Kitchen Project Underway - Appliances Arrive

It's been a back and forth with the appliance delivery. The online tracking said they would arrive on Wednesday, March 17th but when we called, they said that was the day they'd get to the warehouse in Atlanta and that they'd be delivered Thursday, March 25th. Tuesday, March 23rd the delivery company called to say they were coming Tuesday, March 30th. Today at 5:30 we got a call saying the truck was on its way. In the middle of a rainstorm. Oh well, we weren't complaining! It was great to get them finally.

(here's the space we cleared to put the boxes:)

(here's the truck that brought the boxes:)

(and here they all are in the kitchen:)

Going around clockwise, in the front left is the double oven, above that the range hood, way in the back the microwave, then the dishwasher and in front on right the gas cooktop. I put the green painting drop cloth down to keep the water off the floor. some of the boxes were pretty wet!

To see what they'll look like out of the boxes, check out this post from Jan 31st.

Coming next - hoping to have some cabinet installation on Monday and Tuesday. Cross your fingers!

Memo Boards, Magnetic Boards, Cork Boards...

Because our new refrigerator is stainless steel, it's not magnetic and therefore will not be home to the many and varied items that arrive on our doorstep. From party invites to school calendars, postcards to baby announcements, there are just some things you want to be able to see and share. So my plan is to make/build/create a bulletin board in the back hallway that is our pantry/utility room/laundry room (also soon to have a fourth purpose as the mud room/shoe storage area). I want it to be big and it would be great if it was part cork and part magnetic. To this end I've been looking for inspiration. Here are some of the favorites I've found:

House and Home magazine has a fun DIY video on upgrading an office supply store cork board with paint, trim and ribbon. Watch it here. (Wish it was embeddable!) Here's a sample:

Centsational Girl had a great post Friday on building a custom bulletin board - and she built both a fabric one and a magnetic one: 

Both of these sources are great ones as they have really specific instructions about the tools and supplies you need and step-by-step instructions so you could truly "do it yourself." I love the row of hooks Centsational Girl added below her fabric board and how she customized it to the space available. And I love the use of ribbon in both examples. 

Here are my favorite bulletin board inspiration pics from houzz.com:

amy_z's bulletin board inspiration

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Window Treatments

After looking at more pictures, I think we are back to roman shades for the 3 windows in the kitchen and powder room. The shades we looked at Friday were too slouchy (see them here)- the ones in the slideshow below are much crisper. Now to pick the fabric! What do you think about stripes?

roman shades

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Previewing the Cabinets - Part 4

We only have 2 sections left to talk about - the island and the part with the fridge and double ovens. I haven't drawn out my version of the latter, and the computer rendering is not great, since the space is so oddly shaped and non-standard so it may take a few days to get the last in this series of 5 posted. But today we have the island:

The computer rendering above is not quite to scale - the island is 6 feet across with the 36 inch cooktop centered on this "front" side. My picture doesn't include the hood but it's also 36 inches wide. This will be our main prep area so I'm hoping it's possible to have storage for cutting boards, spices, oils, and vinegars. The pots and pans will live in the big cabinet directly under the cook top. The drawers above that cabinet are not real - they'll hide all the inside guts of the cooktop.

The pull out for the trash will also include a recycle bin.

Kitchen Project Lighting and Fabrics

B and I had such a great time shopping today for the kitchen. First we went to Tallahassee Lighting, Fan & Blinds to look at light fixtures and options for recessed lighting. Wow there are tons of interesting lights out there (see for example the pineapple light at left). It was fun (and a little overwhelming) to see all the choices.

One of the cool things we learned about are LED recessed lights. Cree makes 6" "cans" that use almost no energy, create no heat and last for 50,000 hours! How amazing (and green) is that? Check them out at http://www.creeledlighting.com/LR6.htm

Here are some of the styles I liked for above the kitchen table:

  

The second one was MUCH prettier in real life - it didn't photograph well at all. The third one is the current favorite. It is a bit elongated with 6 cylindrical glass shades - two on each longer side and 1 on each end. Here is a picture from the manufacturer:

It's from the Hendrik collection by Kichler.

After the lighting victories, we went to Chrysalis Fabrics which was even more fun! We picked out some fabrics we really like. We have 3 projects that need fabric: Roman shades for 3 windows - 2 in the kitchen, the 3rd in the powder room; a cushion for the mudroom bench in the pantry/utility room/laundry room; and I'd like to recover my 5 folding lyre chairs.

Here are the favorites:

(The top one for Roman shades, lower one for cushion. The top is really cute when you can see the whole pattern - it has ferns and butterflies - everything is in shades of blue and green.)

(The top for cushion, middle for lyre chair seats, bottom for Roman shades.)

(Another possibility for the Roman shades... I like the red highlight in it but don't think that's enough to make it "the favorite.")

(And this pic is to see how my 3 favorites look together... not bad!)

This photo from Houzz shows what I picture the Roman shades looking like (shape and style more than the actual fabric):

traditional dining room design by san francisco interior designer Amoroso Design

Previewing the Cabinets - Part 3

Next we tackle the baking section. FYI, these pictures don't include the area for rolling out dough (you'll have to imagine that at a right angle to the left hand side of the cabinets.

And here's my drawing:

The top begins on the left with open book shelves. Since the lower section of counter will be 28 inches deep, it would be hard to get into a cabinet up in that corner, hence the shelves. Cabinets on the rest of the top, surrounding the microwave. 

On the bottom left, under the desktop there'll be a hidden cupboard for things we don't use all the time, next to that cabinets and finally 2 small under counter refrigerators - one for beer (which we need to get) and the other for wine (which we already have). The counter will run the whole length including over the little fridges.

Previewing the Cabinets - Part 2

For Part 2 of the cabinets preview, we'll look at the section with the sink. It's not drawn in this picture but it'll live to the right of the dishwasher.

And this is my version of the same picture

This is more of a think-aloud process - mostly deciding where we should have drawers vs. doors, and I think in most cases on the base cabinets we'll go for drawers. Not sure what I'm thinking with the single glass door up there... it'll probably be solid... but it would be nice to carry some of the glass door fronts from the other side to this side somehow. 

Dishes and glasses will live in the cabinets above the dishwasher. To the right of sink (in top cabinets) we'll have cereal, coffee mugs and coffee and tea supplies. The coffee pot and toaster will sit on the counter to the right of sink with bread drawer underneath as well as less used appliances.

On the left of the dishwasher, the top drawers will hold silverware and knives, with tall baking sheets in stand-up pull-out cabinets below. The other lower cabinet drawers (the blank spot there lol) will house rolls of wax paper, tin foil, etc. and small plastic storage containers (aka the tupperware).

In other news, B & I are going to look at lighting fixtures and fabric today!! Thanks B! The appliances shipped on Monday so they might be getting close to delivery now too. Yay!