White Place Settings

One thing people asked me when the Mr. and I got married was whether or not I thought I would regret not registering for china. The answer was and still is, heck no. I absolutely love white dinnerware. Formal or informal, stark white or creamy white, it doesn't matter I love it all. To be perfectly honest, if it can't go in the dishwasher the likelihood of me getting much use out of it is slim to none anyway. My sweet little man Hank surprised me with a Tarjay gift card for mother's day, so naturally when I got there I made a beeline for the kitchen department. Their new Threshold collection is pretty amazing, if you haven't see any of it in person I definitely recommend checking it out. Thank you my sweet Hank for thinking of me, and thank you darling husband for putting up with the fact that we only have two small cabinets designated for food, and three rather large cabinets for my weirdo plate and glassware collection/obsession.

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Get the Look 

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Ikea Kitchen Renovation Part 2

Another client, another Ikea kitchen renovation. This particular project was a little different from the last one in that we completely reworked the whole layout of space. The old kitchen had a dining area (not the main formal dining room) off of it with horrible built in corner cabinets. It left that large chunk of the room unusable and forced the range and the refrigerator to be jammed right up against the back door, which just so happens to be the family's main entrance. By removing the corner cabinets, weird decorative columns, and island we were able to completely open up the kitchen. In the small space by the back door we added a coat closet/ family mud room behind two closet doors, and a little dry bar so the kids can come running in from the back yard to grab a juice box out of the new beverage center without getting in Mom's way when she is making dinner. It's amazing what a new layout will do, the kitchen feels like it's twice the size as it was before the renovation.

Appliances: GE Cafe Series
Cabinets: Ikea Akurum with Lidingo White Front

Countertops: White Carrara Marble

Faucet: American Standard Culinaire

Backsplash: White Subway Tile 

Lighting: Gothic Iron Lantern

Counter Stools: Ballard Designs 
Wallcolor: Benjamin Moore Moonshine 

Ikea Kitchen Renovation Part 1

Before this kitchen had not been updated since the 50’s, between the linoleum floors, fake kitchen island and the box tube fluorescent lighting it was a mess. We used little touches to disguise the fact that it's an "Ikea" kitchen by retrofitting their standard stock kitchen cabinets. Don't ask me why but Ikea does not give you any other option for an upper corner cabinet than their standard angled wall cabinet. I am not a huge fan of the angled cabinet, so in all the Ikea kitchens I work on I have my contractor’s retrofit upper cabinets so the doors meet at a right angle, mirroring the base corner cabinet. Another small detail we did here was instead of relying solely on the Ikea white refrigerator panel, we added three of the Lidingo doors to the side panel to give the fridge a dressier built in look. We did the same thing with the Kitchenaid dishwasher, and used a door front as the cover panel so it blends in with the base cabinetry. Lastly since Ikea does not make a good trash can pull out (seriously how hard is this?) option, so I had the contractors retrofit a 24" base cabinet (to the left of the sink) so that you simply pull out the two doors and there is a spot for two trash cans and two recycle bins. 

Appliances: Kitchenaid Architect Series

Cabinets: Ikea Akurum with Lidingo White Front

Countertop: Polished Absolute Black

Sink and Faucet: Overstock.com

Table and Chairs: Crate and Barrel

Lighting: Home Depot

Drapes: Restoration Hardware

Walls: Benjamin Moore Gray Wisp 

Son Of A ....

 Speaking of not having a living room big enough one day to fit the new Pipa cocktail table, my favorite  house ever came on the market the other week (10 years too early for the Mr. and I to be able to afford it) and it's already under contract. For my friends who live in other parts of the country I would like you to know how insane DC is... the 1920's Spanish Style home was apparently such an "Incredible renovation opportunity" aka a total fixer upper, that they had no interior pictures online. Not one flipping photo of the inside of the house I drive by almost every day, not one, and to top it off they didn't even have an open house! For the love, how's a girl going to stalk and plan the layout of her future home if she can't even see inside the damn place?  So what does a 4 bedroom fixer upper go for around here? Oh just a cool 950 thousand dollars, hence the title of today's post. Anyway this the house, and since I didn't get to see what the inside looks like, below you'll find a rendition of how it might look if Hank the Mr. and I lived there. 

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Stainless Steel- In Or Out?

Recently I have seen a few articles (here, here, and here) popping up hinting that White Ice is the new "it" finish for kitchen appliances. All I have to say unless it is an Aga a La Cornue or a Bertazzoni, I like my ranges stainless. I'm not on board with this new trend, but maybe it's because I automatically think back to Grandma Lizzie's avocado range. I don't know what the folks at GE were smoking when they decided to roll out that line but thankfully the range lasted longer than the avocado trend. I can see using the White Ice dishwasher if you have white cabinets, or the white cooktop paired with white carrara marble countertops but I don't see myself embracing the trend anytime soon. House Beautiful's Kitchen of the Year this year had all the White Ice appliances and it looked amazing but for some reason sometime tells me stainless isn't going anywhere. 

White appliances yay or nay?

Now roll out an appliance that is shinny chrome like these doors and I might throw stainless steel under the bus... how fabulous are these doors??

Vacation Highlights

The Mr. Hank and I returned late Wednesday from our 4.5 day trip to New England. I don't know what I loved more, spending time with my family or completely unplugging from reality. At the house there is no internet, cable, telephone, heat or air condition, dish washer, washer or dryer, and no shower. Staying in a house with so much family history is amazing, one of those "if the walls could talk" type of experiences. Reading the house Guest Book, which dates back before 1938, was probably my favorite. For some reason the House Guests who signed the book on the first few pages didn't fill in their arrival and departure date, nor did they leave any comments along with their entry. If only they knew how much it would have meant to us if they had! 

 It is so funny to think that at one point in time there were no trees within 300 yards of this rock which is now hidden by 40 foot tall trees deep in the forest.

 I don't know who these ladies are but in the background you can see the house before the kitchen addition.

House Before & After:

 These pictures may not fully illustrate how awesome of a transformation our Before and Afters really are, and to be perfectly honest my Mama is probably going to kill me for posting these, but oh well!

Before

the small child on the far right is yours truly ;-)

After
or "In Transition" if you ask Mom: Grandma Lizzie's old den sofa, two new Ralph Lauren navy and white ticking stripe pillows from HomeGoods, two new Ikea Ektorp chairs, and two new seagrass rugs is the most updating this room has ever seen.

Before

Pictured above are my Dad, Uncle, and Aunt with their Aunt and Grandparents.

After

I love how my Great Grandpa is standing in the before picture with my Dad and his siblings, and now his Portrait will forever hang on the wall behind him. 

Before

The only before picture I could find, which is actually too adorable for words, is of Grandma Lizzie baking cupcakes with my brother Sam and my cousins Jack and Tyler. 

After

 Our lovely farm house sink was centered in the kitchen to fix some plumbing issues, and placed under a stained glass window that was salvaged from the barn when it fell down a few years ago. Mom also added Some new Home Depot base cabinets, lights, and countertops from Ikea. 

I don't know who had more fun on our trip, me or Hank. Running around without a leash on for 4 days straight, attempting to learn to swim with his older mentors, catching frogs and spitting them out, and playing fetch with rotten apples that fell off the tree on the hill; what more could a pup ask for? 

The Garden

The Lake

Doing our laundry the old fashioned way

And last but not least, a peaceful car ride home!