Appliances

Sprucing Up

Posted by Lindsay C on Aug 31, 2010 in Appliances, DIY, Fabrics, Featured Articles, inspiration, Kitchen | 0 comments

I’m itchin’ to change up my kitchen.  Seriously, folks…I think I might be getting my much needed DISHWASHER soon…so of course I’m dreaming of some low-budget ways to update the kitchen. And as we will be changing things up in the future, I’m thinking of what we need to do now to tie things in down the road. For instance…this wall will have a new countertop and cabinets. Someday. So the stripes have to go. Sorry, stripes…I’ll miss ya’…

Which means I’ll probably do away with the rest of the green on my kitchen walls…

Don’t worry…the countertop, sink, faucet, cabinet doors and hardware, and the lovely vinyl flooring will all be gone someday as well.  Can I rip that horrible soffit out, too?!?!  Read: someday… but for now, I’m thinking paint and fabric will satisfy my need for change.  Especially because I’ll be standing right at that sink, loading my dirty dishes into a brand new dishwasher very, very soon!  So I won’t care what the rest of it looks like, for a while anyway!

So what color will I paint my kitchen?  Probably some form of white…not sure yet.  But I do like green…green cabinets, anyone??  I’m considering it.

How about something more like this?

Rosemary by Sherwin Williams

And I’d love to have this fabric for my curtains…

But it’s a little out of my budget at $138/yard!

So I might try something like this instead:

At only $8.98/yard with free shipping I might give it a try!  It’s not Kelly Wearstler linen, but it will have to do for my little kitchen.

Stay tuned…but don’t hold your breath!

This Makes Me Want to Re-Paint

Posted by Lindsay on Jul 12, 2009 in Appliances, Design, inspiration, Kitchen | 2 comments

I love, love, love this kitchen.  Well, more specifically I love the color scheme.  It reminds me of the gray that I have in my living room, and I’m tempted to carry the color into my kitchen. I’ve actually had a lot of positive comments about the bright color I have now, which made me take notice of the subtle colors I’m attracted to. I’m not sure about the semi-bright green (“Misted Fern” by BM) I have now but a girl can dream.  Always looking out for the better color, or side table, or rug, or ceramic garden stool.  Which brings me to this kitchen from House Beautiful.

I love the white cabinets, gray background, and black and green accents.  What do you think?  It might actually help me tie in the “I am too cheap to buy stainless steel appliances” white and black appliances that I have.    Don’t judge me.  It’s a starter home!  The only problem I have now is my stock blonde “wood” laminate countertops. They’re in good shape so they’re staying for now, but we are planning a kitchen remodel – SOMEDAY.  Our kitchen is way awkward with no storage, so it should be fun!  But I can always repaint!

On another note, I just helped a client choose countertops from a color selection of meganite.  Ever heard of it?  It’s an acylic solid surface.  She wanted black countertops, which would have looked great, but after seeing a friend’s dark acrylic countertops (which were full of scratches) she voted for my lighter selection, which should hide the scratches.  Soapstone would have been so beautiful…but so expensive!

I can’t wait to see her “after” pictures!  I’ll have to post them as soon as I get a picture.  Have a good week, everyone!

(images via House Beautiful and Meganite)

Airing my dirty laundry!

Posted by Lindsay on Feb 11, 2009 in Appliances, Design, Laundry Room | 0 comments

Yippee! Our new washer and dryer are here and they’re in!! Now the rest of the room looks…umm…unfinished and uuuggglly! But aren’t they pretty??

Our new washer and dryer in our laundry room!

Our original thought was to install a countertop over the set (I love that look!) to have a folding surface and storage surface…but as you can see, our plumbing is installed too high on the wall and that won’t work:

Laundry room plumbing - exposed!

I think we might purchase the pedestal drawers for them to sit on.  That will raise them, hide the plumbing, and give us more storage.  Here were some of my original sketches (before they got here), but I think we might do a combination of the 3. I’ll do a new sketch soon:

My current laundry room. (Click to see the larger photos).

We use this room as a “mud room,” so I think what we need is some shoe/boot storage and hanging hooks for coats and dog leashes.

Pottery Barn "Brady" Entryway Storage

This type of storage would be perfect!

Functional, yet beautiful!

Posted by Lindsay on Feb 5, 2009 in Appliances, Design, Kitchen, Laundry Room | 3 comments

I love a beautiful laundry room. I have no idea why, but I suppose if you can have a beautiful utility space, I am smitten! In my new home, we actually have an actual laundry room which I am so excited about! Not that I LOVE doing laundry (I don’t mind the washing, it’s the folding and putting away that gets me!), but I am dreaming of the day that it is painted, new cabinets are installed, and it is organized and beautiful! Ours is right off the kitchen (it’s sort of a glorified hallway) and you have to walk through it to get to the garage and the side door. So I guess it’s a laundry/mud room which is perfect! We actually use the side door a lot to enter the house, so it’s a great place to dump your things and take off your dirty shoes. We actually plan on someday bumping the wall back that it shares with the garage, just far enough to add a long counter top and upper and lower cabinets, as our kitchen is pretty teeny and this would add a sort of butler pantry for extra storage – something that you can NEVER have enough of! So eventually this will be a pretty amazing room for organization nerds like me!

Here is pretty much what my laundry room looks like now:

Laundry Room "Before" (Bleh!)

But my new washer and dryer are in! We are going to go pick them up on Saturday – woo hoo!

My new beauties!

And here are some laundry rooms I admire…drool…

Organized Laundry Wall

Organized small space (I think that might actually be my new set in the pic!)

Beautiful laundry room (linked to flickr)

Another flickr find!

Another one - apparently on a budget!

Small space, but so cute!

Maybe this will motivate me to keep up on the laundry…for once…

Is it weird that I think appliances are beautiful?

Posted by Lindsay on Jan 21, 2009 in Appliances | 0 comments

If I had an extra $3K...

What we purchased today! Still nice, but not as pretty.