Just pick a color already!

With the guys squaring out and finishing off that TV cabinet space came a very interesting phone call one night. Matt, our family contractor (who is AMAZING!) called one afternoon about that. He told me he put new drywall in to even that space out, and had the guys tape and finish it all off. I was thinking, "great so why are you calling me?" He asked me what i wanted to do about painting that area. I laughed. The downstairs to our house doesn't have a single stopping point when it comes to painting. You are doing the entire office, dining room, fireplace room, 2 story living room, up the stairs and down the upstairs hallway. I was like, "fine let's just paint it all...clearly it needs to be done." Matt said, "Great! Pick out a color tonight and I will have the guys start tomorrow!" What? It's 4 o'clock and I'm still at work.

I drove over to Home Depot and picked up what must have been 100 paint chips. I brought them all home and told Jay we had 20 minutes to pick a color and get over to Home Depot while there was still someone in the paint department. I found the perfect color. It was perfect. So great in fact, that my mother-in-law used it as the main color in their new house, and my mom is using it in hers as well. We get there and I hand the chip to the paint guy and tell him I need 2 gallons to get the painters started in the morning. They could figure out how much more they were going to need when they got there.

The older gentleman behind the counter kept fidgeting with the paint machine and trying to put my color in. All of a sudden the unthinkable happened! He dropped my only paint chip behind the giant mixing machine. It was a Martha Stewart color, but I couldn't remember what shade of gray it was. What's worse? This Home Depot was different than the one I picked the paint chips up at. They were out of all of the gray and white toned paint chips by Martha Stewart. He looked at me like he didn't know what to do. He even suggested that I just walk around and pick a new color! You don't just pick a new color! It took me 100 paint chips to get to that one.

He suggested all sorts of ridiculous ways of getting my chip out from under the machine. It's back was right to the counter I was standing in front of. I could see my little chip down there just waiting to be turned into paint. He was going to try to get a leaf blower and blow it out of there. He thought about trying to get 4 or 5 guys to move the machine.

All while he is attempting to rig a way out of this situation I grabbed a pole that you typically put a roller onto when painting high ceilings. I attached some duct tape to one in, and stuck it down behind the machine while he wasn't watching. Of course, I suggested this to him twice and he thought I was crazy. Dude! A leaf blower is crazy, this is southern ingenuity!

Needless to say, with Jay's help, we got that little chip out there with our ingenious idea. The paint guy was flabbergasted that it actually worked. Too bad we got stuck at Home Depot for an hour over a couple of gallons of paint though! Jay clearly thought I had lost it. And I probably did a little bit. But, I was tired of my house being in shambles, and tired of having dust everywhere, and the only thing I could control in my life was the color of the walls in my house. And dang it if the guy at Home Depot was going to stand between Martha's perfect color and I!

I still have my little paint chip. I keep it in my make up drawer so I always know where it is. I can see it every morning, and have given the color to several people.

All I can say is women are crazy! I know it and admit it daily. But, my husband, like every other good one out there, knows if momma ain't happy ain't nobody happy!

The During...

Once we talked to our contractor about start dates and what we were really trying to do, we had to start making some actual decisions. I usually spend a lot of time on Pinterest anyway, but I was pretty much on overload at this point. There wasn't a kitchen that got uploaded to that website that I didn't know about. You would think there would be too much to choose from. Not true. We are pretty good about knowing what is our style and what isn't. We both really like dark colors. Dark rooms, dark furniture, anything that comes in black. However, we don't have any natural light in our kitchen, and it's long and narrow, making it not very open. We knew that dark cabinets would make our kitchen look even smaller, and probably hurt us when it came to resale. With that thought in mind, we were looking at really light cabinets, and adding dark elements when and where we could. Here is part of our color palette.

I think our biggest struggle was the floor. I am just not good with flooring that isn't wood. We went to Floor & Decor in Roswell (also one in Atlanta and Kennesaw) to get ideas. They had these travertine tiles we just fell in love with. We didn't want anything too close to white since our cabinets were going to be true white, but didn't want anything too close to brown since we wanted to add elements of gray and black in the backsplash. Jay actually picked out the backsplash at Floor & Decor on the same day. They had 6 sheets left, and that is exactly how many we needed. I feel like it was design fate! I had to go to a tile and granite store in Suwanee in order to find the subway tiles that went with it. Another design fate was waiting for me there. They actually didn't have anymore of the sheets of tile, but had the dark grey glass tile in a subway tile. They matched perfectly. Clearly meant to be. They also had the right color grout that Floor & Decor didn't have. I would suggest if you are looking for flooring or bathroom tiles, check them out. Their inventory is constantly changing, but they have some great deals. We got the flooring at a third of the price that we would have paid for the same thing anywhere else. Floor tiles and backsplash can really eat a hole through your budget if you aren't careful, and this is a great way to save.

I also wanted to add some construction pictures. I clearly am my father's daughter about this. I think there is nothing better than taking a sledgehammer to a wall and starting over. I feel like it is a bit of a rebirth for the space, and definitely makes life less stressful. When designing for a new space, my dad and I have never let a wall stand in our way. Everything can be moved for a price! The top left is a picture of where the sink and bar top will eventually move into place. The top right is a picture of the cabinet we picked to fill that weird tv cabinet space in the bottom left. We also got rid of that awful curve in the top of that wall. EWW! We found this great granite at a local granite warehouse. Cheaper than Home Depot or most advertised granite retailers. The middle right is a picture of the new laundry room cabinets. Such a nice day when one day you come home to the bottom right, and two days later you see top left. 

What's next? Paint dilemmas!

Before...

Before I get into the details of our major remodel of the kitchen, laundry room, and downstairs floors, I thought it was important for you to get a background, the history if you will. Our house was built in 1989. Our kitchen was probably cool in '89.  But then again, so were side ponytails, teased bangs, and scrunchies. One who was cool in '89 would probably continue to change with the times. Not our kitchen. It was like a fanny pack at Six Flags. Cool in the 80's, but laugh-worthy now. Thank God that is a style that hasn't come back. I would officially give up on all things fashion.

But on the important things. The kitchen....

We had this white kitchen. The walls were white-ish, the cabinets were white (painted by hand as a DIY job at some point to cover the brown you can see in the bottom right corner), the counters were 4"x4" white-ish tiles, and I am fairly certain the floor was white at some point in it's lifetime. When we moved in it was a cream color and the grout was black. At least it wasn't that fancy checkerboard tile you see in the bottom left that graced our mud room. EWW! I am pretty sure the counters were a DIY job too, because they weren't laid straight and weren't evenly spaced. We also had those weird square lights in the ceiling. The face plates were on a spring, so when the light bulbs were changed, you had to pry the face off with one hand while unscrewing the bulb with the other. 

The brown cabinets were from the laundry room. They don't look so bad on the outside, but I felt bad for leaving my poor cleaning products inside there. They were probably quivering at the sight of the disgusting stains in there. Another big EWWW! 

At the top, center picture you can see the china cabinet/tv cabinet. I am not sure what it's intended purpose was. There was a cable jack inside the cabinet, but not sure if it was supposed to be there or not. No real complaints on that thing, but just didn't go very well in the space. 

Now, some of you may be sitting there judging me for judging this kitchen so harshly. "You should have seen the kitchen in our first house when we were newlyweds!" I get it. My parents walked uphill to school both ways too! The real problem with the kitchen was the cabinets and the electrical work. The cabinets were made of MDF. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, that is the "wood" that Ikea furniture is made of. It's great when you need an economical furniture option for a room in your home. Not great for cabinets that have been hanging there for 23 years. We couldn't really put our plates in most of the cabinets because they were bowed so bad. The other problem was the electrical. The woman who lived here before us had a "contractor" (and yes I am using that job description loosely) rig some lights above the cabinets to give the kitchen some more light. Great idea! However, he stripped the wires, and rigged them all together, and then stripped the microwave plug so he could tie the lights into that and they would light up whenever the microwave was plugged in. It was a fire just waiting to happen. 

Aesthetically, I just hated looking at this space that had so much potential. It was functional the way it should have been, and it really just needed a face lift. 

Next up...the design elements we picked out to really pull our new kitchen together!

Hiatus

If you regularly read my blog, thank you. If you don't, you may not realize that I have been on a bit of a hiatus since the fall. I was promoted at work to an outside sales position and no longer work inside an office. It's been great for my bank account, but definitely leaves me little time for blogging. Also, if you have been following for awhile you probably know I am not really a newlywed anymore. I feel like Jay and I try to act like newlyweds everyday. We still go out on dates, have drinks together, talk until the middle of the night sometimes, share our cares about the world. But, the truth is, we aren't newlyweds anymore. We are growing up, investing in our futures, and spend more time talking about renovating our house than going out to party. Because of that, there may be some changes in this blog in the future. Probably just a name change to reflect our lives right now, but you can still expect all of the same great DIY wins and fails, recipes I am using, and just updates on life in the Dub house!

With that being said, I am not sure where to start on my next blog post. I have so much I need to put on here. I DIY'd my little heart out at Christmas this year. I even started with the glitter 3 weeks before Thanksgiving. I wanted to make sure that when we put the tree up on the Saturday after Thanksgiving that all of my decorations were ready.

We spent a lot of time traveling over the holidays. It was Jay's parents first year having Christmas outside of their town of Duxbury, MA. They sold their house last summer, and have been living life by the beach in FL since then. We got to spend Christmas Eve and Day poolside with a cocktail for the first time in our lives. We then drove over to Seaside, FL to spend NYE with my family. We spent a total of 25 hours in the car together over 9 days. It was a lot, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. I think I truly found a new appreciation for my husband and both sides of my family over the holiday. Over NYE I made my obligatory New Year's resolution. I didn't resolve to lose weight like 90% of Americans do every January 1st, although I could probably stand to lose a few lbs. However, I did resolve to write in my blog more even if it isn't the most convenient thing to do anymore. It is February 15th, and I am just getting started. Maybe I am just the little engine that could. Slow to start, but hope to finish the year with a bang.

Jay and I added a new member to our family this year. And no, we are NOT pregnant. After announcing that our family was four paws bigger after the new year, I got a lot of strange looks. They all assumed we meant we were pregnant. NOPE! Still kid free over here. There is just something about spending Friday night having pizza and cocktails with the hubs that I am just not ready to give up. I digress. We got a golden retriever puppy right after we got home from our holiday traveling. Jay grew up with a golden, and has been asking for one ever since we started dating. Well now we have this little 11 week old bundle of energy who loves to chew on anything that is closer than 12" to the floor. She's the best little terror that has ever happened to us. It has definitely made me appreciate my 5 year old rescue dog Haley quite a bit more. She was much easier to train, and she's always been my little buddy. Needless to say, she isn't dealing with not being an only child very well. They get along fine, but Haley still wants to make sure she is my number 1 girl. She is!

Jay and I finally renovated our kitchen last fall. It's AMAZING!!!! New cabinets, new floors, glass tile backsplash, new appliances, new laundry room, new floors on the entire first floor. WOO HOO!!! I will definitely dedicate a couple of posts to that. Where we found our inspiration, products, and how to do some of it on a budget. Doing a complete overhaul is lengthy and costly, but in our case it was definitely worth it.

With all of that said, I want to make it clear that I will be updating quite a bit more this year than I did last year. I have quite a few projects planned for the house this spring, I have some crafts from the last couple of months I am going to post, and I will definitely be posting updates about Lily our golden.

Thanks for sticking with me over the last couple of months. I am officially back with a vengeance!

Birthday Celebration

My mom's birthday was just a couple weeks ago. I think she finally admitted to being 39 this year, so that's a huge improvement. Not sure what she is going to do when I turn 30 in 2 years, but I'm sure she will think of something. Jay and I went up to the lake house to celebrate for the weekend. She doesn't like to request a fuss, but enjoys every second of it when you do. Dad has a really keen sense of knowing what mom wants for Christmas and her birthday every year. He gives me a budget and signs the card when it arrives purchased, and wrapped. Amazing how he always knows!! So this year, I decided to bake a cake for her along with my shopping expedition. I have been pinning at work when it's been slow, and if you follow me on Pinterest, you know it's been slow quite often. I keep seeing these beautiful rosette cakes that make such an impact. I am not a huge cake person because of the fact that I just hate icing them. They are an OCD person's worst nightmare. That is why I typically stay with cupcakes that are easy to put a rosette on top of and move on. After seeing cakes with the same design, I just knew I had to try it.

What made this baking experience so interesting and worth blogging about was not the design. It was the never-ending process of getting it finished. My parents just had their kitchen remodeled, so things were a bit out of whack. I brought my KitchenAid mixer that my wonderful MIL bought me, since my mom refuses to get herself one. Will probably have to add that into dad's budget for Christmas this year. I mean, who can live without that? I figured she would have plenty of 8" or 9" round pans for baking, because they are the same ones I grew up baking in. WRONG! After trying to convince me to change it to a sheet cake I had had enough. I sent everyone down to the lake, ran to Target, and bought new pans. There was only one way this cake was going to look, and that was 9 inches of round fabulousness!

I have to say, the rosettes are super easy and I think they look phenomenal. Really classy and could be done in any flavor, color or style of cake. Just gives it a little something extra. However, it used a TON of icing. I used 3 - 8oz packages of cream cheese, and 6 cups of powdered sugar. I could feel my waste expanding as I made it. It also weighed a ton. But, it ended up feeding us after dinner, and about 12 guys at work the next day.

I just really love how it turned out!

Everyone in our house loves Red Velvet Cake, and what's not to love? So, for my cake I decided on a 3 layer Red Velvet with cream cheese icing. Classic!

Would love to try one of these again with another color/flavor, just give me a reason and I would be happy to bring something over to you!

A Bright Idea

Last weekend, I ran into a little DIY project I didn't know was coming. This wasn't exactly the kind of DIY I  enjoy doing, but I was pretty proud when we were done. To give you a little background, our A/C wasn't working downstairs. We have a warranty on our home, so we called them to come take a look at it. Apparently, our A/C hadn't been working since we moved into the house. The upstairs unit was working over time (this we knew after we saw the electric bill), and the crawl space seemed to keep the downstairs cool until the humidity set in this summer. The A/C repair man crawled into the crawl space under the house to check the pump. Apparently there is a pump that pumps out all of the condensation from the unit and away from the house. Who knew? Well, when the pump was put in, someone decided to strip the three-prong plug off the end, and rig the wiring into the furnace wiring to make it work. There isn't a plug in the crawl space, so why not? Oh, I don't know, it could burn the house down for one. Well apparently when Fannie Mae sent someone out to fix the unit, which wasn't even turning on before we moved in, the replaced some of the parts on the outside unit, and un-rigged the wires in the crawl space. The thing about that is, when the wires weren't connected, there was no power to the pump, and no cold air for the house.

So, we are told you can buy a new base for the lightbulb that is in the crawl space, one that has a three prong plug on it to plug the pump in. How hard could it be? We get down there, and it all of a sudden looks a little more terrifying. I don't want to get electrocuted, but I am also sick of sweating in the house. So, Jay comes down with me. I don't like tight spaces, or creepy crawlies.

This is the base that you can buy at Home Depot to fix this little problem. They sell them in the electrical thingamajig aisle, and they are only about $5.

After taking the base off, this is what I'm looking at. I knew the black wire went to the brass screw on the back of the base, and the white wire went to the silver screw. Thank God for instruction manuals. Then, I couldn't tell what the ground wire was, there wasn't a ground wire connected to the old base. Finally, after a little digging, I find that copper wire that is also a base. I have to saw, having an iPhone, and a father that is waiting at home for a picture in his text is pretty helpful. Jay and I were looking at each other dumbfounded! Texting from a crawlspace saved our project.

After putting everything together, and screwing the new base on, and the new light bulb in, I was a little nervous to flip the switch. Jay was hoping it didn't blow up, ye of little faith. I flipped the switch. pulled the cord, and "LET THERE BE LIGHT"!! I am so proud of myself!! We have cool air, a light that works in the crawl space, sore legs from sitting on my knees down there too long, a much needed glass of wine, and a little extra self-esteem. 

If Jay and I can fix something like this, you definitely can too. Electrical is something I never messed with just because it's intimidating. But, now I feel like I can do small projects like this one without calling someone (mainly my dad) to fix the problem. Ceiling fans beware, I am officially out for you now!!

Hiatus - It's All About the Sweets

As you can tell, I have been on a bit of a blogging hiatus. Between days spent at the lake, and projects around the house, I have been trying to figure out to be the perfect southern wife. I have pretty big shoes to fill. My mother is the epitome of a southern woman. Even though she was raised in Indy, she was born in Texas, and you just can't take that out her. She takes care of the house, cooks (most of the time) amazing meals, always has the fridge full of wine and chocolate, and can make a mean martini. My mother-in-law is also in the running for mom of the year award. Not sure what I would do without these women in my life. I'm trying to figure out how to become the women they are, while still maintaining some Southern Charm! I love being Southern. What's not to love? Words are as long as the porches we drink our sweet tea on. In my quest to Southern wifedom, I have been baking, painting around the house, and enjoying some time with my sweet husband.

I am ending the hiatus today with a quick look into some pink lemonade cupcakes I made this week. It was a new recipe, Found Here! They were really good, especially if you like the bitter sweet taste of lemonade. It looks like there are alot of steps, and ingredients, but it is pretty easy to put together, and I made a dozen of them in about an hour.

It felt really good to get back in the kitchen and bake. It's been a while, and I have to say it was pretty relaxing. I have some pictures for you too!

I wanted to try a new frosting technique as well. I just love the rosettes, and they are so easy to do. I can't believe I hadn't done this before. You start in the middle of the cupcake, and ice towards the outside. I used a Walton 1M tip and a large coupler. I had to do a couple of cupcakes with an exorbitant amount of icing. I think it's fun and that people need an excess of icing in their lives! 

Can't wait to share some more projects with you. I have a couple of small, and one big one on the way! No more hiatus for this southern wife, I'm back baby!!