A little paint does wonders. I’m on vacation with my parents and the H often surprises me with home improvement projects while I’m gone. He’s been doing this at every house we’ve lived in. I kinda like the tradition!
He just sent me these. Looks so much better!
After the kitchen remodel we kind of decided to take a little bit of a break. We still had drawer pulls to purchase, doors to hang, trim to hang painting to be done. So we weren’t actually done with the kitchen.
And we’re just enjoying it too. I’m loving cooking in it. The kids love eating in it. It’s just beautiful.
We had a bit of a hard time finding the right pulls for the drawers. The bar pulls didn’t work at all. I really wanted the cup pulls but they didn’t work either.
We finally bought additional knobs over the weekend and installed those. And, they look perfect.
D also hung a door between the mud room in the kitchen and it really separates the space beautifully.
We’ve been working hard clearing the backyard. And we know have a grass growing where before there was dirt, brush, and trash.
I’m pinning pictures of shade gardens and hard scape fire pits on pinterest like crazy.
We also planted our berries on the side of the house and ripped up a bunch of evergreens and planted hydrangeas and some orange annuals there instead. It makes me quite happy.
Well, you get the idea.
But we finally extended the grey (Thunder by Benjamin Moore) from the kitchen into the dining room, and stopping at the far wall. We then moved the china cabinet onto that wall and I’m in the process of putting our china and other delicates in it now. It feels really nice to put things away. Where they go. And know that I probably won’t have to move them again for a while.
We also decided on a neutral wall color for the majority of walls in the living space. In the living room, up the hall stairs, and possibly in that hall as well. It’s really hard to pick these things and I knew I didn’t want just the white that was there. I thought of blue, but that seemed like a heavy commitment and then there’s the grey in the mudroom and the kitchen, and the blue would compete with it, not complement it.
But you know what always goes with grey? Yellow. So we picked Philadelphia Cream by Benjamin Moore as the neutral in our open spaces. D painted the far wall today and it looks really really nice. It’s warm, lively, happy and the grey right next to it looks amazing.
The Thunder:
I love it!
Also, while on the topic of painting, edging is a PITA, right? And taping isn’t much better. I bought something during one of my many trips to Ace that I was sure was NOT going to work but I figured I’d give it a try. At best, it would work, and at worst, at least I’d know and could still use the tape.
You know what? It totally worked!!
If you paint, and you use painter’s tape, I’d definitely recommend picking this up. It’s so incredibly easy and the edges are straight, no bleeding (good paint helps) and then you don’t dread painting because *zip zip* your tape is up, edge twice, roll and you’re done!
It’s worth the $7-$10.
I assumed (<—- ass…) that our granite was already sealed an adequate amount and was ready for use. So D and I are in the kitchen, having some wine and cheese, discussing many things, one of them the fact that my mom sealed the granite in her kitchen three times. And I asked if he thought we should do the same. We hemmed and hawed about it. Assuming it was installed completely sealed, etc. etc.
When we notice a coffee stain on our pretty white granite. Out comes the scrubbing tools to get out said coffee stain.
Tomorrow? We will be sealing our new white granite. Lots.
This is why I’m so happy to have redone this kitchen. Because my boys can eat their meals here, with smiles on their faces.
We were gone all weekend and didn’t accomplish anything house related. Which was good, I think. We needed a break. And we were waiting for the counters to be installed before we could do much more.
Well, that may not be completely true. We could have caulked the crown. Or installed the trim. Or bought some pulls so we can open drawers without pulling them from the sides. The list goes on and on but instead we took a much needed mini vacation with some friends.
Yesterday, though, the counters were installed. They look amazing. The island? The 10 foot island? They were able to fabricate without a seam. And it looks incredible!! As a friend asked me last night “Are you laying on your new counters now?”. And I nearly did! I love them!
