Almost there…

I’m really not into posting “before” photos until I have some finished pics to follow them up with.  I personally like seeing a pretty picture after an ugly one.  But I figure with how things are moving along over here… it could be awhile.  ;)

A few months ago I posted about the English Smallbone kitchen we found on craigslist.  I posted about it here. 

Here’s the kitchen in it’s original home.  A little old school country, but with so much potential.

And here it is installed in our new-but still in progress-kitchen:

There were two painted pieces mixed in with the wood, and I decided to repaint them in a creamy white. 

I just love the look of wood and white.  Instead of subway tile, we’ll be installing wide horizontal plank boards on the walls of the kitchen, painted white.  I think it will give it a cozy modern farmhouse vibe that will feel warmer than tile.

We’ll be using honed carrara marble for some of the counters, including the island. 

The beautiful teak on the farmhouse sink counter will stay, as will the butcher block counter:

Does the island look familiar? 

We took it with us from our old house when we moved.  I painted it the same creamy white as the new cabinets and took the fabric off the back of the wire…just for a change. 

I also used the same Restoration Hardware drawer pulls on the new cabinets as I did on our island for a unified look:

By the way, we got our Jenn-Air stove on craigslist too for $200!  It was an especially good find, since we needed a downdraft stove due to the windows above.  Downdraft stoves are hard to come by, especially used. 

I have always loved wrap-around windows in a kitchen. 

The view out of our new kitchen is worth the lack of storage space from upper cabinets. Don’t mind the unkempt yard… that’s a whole other project.

I’ve gotten so much inspiration from so many places, it’s hard to narrow down one kitchen in particular that’s inspired the new space.  But here are some, which will give you an idea of what I’m envisioning for the walls, ceiling, and window finishings:

I hope by sharing these sneak peak pics, you can share in my vision (and excitement) for the finished product.  Almost there!

Read More

Home…

The girls and I are home now.  The construction project isn’t done, however.  We even had many extra helping hands from loving friends, but unfortunately it was an even bigger job than we anticipated (hmm, that’s becoming a theme ;).  But it doesn’t matter.  I’m happy to be home with my whole family again. 

As I sit here with sweet Bailey in my lap (he missed me), there is not one ounce of pretty around me.  To be more specific, there are metal ladders hovering over me, the furniture is displaced, construction dust covers every conceivable surface, and the yard is littered with debris from last week’s demolition.  But I’m at peace. 

There truly is no place like home.  I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it again… a peaceful home is not how it’s decorated.  Aesthetics merely add to what’s already there. That’s why I named my blog “Home & Harmony”… there is so much more that goes into creating a happy space besides the pretties you put into it. 

It’s about the people that inhabit it, and the way they interact… the way those individuals are secure because they know that everyone around them loves them deeply and has their best interest at heart.  It’s about Who they serve, and understanding that life isn’t about serving oneself, but about serving God, and thus each other. 

The fact of the matter is, this world is passing, and our eternal home awaits.  I’m thankful for the beautiful home that God has given me on this earth, and I’m not talking about the physical structure…but about the seven other people He has placed in my life, and for Him being the center of it all.  That is home.  Amen.

Read More

“Before Door” and Demolition

I love organization, and I enjoy keeping on top of things when it comes to our home.  But my computer is a mess.  I have all of our pictures scattered randomly on three different computers.  Because of this, I have a hard time finding photos when I need them.  Especially “before” photos. 

Anyway… as I was doing some picture rearranging today, I discovered this before picture of our front door. It also shows the original white aluminum trimwork. Yum.

And here is the after taken today (Bailey asked to pose again):

Looks nice and bright on the outside, but beginning this week, that pretty door will lead inside to destruction and mayhem and hopefully not death. 

It’s finally come time to replace the floor joists on the second floor.  Which also means the whole ceiling for the first floor, since they are one in the same.  MAJOR work that my husband and boys are oddly excited for.  Testosterone=destroying things with sledgehammers.

They replaced some of the joists already (above picture) soon after moving in, but found out a little too late that the size of the boards was not up to code.  Those pesky codes.  But we love the inspectors.  LOVE.  THEM.  (they might be reading this) So all the new has to come down along with the old:

For the last ten months this was our living room ceiling.  Might not have been so bad if it wasn’t for the insulation billowing out the sides. 

We’ve also been cohabitating with some old (unoccupied) wasp nests attached to the old joists.  Unnerving?  Yes.  Needless to say, I’m happy to see it all go.  And happy that the girls and I will be “vacationing” at my parents house until it’s all over.  Yeah, we’re wimps. 

Read More

School Wall

We have this awkward in-between room that separates a first floor bedroom and the only downstairs bathroom.  Sort of like a giant hallway.  A roomway!  It took us a good six months to figure out what to do with it.

Until the kids have flown the coop, it will serve as a schoolroom of sorts.  Some of their homeschooling  is done on the computer, so we decided to have a dedicated area for computer set-up.  It also serves as a spot for Charlotte’s Brailler. 

In a later post, I’ll show you the floor to ceiling bin system set up on the opposite side of the room that holds all of the school supplies.   I’ve come to love this room for all the organizational goodness it provides.  This room (like so many other rooms) is far from finished, as you can see below: 

I can at least show you what we did with the big empty wall in the room. My husband built a long table which I’ll be sharing more about in another post.  I knew I wanted to somehow incorporate a map, a chalkboard, and a bulletin board above it, and this is how we ended up going about it… 

We measured and cut (with a circular saw) a big piece of inexpensive “hardboard” to fit the space and the map and spray mounted the map onto the center of it. 

Our map is a 4’ x 2.5’ Rand McNally World map.  I liked the vintage colors in this particular one.

After applying the map, I brushed chalk board paint on the right side. 

And on the left, we applied the burlap also using spray mount. I don’t have pictures of us applying the burlap but you can imagine.  Spray and press. 

And then my handy  husband made a simple frame using inexpensive 1 x 2  pine.  Otherwise known as “fingerboard”. 

We put it up on blocks to make staining easier. 

I used a “Weathered Oak” stain to make it look old.

My husband attached the board to the frame from the back using wood screws.  And WALLA! 

A custom bulletinboardmapchalkboard-thingy-me-bob!   :)

For the bulletin board, I used the same braille flashcards we had in our last house.  You can read about them here. 

Once again,  the flashcards are a good visual reminder of what we’re all supposed to be learning (yes, the whole family is learning braille!), but it’s also handy being able to take the flashcards down from the clips to quiz Charlotte.  It’s really just a faux bulletin board, since I used stickies to attach the metal clips.  If you really wanted to use  tacks, you would likely have to use cork board instead of hardboard.   Because hardboard is very… hard.   

The verse written on the chalkboard reminds us of how we are to work, and for whom. Fitting for a school room.

The lights came from  Restoration hardware at 50% off!  I’ve long admired them and so happy to have them for this space.

I can’t tell you how thrilling it is for me to be organized again!  After this crazy move, I spent so many months feeling discombobulated.  But now I feel like I can finally let out a sigh of relief.  It’s all coming together…little by little, wall by wall. 

Read More

Kitchens, Old & New

I was so excited to hear that our old kitchen was included in the fall issue of Kitchens magazine.  I especially enjoyed this particular article since Rebecca Razo included one of my other passions… organization. 

Thank you again Rebecca for the incredible honor!  I have to say it was difficult to go from the above kitchen to this one:

I had to remind myself that it wouldn’t stay this way forever. 

In fact, we ripped it out about three months after moving in. 

The space is now our dining area, and we used this 16x22’ back room of the house for our new kitchen:

The room is open and bright.  We tore down the wall separating it from the old kitchen, making it even more open to the rest of the house:

See us through the window below?  That’s us with our realtor when we first looked at the property.  Little did we know what we were signing up for!

The bookshelves moved to our new school room (in progress).  And the closet next to it came out.  The swan sitting on top came with the house. 

We found him a new owner, much to our children’s chagrin.  They begged to keep it.  Sorry kids.

Being a lover of English cabinetry, I was ecstatic to find someone selling an entire English kitchen on craigslist!  It was designed by the famed English manufacturer, Smallbone.  Here it is in the original house:

The owner of the house was replacing it with a more contemporary kitchen since they were trying to sell the house.  Here it is now:

The house is a mansion in a golf-course community.  I can see why an English country kitchen wouldn’t quite fit the bill.  But something like this would:

Our gain!  Here are some other English Country Smallbone kitchens:

Beautiful, right?  The kitchen was probably worth over $50,000.  We got it for $5000.   An Ikea kitchen would have cost us more!  And an Ikea kitchen would have been our only alternative due to our budget. 

When I saw the kitchen I knew that we could make  it work in our empty space.  Since Smallbone designed the kitchen as individual pieces of furniture, it was easy to mix and match the pieces however we wished. 

It came with the farmhouse sink!

I think we got the craigslist deal of the century.  It looks a bit “old country”, but we are contemporizing it to look “modern country”.  It will look different in our space, and will work beautifully I think.   Here is my hubby measuring for new windows and determining placement of the kitchen pieces:

Can’t wait to show you the finished product! 

Read More