OK, so the renovation is done now comes the putting it back together, picking up the pieces period. The area that I can't seem to get control of is the dust, that fine layer of dust that keeps appearing no matter how much I vacuum. Where is it coming from? Yesterday I spent a good deal of time vacuuming and mopping the mudroom hoping to stop the traffic of bringing it in from there... we will see if that helped. dust, everywhere dust Studio  Here's a photo of the new studio, it looks so peaceful with the one chair, the Benjamin Moore color Platinum Gray is so pretty, remember the red I had in there. Part of me just wants to buy a laptop, reupholster an old chair I got at an estate sales years ago, and put a big fluffy rug in there and call it a day. But I got too much stuff for that.   The Bertoia  chair that's in there now, I bought from a dear friend a few years ago. I love it but it's not the most comfortable of chairs. studio, calm and peaceful Th...
Okay, so you all know the stove works, well last nights meal, was created in the new kitchen. There was triangle action, fridge to counter top (chopping) to stove top cooking back to fridge and so on. I was never able to do that before in the old kitchen. I think that I used to move in a trapezoid pattern. So much room, light, even cooking... it was amazing and I must say thoroughly enjoyed by the family. catfish po'boy I still have to design the pantry shelves, I'm thinking three shelves on two of the walls with hooks for broom, mop, bags for groceries. The microwave, which is only used for warming milk for coffee and Augie's burritos from TJs, is tucked in the pantry on a stainless steel cart I picked up at an estate sale a while back. And we are thinking of getting a small fridge to put soda in for the kids. I still have not put any art on the walls. I'm putting a lot of thought into it, seriously thinking about creating some pieces that have been swimming a...
New Orleans  May 22, 1994 18 years ago today Miguel and I got married in New Orleans at the Botanical Gardens on a beautiful spring day. I thank my lucky stars I moved to Philly in 1988 and met Miguel shortly after at Philadelphia City Paper. We became friends at first, even though we both knew we had each found the person that we were going to spend the rest of our lives with.  I love him totally and completely (even through the renovation), happy anniversary honey!...
yummy pizza Well the pizza is not delivery.... b/c I cooked it my new stove! The kids and I had talked about cooking that amazing meal in the new stove for the first time, but I didn't have much in the fridge. And the only reason I had pizza was Miguel had gotten it from TJs a couple of days ago. Enough about pizza! Now back to the reason I started this blog.... the kitchen! Ok, I know what your'e saying "What the what?", "Get out of town!" Shut up! and I answer you all with a yes, the kitchen is done... well mostly (pantry shelves) needs to go up, but that's about it! east and south wall The wood counter top, I purchased from Fallen Branch Studio, http://fallenbranchstudio.com/  is gorgeous!  wood counter top The globe lights below are from West Elm http://www.westelm.com/ . globe lights  Check out all those drawers and of course the counter top. kitchen side of peninsula I just love my granite co...
So last night when Miguel got home and saw the kitchen looking more like a kitchen he says..."We're going to have to clean the whole house." And he's right. It's kind of like wearing a beautiful necklace with sweatpants and a dirty t-shirt... We will need to go thru the whole house, look for a huge sale in the near future. Lots of photos to come later today....
Ok, since the last post, the tile is up! And they,  http://loopconstruction.net/ , did an AMAZING job! I want to thank everyone for their comments/opinions both online and in person, but I stuck with my original sketch, and I'm really happy. As for today's update... after running errands all morning, I came home to "Mr. Hood"! I never had a hood in my old kitchen, we had an old fan above the stove, that was very loud. I always thought a bird was going to fly in to the fan and either be killed by the blades or fall into a pot of whatever was cooking on the stove. And I don't think it really did it's job that well, the back two bedrooms always smelled of what I was cooking, especially garlic. Not sure how the fumes got up there, it's a mystery! But now I have a real hood, check out Mr. Hood below. Mr. Hood Oh it's starting to look like a kitchen isn't it?...
Ok, so we all make mistakes right? Well I caught this one in time, thank goodness! While visiting The Tile Shop http://www.tileshop.com/ in Lombard a couple of weeks ago , I bought some subway tile for the kitchen. While walking around the showroom, I was drawn to this very large 4x16 subway tile. I thought it would be perfect for the back wall in the kitchen. So I bought it! Well this morning I decide to bring it in and take a look at it. I take them out of the box and they are huge! After holding up a few on the wall, Casey, Paul, Miguel and I decide, although it was an interesting idea (you don't usually see subway tile that wide) we decide that they should be returned and 4 x 8 pieces should be bought. I hed out to Lombard to visit my buddy, Matthew, the nicest sales person in the world. He's the first person I see, he remembers me and I tell him my problem. After a bit, I return the tiles and am headed back home with my 4 x 8 tiles, happy as a clam.  Here are a cou...
It's been a while since my last post, life kind of got in the way and we were waiting for Daniel the Granite guy, he's quite a busy guy. All I need to say is that it was worth the wait, the counter tops are beautiful! He did such an amazing job, check out the photos. I can't wait to pull off that blue protective seal, but I need to be patient.  south wall with sink in place section to the left of the stove corner piece The above photo is actually two pieces, can't find the seam can you! SWEET! The next step with the kitchen will be tile, I've laid out my design and can't wait till it goes up! I know that I've been mentioning the animals as of late, thought I would include their photos. All three of them are such troopers dealing with this renovation. Broudreaux, he's so sleepy, watching the workers all day wears him out! LoLo, the only cat that you hear his footsteps when he walks in the room, perched on h...
The appliances are here! appliances But, they are in the garage... hopefully they will be installed in the next couple of days.  The paint is on the walls and the color looks fantastic. The only problem with freshening up paint in a couple of rooms, is now I want to repaint the whole house! In time that will get done. My friend Sharon and I have already picked out a color for the front hallway, Benjamin Moore - Wickham Gray, absolutely beautiful! The thing about living thru a renovation is ... living thru a renovation. Everyone is a bit tense and tired of that special Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad... it is no longer special anymore. My kids are finally tired of take out and I'm desperately trying to come up with some new ideas for dinners. Any help here would be greatly appreciated!  Another issue is the animals, the cats are freaking out, we've had to move the litter box twice and now it's in our bedroom! And Boudreaux is having to walk thru a maze of boxes ...
This is a big week! Painting continues this week, appliances come Tuesday, counter tops get installed (I hope) and lights go up, just to name a few things.  A few friends and neighbors have been by to see the transformation, and they can't believe the difference... the space, the amount of light, the size of that pantry . The kids and I have been talking about what our first meal should be, they've mentioned lasagna, chicken pot pie and I'm totally psyched to make pancakes on the griddle! Not to worry the first meal made will be documented. Photos to come tomorrow of paint and more....
Color choice is extremely important. I used to be scared to put any color on the walls, but I got over that after a couple of gray winters here in Chicago. The wall color in the house has changed several times since those bold colors I chose, 12 years ago. And they will probably change again after this renovation gets done.  My process used to entail buying canvases and a few quarts of paint of several colors and painting the canvas and moving the canvases around the room at different times of the day. Unfortunately good paint is expensive and I don't have the time. So I'm lucky that my friend Sharon has some beautiful colors in her house, which I was a part of some of those choices. I've decided to go with BM - Wish for the walls in the kitchen and dining room and BM - Platinum Gray for the studio. Photo below, even though the photo doesn't do justice to these beautiful colors. The photo makes them look really green... they're not. Wish 2nd from left Plati...
The past couple days the crew (Loop Construction) has been finishing up the cabinets. You can really get a feel of the layout of the kitchen. Below are some photos. (and no the cabinet doors are not blue, the protective sheet wil be removed a bit later) kitchen view from mudroom door view of back wall, stove will go between the two on the left upper cabinet another view of the back wall, dishwasher will go where ladder is view from the dining room another angle from the dining room Below is a photo of the corner cabinet. I love the feature on this cabinet. You can pull the whole shelf out to get to the items in the back. Before I had to either send August back in there, or get in there myself, literally get into the cabinet to pull out things that were hiding. corner cabinet corner cabinet pull out peninsula/island with pull out drawers for dishes back wall, where stove and hood will reside Today, Daniel will be stopping by t...
I will be using subway tile in the kitchen. It's classic and never goes out of style, and I've always loved it. I thought that I would have it laid out like bricks, but then I saw it laid out a little differently on a couple of blogs...  I just had to play around with it in Illustrator, thoughts? layout of the east wall in kitchen ...
My friend, Sharon, told me she had a lot of sleepless nights when she was renovating her WHOLE house. Well I had my first sleepless night last night. I kept wondering did I buy the right thing at IKEA yesterday, was I supposed to buy the PERFEKT accessorie? Is it the right size and finish. Should I go out there again and get another one to go on the end of the peninsula... should I buy it in stainless steel? Will my buddies at IKEA now know me as the crazy lady with the blog, instead of the nice customer that thanks them for all their help......
So today, I'm told I need to take yet another trip out to IKEA for filler for in between the cabinets. No worries, the kids are busy so I head out to IKEA, note third time in a week, and go talk to my buddies in the kitchen section, they know me by now. While I was there I showed them my blog and they loved it! (note to Casey, I even mentioned Loop, they were totally impressed). I pick up my stuff and head back to the old homestead to find more crown molding up.  crown molding The window above the sink is in. A window that opens, imagine that! window above sink Below are a few photos of what the layout will look like. The space is amazing, can't wait for the first dinner party! view from dining room, disregard cabinet in foreground that is going on the wall standing by back door looking into kitchen and dining room standing in dining room looking to the left slightly The transom window also went in, what a nice surprise to find that ...
Anyone who has ever been to our house, notices the art. It's hard not to, and there's a lot more of it in storage. The problem that I'm starting to think about is I've lost a wall, totally had both sides of it covered with art and I've been told by Paul (photo to come) that he doesn't want me putting nails into the beautiful walls that have been re-plastered..... I don't think that's going to happen. Case in point the old kitchen I had my collection of state plates on the wall, I've been collecting them since high school, picking them up at thrift stores and estate sales in NOLA, Philly, BKLYN and Chicago. I've never spent more that $5 and most of them cost less than a dollar. I actually have post-it notes on the back of some them, where I bought them, what year and how much.  I've also had friends pick them up for me. I have every state and duplicates for some states.  Where in the world am I going to put them? 1/4 of the state pla...