OPINIONS NEEDED — SUBWAY TILE

As I mentioned in the previous post, one of my plans for my tiny kitchen makeover is a beautiful dose of subway tile. Don't yawn just yet, even though subway tile is popping up all over the place, I can't seem to ever get sick of it. I've loved it for a long time now and it's my perfect tile match. However, as we've been gearing up to get it done I've had to make final decisions. Originally I was going to go with an offset pattern for sure, but since it's going to be too late to change my mind soon, I figured I should make sure that's exactly what I want. So here is where I need your opinion, option one, or option two.

Option One: The offset pattern. I love this because it's classic and streamlined.

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Option Two: The herringbone pattern. I love this because it's a little more interesting and unique and yet it doesn't feel like it's trying too hard.

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SERIOUS KITCHEN POTENTIAL

I know it's been forever since my last post, things get busy and updating doesn't seem as important. But I have had a lot of people talk to me about why I stopped posting my projects up here. So I decided I would do my best to keep a few of you guys as up to date as possible and post resources/tutorials.

Right now I'm focused on my kitchen and really trying to get it all wrapped up so that I can start enjoying my kitchen to the fullest. When we walked through our house I was thrilled that my cabinets were white. Once we moved into my house I realized that the brush strokes, drips, and off-white color weren't exactly what I had in mind. Which is why this kitchen needs a bit of an overhaul.

Here is my kitchen now... (Ignore the photoshopped faucet.)



And here are my plans for the kitchen.

All terrible photoshop jobs aside, it's adorable. 

Here is our checklist:

Install spiral faucet

Install Hardware   (We are going with the Audrey Pull for the cabinets and the Duluth Pull for the drawers. These were a big of a splurge for me, but I after a year of longing I caught them on sale for 8$ a piece and pulled the trigger. FYI if you're looking to get these, they're stunning but you'll need to order different screws. We had a few break off in our cabinet without much resistance. Annoying.)

Paint the Kitchen Benjamin Moore Gray Mist

Paint the Cabinets using Benjamin Moore Advanced Paint in White Dove

Install subway tile with a medium gray grout. (What are your thoughts on gray grout? At first I was undecided, but I am falling in loove.)

Install some kind of floating wood shelf.

Install Schoolhouse Electric semi flush mount light.

It's not a long list, but appears to have a big pay off, so I'm super excited.

OBESSION...

"Black is modest and arrogant at the same time. Black is lazy and easy- but mysterious. But above all black says this; 'I don't bother you – you don't bother me."

-Yohji Yamamoto

OR GO HALFSIES...

Holy cow! I loved the response I got on Facebook to help me pick my wall! Thank you all for your opinions!

However, I'm about to let all of you down and say I'm going in a different direction. I kept looking at all those color options and wishing I absolutely loved any of them, but I just didn't. I thought some were cuter than others... but that was it.

The next day I ran into this photo... from Crate & Barrel (Selling that floating clock)

Gasp! I knew had to have a half yellow wall! So of course, I popped it into my photoshopped hallway and sure enough. That dirty yellow was the answer to all my problems; wanting a bright hallway and my lack of color commitment. Not to mention I use pops of yellow all around the house and it could help pull it all together.

Love it or hate it? 

GO BIG OR GO HOME...

The truth is... I am a girl that is perfectly content with shades ranging from white to black. As many of you have noticed I'm content right there in my gray world. Add some wood elements and some warm textures and I am happy as can be. However, I'm trying to branch out. I figured that my garage entry hallway would be the perfect place to do it. It's a short hallway, but it's wide an spacious. So, I need your help! I want to do something bold, because I know I can always paint back over it when I don't like it anymore.

Here is a shot of that hallway from my entry door. I want it to look good with the reminder of the main floor which is light gray walls. So, what are your thoughts? Remember, none of these are the exact color I would use, but give a general idea of the direction! (Please ignore my photoshop job, obviously it's sub-par. Also, my carpet doesn't actually look purple-ish in real life. Again, sub-par photoshop)

LOSING THE WAR...

Imagine my surprise last summer when I found out Jake had drawn out for a hunt, seeing that I didn't even know he put in for hunts. While dating, he had vaguely mentioned that his family hunts on occasion and I had vaguely mentioned how much I hate the idea of hunting and that was about all that was exchanged.

At first I didn't mind... But as I realized he would be gone on my birthday week (yes, I still celebrate the whole week) and the cost of this hunting business my tolerance/excitement for this hobby started to wane. But it wasn't until I realized he was planning on mounting his first deer that our battle really began. 

I am a modernist. Hopefully there is no part of my home that resembles a hunting lodge. Meaning, there was no room for that deer. I was so bugged when I realized the most expensive piece of home decor I will ever have in my house garage is going to be a deer head. Here came the threats... "If you bring that deer into my house I will _____fill in with favorite option_____"

     a. Cover it in plaster and turn it ceramic.

     b. Spray paint it bright pink with gold glitter.

     c. Cover it in floral fabric.

     d. Paint a pattern all over

     f.  Cry.

     g. Sell it on KSL, for free.

Jake had a man room at this time, but it had low walls with an attic feel, so a large deer wouldn't have fit. And it wouldn't be allowed where women would judge my taste based on that dead deer. So it was decided, above his motorcycle in the garage would have to do. I was happy and I had won. 

The mount still has not been delivered. (Did you know it takes about a year to get those back?) It bought me some time in a deer free wall environment. But it's coming, and it's coming soon.

In this new house Jake has his very own theater room yet again, but this one has walls... deer size fitting walls. Apparently that meant that the deers location was once again up for discussion. Ugh, after arguing and seeing the bummed out look on Jakes face when I threatened that deer head with a can of spray paint, I caved. I hate to disappoint that man, so I agreed to let that furry dead creature into my home. Hopefully I can come up with something to make that room look good, right?

HOPE THIS UPDATE LASTS A WHILE

Wow, I really have gotten worse and worse at writing on here. I think the more I tell myself I'm going to write, the worse I get... However, today I'm laying sick in bed and can't get myself to sleep so I decided to update this pathetic thing I once called a blog.

I feel like so much has changed and yet, nothing has changed these past few months. We still spend our nights cuddled up on the couch multi-tasking watching TV and playing on our iPads but now we're doing it in a new house.

Aww, new house. We love this house. Now, don't get me wrong, our old house was a great house. Perfectly grand for someone with taste different from mine, but, it's hard to come home to a house that feels like it was meant for someone else.

This house, even though it's not modern and scandinavian and filled with sharp corners and cement goodness everywhere, it is headed in the right direction. The white cabinets, custom lighting and lack of wrought iron really get this house on par for my decorating taste. There's actually a lot of things that we prefer about this house... So here's my list of pluses this house had.

- Open-ish floor plan. The thing that's great about this plan is that there is a single floating wall that separates the kitchen from the family room. So no matter how hard visiting teachers may try, they can't judge my dirty dishes from the family room. It's such a relief on Sunday after church when I don't feel like cleaning up in time for the lovely ladies to stop by.

- Windows, SUNSHINE, so much sunshine. Natural light, something we lacked in our cave like structure we use to live in, townhomes can do that to you I guess. It didn't help that we were on the golf course and any time you opened the windows in our living area, many creepy men would be peering into your window to see what those houses on the golf course looked like inside. I now open my windows daily and love to have the sunlight fill the house in every corner. Jake would prefer I open them a little less because sometimes he's surprised when he's not fully dressed and walks downstairs to a fishbowl, but I feel like it's all worth it.

- Paintable walls, now I know that technically all walls are paintable, but I have a strong argument against that. At our old house we had this GIANT two-story vaulted ceiling that spanned across half of our main floor, kitchen, dining and living room. This wall was GIANT and because it was all open space, you couldn't just paint some, or half, or section of part of the wall. If you were to conquer some, you must conquer all. The thought of it would make me cringe, I couldn't decide what was worse, spending a few weeks painting that space, or hanging beautiful art against the peach/gold hue someone decided to put in that house. Luckily there is no wall too large in this house. Which has been fortunate considering the previous owner preferred powder blue walls in the rooms we spend the most time in.

-Under counter mounted sink- I feel like that's all I have to say.

-Master bathroom. Ahhh, now our old floor plan was pretty well crafted for the amount of space we had, but someone completely spaced the master bathroom. Our closet was larger than our bathroom. I'm pretty sure it was one of those things that the architects thought... oops, hmm, good enough. It was a glorified closet. Shower/tub combo and a toilet stuck right between the shower and the counter. Don't even get me started on jacuzzi/shower death traps. I'm 5'1, climbing in and out of that thing when wet was a hazard I don't have to stress out about anymore. We now have a rather large master bathroom with A SEPARATE SHOWER. It seems like a sweet miracle to me. I love taking a squidgy to that shower door, because I feel like it means that I've made it in life.

-My 5 minute walk to work that I usually drive anyways.

-Last but not least, the smell of air. Now, most people don't have to worry about their house smelling like an outhouse, but we did. We lived close by the sewer treatment facility. Some days you didn't smell anything at all, those were the blessed day. But then there were those days where if any of your windows were cracked you'd wake up gagging and feeling like you had gone back a few hundred years in civilization to when they would toss their waste into the curb. There were plenty of awkward moments when you would drive past the facility with someone new in your car and they would look over at you with accusing eyes and you would glare right back at them to make them feel self-conscious. However, that's all over now. Until I lived there I had never really noticed how a home smelt, now I do. And it's nice to be able to breath deep when I pull up to mine.

Overall we're really enjoying what this place has to offer.