Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Sneak Peek & A Question~

 

 

Hi friends~

As I explained in my last post….we are doing some projects on our home.  As most of you know….a snow ball effect starts usually because of 1 thing.    

This is how is ALL started.  About 3 weeks ago Mister & I picked out this sofa and had it customized.  It is a creamy chenille fabric w/hounds tooth accent pillows.  We are also getting a chair and ottoman.  Something we have always wanted.  Our living furniture has had it….in fact it’s been had for about 2 years.  But, we wanted to wait…..now that we are empty nesters…..we felt the time was right.  We are also hoping it will help our little space feel more open.

( new sofa coming soon )

this is a picture of a picture…so it’s a bad pic…sorry

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Then I kick in to gear and want to get several projects done before our new furniture gets here. 

Here are a few before pictures of our kitchen.  I guess you now know why you haven’t ever seen my kitchen on this blog…lol. 

About 5 years ago we added the tumbled travertine backsplash and new countertops….I still love them very much!!  But the cabinets ( yuck ) are 33 year old varnished orange colored wood with a weird wood grain.  Not my style and no matter how much I scrubbed and cleaned…I never felt like they were clean. 

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Particularly this side….they always just felt ( to me ) like they were just dirty and had all those years of greasy goo.  ewwww.

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We are going to call this the “ almost complete stage “. I just started putting the hardware on this morning and I’m not finished…so please look beyond that and I was in a super big hurry this morning to get this posted. So the pics are not the best.  =)

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Much better right?  After 4 hours of cleaning, sanding, using gloss off then priming. Add in the hours it took for 2 coats of oil base   ( a day apart, each ) this is the SO FAR.  =)   A much brighter…cleaner…fresher kitchen.  YAY. 

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Now for my question….

Please keep in mind… this is also the so far.

Here is our breakfast room.   ( This table….will be stained this weekend & I plan to distress the chairs a bit….stay tuned for that )

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The mirror was bought when we had that overly huge table and I plan to put it in our guest room.  ( that’s another project in the works….yes….I’m crazy. 

My Mister now calls this table the Barbie Jessica sized table….I’m not quite 5’3”  but My Mister is all of 6’3”.  hee hee.  But, I like the shape and the legs….so it’s staying.

I’m getting to the question…please bear w/me.  =)

See how close it is to the living area?  Last year when we installed the wood floors throughout most of the house ( except, kitchen, breakfast & bathroom oh and the entry )  I really wanted to have them in the breakfast room and kitchen.  It’s very obvious that we need new floors in the breakfast room and kitchen.  My Mister said we should get ceramic tile….like the tumbled travertine we both adore.  However, I wanted the wood floors to continue into these 2 rooms. 

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We all but decided on having them installed TOMORROW……until I panicked last night and said….will it be too dark? Am I making the right decision?  There is no doubt in my mind that the wood floors will look great up against the cream cabinets but….will they look nice in the breakfast room? 

That is my question and honestly I need some opinions today…please…please....as our floor guy is on stand by for tomorrow and materials will be purchased about 7:00pm tonight.  If we decide to go w/ceramic….we can still get it done but the expense is greater so we will have to wait a bit. 

I would so greatly appreciate any advise from anyone reading my blog.  =) 

Stay tuned….more coming soon. 

Have a beautiful day~  Jessica

5 comments:

onlymehere said...

Jessica,

I'm not a decorator by any means, especially bz I tend to be too practical with things and go for comfort and ease of cleaning, but I know what I'd do. Are you ready? I'd go with Mister and do tile, not just for the look but for the practicality of it. We had a leak that we didn't even know was there for a long time and when we pulled up the wood floors to fix it it was very wide-spread and had mold in a spot or two that professionals had to take care of. I never want to face that again so anywhere there's water I won't put in wood floors but ceramic tile (our kitchen has the water line to the fridge and icemaker, water to the dishwasher, and regular water to the sink). I think I'd like the lighter color of tile too since you don't seem to have too much natural light in your kitchen.

Good luck with whatever you choose. You have such good taste (by the way those cabinets turned out gorgeous!), that I'm sure whatever you choose will be fabulous.

Me
P.S. No Mister didn't buy my vote for the tile with a big old box of steaks! Wish he had but he didn't, lol!

onlymehere said...

P.S. I'll be painting again in the next couple of months. I don't like the grey walls in Trav's room and will be painting them tan. This is what I hate about painting, I never seem to like what I put on the walls and I have to redo it. I have to redo the coat rack in the laundry room too bz I hate the antique finish on the beadboard. The rest of the house needs to be painted and I'll get to that eventually. Maybe you could come visit with your paint brush and we could make a party and fantastic barbeque out of it!

Darla said...

We have ceramic tile in the kitchen, if anything gets dropped it breaks and the tile can split or crack too. My daughter and her husband were just complaining about the ceramic tile in their kitchen and the same concerns came up. We have wood floors in our dining room, living room and hall between our three girls rooms and bathrooms...dang I wasn't much help was I? Looking forward to seeing what you decide. Your kitchen cabinets look wonderful, I have the old pine looking ones...sigh

onlymehere said...

Is there a decision yet? I'm sure whatever you decide will be great bz everything you decorate or upgrade looks great.

Me
P.S. Yes, a week sounds great. Brianna's new plan (it changes frequently) is to move to Round Rock, Texas (by Austin) after Brandon graduates. It doesn't look to be too far from you so maybe I will make it down there one day to meet you! Do you hear that.......scary music for you.....? Did I give you a heart attack? Brandon is a Texas boy so I've always known there was a chance they'd move there. We'll see what their plan is next week though. Sigh....don't you wish the world was open to you again like it was when we were younger?

Queenie's Vintage Finds said...

Girl!! You went for it..and painted those cabinets....I remember way back when me and you both were thinking about it...I can't believe I missed this...they are gorgeous...it's amazing how pretty they look and the design on them really stands out and shows up beautiufully white...you did such a great job....what a transformation. My next kitchen is having white cabinets that's for sure...I love how fresh and airy they make a room look...just so clean. Please when you get the chance tell me what all you did to paint them, like what paint and color you used ect...in case I ever get the energy and nerves to ever paint mine :)
Love ya girl,
Queenie