Hallway Doors

Slowly and surely the honey-colored oak is disappearing from our home.

WHOO HOO!!!

Our bedroom and hallway doors were in excellent shape despite being targets 

for nerf gun competitions and being in the line of fire for a mean game of sock war.

I couldn't see replacing them even though they are plain and boring.

First step was ripping down all the oak trim and replace it with the white molding

we did throughout the rest of the house and doorways.

With the molding complete and the weather getting nicer, I took the doors down and worked outside.

Oh how I love the sunshine!  <--- side note

Using a hand sander, I sanded down the doors with a medium grit paper.

After wiping all the dust away they were ready to paint.

Also in fantastic shape are the hinges.  I cleaned each set thoroughly.

I pushed the screws into a cardboard box and laid the hinges flat onto a

paper bag I had ripped open.

Using a spray paint for metals in an oil-rubbed bronze finish, I sprayed the hardware.

No more shiney brass!

<Insert jig of joy here>

But what color should I paint the doors?  

I adore the look of white molding and white doors; which I get to stare at every day in my front hallway.

(That project I discuss here and here.)

It looks so clean and crisp and open and light.

Adore!

Here is the dilemma I created for myself : I also love the color of my 

breakfast bar against my white cabinets and the dark wood floors.

So after much thought, I decided to break out of the box of conformity once again.

I went with what you do not normally see.

And I love it.

The Un-Do Redo Kitchen

 Hello?  Hello?
Thank you for still being here friends.

I wish I could say my family and I have been traveling the world the last couple of years.

Fun things as spending time scouring flea markets in France, sipping Café au lait in Italy, or exploring castles in England.

Reality is life was difficult.  Really difficult.

I am feeling more like myself these days and the creative juices are flowing once again.

But first, a confession.

I hired a contractor.  GASP!  

A proclaimed Do-It-Yourselfer and I hired a contractor.  Because I'm smart.
(There will be more on this later as this is a big and very important step).

We took a good long look at our kitchen and decided to gut it and start over. 
Are you ready to follow me on this journey? 
Do you promise to pat my hand and say "there-there" when I am at my wit's end?
Can you just smile big and nod at me when I start to obsess over the most minute detail?

YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!

A reminder of what our kitchen looked like when we moved in 18 years ago.

Builder Basic.  No bells, no whistles, no decorative thought whatsoever.

It's ok, you can yawn.  We did.

Wanting light and airy, I went to town with the paint brush, and stain.
This is how our kitchen looks today.
We still love it despite the paint wearing in spots.

What we are both ready for are cabinets without paint, quartz counter tops and new appliances.

We are gutting the heart of our home.

Let the journey begin!

Helloooo Kitchen Cabinets

Oak, Oak, Oak.
It was time to part ways.
Our builder-basic home said nothing of originality nor did it even whisper a hint of our style. 

Armed with a small budget, we tore up old flooring and laid down new floors.

I spent countless hours sanding, priming, painting, cutting and staining the cabinetry.
We are thrilled ecstatic with the results.

Ok, I may be the one who is ecstatic as I am no longer spending every waking moment outside of work with a paint brush in my hand.
And if I'm ecstatic, everyone needs to be too.

Or in the very least, pretend to be.

Here is a reminder where we started.

This isn't so much a before shot as it is a during shot.
The walls and ceiling have been painted.

The oak trim is gone from the floors and windows.
The new floors are down.

The view from our family room.

And here is what we have now.

TA  DA!

I love the look of board and batten and incorporated it into the cabinetry. 
I think it brings just a hint of farmhouse, don't you?
There will be more on that later.

 Just a splash of red.

It is amazing how much brighter and open the kitchen appears.
We often hear "WHOA, it's so much bigger in here!" when family and friends see the space for the first time;
which is exactly the goal in mind.

 The hardware on the cabinets are custom, to replace them would have cost us a fortune.

Instead, my husband sanded them down and I spray painted them.
They turned out fantastic.

To add a touch of whimsy, our monogram was incorporated into the design.

Well, there you have our latest redesign.
So much hard work and absolutely worth it in the end!

Over the next couple weeks I will spend time redecorating the kitchen, adding hardware and creating a fun back splash with an idea I have brewing in my head.

I'd love to hear what you think, do you love it as much as we do?
What was a favorite change you've made to your space?



Keeping It Real

It's easy to stare at pictures of beautiful rooms and swoon over their beauty.

It's easy to look at a design element in someone's home and decide to incorporate it into your own.

It's easy to find inspiration.

It ain't easy livin' in the Land of Inbetween.
You know the place ~ the land you live in while taking what you had and turning it into what you want.

It's scary.  And oh is it messy.

In my effort of keeping it real I give you, my friends, the Fiorucci Land of Inbetween.

This was our front porch while we were laying down the new floors.

Not very welcoming is it?

While putting up the new trim, our front living room and dining room was my painting station.

Just want to curl up on that sofa and share a cup of coffee don't you?

The seemingly endless task of painting cabinet doors took over the living room and dining room.

All available counter space was used for stacking drawers to be painted. 

There were plenty of days where it was difficult to find space to simply make a sandwich.

As we did all the work ourselves, we lived in a state of disarray for 3 solid months. 

There were days it seemed unending. 

There were days I thought I would go crazy. 

There were days the only sanity I found was sipping a glass of red wine while sitting on the corner of the bathtub because it was the only clean room in the house.

The only way to live in the after picture is traveling through the Land of Inbetween.

Just don't park there.

Up next, our beautiful revamped kitchen!



Picking out Paint Colors

When my husband and I made the decision to spend the time, energy, and money to update our home little did we know how much time and energy it would take us.  The projects are taking up most of my time leaving me little time to keep everyone updated.  I wish I could, but I can't.

Sometimes I just can't find my Super Woman cape.

The walls and ceilings are painted.  The floors are down and as of last night I finished cutting and painting all the baseboards.  What a huge feeling of accomplishment that was!

When choosing the colors I kept the main color light to offset the rich dark of the floors.  The walls are painted this fabulous color called "Stone" from Maratha Stewart. 

What this swatch does not show you is how fantastically grey it is!  It is a very warm grey and looks incredible against the floors.

The trim I knew also had to be a warm hue.  We chose "Betsy's Linen" by Valspar.  This will also be the color I am going to paint our kitchen cabinets.

When chosing colors for your home, it is important to look at all the colors together.  I laid many, many paint chips on pieces of the flooring near different windows and doors to help me decide what looks best together.

These two colors look great together and balance each other well.  With the kitchen next on my project list I am going to be introducing a grey to the mix in hopes to bring an 'old and weathered' feel to a very modern edge our house has taken.

One of the many fun things that has come out of this remodel is the look of amazement on the face of our children.  Suddenly Mom and Dad have a cool side they've never seen before.

Wait until they see the chandelier we bought.