Kitchen

Dear Santa…

Posted by Lindsay on Dec 10, 2009 in Dining Room, Featured Articles, Kitchen | 1 comment

I believe in you. So can you please wrap this up and put it under the tree for me? Thanks! Love, Lindsay.

This is seriously the cheapest dishwasher on the Home Depot website.  I figure ANYTHING is better than not having one at this point.  Plus the rest of my appliances are white.  And at only $219 I’m really hoping Santa can fit it on his sleigh (I know, I know – installation costs money, too, but this is all I want!).

I even know where it should go.

I hate those 2 cabinet doors.  They are a shoddy after-thought and it turns my kitchen into a joke!  It’s already tiny, yes, and I will lose that cabinet space, but that is something I am willing to sacrifice at this point.  Did I mention that I hate doing dishes by hand?  Ugh.  Uuuuugggghhhh.

From afar it might look like it matches the rest of the cabinetry, but upon closer inspection you’ll see how weird my kitchen is. The inside edges of the cabinets aren’t routed and they don’t close very well.

See, here is what I think happened.  During the last countertop update, whoever was doing it decided to scoot the fridge over to the right and add another cabinet and more countertop space.  From who-knows-where they got a cabinet door, and they just ripped it in half to make 2 doors.  And then the (fake) drawer panel came from somewhere else, but instead of ripping 1 piece into 2, they glued 2 pieces together to make 1 fake drawer.  Look close and you’ll see what I mean.  It isn’t even centered!  Ugh.  And now that they scooted the fridge to the right, it created this.

So here’s the plan…insert dishwasher ASAP.  Eventually, when replacing the ‘awesome’ faux blonde wood countertop, remove current bar and build new ‘L’ shaped kitchen in former dining room (below, along striped wall, and coming out across the front of the picture), complete with a new bar.

During that kitchen renovation, bump back laundry room wall into garage to add even more cabinet space (on the left), and move fridge from it’s current location to laundry room.  We would put it on the opposite wall (left side) but I think we’ll have to keep it on the right for water and plumbing purposes.  That will get rid of ugly cabinets there but keep it right off kitchen. Currently we keep the trash can in there (and it hides the water heater), but I’d want a nice pantry and trash/recycling center in the new cabinets on the left.  We might open up that wall to make it a more seamless transition, but it all depends on cost.

And what will go in the fridge’s current location? Glad you asked!  Well, I would extend the countertop out to match up with the soffitt, and then either leave nothing there, or add a tall, skinny wine cabinet or something.  There’s only a little more than a foot from the right edge of the soffitt to the sliding glass door, but something might have to go there!

So although I’d be losing valuable real estate in cabinet space right now, I’m thinking an inexpensive IKEA island in the old dining area will do for the meantime.  Oh, the sacrifices you have to make as a homeowner…

And if you’re like me and have strange little shoddy DIY’s around your house, please share so I don’t feel so bad.  Thanks!

xo, L.

{Likely Solution} Ugly Tile

Posted by Lindsay on Oct 26, 2009 in Featured Articles, Kitchen, Likely Solutions | 0 comments

So you’ve probably already figured it out…we didn’t finish painting this weekend. But we had a good excuse! Glenn’s sister has moved into a new rental and we were there most of the day Saturday helping her unpack and rearrange. Glenn started priming the exteriors of the windows on Sunday, which led him to working on all sorts of other outdoor chores. I was inside cleaning, taking care of the little one, and working on picking paint for a client. Excuses, excuses, right?

So what we did this weekend brings me to what I’ll talk about today: how to take care of ugly tile without a crowbar. I guess ugly is a matter of opinion, but please just take a look at my sister-in-law’s new rental and her {lovely} kitchen that she has to work around. She has free reign with painting and colors, but the kitchen is something that you just can’t ignore. The kitchen itself is nice and big and has nice cabinets, but there are a few interesting design choices that she just can’t change.

They had to do A LOT of cleaning prior to actually living here!

My first thought is something that I’ve seen all over the interwebs: tile tattoos. Heard of ‘em? They’re pretty much just a decal that sticks right over your tile. The brand I’ve seen comes in 4″ x 4″, 6″ x 6″ and 6″ x 3″ subway size to cover any standard tile sizes and they don’t leave a sticky residue when you try to remove them. Great for renters, right? You can find them with transparent backgrounds, so that the tile color shows through, or with opaque backgrounds to cover the entire tile. Which is what we’d need in this case!

Glenn cleaning the glass over the light above the sink.  What a nice brother!

As you can see, there are some beautiful flowers painted onto their backsplash (I’m not quite sure if it’s painted on or if it’s how the tile came).  Not so beautiful for the backsplashes, though…flowers belong in vases!  The flower patterns are in increments of 3 or 6 tiles wide, so if we use these I think we’d just make stripes, but with these cute-as-a-button tile tattoo patterns I’ve found it would look great!

The most available brand online is called Mibo, and can be found at many online retailers such as 2Jane and Target and are sold in packs of 6 (all photos linked to shopping source!).  They range from about $13/pack to $18/pack, depending on the size you need.  Here are some of my favorite designs:

Chessel Black on White background (2Jane)

Loverstone Black on White Background (2Jane)

Ventor Red on White Background (2Jane)

Shanklin Taupe on White Background (2Jane)

Ventor Black on Clear Subway Size (2Jane)

I really love the retro designs, and they would be perfect for my sister-in-law’s taste and style.  Just do a Google search for ’tile tattoos’ and you’ll find tons of places to snag some of these for your kitchen or bathroom.  Or anywhere you need some waterproof decor!

I also found this set on Etsy {seller enna}, but that’s the only one I could see that were made for the purpose of sticking to tiles.  The woodland creatures would be cute in a kids’ bathroom.  Any screen printers out there?  I bet these would be a big hit on Etsy!  You can also request custom sizes and colors from other sellers, so that is another option as well.

The online store, 2Jane, where you can buy the entire Mibo line, also has a blog where they showcased a customer’s Mibo tile job, which is nice to see how it turned out for a customer (instead of just seeing the marketing photos).  I think it turned out pretty cute!

{Before}

{After}

What do you think of Tile Tattoos? Yay? Nay? Are there any other brands out there that you can find?

My opinion is that if you own and can change up your tile then go for it (get something you really love), but this would be a good temporary option, or something you could do to customize your kitchen if you can’t change it!  I’ll be sure to post pics if this is what my sister-in-law goes for!

Happy Monday and have a great week!  xo, L.

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)

Quite a "Duh" Moment!

Posted by Lindsay on May 10, 2009 in Kitchen, Organization | 0 comments

This is probably hardly “blog-worthy” but it was such a simple thing we’ve done in our kitchen, and it has had such a huge impact on the ease of our kitchen that I just had to write about it!

Want to know what the big deal is? Ta-da! We switched our “pantry” cupboard with our cupboard that housed our plates, bowls, and “fancy” glassware. Told you – so simple, but making life much easier for shorties like me. The cabinet that used to hold food was waaaayyy too deep to keep that job. We could never find anything, we couldn’t see anything, and I had to stand on a stool to even get in there. What a pain in the…anyway, one day a light bulb just came on for us! We kept our plates, bowls, pasta bowls and nice glassware (champagne flutes, martini glasses, wine glasses, etc.) in the most obvious cabinet to keep those types of things in. The problem is, our kitchen is so teeny and lacking major storage space, that we kept our pantry food in a deep cabinet above the microwave. Since we rarely ever use the “fancy” glassware these days, those got stored in the back of the deep cabinet behind the plates and bowls which we use daily.

Now the food is stored in a shallow cabinet, and although it is still hard for little me to reach a few things, it’s a lot easier than it was before. I can see everything, which is wonderful! It isn’t the best set-up…I would love a real pantry someday soon, but for now this will have to do.

Aren’t those light bulb moments just amazing?? It’s crazy how such a small adjustment can make such a big impact…I really can’t believe we didn’t think of it before! Now if I would only quit opening the food cabinet when I want a bowl…

Supermarket – Knife Wall Hook from TC STUDIO

Posted by Lindsay on Mar 3, 2009 in Kitchen | 0 comments

I have a big, blank (odd) space next to my refrigerator. I have no idea what to put there, but more objects for some kind of storage is always good! I saw these at the amazing website “Supermarket” and thought it would be a fun way to add SOMETHING there! I am drawn to the most random things…

Supermarket – Knife Wall Hook from TC STUDIO.

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…