Glamming up the Closet

I've done other jewelry organization posts (see here) but with the new closet slowly coming together I wanted to do something different. Should I have been working on the kitchen? Probably. But this seemed way more fun.

Here is the before (closet as kitchen):

and after:

 Looks more like a closet now right? Lets zoom in a bit.

I lined the edges with just simple cork for even more storage and then glued corks on the back wall (I probably should have done it on thin wood or cardboard for removability but I'll bite that bullet when I get to it). Closer?

 I painted the jewelry box last summer in Bher's Lipstick. I love the coral hue with the natural cork color. I also added some cute antique tea cups for corralling my bangles.

Though I do feel like I should disclose the true state of the closet.

Not quite there. Once the kitchen is done we will tackle the rest of the mess in here. There is one little bonus I also included.

With such a chic display I wanted more than just your average stick pin for hanging but I wasn't really willing to go out and buy anything nicer. So, I took my boring yellow sewing pins and a few of my favorite nail polishes and fixed them up.

Much better! Now these are ready to hang my pretties. All in all the project cost around $4.00 for the cork squares. Everything else was on hand. Now I can actually wear my jewelry which is a huge plus.

I've had in-laws here and Daniel has been traveling but things are still poking along in the kitchen. We've got 2 weeks until we go on our 3rd honeymoon (yay Jamaica!) so I've set myself a goal to have the kitchen cabinets painted before we go. Ambitious I know, but if Young House Love can do it in 14 days then I should be fine! (here's their method) Sometimes you just need a hard deadline to motivate right? Who wants to take bets on whether or not I finish in time?

Cheers!
 Linking up to
Frugal Friday
 

Cleaning Up Again

Sometimes it feels like I am constantly cleaning up. I guess that is just part of the renovation process. The kitchen is feeling more put together but the bedroom... not so much.

It's a good thing I've got the day off. My in-laws are coming next week so I've got no excuse to ignore it any longer. Nothing like company to spur on a project right?

On a happier note I finish my Couch to 5K training today and I am feeling great! So great Daniel, my mother, my friend Deanna and I are signed up for a half marathon in October. Yikes! Gotta find a new training plan to get ready for that one. Anyone out there finish a half marathon? How did you train? This will be my first.

Cheers!

A New Light

Our cabinet building did not go as planed this weekend. What happened? Let's just say I got Hangry.

via 

We did get one little kitchen project done. Say goodbye to that hideous boob light above the sink.

Before

After

I found this great pendant at our ReStore. It was too brassy to match with the other lights in the kitchen so it got a quick coat of ORB and we hung her up. I know, still no styled shelves. I'm waiting for paint before revealing the final look. More to come!

Cheers!

Shelves at Last!

Finally after months and months of renovating we have shelves.

Lets look at the side by side again

  

May

January

I love it! The visual weight is off of the wall and all you see are windows (which need a coat of paint). We also hung the other cabinets we had from the original kitchen arrangement. Everyone found a new home and we are thrilled with the results. 

Remember way back how I hinted at how we saved 1,200$? Here's how. If you remember our original kitchen design (here) this is what the oven side of the kitchen should look like.

You can see in the bottom left corner there are plans for a corner cabinet with two small cabinets next to it. As I explained in this post last week there was no way I was going to shelve out (punny I know) that much money only to get rid of the perfectly good cabinets I already had. As I was scrolling through the shelving options seeing if I could make things cheaper I saw this. 

And what is a blind corner cabinet except a regular cabinet that you cant get in to the other door? This got my wheels turning and I realized, I have all the cabinets I need, I just have to be creative. So that corner went a little something like this. 

Cabinet A went up first. 

Notice the only one handle? Wait, it gets clearer. Now for cabinet B

Lets look closer.

See how the door is hidden behind the cabinet now? It creates the perfect gap to still open both but doesn't leave a huge opening like just removing the door would. 

We had one last cabinet to go up on the other side to complete the picture. 

The only cabinet we are missing is the base to the left of the stove. That should be a project for this weekend. Fingers crossed my next hair brained scheme works as well as this one. So far the blind corner doesn't bother me but we will see. It may be that we decide it is worth shelling out the big bucks to get something that works better but I am more than willing to go with the free option for now. 

What's next? I've got paint for the cabinets and once that last shelf is built counter tops need to be addressed but the sun has been shining so who knows how far we will get. You've got to enjoy the sun while you can in Seattle. 

Cheers!

Linking up to Frugal Friday

Painted Lady

That's right folks, What used to be a gaping hole of sadness is now all gussied up and ready for some shelves.

Let's give it a before (as in way before)

During

After

Can you say open and fabulous? The bottom picture is the most true to color. We were a bit worried about it when we started but once I saw it with the white trim I knew it was perfect.

Now we are ready for some shelves! I finally feel like the kitchen is coming together. Bit by bit.

Cheers!

In One Year We

Closed on our house

Repainted the guest bedroom

Turned the back yard from this

to this

Went on our second honeymoon

Celebrated our first anniversary



Stenciled the front porch



and the back



Created a gallery wall downstairs



and up

made many many little things as seen on the Project Page

Added a kitten to the household



Celebrated our first Christmas

Demoed the kitchen

Went to Mexico

Started putting our kitchen back together

and many other little things too many to enumerate. It was a great first year and we are looking forward to a great second! Thanks for being along for the ride!

Cheers!

A Brief Hiatus

I took a little mini vacation from blogging to get my but in gear and start doing. We accomplished quite a bit on the kitchen which I am excited to share with you (shelving is on the horizon).

 I rounded out the week with a wine tour of Santa Cruz to celebrate my good friend Aurelia's birthday.

We got the obligatory photos on the beautiful lawn of Hunter Hill. A great little winery in the Santa Cruz mountains. Sun, wine, good friends. What more could a girl want?

Hope you had a great weekend too!
Cheers!

Filling Holes

I've decided I am not a fan of the previous owners of this house. Every once in a while I just get fed up with their lazy half fixes and want to scream. Shall I give you exhibit 4675? You've seen it before.

Whenever they renovated the kitchen last they left the wall header in the ceiling and just plastered over it. Not very cleanly I might add. Obviously we took it down which left us with a gaping hole.

(This picture was pre-final post removal). Two strips of drywall later we are close but there is going to be some major patching needed to make the ceiling flush. On the plus side this is the last thing keeping me from painting the rest of the kitchen and putting up our cabinets! Here's to hoping our "fix" will be better than theirs.

Anyone else have "features" left over from a previous owner? Ours really liked to paint trim without sanding drips. **sigh**

Cheers!

Office Tray

While we have a dedicated office, it never gets used. Daniel prefers to work at the dining room table which, as you can imagine, often means the table is covered in papers and pens and cords. It was starting to get a bit silly but since Daniel likes working there I figured we could make something work.

A few months back I read and interview in House Beautiful about a woman who liked to work at her dining room table too. She used a tray with boxes to keep things contained and as a bonus, it could easily be removed when it was time for dinner. Genius! I looked and looked for a tray I liked and eventually settled on a cheap Ikea one that seemed like it would do the trick. Add a box for pens and cords and you get a dedicated office on a tray.

We used it for a few weeks (just to see if it was worth keeping or returning) and so far it seems to be great. Everything important sits on it until it needs to find it's own home and the piles of paper have been tamed. But it felt like it needed something.

Spray paint!

The color isn't quite true to life. The tray is more teal and the box a shiny metallic gold. Alas, my photography skills still need some work, but you get the point. The box perfectly holds phone chargers, headphones, and other odds and ends.

Perfectly out of sight and organized. We don't even move it for dinner.

There you have it. Our home office tray. Daniel has been really good about using it to put things away which makes this project a success! Now if only I had a place for all of the random tools we have. One day.

Cheers!

Linking up to

Frugal Friday