Deal of the Week

This does not go with my color scheme nor am I much of an animal print lover, but I like this look and wish I could use it in my home.....

VT Interiors has a great library of inspirational rooms and you can copy this look with this bench from World Market.

VT Interiors

World Market

Buying Cabinet Hardware At A Clothing Store...

sounds like a dumb idea when you think about it.  Well, I decided to learn the hard way.  Remember these that I wanted to buy for the kitchen cabinet drawers?  I bought them.  When installed, all 8 of them broke :(

The good thing is that I regained my faith in an otherwise diminishing customer service industry.  Anthropologie seriously rocks when it comes to hassle-free, no nonsense returns.  They didn't bother having me send back the broken pieces and immediately credited my account.  The packing slip also contains a free return slip.  And, the people you talk to on the phone are super nice and accommodating.  I will definitely be purchasing things from them in the future. I just wish it could be their fabulous (and expensive) furniture!

We had the holes drilled, so we were stuck with a 2 holed handle.  Luckily, I like the old standard cup pull accompanied with a simple knob :

 

Hopefully we'll receive them this week.  It is REALLY hard to open drawers without a handle!

White With Kids?

We desperately need a new couch but don't want to spend too much money with my ever-changing decor and recent depletion of funds on this project.  I came across this awesome sale on WestElm.com and can't pass it up.  $299 for a couch?  Thats cheaper than anywhere else I can imagine and husband won't mind too much when I want a different one in a few years :)

I am  rationalizing the white color by buying extra slipcovers for the sale price of $40 each.  I figure I can get a few good uses with washes on each. 

Then I was catching up on my blog reading over at Pure Home Style and can't agree more with Lauren's philosophy:

"However, (and here's my little white bedding arguement/ rant: Some people say that white bedding isn't practical when you have dogs & kids & I couldn't disagree more. You see, I want to know when there's something dirty on my bed, not camoflauge it. I'm not saying that you have to have white bedding if you have dogs/ kids, only that if you do want it, it's great for germaphobes and people like me who don't mind washing the bedding frequently... "

What are your thoughts?  How do you deal with stains?  Do you prefer out of sight out of mind?

On a side note - I'm bummed that the Armchairs are already sold out because I wanted to copy this look found in House Beautiful's October issue. (We all know I DO NOT need anymore chairs :)

Before And After: Living Room

BEFORE

DURING

We knocked down the wall between the living room and kitchen

AFTER

We eliminated the creepy closet, added built ins on either side of the fireplace, exposed and 

re-pointed the brick

We exposed the original beams in the ceiling

The beams are still my favorite feature.  The only problem with it is that you can't have recessed lighting.  Tracks are one of the only options and I don't think they look so bad.  We butted up dark tracks against the dark beam and they blend very well.

We're still deciding on furniture placement and unpacking boxes. Hopefully I can show you a lived in look in a few weeks/months :)

I'm Back!

Sorry for the delayed posts folks.  It turns out that moving, not to mention unpacking, with a baby is near impossible.  And then you factor in the wait time to set up internet and TV....ugh.

To be honest, all the hassles with trying to get our contractors to do the finishing details has left a bad taste in my mouth.  What began as an exciting new project has left me just wanting it done, no matter what it looks like.  The bones of the house gave us many challenges throughout the renovation and I am resigned to the fact that the end result is not perfect.  Luckily, we approached this renovation knowing that it was never going to be our dream home so I don't feel like we failed.  It was quite a learning experience. I am not sure if I'll ever be ready to tackle a total gut job again, but like running a marathon and child birth - both of which I've almost done - I know I'll find myself ready for it again after a few weeks.

I'll hold back from pointing out all the little problems for now.  Maybe I'll do a post on "Lessons Learned As A Newbie Renovator".

Without further ado, I present to you the first before and after reveal:  The Kitchen

BEFORE

College renters lived here before we bought the house

 We added cabinets over here (see below)

DURING

A horrible place for a water heater!  We switched to an environmentally friendly rinnai

No insulation :(

So we added it (It DOES get cold down south)

Shaker cabinet installation

This used to be just open space (see above)

AFTER

 Disregard the fridge; it didn't fit.

 Riddling Rack!

More to come next week.....TGIF!  And Happy Weekend

Repeat Deal of the Week

Yes, yes I talk about these Moroccan poufs all the time......and I finally bought one!  I was so excited to see Gold as an option when I searched Overstock today.  I was looking for white, which they have, but I love me some metallic.

Hmmm......maybe I should order the white, too?

Only a few left in stock.  Go buy it now if you really want one.