Kitchen Counters

In case you missed the news, we will be closing on our new house in less than 2 weeks!  One of the things that we want to update is the kitchen.  It's not terrible in its current condition, but we have some ideas to make it work a little better for us.  So you can see what we're working with, this is the view from the breakfast room.  

We are going to get new appliances, make the island bigger, remove the bar-height level counters, and also reconfigure the wrap-around counter to make it more open.  We will also be refinishing and staining the hardwoods a darker color.  We plan to leave the white cabinets. 

But the biggest debate in our house apartment right now is the new counter tops.  We've narrowed it down to two options -- Option #1 is white marble and Option #2 is honed absolute black granite.  (Since it really boils down to either black or white, I always seem to get Michael Jackson's "Black or White" song stuck in my head.)    

Here's the breakdown of the dilemma:

• I love love love white marble counters with white cabinets.  Visually speaking, they are always my favorite kitchens.  (My pinterest page has been full of them for a very long time.)  It's safe to say, I like the look of white marble counters more than black.  But I don't dislike the look of the black counters.
• White marble has a tendency to etch, stain, and chip.  I have done substantial research on this, and think I'm ok with a less than perfect finish (or patina -- which doesn't make it sound so bad) over time.  Given these issues associated with white marble, Justin prefers the black granite over the white marble.
• The black granite is substantially cheaper than the white marble.  
• I've thought about doing the island in the white marble and the remainder in black granite, but don't really like the look of that since the island isn't very substantial (and has the stove).   

And for visualization purposes, here are some amazing kitchens with both black and white counters with white cabinets.

Source: tiekbuilthomes.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: awelldressedhome.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: caitlincreer.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: peppermintbliss.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Emily on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Emily on Pinterest

So readers, do you have a preference?  What are your thoughts?  Does anyone have either of these counters and wish to share some of their thoughts on them?

House Tour: Kitchen.

It's been a very long time since I've done a home tour post, but I thought I'd start 2012 off right.  So here's a tour of our kitchen and breakfast room.  This area may be the part of the house I'll miss most when we move. 

 

All of the lighting in the kitchen is from Restoration Hardware (even the light over the sink that I forgot to turn on). 

The best part about the space is how the kitchen is open to a den/large breakfast room area.  Everyone always congregates in the kitchen and it's wonderful to have a large space for people to mill about/keep you company while you cook. 

It's funny seeing this next picture because I've gotten used to the new chandelier we hung up when we put our house on the market.  The lighting over the breakfast room table is was from Z Gallerie.  I guess because the area can be set up in any number of different ways, there was no lighting installed over the breakfast room area (except for the pot lights) when we moved in.  We put in the light over the table and the pendants over the island.  What a difference lighting makes -- the kitchen looked naked before (and believe me, no one wants a naked kitchen).

From this angle, you can see the little seating area in the "den" off the breakfast room and kitchen. 

As much as we try to keep the dogs off the settee, they love lounging on it when we are in the kitchen.  They usually start off following us around when we're cooking hoping that we will drop something, then they sit and beg from us, then they give up altogether and go lay on the settee.  There's not much cuter than our dogs laying around on this couch. 

We keep our bar ware and more "embarrassing" alcohol (i.e. handles, peppermint schnapps, sweet tea vodka) in that black cabinet.  And the black box on top of the cabinet is a speaker -- I've got to have my sweet jams while I bake.  

And of course, my favorite kitchen accessory -- the bar cart.  Justin thought we may turn away buyers with our excessive impressive stash, so we've removed many of the bottles seen here from the cart and tucked them away along with the embarrassing alcohol bottles.  I don't know why he thinks the large amount of wine bottles that line the pantry floor are any better; but hey, pick your battles, right?        

 
Up next is the living room, which you can see as you walk out of the kitchen.   Then we'll head upstairs to the third floor!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend ringing in the new year! 

Vintage Bar Cart Score.

Back in October, I blogged about wanting a bar cart and my fruitless Craigslist searching.  Well the fruitless searching continued up until a few weeks ago.  And I'm not talking about the occasionally-remembering-to-search-Craigslist kind of searching.  I'm talking about the every-day-compulsively-searching-holding-out-hope-that-I-would-find-something kind of searching, with this image always in the back of my mind:

(photo: Habitually Chic)

I was searching Austin's Craigslist for a friend and came across the perfect bar cart, which was listed for $125 in Lockhart, Texas (a small town about 2 hours and 45 minutes away).  Thankfully, Lockhart just so happens to be the BBQ Capital of Texas so it was an easy sell to convince Justin to make it "on our way" to Austin.  

We showed up and walked around the antique shop, which had a bunch of gorgeous pieces in perfect condition at great prices.  The owner pointed us in the direction of the bar cart and told me no matter the price marked, he would honor the Craigslist price.  He asked what it was and I told him $125; he said he had it marked for $120, but that he would take $100.  Sold!!  I didn't even have to negotiate -- he knocked down the price without me even asking!  (Although, for the record, I thought I was already getting a heck of a deal for $125.)   Check out this ebay auction, which has ended.  They look pretty similar right?  That one was listed for $695.

So with all that build up, here she is in all of her bar-cart glory.  Amazing, right?

And all styled up.

In case you're curious, those frames above the cart contain hand-written recipes from our family.

I love the look of displayed glassware, but I have an aversion to storing glasses out in the open.  It's easier for them to get dusty and ours would probably end up with puppy noses on them! 

And see those fun stripey straws?  Justin bought them for me (without any hints) for Christmas.  They are perfect to display on the bar cart! 

One of my favorite parts of the cart are its neat little casters.

And just in case you want to take a gander at our liquor selection (which I always like to do), here you go.

The more embarrassing ones (peppermint schnapps) and the ones in not so pretty handles bottles (Firefly sweet tea vodka) are still stored in our cabinet with the glassware and related bar tools.  I love seeing the bottles displayed now.  And yes, I bought that tequila just because the bottle was in the shape of Texas.

So the moral of the story is: obsessive Craigslist searching (even in different cities) persistence pays off!  Cheers!  

Organized Kitchen Pantry.

I mentioned a while back that Megan from Honey We're Home came over to help me get my mess of a pantry in order.  I have no excuse on why it took me so long to post the after-pictures, other than I just flat out forgot to!  But I'm happy to report that the pantry looks the same today as it does in the after-photos below! 

I think the pictures speak for themselves on what an amazing job she did!  Sadly, I never knew how bad it really was until looking at these before pictures.  {Shudder}  Prepare yourselves. 

And after Megan worked her magic . . . 

Seriously, what a difference!  Through the organizing process, I learned that I have a problem buying canned pumpkin (I won't disclose how many cans I had; but there was a time when there was a pumpkin shortage and I felt that I needed to "stock up").  Megan probably thinks I'm a little loony!  I also learned that Justin has a problem buying baggies in bulk in various sizes, freezer bags, non-freezer bags, etc.  Now that we can actually see what all we have, it's a lot easier not to buy things that we don't need. 

Look at all of that empty space!  We threw some things away and there were some things that did not belong in the pantry, but it's amazing how having things organized gives you some more usable space that you never knew you had.  (Perfect for storing more Trader Joe's goodies that I will get on our upcoming San Diego trip!)  It really is nice now that everything has its place.  Before, that was clearly not the case -- as the pictures above demonstrate! 

We were able to add some additional wine storage in our pantry, which was greatly needed.  It also freed up some space for us to put a recycle bin in there.

Now that things are organized, it's so much easier to keep it nice and neat.  So a big thanks to Megan for being so sweet and helping me tackle the pantry! 

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!  We headed to Austin.  I'll be back with a recap!

Guild Shop Chandelier.

Remember the chandelier from the Guild Shop I previously blogged about here and here?  Justin hung it this weekend!  I originally was going to hang it in our entry way, but after thinking about it some more, decided there may be better places where it would be more visible.  So we cruised around the house looking for other options.  Justin actually came up with the idea to hang it where we did.  And he was totally right -- he's a keeper!  He hung it on our second floor in the little area between our kitchen and dining room (and right outside of the powder room).  Here's the view of it as you get on the second floor.

I love the touch of glam it adds to an otherwise boring hallway.  In case you're curious, that archway over there to the left is where the powder room is.

This is the view from the opposite direction looking into the dining and living room from the kitchen.  If you look closely you can see Justin lounging in the living room admiring his handiwork.  (It's like a game of Where's Waldo without the red stripes and glasses!)  And for the record, our kitchen is not sherbet green -- the lighting wasn't ideal.

We ended up just replacing the candle covers and adding some more crystal prisms (there were quite a few missing).   There's now a mix of the old crystals and new ones, but since I was able to find nearly identical crystals online, you can't tell the difference.

{Side note: see those flowers in the background by the mirror?  I recently went to the dentist to get my first-ever cavity filled and was pretty nervous thanks to a terrible wisdom teeth removal experience.  Justin had a gorgeous bouquet of tulips, hydrangeas, roses and lilies delivered to my office before I went to help calm my nerves.  Super sweet!} 

But back to the chandy . . . as Justin said, "it's pretty baller to have a chandelier in your hallway."  And I couldn't agree more! 

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Small Changes.

In the midst of all the fun Christmas decorating, I've updated a few things around the house.

First up, remember my vintage finds from our San Diego trip?  I finally remembered to take a picture of the coral print we picked up in Ocean Beach in its new home!   Here it is before:

And here it is after in our powder room:

Next, I changed up my dishwashing soap bottle.  (I know, I live a crazy life!)  I purchased one from ebay (that blogged about here) a while back.  I really liked it, but overtime the little dispenser got clogged and it wasn't fitting as securely in the bottle anymore.   So I went from this

 

to this:

I found the new dispenser in the bath section at Target and knew it would be a good replacement.  It's not quite as charming, but it makes up for it in function.  And the old bottle will be relocated to the rest of my vintage bottle collection (where all it has to do is look pretty).

And last, we updated the rug in the kitchen sitting room area.  It's the Jute Boucle Rug from West Elm. 

The rug is nice and soft, and I love the color of it (not to yellow; not too brown).  Zoey loved the feel of the rug too.

 

Magnetic Chalkboard.

After a little test in patience, the magnetic chalkboard is done! 

I started off with an open-back frame from Hobby Lobby and a piece of MDF Justin cut to size for me.  First, I applied 5 or 6 coats (I lost count) of magnetic primer.  I read a bunch of the primer's reviews before starting and knew it was best to apply several thin coats to ensure the magnets would stick.  We also purchased rare earth magnets, which are stronger than typical magnets.  With taking those precautions, we haven't had any problems with the magnets sticking and holding paper.  My only problem with the primer is that it creates a bumpy surface.  Justin sanded it down some, but it's still not perfect.

After the primer, I put on 2 coats of chalkboard paint.  While it's still slightly bumpy from the primer, the chalk still works, but it's nearly impossible to draw a straight line!  But for our purposes, it doesn't really matter.       

Because the board is on our pantry door, the chalk would fall off if we just set it on the frame.  So instead, I purchased a votive holder from CB2 to serve as a chalk holder.  (I was originally hoping to use a chalkboard pen to avoid dust, but after testing it out, it didn't erase completely.) 

It's nice to have a handy place to jot down reminders and notes, and keep invitations and other things in view.