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

Its a bird? Its a plane? ITS NEW COUNTERS!!!

Its happening!

Its finally happening!!

Our kitchen is getting a little make-ova'! (And by little, I mean HUGE!)

I'm around beautiful products all the time, and until now I've been very good at looking-but-not-touching. However, when I found this linear mosaic blend tile I fell. In. Love. Hard. As I was stroking the tile with the back of my hand, I asked my sales rep to pllllllllease order me a sample. (Or two. Or three...) so when they arrived about a week later, I was head over heals with my tile. Yes, MY tile. It became mine within a nanosecond. I received three pieces of three rows of my tile. So I laid them on the counter, and drooled. Then it hit me- TAPE THEM UP!

So I did...

I hung some up here (I used the blue tape to hold them up because its a low-tack tape, so it won't pull off my drywall when its done holding the tile in place!)  

And put some over here too...(don't mind the canister of mini M&M's...I feel its vital that every kitchen have some M&M's!)

And over here too!! Yes we will be putting the tile on the side of our panty. Why? Because when they installed the laminate side splash, they glued it to the side of the cabinet. So when we rip it off, we would have a yucky (yes, yucky is a totally 'professional' word) surface, so we are going to cover the whole area with the pretty tiles and call it a day!

Now it might seem like a simple task; just find a counter to go with the perfect backsplash tile, Erin. Shouldn't be a big deal, right? I mean, this is what I do for other people...I should be able to do this for my home without incident, right? Well...I thought solid black counters were going to be the way to go. I was certain it was all about the solid black. I got a sample of Black Uba Tuba and moved it around the kitchen, and kept feeling like "its oooooookay". It wasn't that shock of electricity through me like, "YES! This is THE one...". I knew something was off, so I moved it around and around, and finally I put it in the laundry room so that when I was folding laundry, I could really "look" at it. And that's when it hit me. Somewhere in between socks and t-shirts, I realized what the problem was. It was green. 

I asked the hubs when he came home:

me: Do you see green?

hubs: Green?

me: Yes. In the sample, do you see green?

hubs: I see green outside. I don't see any green in the counter. 

me: You're sure?

hubs: Is this going somewhere?

me: I see green

hubs: I see your crazy

me: Oh. 

Realizing I wasn't gonna convince him that there was green in the counter, I emailed my granite rep, explaining my epic dilema. Mainly that I don't have anything green in our house. Like, NOTHING in our home is green. Its all black, white, gray and beige. Not green. And my perfect backsplash tile wasn't green. AHHHHHH. And could she please knock me off a sample of the gray granite? She emailed me back, told me she doesn't see green in the granite either, but she wanted me to be 100% happy, so if I saw green, she saw green and she'd happily knock me off a piece of the gray. 

I brought home the gray granite and put it next to the "black" one. Hands down, I knew. I got that tingly feeling with the gray...but I withheld my giddy-happy-dance until The Hubs made his decision. 

me: So, here they are, side by side. Which do you prefer?

hubs: Uhm

me: YOU HAVE TO THINK?

hubs: Uhm

me: This was the quickest, easiest decision ever

hubs: So its the gray one, right?

me: DUH!

(and that's how we communicate)

Because I'm me, I've been moving around the sample of granite too. Its been in every corner, under every item (like our soap dispenser) I have that lives on my counter...I've hung it over the side of my sink (because the new one will be under mount...and I wanted to see how that would look and feel...) I've sprayed my sample of granite with my usual cleaner, just a wet cloth, a sponge with soap...all to find out which will leave a streak and which won't...

My version of an under mount sink...sorta

 ...and next to the sink

Our little granite sample has become my favorite coaster...and trivet, and cutting board...I might actually miss my little sample. Oh wait, I won't have to have a mini sample anymore...because in two weeks we will have a GIANT counter to use a coaster! EEK! I can put a hot pan on my counters! I can cut directly on the counter! I can TAP DANCE on my counters!! SQUEEEEEEEAL! I'm so excited! 

Here are the two samples together:

Perfect harmony...

We're poppin' ovah here!!!

 One of my favorite things about Spring is when the sun comes out, but the air is cold. Like today for instance, its sunny, blue skies but with the high of like, 50. That's perfect weather for me. Why? Because I don't like being hot.

Yes, I lived in Florida for 14 years which only cemented in my brain how much I don't like being hot. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't like being cold- like bitter cold, blue hands and toes; that's not my cup of tea. I just like it brisk. Yes, that's the best word to describe it, brisk.

To prove that Spring is popping up in random places here are two examples.

First: We like to go to a bar/restaurant called The Winking Lizard (which has a HUGE live lizard who lives in a cage in the middle of the dining room- AWESOME!) and while walking out of it the other night, I noticed these in the window of the Sherwin Williams store that's right next door.

Now you wanna tell me that isn't CUTE?! And clever!! I love seeing everyday items being used in imaginative ways. This made me think "I should do that with Lil' Man!" except I don't want to pull an entire lot of pink tip cards out of their display...pretty sure managers frown on that sorta thing...

Now my second example of Spring is this:

Can you see him there? Hiding? Just to the right of that yellow weed? Right, here's a little story about him.

Because its Spring, that means that the weeds start popping up. (dead pan, yay!) My Action Hero Husband went out with the weed killer and nabbed those suckers straight away (good job honey!) but then two days later, they were all dead and yellow and just looked like Morticia Addams garden. So while Lil' Man was nappin' away, I pulled out my gardening gloves (dusted them off and shook them, making sure nothing living was hiding in the finger holes) and started pullin' up the dead weeds.

Here's something you might not know about me yet. I don't really do live animals. Meaning, live animals that I might come across in the yard, i.e., snakes, things with wings (excluding birds, they don't bother me) ants, mice, things with more feet than me...get the point?

So, while I'm in the weed-pulling-zone, Jack (our dog) is laying behind me sunning himself, I reach down to grab a weed and let out a super girlie yelp, then fall backwards on my bum. Yes, Mother Nature punked me. That little toad didn't even have the decency to flinch while I was busy having a mini heart attack right next to him. He just blinked his little toad eyes at me like, "what's wrong wit' you, lady?"

Needless to say that weed that you see in the photo next to him, is still there.

While all of this fresh air is inspiring me to clean the house I found myself this morning cleaning out the refrigerator. And, as I'm kneeling down to pull out the bottom drawer (that no one really uses...) I'm asking myself, "How did I get here? Right here, kneeling down, in my pajamas with a soapy sponge cleaning out our fridge? How did this happen?" Its like I've been bitten by the Spring Cleaning bug or something. Yesterday I was all hopped up on cleaning our master bathroom. If I was pregnant (which I'm so not) you might call this nesting, but it seems this happens to me every year in Spring. I get bit by the bug, land in the zone and put on my bright yellow gloves. I mean, worse things could happen to a girl, right?

On the design front, I popped into Pier1 last week to buy some pieces for a client's new patio that extends off her master bedroom. Can I just tell you how much I enjoy Pier1? The bright colors, the music, the products...all of it, just makes me happy. Here's the space:

Long and narrow, so I used blue painters tape to give my client an idea of how big everything would be.

We got two of these chairs from Pier1 and put these cushions on them for a little pop of color (I love that they are reversible so when you get tired of one side, just flip for something new!)

And two of these smaller planters from Frontgate.com

Once all the flowers are planted I'll take photos!

Happy Spring!

Smoothie, dah-ling??

My bestie, Cai, had surgery yesterday.

Now, to say she's my sister from another mister is an understatement. Her parents and my parents have been friends since they were in high school...so we literally have been raised together, and our friendship is a lil' more than the usual "bestie" relationship. (Its also totally awesome that she and my brother-in-law have been dating for the last year and a half...SQQQQQUEAL- one day we will totally have the same last name. Just like real sisters do!)

So anyway, today was one of those days that makes me super thankful for being able to do what I do (have my own bid-ness, and work from home). Lemme set the stage for you:

Last week I receive a call from a client I haven't worked with in years. She said she's hung onto a letter I sent her a while back and she wanted to work with me again. I was so excited- but I had to ask, "why?" and do you know what she said? (This part made me smile-big.) "Because since working with you, I've worked with another designer and you paid attention to what I really wanted. She didn't. You gave me your suggestions, but you always let me make my own choices without yours being thrust upon me" So I told her I was doing my 'happy-dance' (because who doesn't want to hear great things like that?) and we setup a meeting for today.

Yesterday Cai had her wisdom teeth pulled. All four. (I had mine done back in October, with some after affects, that still today (March 15) are present- so I feel for the girl.) While I was getting ready for my meeting today she and I were talking and she said she'd really like a smoothie (obviously she can't drive) so I asked if she'd like me to bring her one. "Really?" "Yeah. What kind?"

The stars aligned and my sitter was able to come over a little earlier than planned so I could run and grab some hardware for a client (whose bathrooms we are just wrapping up and OMG, they look uh-mazing!) stop into Smoothie King and get the smoothies (of course I got one for myself), stop at my clients house, drop off the hardware and paint color suggestions, drive over to Cai, drop off the smoothie and go to my meeting at my old client's new home.

Once I got home from everything and I laid Lil' man down for his nap, I was changing and I realized, "That is why I do what I do. Getting Cai her smoothie is why I do what I do." I might have sounded like a crazy banana to anyone walking by (thankfully its too cold for people to go walking...) but it made perfect sense to me. The whole reason I do what I do, is so I can be available for my family.

There is nothing more important to me than my family. Never has been. Never will be.

So even while I was super busy today, making sure Lil' man was taken care of, making sure I was put together to go to meetings, making sure my client's were happy and making sure my family was taken care of I still have the clarity (?) to be able to sit back and thank God everyday for the blessings He has given me and my family.

And, just because I can, tomorrow night, St.Patrick's Day eve, I will be hosting our annual party :) (I think I've talked about this before, but I prefer not to celebrate the actual holidays- I like the eve's because there isn't any pressure...and you can serve cheeseburgers and everyone is super happy...why? Because its not the actual holiday and there aren't any rules!! I'll post more about it later!)

12x12 Love

When we (and by 'we' I mean 'me', with the hubs blessing) decided to go with an under the sea theme in the nursery I didn't know how far to take it. Like, did I look for fish sheets? Should I start investing in a huge aquarium? And what about wall art? Is the tidal wave painted on the wall going to be enough? Too much?

See, this is what happens when your a designer. For other people's homes, its really easy (I find) to make decisions for them. When it comes to our home, I tend to over think things or leave things empty until I find the perfect item for the space. (Because I know it exists, I might just not have found it yet...) So when it came time for the wall art in lil' man's room, I got the best of both worlds.

I used (6) 12x12 frames over his crib (three on top, three on the bottom) and put scrapbook paper inside so I could switch them out as I saw fit. One of my favorite reasons for this is that when we switch out the papers, its a project lil' man and I get to do together.

We shop for the paper together, he points to ones he likes...and I point to ones I like. Then we buy the ones that make most sense.

When we get home and make the paper switch, its always fun for me to watch him lay in his crib and look up at the papers and go, "ooooooh" (Especially at Halloween when we hung super cute paper that had friendly spiders and mummies on it. He LOVED it!)

I've found it to be a super fun, easy and cost effective way to spruce up his room each month (or more frequently) and keep him entertained as well. He loves Mickey Mouse, so I try and keep at least one Mickey in the frames...(when he was super little, having his crib against the wall wasn't a big deal, but now he knows he has arms, and they are long, so he can easily touch the frames...so normally his crib is pulled away from the wall about 12"...I'm all about straight pictures! Oh, and safety. Of course!)