Martini Time

Happy Sunday!
Hope you had a great weekend! Only thing wrong with mine was that it was too short!
Isn't that always the case?
As promised, this blog is about the "Martini Room". For the most part, the room is finished. There is still an ongoing debate with Spousal Unit about my idea for decorative tile in the bar area. I went ahead and purchased the tile pieces on sale, and will let him discover them one of these days in the garage when there are not so many pressing projects at hand!
But I did find the large glass piece I knew was in one of the storage units, and Spousal Unit created shelf brackets and hung them for a bar shelf. I think that project turned out pretty nice.

We went ahead and placed the new refreshment center up on top of the bar. Placing it inside the lower cabinet was going to be too major as the shelves are permanent, not movable, and smaller than the unit as well. As a "Grandma Want To Be" I am thinking ahead that little, wobbily, short people won't be able to access the glass door as a toy as readily at this height which will be good. There are plenty of other areas that I will have to contend with child proofing....well, some day...(sigh).

This is a view of the opposite end of the room from the bar. The backdoor is to the right. The doorway on the left is to the kitchen. I have had two different friends ask me if the black shelf unit is the same one we had in the old house. It is so interesting how different paint, furniture placement, lighting, flooring can all influence the look of a room. Without spending a dime, just move around the furniture, decorations, or change a rug or lamp for a whole new look! It works!

This is the full view of the bar end of the room. I think the table and chairs placement in front is useful, yet lends to easy foot traffic from room to room, and to the backyard. In this picture, you can see a couple of my little ghosts I made for Halloween. I told Little Miss A the other night, that this house finally feels like home. Of course actually living here for a couple of weeks began the process, but my taking the time to decorate the house for fall/Halloween really worked for me. And of course for me....entertaining makes it feel like home, and I have started doing that as well. Love it!

This view is from the back door area looking back toward the kitchen/hearth room. As you can see, Spousal Unit did get a TV into this room. And, last Thursday we had extended family over for dinner and we had the World Series game on one, and football on the other at various times during the evening. I will admit, the crowd was very happy, and I was happy that neither TV volume level was screaming loud. I have a few more empty walls to fill in the room, but pictures and art has to find a home and sometimes takes a little time.

BUT....I did get my super heavy, flea market mirrors hung in the Hearth Room, and I am happy happy! I will show you those next time!

AND.....Ray bought a house! She closed on Thursday, took possession on Friday, and the work has begun! I took all the "before" pictures today so you can join us on that redo as well!
Keep smiling, and tuning in!!
Deb

Island Time

Happy Monday! ( or Tuesday by the time I finish this post!)

Spousal Unit and I have lived in at least 10 houses since we married, and I can safely say that the heart of every home of ours has been the kitchen! I love to "entertain-cook", as opposed to "everyday-cooking" which is just mediocre fun for me! I suppose I can admit that some of my friends (you know who you are) would consider my attention to detail in my entertaining, planning and execution a little, well all right, extreme. I do like themes, but that is my fun!
The "Hearth Room/Kitchen" in the new house I have designated as the "Heart of the House" because it simply is. We had a vision of how this room would eventually be functionally, and that was the main selling point to our buying this house. And now, our dream is becoming reality! With the basement staircase relocated, we envisioned a large gathering island in its place that would be the foundation from where the entertaining fun would begin, irregardless of the number of people involved! (My philosophy is that a party can be a party even for one or two people. We will discuss this further another time!) Let me remind you of the before:

                          Looking into the kitchen from the front door when we bought the house.

                                   After the wall and the basement staircase have been removed.

                                   New view from entry area looking into the kitchen.

View from kitchen sink toward the island. The island is an expresso black stain with brown/black granite.
I am so very happy to have a gas stove top again! It is a dual fuel appliance with electric oven/convection, and the lower oven unit is not just for warming, but heats to 450 degrees as well.

There is a prep sink on the left end of the island, and the cabinet directly to the right is a double trash/recycling unit. The hardware is brushed nickel drawer pulls which Spousal Unit really didn't want, but got talked into...again! But thanks to a quick call to our personal family architect who just happened to be with work collegues at a party, we didn't use two per drawer, but only one. I like the look much better and "Little Miss A" assured us the size of the drawer could be maneuvered with just one. On a side note...why is cabinet hardware sold with screws that are not the correct size, and the purchaser has to go to the hardware store and buy the right screws?!! Crazy!

On the end of the island toward the front of the house is housed a bookshelf perfect for cookbooks.


Spousal Unit installed all of the cabinet pieces (with some muscle from RG, KB and Ray) and also cut, pieced, layed and grouted the additional tile pieces around the island. This was a very challenging undertaking! The pieces were extremely heavy and large to manuever. They had to be PERFECTLY level from every angle as well.  Even selecting the grout color took numerous tries, and eventually required the mixing of two different colors to match the existing...worn-in color. I need to commend Spousal Unit again, as his work was really exceptional. Don't tell him I said that AGAIN! Might spoil the man!

We are so very pleased with the final product of the island. We were able to use our bar stools from the previous house. Yeah! One less anticipated expense! Our other concern was whether  or not there would be ample and functional walk space between the back of the couch in the Hearth Room and the bar stools. But our concerns were eliminated with our first extended family gathering. The men were overly worried about the view of the TV from the kitchen side of the island, but this too proved no problem. I think Spousal Unit's choice of TV size is large enough for our neighbors to watch from down the block through the kitchen window! We are thoroughly enjoying the island every day!

The kitchen is nearly finished. I have these items on my "To Do" list yet to finish:
-a functional desk, wine rack, pantry-closet, and decorate the powder room. One project ALWAYS leads to four more!!
Next time....Martini talk!
Keep Smiling!
Deb

Reconnected

Happy Hello to you all!
I have not forgotten you, but my computer was down, and then moved, and then finally reconnected to the Internet just recently. I know you readers under the age of thirty will not understand but hopefully can empathize! I have Internet means on my phone, and on a I Pad.....but I am over fifty and know only how to download, upload and blog from my desktop!! Forgive my absence!!
Let me begin to catch you up!!

Old Kitchen Cabinets:
We last left off with my idea to paint the top molding of the old existing cabinets black to coordinate with the new cabinets being made. Well....Spousal Unit took the bait and painted it! Could it be that after 31 years of marriage he is trusting my judgement?!!

We both were pleased. The next step was to update the old cabinetry with new hardware to match the new.

                                                                      OLD

                                                                         NEW

                                                                         OLD

                                                                           NEW

What a difference a good cleaning with "Old English" and new hardware made!! We were excited for the new island to arrive. Anticipated delivery date was early October! We could hardly wait.

ReDo Sale Sept. 24:
Since the inside of the house was at a standstill, and we were not scheduled to move until the next week...my next idea was of course....open the house for a ReDo sale! For those of you unfamiliar, two friends and I have a business called ReDo. We scout garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, friends attics etc for interesting items to RE-DO, re-purpose, re-cycle, re-fresh, up-cycle ....you get the idea. It is also a creative outlet for my art interests as well. (For example, I make canvas art pictures from recycled paper rolls-paper towel and toilet paper rolls. Currently I am making fall wreaths from leftover burlap and recycled used coffee filters and book pages.) We set up our items and had a sale.

                                                                      BEFORE

                                                                       AFTER

Pool Shed:
Spousal Unit was bored with the sale, but on site giving tours of the house when he could. But then, it was just too nice of a day to waste, so he built a "pool shed" in the backyard on the north end.

He put to use the pile of bricks from the greenhouse shed floor that was unusable.

                                                               FINISHED POOL SHED

Spousal Unit had quite the bad back trying to complete this project all in one day! He amazes me a lot!

Guttering:
We also had to replace the guttering and down spouts on the house. We had mini-trees growing in the front gutter! We always rely on Martinek & Flynn Company to "get-er-done"! (That is their company motto that is on all their work shirts!) They spent a couple days before we moved in completing that job.

                                                                      BEFORE 

                                                                           AFTER

The Move:
We moved over a five day period. We had scheduled a moving company for Friday Sept 29th, but when RG heard how much we were paying each crew person per hour, he and his buddy KB wanted in on that paycheck! The weather was cooperative, sunny and unseasonably warm for Kansas! They loaded our open trailer and made trip after trip from the old house to the new. Ray was amazing! She could move a room in a flash! She had not started her new job, so her boredom was a lifesaver for us! They all were so awesome! The movers loaded up and moved the big major furniture pieces on Friday. We slept  our first night at the new house that evening! After seventeen years at the old house, it felt very strange. Bittersweet exciting! We have so many wonderful memories from living in that house! It was a such a great family house! Spousal Unit remodeled every single room, and some of them twice! I do believe it was time to move on! I have to admit that I was overwhelmed. Moving is never fun, but the amount of boxes we have accumulated over the years is unbelievable. Plus, the amount of sawdust and construction dirt that amassed in the new house also needed to be cleaned! We were really working hard, but it seemed like little progress was being made!! We would empty one box at the new house, and we would box up two more from the old house! UGH! I would rather be blogging, and I didn't have my computer for weeks! WHINE WHINE!!

Then we received the confirmation call that the new kitchen island was to be delivered on Oct 6th, 8am!! We couldn't wait to see the finished product!  Renewed energy was flowing!

So as not to overwhelm you too, we will start there with the next blog!
Hint.....I am really smiling....hope you are too!!!!
Deb

P.S. I want you all to know that I appreciate your support very much! Not blogging for a month, I heard from a number of readers, wondering what was happening, and encouraging me to get connected again! That is so sweet! I want to send a special shout out to my nephew in Brazil, my biggest fan "Fun C" in St. Charles MO, and the Associates at Miles!! Thanks so much for joining me!! Until next time!