A darker shade of Balboa Mist as used in dining/living room/hallway
B. Balboa Mist as used in aforementioned places
C. Cooler grey
And the bottom row, which is fun, yet probably-not-likely-to-be-used:
D. Teal blue
E. Lighter teal blue
F. Yellowy-Limey-Lemon

I think we will go with choice "A" - my main concern is down-playing the dark cabinets, and everything just seems to blend in a little better with the darker taupe-grey color.

What do you think?