Spiders & Stripes

It's been a fun summer of exploring our new city and working on outdoor projects. Landscaping, lighting, painting the screened porch and front door were all on the list. I've been able to get a few done. My latest project was painting the front door. The inside is painted a deep charcoal that I love but the door has so much character I wanted to do something different for the exterior. The front of the door is tongue and groove planks so I thought it would be fun to paint the planks alternating stripes. I chose the same colors I used for the screened porch. I love how the stripes look with the spider web window! Now I'm on the hunt for a new door knocker...

New babies & a new home

Hi all! It's been waaaay too long! In fact, over a year since my last post. Ugh! Well, in my defense, it's just been crazy around here. Lots of change. Since my last post we added two more to our family, yes, twins! Our gorgeous gals were born March 20.

Here they are just a few weeks old - Isabel Rose on the left and Stella Lauren on the right - they are pure joy.

Five months later we moved to Columbus, OH to an area called Bexley. It's a beautiful walking community with awesome old homes, great schools and downtown.

So yes, we bought another old home. It was built in 1939; I haven't quite pinpointed the style. The house had zero updates, all original which I like, but wow, lots of work and surprises along the way. We started by pulling up the carpet and refinishing the original hardwoods underneath. Then we moved in.

The next project was the kitchen which we just finished. I like to keep as much of the original features intact as possible so I chose to keep the cabinets. The cabinetry is your basic 1930's style, but there's a built-in china cabinet with leaded glass doors that I just love. All the windows in the house are leaded glass so it's an important piece to the house. Here's some before and afters of the kitchen. 

This is how the kitchen looked when we bought the house. I knew right away the range would need to be relocated. It was in such an awkward and unsafe location. Look at that carpet and the tile is plastic. Pretty nasty...

Here the tile has been removed and the carpet. The kitchen is the only room in the house with the exception of the upstairs bathroom that did not have hardwood. We had new new hardwood installed to match the originals. To get the new wood flush with the originals, several layers of old flooring had to be cut out to get to the subfloor.

Okay, I won't bore you with the rest. Here's the finished product.

You can see here, the area behind the archway was a breakfast nook. To keep the cabinets in place, keep the original arch and window, we decided to relocate the range there. The breakfast nook was too small to work for our family of six and we needed a larger kitchen. Now the new layout functions great!:)

The countertops are marble which fit the vintage look. They are gorgeous but high maintenance. I haven't had any problems with staining but it is very soft so it scratches easily. They will develop a "patina" over time which will suit this kitchen. I love them:)

I chose a large single sink which I love. It's deep so it hides dirty dishes and it fits large pots and pans. The smaller 18" dishwasher fit in the old lower cabinet perfectly. I added two flushmounted chandeliers and a mercury glass pendant over the sink. I went for brass hardware to follow the style of the home.

In keeping with the original look of the kitchen, where the old tile was removed, new white subway tile was replaced.

Here's the china cabinet. I chose to paint it a different color to feature it. My master bedroom, dining room and front and back doors are painted this color, Yup, I kinda like it. The tall cabinet was a broom closet which we added shelves to and voila, it's a pantry!

Here's the new location of the range. I wanted it to look as original as possible so I had the surrounding cabinets built to match. I added some lower rounded open shelves and upper open shelves for functionality, a more "open" feel and to keep with the vintage aesthetic. I obviously still need to put the hardware on the cabinets. 

We went for two months without a range, just a fridg and microwave. Our first batch of chocolate chip cookies was super sweet. XO

My Shabby Cabinet

Hello there! I finally got around to painting an old cabinet I picked up at a garage sale awhile back. I love it and knew I had the perfect spot for it. The cabinet's exterior had a funky stain/wash that was flaking off, so off course it was a perfect candidate for ASCP.

Here she is before.

The inside is super shabby but I decided to keep it this way for now. It has chippy pink, blue and cream paint. I don't really do much pink but I figure filled with dishes it would be fun. If I do decide to paint it later, I'm thinking ASCP in old violet would be gorgeous!

And after in Annie Sloan's Old Ochre

With a good deal of distressing on the detail.

And an antique glass knob.

A definite keeper for now! XO Kelly

Summer Fun

Hi all! Is it REALLY HOT where you are right now? Yup, should have put in AC when we installed that new furnace last fall... It was nearly 100 degrees today. Its now cooled down to 90 outside and a balmy 83 inside. I'm trying not to complain and remind myself I would have given anything for this only a month ago! What I really need to do is hop on my bike and go jump in the lake!

It is Summer fun time and we've already crammed in quite a bit! Here's a few highlights.

Here's all of us celebrating my hubby's birthday at our brother-in-law's new restaurant Sorellina. It was a such a treat to be out together!

And here's some after dinner downtown cruizin. Love these long warm summer nights!

We met our new nephew, Jadson for the first time. He flew in all the way from San Diego to hang with us. He is awesome!!! The kids adored him. They loved feeding and bringing him his baby toys. So, so, so fun to watch:)

The barn sale was a big hit and such a blast! I sold almost everything! Happy girl! This is the only picture I took. I know, so lame considering how cool the barn looked. This was taken of a corner of my space during setup.

My business cards from Anne at Anchovy Creative. So exciting!

Logo.

Sophia before her first ballet/tap class. So sweet!!!

Having lunch after her College For Kids pirate adventure class. She came home with all sorts of treasures that week;)

And of course plenty of beach time! There's Caden in the background demonstrating how nice the water is now. He NEVER leaves the water. 

Now it's time to gear up for the big holiday and the Cherry Festival this weekend. Our town is crazy right now! I hope you all have a fun and somewhat leisure 4th of July! XO Kelly

Primitive Hutch

Hi all! Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks trying to finish things up for the barn sale. My goal is to complete everything before the arrival of my brother-in-law and family this Wednesday. Yikes, hope I can do it! I did finally finish-up my primitive hutch and love the results! I definitely will not mind if it doesn't sell, it's looking pretty dang cute in my house right now!:)

This is how the hutch looked when I bought it.

And here it is after. The interior is painted in ASCP old white and the exterior is old ochre.

The top shelves would be great for displaying fun stuff and the deep bottom shelves would work well for storage.

I distressed the "beads" on the beadboard which exposed the light aqua paint underneath. The colors look beautiful together. And don't forget the lovely original hardware!

It's time for this girl to get some zzzzzzzzz's! Another busy day tomorrow!  XO Kelly

Barn Sale

Hi all! I've been scrambling to get things together for a local barn sale next week. I'm so exited! This is the first time I've ever done anything like this. I'm so happy to be participating in a event like this in my community and looking forward to meeting a lot of fun people! It will be a great couple of days. The sale takes place in an over 100-year old barn behind the farm house on Old Mission Peninsula. It's gorgeous! The peninsula jets out into Grand Traverse Bay (Lake Michigan) with beautiful rolling hills, vineyards and topped with a historic lighthouse. What a setting:). For anyone in the area, the barn sale will be held on Friday, June 22nd from 5-9pm and Saturday, June 23rd from 9am-3pm. Anyone out there looking for one-of-a-kind treasures?

I have quite a few large pieces of furniture that will be going with me to the sale, but a few small ones as well. Here's a couple I finished over the weekend.

This rustic little number could function in many ways - a bench, side table, plant stand, coffee table, etc. It's painted in ASCP, in a couple different shades of antibes green.

This is what it looked like before. Much cuter now, don't you agree?

And another small table. Great for a tight space.

I have two large pieces to finish up for the sale and hope to post soon. One I hope doesn't sell because I love it:) I had myself all talked out of it but now that's it all painted, and I LOVE the colors, I want to keep it!!! If no one out there takes her, she's mine!:)

XO Kelly

Vintage Dresser Before & After

Hi all! I finished my latest furniture revamp, this super cute vintage dresser! I decided on ASCP in old white and louis blue. After distressing the paint I finished the dresser off with clear and dark wax. This was my first time using Annie Sloan's dark wax. It was definitely a bit tricky but I love the finished product.

BEFORE

AFTER

The lighting in these photos is poor but hopefully you can see some of the detail. Chalk paint distresses so beautifully and the dark wax adds so much depth.

I brushed a bit of white and blue paint on the hardware and finished with clear and dark wax.

That's it for now! XO Kelly