Going out on a ledge

I'm not usually one to do things twice, but I decided early on in this project that I wanted the material that tops the half wall to be something special.  I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for someplace where I can get a one-of-a-kind hunk of gnarly repurposed wood.  Like an old, weathered barn beam or something.  But, since I figured the search for such a material might take a long time, I needed to top the half wall with something else in the meantime.  So, following YHL's lead, I picked up a super affordable 1x10" pine board.  Ain't she perfect?

I had the fine folks at HD cut it to length for me, and my Dad router-ed (routed?) the edges to give it a nice, finished look.  Then, I slapped on a couple coats of MinWax stain in Jacobean and topped it with 3 coats of polycrylic.  If you remember back when I redid our kitchen table, I've had issues with the poly in the past, but I'm happy to announce that this time it went on flawlessly!

I left the board 2 inches longer than the wall for a slight overhang.  Of course, we didn't want anything hazardous, because the last thing you want to do is slam your hip into a piece of lumber as you navigate through the house with a laundry basket or something.  But, there has been none of that.  :)

It hangs over about an inch on each side, too.  The wall is built with 2x6s, and if I was a super duper carpenter lady, I could do the math and tell you exactly how much overhang there is on the sides, but I always get tangled up with the actual dimensions of lumber vs what we call them (ex. 2x6 is not really 6" wide, but then there's 2 pieces of drywall, and of course the 1x10 is not really 10" wide, either).

On the other end, I just butted it right up against the wall. 

Oh, and here's a bonus project!  This HVAC in our kitchen ceiling used to be a shiny brass.  I pulled that sucker down and gave it about 7 light and even coats of ORB.  Goodbye eyesore, hello gorgeous!

So, there you have it!  One (small) step closer to our goal!

Last night, I committed to both the paint color and the backsplash tile and dropped some moolah at HD.  It felt great!!

xo,

Emily

Winter Pinterest Challenge

What's that?!  It's time for the WINTER PINTEREST CHALLENGE??!?!?  Yahoooooo!

The Fall Pinterest Challenge is the whole reason I started this blog in the first place, when I attempted to recreate a burlap bunting and mod podged pumpkin.  So, when I heard that my besties, Sherry and John from YHL and Katie from Bower Power were teaming up again to bring us the winter edition of the challenge, I knew I had better stop pinning and start doing!

So, without further ado, I present to you my take on Mini Manor's embellished tea towels.  I originally pinned this image of Ashli's:

And, once I read her simple tutorial, I knew it was a project I could tackle.  So, I followed her steps.  I laid out my 4 scraps of random left-over fabric and ironed them flat.

 Then, I got to sewing: up one side, turn 90 degrees, down the next side, turn 90 degrees, repeat.  In no time I had two cute towels!

And, before I knew it, there were four!

Now, there was one thing that Ashli just might have forgotten to mention: what happens if you forget to cut off the tags first.

 But, well, I suppose worse things could happen!  So, here are my new towels in action.

They really are super cute and were super easy to make.  I think they took me probably 15 minutes total.  And, now for a cost breakdown:

bar towels:  $5-ish bucks from Target
fabric:  free!!  (left over from this fabric bunting project)

Wahoo!  How's that for custom kitchen linens?!  I hope this leaves you all pin-spired!

xo,

Emily

Demo's done PLUS we have light!

So, last time I we spoke, the plumbing and existing electrical had been moved.  That left some new electrical to wire and drywall repair.  I am pleased to announce that it has been done!  My contractor made super quick work of things and manage to knock most of it out on day 2.  He did have to come back on day 3 for an hour or two of sanding, but that is it!  Here is how things look today:

 I had my contractor wire 2 overhead boxes above where the ledge will be thinking that I could easily knock out installing 2 simple pendent lights myself.  First of all, the words 'simple' and 'electrical' should never occur together in the same thought.  The hanging process was not, in fact, simple.  Secondly, installing new overhead fixtures requires at least 2 1/2, sometimes 3 to 4 hands.  It is not a job to do solo, especially when you only only have mediocre (I'm being generous here) electrical skills.  Thankfully, my dad was once again in town and he gave me a hand pretty much handled the whole thing and just told me what to do.

Well, enough of that.  I say it's time for more pictures!  This is the view from living room.

Oh, these pendent lights!  No matter how much fiberglass laden attic navigation they required, they really do it for me!

Aren't they perfection?  I think I have a pendent crush.

And this fab view is from the breakfast room.  I cannot believe I can sit at the kitchen table in the breakfast room gazing out into the backyard and then glance over my shoulder and see the living room!

And, this?  This is my view from the sink as I wash dishes.  Pure delight, I tell 'ya!

And so, let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?  This used to be my dish washing station:

And, this is it now!

This used to be the view from the living room towards the wall that isolated the kitchen.

 And, now that the wall is half gone!

Oh happy day!!  Who knew losing half a wall could make one person so happy?!

Okay so yes, it's true we've been making good progress with this project.  But, there is still a bunch to do.  I still need to:

1. Clean, prime and paint dining room side of half wall.  We don't have any of the existing paint color, so that should be fun.
2. Clean, prime and paint the ceiling.  Again, we don't have that paint color either, so this may turn into painting the ceiling in the entire kitchen, dining/living room and hallway to the bedrooms since they're all connected. (Do I smell a painting party?)
3. Repair the crown that had to be removed to take down the upper cabinets.
4. Ditch the boob light in the kitchen.  I found a semi-flush fixture that is in the same collection as my pendents that I think will be perfect.  Only concern is being too matchy-matchy, but we'll see.
5. Prime and paint the breakfast room.  Goodbye red walls.  Yeah, I loved them, but now they've got to go!  And, I think I've decided on a paint color or two.
6. Figure out what to top the half wall with.  Currently, I have a 1x10 cut to size sitting up there.  Stay tuned for developments on this front.
7. Purchase and install a backsplash.  The jury is still out on this one.

Whew.  I feel slightly overwhelmed listing all of that off, but it has to be done.  (Okay, okay, that might not be exactly true.  I actually secretly LOVE making lists!  So, the list making doesn't stress me, but the work to be done does.)  Ah well, we'll just keep plugging along.  And, with any luck, my dad will continue to "just happen to be in town" when I need his help with anything complicated.  :)

xo,

Emily

Kitchen progress

Today, I worked from home to the lovely sounds of demo'ing, sawing, hammering, and constructing, and as I type this from the comfort of my imperfect bed, this is what the kitchen looks like:

I can hardly stand the progress!

My contractor showed up first thing this morning to get started.  Somehow, in just one workday, he managed to move the plumbing vent stack, re-route 2 overhead lights, move one switch and one outlet, and install a new electrical box.  Amazing, if you ask me.  I tried to be a good girl and stay out of the way, but I did find myself wandering upstairs so I could stand in the middle of the kitchen and just stare through the non-wall.  But, mostly I only did that when he was crawling around on his belly in the attic.

In other news, I've been on the hunt for an affordable material for my new backsplash.  While I am hiring out the serious stuff (plumbing, electrical, drywall repair), I'm going to try to tackle the easier stuff by myself (myself=with help from my dad/a friend/someone who knows DIY stuff). And, in this case, backsplash=easier stuff.  I've not made any decisions, but I will share with you some eye candy.

Pretty, right?!  I'm also considering going in another direction totally and using beadboard.  Either way, I think the color will be a gray with green undertones.

Ooh, and one decision I have made is on light fixtures.  I found these guys at Lowe's, and I LOVE them.

There will be two of them hanging above the new ledge.  I read and re-read the directions over my morning coffee today, and I think installing them should be a cinch (famous last words?). 

I am so excited about how well this is all coming together.  Honestly, I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep tonight knowing that my contractor will be back in the morning to likely finish things up.  I hope to have more photos to share tomorrow!

xo,

Emily

Peek-a-boo

I see you!!  That's what I can say now if I'm standing in the kitchen and you're in the dining room, 'cause look what I did!

Well, I suppose I should rewind a little and get everyone up to speed.  Our kitchen is U shaped with one long side bordering the dining room. 

You can access the dining room from the kitchen by a standard sized opening.

 And, because of this wall, anyone in the kitchen is pretty isolated from anyone in the dining and living rooms.

 And, so, I decided that this wall, this impediment to conversation, this feng-shui violation needed to GO!

Amazingly, my decision to say farewell to this little wall coincided with my dad's visit to help give Colin's bedroom a redo.  (Coincidence?  I think not!)  We talked about the project over the phone, and by the time I got home from work that day, this is what I found.

 Yahoo!  Good bye cabinets, hello awful, ugly wall paper from the 50s!  I can't explain how much just removing 3 upper cabinets did to open up the kitchen.  It felt like we had bumped the wall back several feet.  Things were already feeling so much more open and airy.

It wasn't much later before we had started peeking behind the drywall.

 

And, by bedtime, we had removed all of the drywall from both sides, and I could actually stand in my kitchen and see into the dining room.  Excited doesn't even begin to describe how this made (and still makes!) me feel.  I knew from the first time I stepped foot into our kitchen that it needed some opening up.

The next day, a dear friend's super handy husband came over with his saw, and he and my dad tackled the 2x6s.  They made quick work of it, and then things were really looking open.

Here's my new view from the dining room.

 And, from the living room.

And, from the breakfast room.

Oh, I simply love how this is opening up our home.  It will be especially fabulous when we are entertaining.  The kitchen has always felt sorta cave-like, and this should really help fix that.

I met with my contractor to discuss having him do some of the major work for me.  There's quite a bit of electrical work to do (moving wires for 2 overhead fixtures, relocating several switches/outlets on the kitchen side to accommodate a 42" tall opening, hard wiring for 2 pendent lights in the opening), a plumbing vent stack to relocate, and a bit of drywall repair, and that is stuff I'm happy to leave to the experts.  The demo was fun, and I'm looking forward to picking out and installing a tile back splash, the hanging pendents and whatever I decide for the bar surface.

So, this is where we are now, and I hope I have more progress photos soon!  I actually went tile/light shopping this morning and came home very disappointed.  $1200 for a gorgeous glass tile back splash?!  Tempting, but NO!  So, the search for affordable materials continues.  :)

xo,

Emily
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