Blank

Sometimes I will sit by myself and have nothing on my mind. Literally, nothing. I call these my 'blank' moments because my mind is literally, blank.

Now, when these moments happen to me, I'm amazed (as would be anyone who knows me) because I'm never sitting still. I don't believe in waiting for things to happen, I don't believe in just being. I believe in moving, shaking, doing SOMETHING. Even if its walking around with the duster (because everyone's house can be dusted again...am I right?)

So, just now I finished up a layout for a friend's house, Lil' Dude is asleep, the hubs is busy and I'm sitting here and I realize. My mind is blank. Like, I just opened a Microsoft Word document, blank.

What makes me giggle about this most is that if someone gave me a blank room to work in, my mind would start going a million miles an hour. I'd have wall colors and lamps and decor and stuff. But when I wake up, before the tv is on or the computer is open, I'm able to appreciate my 'blank' moments best.

Because once the day starts and the noise begins, it seems it doesn't end at times. The microwave is beeping because the milk is heated up, the computer bings to let me know I have a new email, the car makes a new noise (new because the car itself is new...therefore I have no idea what any of the lights or "helpful" indicators actually mean)...it doesn't end. Until I have a blank moment.

That little bit of time where I can have a clear head, put things back into perspective, count my blessings (which I already do like a thousand-gillion times a day...one more time wouldn't hurt!) regroup and then, open the microwave, pull out the milk, check the email and read what that light means in the manual...

Use the China!

I grew up in a house where my siblings and I both loved and feared our parents. We knew if we needed them because we were scared of something, they'd open their arms in a heart beat and snuggle us 'til we pushed them away. We also knew that if we did something stupid, our parents would hunt us down like rabid dogs and, my favorite saying growing up, "Break our legs in six places and we'd never walk again!". (Yup, tough love.)

My parents ruled with a no-nonsense approach. If we did something bad, we'd be punished. Plain and simple. If we even thought of acting up in public, we'd be dead; just for the thought! Let alone if we actually were dumb enough to ACT on it! They taught us that hard work equals great rewards and that a home cooked meal can never be duplicated in a restaurant. 

One of my favorite things they did with us while growing up was Sunday dinners in the dining room. Say Whaaaaa?? Yes, my parents actually USED the dining room more than just for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even with three kids. Sunday night, you parked your butt in that chair and we ate with the silver (which we polished earlier in the day) on the fine China (which we had to hand clean afterwards because they couldn't go in the dishwasher...)

I received an email earlier today from my dad that read: "OK my Children….how many times have I told you this very thing.  Y’all thought I was nuts for using sterling every day!"

Here's the email:
 We all know someone who keeps plastic covers on his or her couch in order to protect it. The irony is that many of these people may live their lives without ever having actually made contact with their own furniture! This is a poignant and somewhat humorous example of the human tendency to try to save things for special occasions, as if everyday life weren’t special enough to warrant the use of nice things. Many of us have had the experience of never wearing a particular piece of clothing in order to keep it nice, only to have it go out of style in the meanwhile.

It’s interesting to think of what it would mean to us if we let ourselves wear our nicest clothes and eat off the good china on a daily basis. We might be sending ourselves the message that every day we are alive is a special day and a cause for celebration, and that we are worth it. There is something uplifting about treating ourselves to the finest of what we have. It is as if we rise to the occasion when we wear our best clothes and set the table beautifully, as if for a very special guest. We are more mindful of where we place things, what we are eating, and who is with us. Using the good china, eating in the dining room, and taking the plastic off the sofa might be an invitation to be more conscious of the beauty and grace inherent in our everyday lives.

If there are things you’ve stashed away for a special occasion—a bottle of special wine, a gorgeous pair of shoes, an antique lace tablecloth—consider taking them out of their hiding places and putting them to use tonight, just because you are alive now to enjoy them, and that’s a great cause for a celebration.


While I'm reading the email I can't help but laugh. I know too many people who live their lives like this. They are the "Take your shoes off at the door" people. Or the, "we have beautiful wine glasses, but we use these instead". 

For our wedding we received beautiful wine goblets, four are clear crystal, four are colored (one purple- my fav! red, blue and green). For the longest time I wouldn't pull out the colored crystal because I wanted to save it. Or make it more of a special-type of glass. Well, we started using them and guess what? My favorite glass ended up having a little ding in it. At first I was totally bummed out and wanted to see about replacing the whole colored set, and then I realized, that little ding happened while among my friends. It happened while I was enjoying myself and my company and a great glass of wine. Why should I want to replace it?

My point is that we should use all the pretty things in our lives more often. Otherwise, what's the point in having them? My goblet now has history. (Even if I can't remember the details of it clearly...)

Giving back

Growing up I wasn't a big volunteer. I mean, of course I'd help out around my parents house, and when I needed service hours to graduate high school I was able to volunteer at the nursing home my dad ran...but giving back was never something that I did on a regular basis.

Rewind four years ago. I realize that the firm I was working for was getting painfully slow, so I started looking for ways to use my engery...I went to the SPCA website and hunted through their volunteer listings. One thing I knew I absolutely could NOT do was work with the animals. Why?

Because I would take them all home.

And then The Hubs would leave me.

And then I'd be that person who, rather than going out to eat with my family, I'd stay home and count my cats.

I didn't want that life.

So I decided to keep hunting through the listings and I found an ad for a Humane Educator. I did a little research on what that would entale and here's the big thing...it did NOT involve animals, instead it described talking to kids and sharing the SPCA's philosophy and how to be a good pet parent. Now that was something I could do!

I met with the director at the time and that started the ball rolling. Well, less of a ball and more of a tumble weed that turned into a bale of hay...which turned into a GIANT ball (...I don't know what its called when its bigger than hay, my point is that things snowballed.)

And in that snowball, we decided we should host a summer camp. Open to the public. And I would run it. Wowza.

I am an Interior Designer. Not a teacher. (Although I did a few semesters at the community college last year...but that's besides the point.) But I was up for the challenge. I dove into the books and binders and websites and found as much information as I could and our first summer camp was a huge success. Last year we had even more kids than the previous year and again, another HUGE success!

This year our eyes might have been bigger than our mouths. We hoped to have 100 kids in camp. (Typically we have like, 25!) And although we didn't even come close to the 100 (thank goodness, I mean I'm only one person, right?!) we did have 20 amazing kids come to camp this week who all got to play and learn about animals and get excited about pet care!

It makes me so happy to run this program. I'm so thankful to run my own business which allows me the freedom to take off a week from the typical workload, and pick up this awesome load of work!

Yesterday was exotic animal day and we had a great time meeting with a wildlife rescue expert who brought some of her animals including two baby raccoons, a skunk (who was de-scented!) geckos, a bearded lizard, chameleon, a tortoise named Bulldozer and a three month old groundhog!

Its amazing to see how big the eyes on my campers faces get when they see these animals and become passionate about animal care! So, while I don't clean out cages (which is so important) or walk the shelter pups, I am able to start planting the seeds of volunteerism into these kiddos heads!! Which makes me so thankful! Who knows, one day all my campers might end up being the best dog walkers out there!!

No way, Jose!

I get a call yesterday from a lovely voice over at Houselogic.com and guess what she'd like to ask me? GUUUUUUESS! If she could use a photo from my recent kitchen renovation in one of their slideshows! I was all "whaaa?" and then I was thinking, "I totally got prank called." Then I got upset (for like two seconds) thinking of some punks calling up designers saying, "heeeey, we wanna use a picture of yours...as a dart board!" (or something else really awesome) and then I realized, wait. That was a LEGIT call. From a legit person. For a LEGIT website! That people read.

Now let me explain something to you:
I don't write with the intention of people actually reading this...(so why do you write things Erin?) Because I like hearing the sound of my nails on the keyboard and because I have a lot to say and until I get my own tv show (HELLO? Would that be the most uh-maze-balls thing EVER?!) this is how I say what I wanna about design and stuff.

I was so excited that she asked for a picture of MY kitchen too. I mean, in a year I work on a bunch of kitchens. With budgets that are more than my new car. With all kinds of professionals brought in to help make it all fancy-pants. And she wanted to use a photo of MY kitchen. Wowza. (The total cost of our kitchen renovation was about $3000)

If you worked for a company (and not yourself) you would get quarterly or yearly reviews. You'd get a guide set forth from upper management telling you where your weaknesses are, where your strengths lie and setup goals with your manager to help you excel.

I work for myself.

This means I need to be honest with myself about how things are going. I keep a notebook that I write things down in for all my projects. I have another list (in my head) of weaknesses and things I learned on this project to not do on the next project...

So receiving a call like that from someone (who wasn't a punk teenager!) asking to use photos of MY kitchen just felt like drinking a warm cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter night. Warm and fuzzy. (Although this didn't leave a marshmallow mustache on me...)

Another warm and fuzzy I received lately was when I opened a Houzz.com account and asked my clients to review me...let's just say I started to cry a little bit. (And by a little bit, of course I mean uh-lot, while smiling the whole time!!)

All I gotta say is No way Jose! I'm so thankful for this and just super excited to keep doing what I'm doing and making friends along the way :)

Kitchen reveal- part 3

After waiting 24, very looooong hours, I asked my father-in-law to pop over and hook up our fancy pants new faucet. Although, it was like Fate was mad at me and I wasn't meant to have a faucet. Why? Because that afternoon (as I'm watching the epoxy dry) my mother-in-law went to play golf (obviously she had a more eventful day than me!) and her car got hit in the parking lot. And not just like, "opps, lemme write them a note" kinda hit. Hit like, holy-crap-I-should-just-pull-away-and-hope-for-the-best-even-though-I-hear-that-I'm-draggin-something-kind of hit. (Ok, I'm being dramatic. He didn't take her bumper...but pretty darn close!) Because of that, once my fil and mil arrived at our house, he worked, then he had to stop. Call the witness who saw the guy hit her car, then drive away, and left a message. Then pick back up where he left off, and stop again because the witness called back. Of course he called back!

When all was said and done, around 9:30 my fil told me what parts we needed to pick up from The Depot, and that he'd be back on Saturday to finish the install. It was Thursday evening. I almost died.

Now, let me be clear. I know that people go several weeks without a functioning kitchen while undergoing renovations. I also know that there are like 100,000,000 people in third world countries who don't even have a kitchen, let alone a kitchen sink (or faucet). So, walking the extra 15 steps to the pedestal sink in the half bath wasn't really going to kill me. However, it kinda was. I'm not going to sugar coat this, I don't really like being displaced, especially in our own home. Its like a mean/bad/horrible joke. Add to that the cutest little person ever-in-the-world who wants a clean sippy cup (I know, right...the nerve of that little kid!) So yes, the idea of waiting another 36 hours (I might have counted) until I got a functioning sink wasn't going to do.

So you know what I did? I did it myself. (You'd think I'd have a picture to post here, except I didn't take a picture of under the sink before I put all the "stuff" back...and now its all kinda blocked.)

No lie. I looked at all this stuff, the strainer basket, the garbage disposal...the plumbing and after picking up the pieces my fil told me we needed (and another trip to The Depot) I was anxious to put Lil' Man down for a nap so mama could play! And play I did. I borrowed my neighbors pipe cutter saw/thingy and hacked away until I made all the lil' tubes fit! I have never been so excited to turn on a faucet in my life! (Oh, I should also give props to the guy on You Tube whose video about installing the basket assembly I watched...) Anyway, after the excitement wore off of the plumbing NOT leaking, it was time to CLEAN!! I scrubbed the floors (having the granite guys come in and out and then having the backsplash installers in and out made it so dusty and took away from the new kitchen smell...) and then Lil' Man woke up...but I didn't really care, because when he was done with his milk, know what I got to do?

I got to wash it. In the sink. With my new faucet. With my newly installed plumbing lines.

Check out my sexy new faw-cet! Isn't she a beaut?? (Notice the door on the counter behind the faucet?)

Alright, so I install the faucet, hook it up and then guess what? I still have six more cabinet doors to finish painting. Why? Here's my reasoning. Before all the work was done (granite install and the backsplash) I decided to paint all the upper cabinets, but wait on the base cabinets. I figured the paint on the base cabinets wouldn't have enough time to cure (dry) before they were getting a beating. And, I also know that while those gentlemen are super careful, they wouldn't be AS careful in the newly painted kitchen as I would be. So, I waited. 

And, while I waited The Hubs thought I was loco. Bananas. Gone Mad. Why? Because we have a toddler running around the house and "how are you going to keep him out of the cabinets when they don't have any doors on them, Erin?" and I was all, "I don't know...but I'll figure it out!" And I figured it out. Remember how I told you that I had to empty all the base cabinets out so they could remove the old counter (and install the new one?) Right, well this chicky didn't FILL the cabinets once the new counters were on. Thus eliminating the need to get "fussy" while having a toddler roam the kitchen because the cabinets were, oh you guessed it, empty. Ha :P

So once we had a functioning faucet (ahhhh, I didn't realize how much I use my kitchen sink!) I put the drop cloth on the counters (because all the stuff from the cabinets was now living on our kitchen table) and painted 'til my arm felt numb. Well, actually I painted until I ran out of room. I only had enough counter space for four doors, but I had six...so I had to wait an extra 24 hours before finishing all the doors, then they had to dry and yaddy yaddy...so FINALLY on Monday morning, around 9am, I was able to install the very last of our door hardware and WAHZAM, hang the last door. 

This also meant that I got to clean the kitchen. Again. WOOT! I filled my bucket (from my faucet!) got out the mop, grabbed those awesome yellow gloves and a sponge and got to work. When I was finished I had the joy and satisfaction of knowing that a week and a half ago our kitchen looked like "eh- its clean, but nothing to write home about" to "holy CRAP, that's MY kitchen!" 

We tiled the side of the tall pantry because the previous counters ran a side splash on it, and we didn't know if once it was removed we would have damage, so we just tiled the whole thing)

One of my favorite parts of our kitchen is that we DON'T have stainless steel appliances. Why? Because EVERY-one has 'em...and this is a great way to show people that you can use "plain white" appliances in your kitchen and make 'em look awesome!

Our new fancy pants under mount sink (and when they installed the granite, they added supports for the counter to the right of the sink and left of the dishwasher, remember in that photo how there wasn't any supports?

The finished product. 

Ahhhhhhhh

The one and only thing I had left to do (besides keep it clean) was to seal the grout on the backsplash. We had to wait 48 hours for the grout to dry 100% but I picked up sealer from The Depot and sprayed it on, wiped it off, and pushed all my appliances back into place. Done!

***A few things I didn't know until doing this makeover:

- How much I rely on our family for help. The Hubs' grandpa came over and removed the old laminate counters for us the night before we were to have the granite installed so that we didn't have to go too long without counters (little did I know it was going to be the sink that would cause me the most heartache!) And then having my fil install the faucet, and help me with the parts I'd need for the plumbing lines

- How un-flexible I am. Which is why, during this project of constantly being hunched over, using only my right arm (because I'm right handed) I was at my chiropractor three times during this process. 

- How much I didn't like our old kitchen. Damn. You know how people say things like, "I really didn't think it was that bad..." well, I didn't realize it was that bad until I saw how awesome it became. 

Kitchen reveal- part 2

And so it began. I used a deglosser on all the cabinets (which is basically liquid sand paper) and then followed it up with a nice cleaning on all the surfaces with TSP (which is a SUPER cleanser/degreaser...so if you ever need to just give your kitchen a super clean, just this TSP stuff!) Next up, I used a fine grit sandpaper on any area that the deglosser didn't do a fab job on. (Like the areas on the cabinets we touch more, even though we have pulls on the cabinets, sometimes you don't use them...) 

I used Frog Tape to mask off all the interiors of the cabinets and along the baseboards. (Frog Tape uses fancy-pants technology in their tape, so once it makes contact with a latex (or water based) paint, it instantly forms a barrier. (Its the same technology in your babies diaper...that makes the diapers bulky once they pee in 'em). I used the regular blue tape (which isn't nearly as expensive as the Frog Tape) on other areas that the clean crisp line wasn't 1000% necessary.

As I was huffing the fumes from the deglosser and TSP, I went out front with Lil' Man to play and started talking to my next door neighbor who just painted her cabinets a few years ago. I told her I was planning on painting the doors in the garage, so Lil' Man could play and I could work. She brought up the BEST point. Bugs. And pollen. And other gross stuff that lives in the garage. Oh. She suggested that I do what she did, paint the doors on the kitchen table, in the AC. This way you don't have to worry about anything falling on them. Score. 

So that's what I did...

See how gross the cabinets look? Once I was all done with the deglossing and the TSP wash, they looked awful and started to get really dark in spots. 

Thankfully we only had to go one night (like, less than 12 hours) without counters. But lemme tell you, those were 12 very long hours. Lil' Man thought we gave him new toys to play with (the cabinets). When he went to bed that night, I found a Goofy stuffed animal sitting in the bottom of one cabinet, and a car in another! And, knowing that we were going to need the kitchen table for the contents of those base cabinets, I had to quickly finish the upper doors, to make space for all the "stuff" that lives in our cabinets...

 See, no counters or drawers! 

I didn't realize, until there were no counters, that there was no support for the counter to the right of the kitchen sink (and left of the dishwasher!) 

With all our base cabinets emptied out for the arrival of the new counters, our kitchen table looked like this! To say it drove me banana's is an understatement!

Once the new counters were installed I did a little happy dance. Actually, no. I didn't do a "little" happy dance. I did the Carlton. It was epic. 

Ok, so we now have counters (which look totally fab) and we have a new sink (which was SUPER fab!) but I learned that because of the epoxy they used to attach said sink to said counters, we had to wait 24 hours before it could get wet. Lame. 

Kitchen reveal- part 1

"What did you do?" my chiropractor asked me when I hobbled into his office. "Just finished painting my kitchen cabinets" I mumbled in pain. 

He proceeded to do his magic on my back, shoulders and neck and when he was done he told me, "Erin, are you sure you're done with this kitchen project? From the looks of your back, you should be done." I nodded (now that I could move my head again) and said "I'm finished." And then, maybe a little too proudly said,  "wanna see the pictures?!"

And so, here is the big kitchen reveal:

yes, that's a Spiderman figurine on the top of our cabinets- I'll explain later

 

new fancy-pants back splash makes my mixer POP!

 

 Check out my uh-maze-ing undermountsink!

 There's Spidey again...just watching over things

 My lil' Keurig likes his pretty new counters

Ok, so now that you've see all the pretty's...here's how this all went down. 

My dad came to visit the weekend before we were getting the counters templated (and, if you remember that little piece of granite I kept moving around) He said after looking at the samples, "You know what would look awesome? Paint your cabinets black!" and I said, "WHAAAAAAA?" and he said, "Honey, I'm telling you, paint them black. Its going to change the whole house." I nodded and said, "but that's going to be uh-lot of work!" and he just looked at me like, "...and when did a little elbow grease bother you, missy?" Oh. 

So he left and the super nice template man, Tony, came to our house. In order to get a perfect template, he needed to remove our existing backplash...

Pretty awesome, hu? When I came back in from playing outside with Lil' Man, I was so excited I was bouncing up and down! I couldn't believe it was actually happening!!

 To create the template, he used (what was basically) a lot of yard sticks

 He hot glued the yard sticks together to create a perfect replica (that they would later use to cut and layout our granite slab)

After he templated, I was BUZZING with excitement. This was really going to happen. We were really going to have a new kitchen. And then it hit me, like a ton of big, fat bricks- PAINT. YOUR. CABINETS. BLACK. (It might have just been that I had just gotten off the phone with my dad, who might have said that, over and over and over to me...but whatever!)

So I waited for The Hubs to come home and had "the talk". 

me: If you were to come home tomorrow and the cabinets were black, would you still love me?

him: What?

me: Was that a yes?

him: Hu?

me: You didn't say 'no' right off the bat, so I'm going to take that as a yes!

him: Oh boy. 

The next day Lil' Man and I went to The Home Depot and got all the supplies I needed. I called The Hubs before checking out. 

me: Just to be 100% sure, I'm going to buy all the stuff to paint the cabinets. 

him: Oh honey. 

me: So that's your approval?

him: Not really...I think your crazy. How are you going to do all this painting with Lil' Man running around your feet?

me: Hu? (blowing into phone) I. Can't. Hear. You

him: Erin. 

me: (still blowing) You. Are. Breaking. Up. 

him: I love you

me: hehe, love you too! BYEEEEEE