More kitchen progress …

I’m ignoring the snow that’s falling outside right now. Yes, I know it’s winter and snow does happen occasionally. But I don’t have to like it. Bring on spring, please! To distract myself from the fluffy white snowflakes, I thought I would share a quick update on the kitchen progress.

A new rug makes everything better

The kitchen is all cleaned up and ready for our first cooking evening with friends. While the cooktop isn’t hooked up yet, both the Advantium and the wall oven are so we can use both kitchens to make culinary magic. And all this counterspace for prepping is just heavenly! Someday I will share a photo of the tiny, cramped kitchen we are currently using – it’s so awkward and difficult to coordinate with two people trying to cook. Four people would never work.

During the week, Brian installed the island and its’ countertop (and put together our so fancy IKEA stools). Next on his list is installing the cooktop and the back countertop, then plumbing for the sink and dishwasher in the island. Moving along!

So far both Tucker and Gizmo approve of the new rug … their feedback is critical. Here are some more photos Brian took (pre-clean up) so you can see the full progress.

 

 

Blue Monday?

No Blue Monday today! Today is a pretty awesome Monday because our new kitchen cabinets were delivered. Woooo!!! And most importantly, the color is perfect. I admit, I was quite nervous about making such a big investment sight unseen. But thank goodness all the blues aligned and we have the exact shade of deep matte blue we dreamed of … ok, I dreamed about blue kitchen cabinetry, not really sure if Brian does too.  Would you like to see a sneak peek? Of course you do!

Yay, our new kitchen cabinet doors!

Next up … dealing with all the cabinetry items delivered today (aka, confirming we have everything that was ordered and figuring out where to put it). Not a small job, my friends, as right now our entire first floor looks like boxes and drawers just exploded across the floor. Seriously, I’m not kidding.

The dining room chaos, with a photo bomb by Tucker

I’ll be the one in the corner trying not to hyperventilate due to the mess. Wish me luck! And maybe send wine?

The key to living together is …

Storage. Seriously, I’m not joking. When two people, each with a moderate amount of stuff, decide to share one humble (aka 1700 square feet or so) home, there are some major decisions to be made. The most important of which is “how in the heck are we going to fit all of our crap in one house?”

Full disclosure: I am slightly OCD. I like everything picked up and put away. Everything has a home. When clutter is scattered all around the house and things are not in their place, I just can’t handle it. Poor , poor Brian.

The first action we took, of course, was make a lot of trips to Goodwill before our moving process even began. Random strangers on Craigslist also reaped the benefits of our overabundance of household goods. Even friends got to dive into huge boxes of extra kitchen goods for needed supplies – spatulas, small appliances, bowls, ridiculous amounts of plastic cups, cast iron skillets, all free to a good home!

The upstairs room we selected as our bedroom … ready for this … did not have a closet. Apparently people back in the early 1900’s did not fully understand the need for closets the way we modern day folks do. Brian was using the closet in the other upstairs room, originally his bedroom but now switching to his office, and it was jam-packed. So where were my clothes to go?

Solution: Super handy Brian built a closet in the bedroom for my clothes. Yay! He is a good man.

My new closet in process

And here’s my happy place …

A closet with room for all my clothes. OK, most of my clothes and shoes. Say hi to the photobombers, Tucker and Gizmo.

For those who don’t know us, Brian and I both love to cook. If you need a recipe ingredient or a kitchen tool, chances are we own it. Possibly two! Organizing the kitchen probably took the most amount of time when I first moved in last July. We went through each and every box, drawer, cabinet and shelf to purge or keep pots and pans, dishes, knives, glassware, silverware, Tupperware (oh man, don’t get me started) and all other culinary items. Now keep in mind, this kitchen has a ton of space, thanks to the fact that Brian completely gutted it and started from scratch when he first moved in a few years before. But it just didn’t have enough space for all our food items too. So Brian to the rescue once again – he built a miraculous pantry in the laundry room right off the kitchen. Hallelujah!

We’ve got spices for days! It may not be the prettiest pantry but it’s definitely better than nothing.

Last but not least in our lack of storage conundrum … a linen closet. With only one closet on the entire main floor, a place to keep extra towels was nowhere to be found. While working on the bathroom renovation, Brian came up with a solution. He built two deep drawers into the bathroom wall underneath the stairs. What a great way to take advantage of unused space! And now guests know where to find towels for their shower. Always important!

Towels!!!

Bathroom sneak peek

Ready for this? I moved into Brian’s house (now our house) over eight months ago. How is that even possible? It’s been almost a year, and yet it feels like just yesterday that I was lugging ridiculously heavy and over-sized boxes up way more stairs than any one person should have to climb. On a side note, why do I only remember going up all those stairs and not down?

One of the first projects Brian tackled in our house was renovating the existing bathroom. Notice I said bathroom – not plural. We have just one bathroom in this house and it needed some serious loving. Let’s do a plus/minus chart to fully demonstrate why the bathroom was the absolute first house project.

The negatives:

• A clawfoot tub acting as the only shower. I’m short, and me getting into that tub every day for a shower was an accident just waiting to happen. Trust me!
• Tiny pedestal sink. I have makeup, people, and lots of skincare products – some I’m not even sure what they are supposed to do anymore. We needed drawers, shelves, something.
• No linen closet or other type of storage. The whole house had two closets when I moved in. That’s it. Storage was a major issue for us.
• Hard-to-keep-clean pure white tiles. Remember, we have two cats and a dog. We’re talking a lot of fur as well as the massive amount of hair that seems to fall off my head every darn day.

The positives:

• The paint color. I’m really reaching here … but honestly, Brian did pick a lovely blue.

We haven’t taken actual photos of the bathroom since the renovation yet. I know, I know, we’re such slackers. That whole we got busy thing is a pathetic excuse. But seriously true! In the meantime you will just have to get by with some sneak peaks of a few changes. Full photos and details coming soon, I promise.

Close-up of the Anthropologie knobs I selected for the new vanity. You have to jazz up a standard (meaning budget-friendly) vanity from Home Depot somehow!

For a more rustic element, Brian selected a piece of driftwood for our towel rack. The oil-rubbed bronze hooks match the rest of the fixtures.

My man Brian is quite the talented remodeler! He designed this classic black and white tile pattern for the new shower. It’s very snazzy, let me tell you. And you just can’t go wrong with a West Elm shower curtain.