A Taste of Summer

After the Christmas decor the simplicity of January seems a breath of fresh air. But...only for a little while. It seems to change to the dullness of a dreary and dirty snow covered lawn.

We had a big snowstorm that has seemed to linger for more than the actual week. Snow is still covering the shady spots. Tired of this!

It is pretty...for a little while.

But staying inside begins to take its toll.

A trip to Krogers was just what I needed to turn that wintry white into a little green.

Hydrangeas are my favorite. 

Just a welcome taste of summer on a wintry January Day!

What is your way to brighten the winter blues?

Snow Day 2016

We have our first snow in East Tennessee today. It has snowed almost all day and the flakes are getting larger by the minute!

Snow creates a peaceful quietness to our abode.

A different view of the neighborhood that we have called home for almost our entire married life.

Snow takes our world into a black and white with only a little color.

And creates a time for stillness. A time for sitting still. A time for thoughts and memories.

Working on the Kitchen Update

Slowly our kitchen is nearing the finish line.  The cabinets were finished the week before Christmas--and all through the house we were treating them very tenderly while the paint cured.

Excuse the dark picture as I was using the cell phone. I received a Nikon camera for Christmas so things began to brighten considerably!

The one thing I wanted to do was add board and batten to the island. It just looked like a box on the sides and back. I began researching (googling) island transformations. I wanted it to be a project that Mr. Spouse and I could easily accomplish without divorcing in the process (ahem)...  I did find some great ideas on Pinterest. A couple that I used were here and here. 

I went to Lowes and Home Depot looking for MDF and found 2 X 4 feet panels that Home Depot cut. There was a slight issue with the guy cutting because he couldn't figure out how to get them the same size. We did accept four that were slightly wider and used those as the baseboard and the narrower ones for the battens and top rail. Because of the cutting we did receive 25% discount. We needed two pieces so the total price was a little over $15. I had purchased a quart of paint from Sherwin Williams to have in order to touch up knicks so that wasn't an extra expense. Prior to working on the island I went ahead and primed with Kilz and applied one coat of the paint. 

It was a fairly straight forward and easy installation. The major problem was the nail gun kept jamming. I caulked the seams and then sanded lightly. After a final coat of paint I am calling the project complete.

We are having an electrician install under counter lights and are waiting on those to arrive. I really miss having that extra light when I am preparing meals. After all--I am expected to cook now that I have my "white kitchen"!

Before:

After:

The Kitchen Decision

After weighing the options between white kitchen cabinets or applying General Finishes gel stain and darkening my kitchen cabinets I decided the decision actually had already been made. Here I debated back and forth in my mind and knew that both would look beautiful. But the problem would have remained if I went with gel staining--my lack of light would be that much greater!

The next decision was how to go with the project of painting the cabinets. I thought about chalk paint. Some have done it with great success. But....I was afraid. Scared. Terrified. I was thinking I would ruin the cabinets and we would be in a complete mess!

It came down to hiring the project out. $$$. I am thrifty. I don't enjoy paying for a project if I think I can do it myself. But, my mother passed away in August. I was/am responsible for her estate. This meant I needed to go through all her possessions and pack, donate, store her things. I really didn't think I could take on the job of painting my own cabinets. (Good excuse--maybe)!

I found a contractor and he gave me a very reasonable estimate. Next, I had to pick out the color of white. Whew! There are so many colors/shades. I knew I didn't want a stark white-white. I wanted a warmer one. My contractor suggested SW Westhighland White. It proved to be the one I went with.

The original cabinets (version 2001) had gold handles and hinges. I wanted to pick up the colors in the granite so made the decision to use oil-rubbed bronze pulls, handles, and hinges. I ordered those on-line since neither Lowes or Home Depot carried the ones I wanted.

The doors were taken to the contractor's studio for prep. He would arrive daily to work on the cabinet boxes and island.  Yesterday he re-hung the doors and gave me my white kitchen.

 I do like the way the hinges, handles, and pulls really seems to be the jewelry!

I haven't had a chance to work on decorating and accessorizing. With Christmas in the works, I just placed a few things back and will play around with the decor after the first of the year.

The Ikea rod and World Market picture was a recent buy.

All in all, it has been a huge transformation! I have no regrets. I am trying to be very, very careful in order to let the paint cure. My contractor says it really takes about 2-4 weeks to harden. Now I am training Mr. Spouse in how to open and close the cabinetry using the handles and pulls. (We will see--stay tuned).