Making it Lovely » Kitchen

Eleanor and Brandon

Making it Lovely — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:34:39 +0000

That face!

Brief Random Updates

Making it Lovely — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:16:49 +0000

A few updates on some things that you may or may not have been waiting for me to resolve. (Probably not, but here we go.)

My Office! The Kitchen!

I returned the floral curtains I tried in my office. I thought about using the fabric in the kitchen, but wasn’t in love, and so back to the store they went.

The Kitchen! Again!

The electrician I called out for an estimate on recessed lighting in the kitchen got back to us, finally. $2300 to provide and install six 4″ can lights in the kitchen, plus a dimmer switch. That sounds high, right? Or is that what it costs to Swiss cheese the ceiling in a house that 100+ years old?

Oh, pretty lights. I don’t think we can have you if we don’t add some additional lighting elsewhere in the room.

The Bathroom!

I swapped out the white toilet seat for a black one. I like it! I did that last month but it didn’t really feel worthy of a full post and Instagramming your toilet is weird, so I hadn’t written about it until now.

The Basement!

Brandon and I are going to try to clean up the basement. We’re planning a party for Eleanor’s birthday at the end of April, and we thought it might be good to have some wide open space downstairs for her and her preschool friends. (Do kids even have their parties at home anymore? None of her friends have.)

There’s a whole lot of stuff down there still from when I styled a photo shoot for a brand’s Pinterest campaign, and a lot of stuff in general. We need to get some shelving in the storage area before we can make sense of the rest of the space. We have so much that I’d be happy to get rid of, but I don’t know how to best go about it. Garage sale, Craigslist, eBay, or just donate everything?

That is all.

The Top of the Fridge

Making it Lovely — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 06:32:08 +0000

I styled the top of my fridge yesterday. I did this, then I did this later, which looks like this. It isn’t quite right yet, but it’s a start. This is riveting stuff here, I know! I started thinking about it though — what does one put above a freestanding fridge, assuming you do want something up there? Here are some of the options I’ve seen.

Dozens of apples in a charmingly rustic wire basket, with eggs. (Really, stylists? Really?)

A lone gumball machine. (Again, really?)

Vintage Cathrineholm bakeware. (This one makes more sense.)

A vintage Kaj Franck bowl. (This one seems appropriate, too.)

A mismatched collection of feminine baskets. (Cute.)

And my favorite, a taxidermied peacock. (Of course!)

Basically, we can all put whatever we want up there. Free license!

I still need to play around with my arrangement a bit. I like the clock above the fridge (though I’m still waiting on this one, and may swap it out), and I suppose I’ll keep a plant up there instead of getting hanging planters. I’ll probably shy away from the peafowl, but that’s just personal preference.

A Big Ol’ Clock and Hanging Planters

Making it Lovely — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:03:56 +0000

More plans for the kitchen. I don’t think my old “Eat” sign above the fridge is coming back, and the fern in a punch bowl (yep) that’s on top looks funny. A couple of these may be their replacements:

Pif Paf Puf Hanging Storage
Turn ‘em into planters?
Newgate Brixton Wall Clock
I ordered this last month and the delivery date has been pushed back repeatedly. I’m hoping it will get here (and look good) eventually.
White Hanging Ceramic Bullet Planter
I like having plants in the kitchen, but my cats will eat them if I don’t get them up and out of their reach. Jerks.
Classic 24-Hour Clock
I’ve posted this one before. If the other is canceled, this one would work, but it’s smaller.
Wall Ball Planters
Skip the hanging planters and go for the wall, maybe?

A Colorful Door, Colorful Appliances

Making it Lovely — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:59:57 +0000

(And a Big Goal)

I was thinking some more about lighting, and the plan for finishing the kitchen’s minor update. OK, really what I was doing was fixating on getting a new fridge in addition to painting the back door. A colorful door and a colorful appliance! Sounds perfect! While I was giving myself figurative back pats for so confidently deciding on a plan for the kitchen, I realized I’ve seen that combination somewhere before. On Pinterest, probably? No wait, it was somewhere else…

Oh, right. In our laundry room. You know — that room right in my house? Duh.

The red washer and dryer were the nicest things in our basement for a very long time, until we elevated the surroundings with a remodel. When we finally did have a nice laundry room, I was extra glad that we spent a little more initially to get a red set instead of white.

Brandon and I took on our DIY kitchen remodel right away when we moved here in 2007, and we tried to keep the cost down as much as we could. We spent a lot on the quartz counters and a stainless steel gas stove, but we didn’t put all that much thought into selecting a fridge. We chose the model that we did because the front of it was the right color (titanium alloy, though it looked like a match to our stove), and the sides were painted gray instead of black. The fridge is completely exposed in the center of the room, so those gray sides were a big selling point to us. Our entire kitchen — with new everything except the floor — cost only $11,000. Aside from a brief period during which the fridge made a weird noise (it just needed to be re-leveled), it has served us well. Now that the kitchen has been freshened up with all of its white paint though, the fridge bothers me. It isn’t worthy of its focal point placement.

I’ve always liked the look of vintage fridges, especially when they’re pink. I think that as cute as my laundry room turned out with its colorful appliances, my kitchen could be 10x better. But appliances are not cheap, and I know that buying a pretty new fridge is a little ridiculous when I have a perfectly good one that’s only six years old.

My big life list goal for this year is to land a book deal. It’s a little scary putting that out there because I may fail (and obviously you’ll be able to tell if this does or does not work out for me), but I’m going to work hard to make it happen. And if/when I do, I’ve decided (and Brandon agrees) that I ought to celebrate with the completely frivolous purchase of a cute fridge. Consider it an added incentive.

It’s going to look so good.

Kitchen Lighting Options

Making it Lovely — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:50:32 +0000

The ceiling in the kitchen is 7’10″ high. The light that’s in the room now has three fluorescent bulbs, hangs down 10″, and has a 15″ diameter. It’s the right size and has the right light output, but I never did like it all that much. Now that the kitchen has been updated a bit, I want to replace the semi-flush mount fixture with something prettier, but not lose too much light or headroom. Argh, I feel like I’ve been here before.

Lighting I Really Really Want to Work in the Kitchen

Factory Satellite 3
I don’t know if it would look funny hugging the ceiling, and I worry that the shades will block too much of the ambient light that we currently have bouncing off of the ceiling. Also, Edison bulbs look great but I would replace them with fluorescent bulbs for practicality, and even the round ones may throw the look off a little.
Bluff City Pendant, Large, Mint/Red
It’s supposed to be a pendant, not a flush-mount fixture. It’s slightly too tall (13″), and I’m not sure it would provide enough light. But I love it. I would happily save up for this one.

Somebody please tell me that one of those two will suit my needs perfectly and we will be happy forever and ever. Except don’t if it isn’t true. I mustn’t allow my infatuation to get the best of me.

Here, we have some more options.

Lights I Like a Lot but Know Won’t Work and are Therefore Easier to Resist

Artimede Nur Mini Ceiling Light
The “mini” version is still fairly large, and it’s a good size for our kitchen, but it focuses light downward and wouldn’t provide enough general illumination.
IKEA 365+ Brasa Black Pendant Lamp
This looks much more expensive than it is, but again, it directs light downward. And it’s another pendant that I’m trying to force into a semi-flush mount, and that’s probably silly.
FLOS Glo-Ball C Ceiling Light
If you haven’t seen this one in person, you’re probably thinking this is a really simple light with a really high price tag. I assure you it is organic and special and beautiful, and yes, the price tag is still high. I don’t love it enough to spend that much, and it only holds one bulb anyway.
FLOS Smithfield Ceiling Lamp
I adore the shape, and there is even a 3-bulb option. Alas, it is directional, downward light.

I used a fancy-ish html trick to continuously label those bullet points with a break between the ordered lists, so hopefully the numbers correspond. If not, may the powers of deduction and common sense be your friend.

Moving on! This next collection has another catchy name.

Lighting That Will Work Just Fine but That I am Less Excited About Overall

Robert Abbey Antique Nickel Ceiling Light
Cute. But is it too cute? Also, the shade is fabric and I wish it wasn’t.
Black Horizontal Stripe Nickel Wide Ceiling Light
Black and white stripes would look good in the kitchen! But on the light? Dunno. And it’s fabric again.
3-Bulb Semi-Flush Light
This is the stupid light we already have. It is passable. It’s biggest selling point is that it’s already in the room (no work, no money spent).

Can you tell I don’t have as much enthusiasm for this last set? There’s also this collection of flush mount lighting to look at from when I did my big ceiling light guide last year, and my whole lighting board on Pinterest.

What do you think? I’m tempted to try one of the first two out, and then Swiss cheese my ceiling to bits with recessed lighting. Kidding (sort of).

Black and White Wall Art for the Kitchen

Making it Lovely — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:58:09 +0000

I didn’t like the white walls in the kitchen until I added our big black and white print. Now the walls look intentional instead of forgotten. I would love to recreate the print for you as a free printable for download (it wouldn’t be difficult), but it doesn’t feel right. I know the quote can be attributed to Candice Bergen, but I don’t know who created the print, or when. Instead, I’ve rounded up a few options for black and white wall art that would feel right at home in my kitchen — and maybe yours, too.

OMG CAKE
Like Ron Swanson, I want you to give me all the bacon and eggs you have. (Wait, wait…)
Butcher Prints (set of 3)
This cute flag conversions tea towel, designed by Shanna Murray is no longer available, but the idea of framing it was so cute that I still wanted to include it here.
This conversion tea towel could be a good substitute for the last one.
This triangle tea towel would also look fantastic on display in the kitchen.
These pretzels are making me thirsty. (Maybe he had a different interpretation!)
Kitchen Cooking Print
Newgate Bubble Clock

Falling for My White Kitchen

Making it Lovely — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:26:08 +0000

I painted the door to the bathroom white this weekend, along with the door between the kitchen and dining room. I cleaned the bare wood, did a little sanding (and broke out my “retro safety glasses”), then primed and put two coats of paint on. I also got rid of the high chair.

I was looking through some of my decorating books, and I saw a kitchen I liked with an old industrial stool in it. I realized I had something similar from when I bought my dining room chairs, and I got excited. I also thought that maybe an old print we’ve had sitting in the basement (um, there are a lot of things “sitting” in the basement right now) would work on the wall where the high chair was. When I brought the two up, I got really excited. I may have fallen for my white kitchen.

It looked like this before.

Not bad (and maybe preferred by some), but I do like the current look more. Brandon and I worked so hard on that kitchen (we demolished and replaced everything except the flooring when we moved in), but five years of yellow paint and shabby wood was enough.

Here’s the ‘get your bearings’ shot (taken from the dining room), complete with crazy lady scrawl to highlight all of my kitchen’s flaws. Yay!

The wide-angle lens makes it look huge. It is not. The size doesn’t bother me, but all that white is a little boring. Maybe painting the back door would help? Or a colorful refrigerator! OK, the door is more doable, but I’ve been dreaming about having a cute fridge for years. I mean, COME ON. I could totally pull that look off in my kitchen.

Moving on.

The print belonged to Brandon’s grandmother. My mother-in-law said that her mom talked a shop owner into selling it to her, though it wasn’t actually for sale. I was able to attribute the quote to Candice Bergen. I don’t know anything more about it, but I do like it a whole lot.

That little dino guy used to be lime green. He stays because August likes him so much, but I did give him a more subtle paint job. He and the vintage canisters were picked up at The Vintage Bazaar, and the Heath Ceramics vase was a San Francisco souvenir.

The sink side of the kitchen looks like it has all along. Some flowers would be nice in that vase, but alas, none on hand.

Just like last time, the window treatments are coming in last. I’m second guessing my decision to use the Rifle Paper backdrop fabric because the windows actually look good bare. Although maybe they could go from good to great with curtains? Roman shades? Roller shades? Or the fabric from the curtains I just tried in the office? (Those are likely being returned soon.)

I was going to paint the lower cabinets. Again, now I’m not so sure. I think I should paint the back door, and maybe bring in a rug. New light? Keep the white paint? I don’t know anymore. I like the white a lot more than I did though, that’s for sure. Not bad for a DIY IKEA kitchen in a hundred-year-old bungalow.

Blue and Green Kitchen

Making it Lovely — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 00:13:14 +0000

I found this image on my hard drive that I had saved in 2009. Oh, the era before Pinterest! Oh, the folders upon folders of “Some Things I Like!” Oh, the inability to track down where I had gotten the image from.

I don’t like to share unsourced images, so I set to tracking this one down. I finally found it (Remodelista credits the kitchen to a Parisian architect, Phillippe Harden), and was rewarded with additional photos of the space.

I’ve got to get cracking on those curtains in the kitchen so I could play around with the palette in Photoshop. I don’t know that I want to go this colorful, but… maybe I kind of do now? I have to give it some thought.

All White Now

Making it Lovely — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:41:45 +0000

It had been a while since I’d made a major mistake in my decorating (although I’m fully aware that you may feel differently!). I’m feeling very ‘meh’ about the white walls in the kitchen. I love all-white rooms, but I’m afraid the look may not be for me. And Brandon likes it even less than I do.

I took the kids with me to a local paint store (big ups to Paulson’s Paint in Forest Park — my favorite) to pick up a few testers. There are so many subtle variations between shades of white, and I wanted to get it right.

I went with ‘Moonlight White’ (on the bottom) over ‘White Dove,’ both Benjamin Moore, because the latter seemed to be too perfect a match for the trim (Behr’s ‘Swiss Coffee’). Now that the whole room has been painted with two coats, the cool undertone up against the creamy cabinets and trim call to mind the pallor of primer.

I could be judging it prematurely. The next step will be to sew the curtains (which I have been putting off because I’m not sure how I want to make them yet), and then I’ll reassess. The kitchen is very white right now, but the full plan was to hang the new curtains and paint the lower cabinets. I’ll do it virtually in Photoshop first, so I can see if I like the look or not. I’m a little worried that it might start to feel a bit kindergarten-esque with the bright color I had in mind.

The above paint color shopping list was for testers. ‘November Rain’ was another option to look into if I didn’t like white on the walls, so that shows you the confidence I had going into this.