Don’t Stop Believing

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For this week’s post, we are sharing the work we did in the kitchen. I thought that by now I’d be sharing a kitchen that looked much different. In fact, one week before the COVID-19 lock-down, we had contractors in our home and working up quotes for a complete gut and remodel. We thought that we would have an entirely new kitchen by August. At this point, our dream of a new kitchen this year is slowly burning down in the dumpster fire that is 2020. Here’s to 2021!

Let’s start out like we always do, with some very blurry, poorly lit before photos.

And here’s my blog post from 9 years ago…

This past weekend saw a flurry of activity at the money pit! I think there may have been 20+ people crammed in our house at one point on Saturday!!

On Friday evening, my father and I did a walkthrough and started to create a punch list of “things to be done.” This list is HUGE.  The list grew on Saturday morning when he went through the house once more with Jeffrey.

After a quick trip to Lowes and Home Depot, we realized that we were going to do a down and dirty (emphasis on the dirty) remodel to the kitchen.  So we purchased a cheap countertop that I find not completely offensive, a sink, a faucet, and other stuff that I can’t identify.  Appliances were also arriving that afternoon and we had a LOT to do.

Jeff’s parents, Jim and Sheila, arrived and along with Jeff and my father and mother, they quickly got to work. Work that is difficult, dirty, and sadly, goes unnoticed. Cleaning, running new dedicated lines of electricity, and reworking some very old plumbing.

By 10:30 that morning so much progress had already been made.


With cabinets getting removed, it was time to tackle the countertop.  For months we have speculated about what in the heck the countertop was made of…we never did come up with a viable answer, but one thing was certain – it needed to go!!

Next to go were the appliances. There are no words to describe that that old refrigerator smelled like, but there is a giphy that accurately represents my reaction when I first opened that door…

Out with the old, in with the new!

Jeff and I spent the remainder of the week painting the walls, the trim and the refinishing the cabinets.

It was really starting to look decent in there.

My parents were back in town over the 4th of July holiday weekend and we all spent the weekend, including the 4th working our butts off. New flooring, new lighting and more cleaning. We did a peel and stick floor tile to save a bunch of money, but I did splurge a little on a ceiling medallion and light fixtures. Not our dream kitchen, but it would do for now.

So that was exactly 9 years ago this weekend and not much has changed. We have new fridge and a few years ago, I was on the peel and stick tile train and did a backsplash. Not too shabby for $250 and 3 hours of work. It turned out quite well.

I hope that I’ll be writing a blog about our new kitchen sooner than later. For now, visions of double ovens and pot fillers will keep dancing in my head until they can be installed. I won’t stop believing that this project will actually happen.

Dancing on the Ceiling

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We are moving into the living room for this post. Once again, let’s take a look back at what we were working with.

It wasn’t a total disaster in here, so the work was much more cosmetic. I really wanted to keep this room all white, but add interest and texture through architectural details.

Starting at the entry, we replaced the front door. It’s a very basic door. The one I really want is about $2,000 over the budget, so we’ve just gone with something simple from Lowe’s.

We also added new trim around the frame of the front door. The glass was missing above the door and our goal is to replace it with a stained glass piece. Just haven’t found the right one yet.

Next up, the radiator that greets you as you enter this room. It was necessary, but not nice to look at. In just a few days, Jeff and my father built a cover that fits like a glove. It also made this area feel more like an entry.

Just 2 weeks ago, we made a long-awaited update to this radiator cover, a marble top. Only 2 days after a quick trip to A & S Tile to select the piece, it was ready and installed. I LOVE it! We are not done with this area yet. We’ve got more plans and will share them once they come to life.

Earlier I mentioned that I wanted to add texture to this room. We did this in a few different ways. First, to add texture, we added applied moldings to all of the walls. What a difference this made.

For a hot second, I was going to do a stencil inside each panel. I did a few and hated it. It was just too trendy and it pulled the focus away from the moldings themselves.

Applied moldings just add so much sophistication to this room. Lord knows it’s occupants don’t ; )

A second architectural element we added was a decorative ceiling medallion. I found this great one at Architectural Depot. I had a black chandelier from IKEA that we simply spray painted white. The medallion really helped elevate this light fixture and it was much cheaper than purchasing a new chandelier.

That’s not the only thing we did to the ceiling. In interior design, the ceiling is often referred to as the 5th wall and it shouldn’t be ignored. In our master bedroom, we painted the ceiling the same color as the walls to draw the eye up and to make the white tray stand out even more.

In this room, we went with wallpaper. Yup – I wallpapered the ceiling. Well, I didn’t do the actual work – I just picked out the paper! Thibault came through again. Because I saved money on the lighting, I was able to spend a little more on this fabulous paper.

The floors were in surprisingly good shape with the exception of just a few minor spots. We had them refinished and stained several shades darker. We had arranged for them to be done while we were on a trip to Paris. Four hours before we left for the airport, we got the couch stuck in the stairwell trying to move it. Seriously…

We have since figured out that by simply putting the couch on it’s end, it moves seamlessly between rooms.

I never wanted to leave Paris, but we came home to these GORGEOUS floors. They made being home from vacation a little easier.

If you take a close look at that photo, you’ll see that I may have been going through an “owl phase.” There are 9 owls on that mantel. When I do something, I really do it. Sometimes that’s not such a good thing. I’m now over the owls.

At one point, I got bored with the white in here and I actually painted the entire room on a Friday afternoon. This only lasted 2 days. It was back to white before the weekend was over. (I used to have quite a lot of time on my hands…)

You’ll notice that the fireplace surround is brown in this photo. One quick, cheap project that changed the look of the surround was adding peel and stick tile. One day, I’ll spring for marble. Until then, this will have to do. When I did this peel and stick tile was a new product. You can find it everywhere now and it’s a great money saver and super easy to install.

We recently did something that I swore would never do in this room, but I am apparently the Queen of Never Say Never.

That’s Jeff installing the mounting for a TV to go over the fireplace.

When I told my mother what was happening, she said aloud the words I hadn’t yet been able to utter, “What about Christmas?” Yes. Christmas. I go a little crazy at Christmas and I love decorating this mantel.

I guess I’m going to need to get a little creative this Christmas. I’m thinking about just wrapping it up like a big present. I’m sure Jeff would love that!

So here’s what this room looks like today. The owls are gone, but baskets of toys keep popping up. It is NEVER this clean and tidy, but it does fulfill its purpose. A whole lotta life happens in this living room.

What’s next – I really do want a new chandelier. Here are a few I have my eye on.

We also plan to install a section of tile near the entryway. Something with marble to coordinate with the new radiator top. There’s talk of adding a pilar to the radiator cover as well. I know that my father is just dying to start yet another project and I don’t want let him down.

If any of these projects happen, I’ll be sure to share them with you all on this little blog.