The Kitchen Update

Hi everyone!  I haven't been around much lately because I haven't had that much to show you.  It's been a big old waiting game around here.  As much as we love to DIY, there are just some things we didn't want to risk doing ourselves in our kitchen remodel.  Plumbing was the scariest one!

If you remember, this corner of our kitchen that had these lovely toilet pipes coming from our bathrooms upstairs.  The 1979 soffits hid them in the old configuration, but the soffits were the first things to get ripped out when we started this project.  So...pipes had to go somewhere else!  Luckily a very imaginative plumber came to my house last week and was able to reroute them into the walls.  So, we went from this...

...to this!  Same corner to the right of the window.  I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to hang some curtains around that window in a few weeks!  The soffits used to come down to within an inch of the window top, so a curtain rod was out of the question.  Now it feels SO much more open!

And in the celebration department, you can also see that we've moved on to the drywall phase!  Yippee!  My husband says we are now on the upswing of this project, where things will actually start to look better instead of looking progressively worse.  Music to my ears!  :)  So here's a refresher for where we started:

We've removed nearly all the cabinets, and we're just saving that sink area for last so we can still have running water for as long as possible.  The drywall is hung and we're in the mudding phase right now.  By next week I plan to be painting my little heart out, and the following week is slated for the hardwood floor repairs.  After that...it's New Cabinet Time (might rival Thanksgiving and Christmas in my holiday rankings this year)!

I know it still takes a lot of imagination to see the beauty in this, and mine's definitely working overtime.  As you can see, I'm (perhaps foolishly) still putting flowers in the center of our table and trying to make it as pretty as I can!  But hopefully...hopefully...the reality might soon catch up with the dream.  I'll keep you posted!  

Cleaning Antique Rugs without a Professional

As I browse my Pinterest boards, I can see a definite theme running through my Kitchen files...antique rugs.  (Some may say old and wrecked but I prefer antique.)  I just love how they look scattered on a wood floor in the kitchen.

They bring so much warmth to the room! (That fireplace doesn't hurt either.)

These rugs in one of my favorite kitchens of all time may have started my obsession...Joan's from For the Love of a House.

It's freeing to see that these rugs are not perfect and not new.  However, it seems this design trend has taken off, so these rugs are often not cheap as well!

I've been hunting for a rug for our kitchen for the three years we've lived in this house.  It would be so easy to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on these (albeit beautiful) little guys.  However, occasionally I will run across one at an antique shop or Craig's List, usually priced to sell because of obvious wear and tear (which I consider a benefit, not a drawback!).  I keep my eyes open, and have never paid more than $100 for any of the antique rugs I've found.  Once I found a tiny one (around 2x3 feet) for $5 at an estate sale!  It was tossed in a corner of their scary basement and oh it was cute but oh was it filthy!

Because, of course, here's the thing.  You get these well-loved, beautiful old rugs, and they've inevitably got lots of well-loved dirt in them as well.  And if you go to a professional rug cleaner, you've effectively blown your budget...or at least, my budget.  And I just can't stand the thought of spending money on something I can do myself!

Case in point: this rug below was less than $40 at an antique shop in Lebanon, Ohio, where my mom took me for a girls' outing for my birthday.  So, so cute.  So, so dirty.

Now, what I am about to tell you is completely not professional.  Seriously.  Use my advice at your own risk!

Start by vacuuming all the dry dirt out, and if you can, hang the rug outside and use a broom or something (a rug beater?) to beat the dirt out, as must as possible.  Then grab some Woolite for Extra Delicates.

And head up to your bathtub.  Fill it with cold water only.  (Warm or hot water could make the colors run!) Submerge your pretty little rug in the water, soaking away the dirt.  Rinse.  Follow it with more cold water and a dose of Woolite.  Now wash it!  The method that worked best for me is almost like giving your hair a good shampoo.  You kind of massage the soap in there and scrub it around with your hands.  Work slowly and make sure you get each section.  Then drain the water and give it a good rinse with another tubful of clean cold water.  Here is a photo of my rug after it's final rinse, but before I drained the water:

I used a garbage bag to wrap the rug (so that it wouldn't drip) and took it out to my driveway to hang it on a plastic sawhorse.  Next I took my hose (preferably with an attachment so you can use the shower spray) and rinsed the rug, allowing the water to run clear and really get all the soap and debris out.  This is strangely therapeutic, by the way.

I left the rug to dry in the shade (not the sun, for fear it might fade the colors).  Every few minutes I would go over and squeeze the water out of the bottom as it collected.  An old towel is helpful to hold in your hands and help absorb the water while you squeeze.

After a few days, I brought the rug back inside and gave it a good vacuum to help fluff everything up after it's bath.  I have not noticed any color changes or bleeding, just a slightly brighter color palette since the layers of dirt have been scraped off.  And now the rug is clean and fresh and waiting for the rest of my kitchen remodel to catch up!

A few weeks later at another antique shop I stumbled across another little lovely, and gave her the same treatment.  She held up as well as the other rug during her bath!

And so, here's the thing.  This method will probably get me booed by all the antique experts out there.  And honestly, if I ever shelled out big bucks for an antique rug, and was worried about keeping it pristine so that it could hold it's value, then I would absolutely take it to a professional to have it cleaned!

But.  I've never paid more than $100 for any of my rugs, and most of them have been in the $40-$60 range.  They come to me well-loved and dirty!  And for those prices, I am willing to take a bit of a risk to get them clean so that they can come live at my house and we can all walk around in our bare feet and not get grossed out by wondering what might be in those things!

But please please take my advice at your own risk.  And maybe don't tell any professional rug cleaners about my blog.  :)

A Kitchen Riddle

Here's a riddle for you: 

How many people does it take to figure out how to move a plumbing pipe?

The answer?  Four.  It takes at least four.  :)

We're still knee-deep in ugly over here!  My husband and I have been saying how ironic it is that we've made so much progress and yet...it looks worse.  Ha! Let me show you the view I have every day when I do the dishes:

Peaceful, right?  ;)

But hope is on the horizon.  The electrician comes tomorrow, hardwood floor repair happens Thursday, and the plumber should rework those pipes and bury them in the wall next week.  Then we'll be ready for some fresh and clean drywall and paint, and (hallelujah!) new cabinets.  

I'll be back later this week with a side project I've been working on, a little gift for our new kitchen when it's completed.  In the meantime, enjoy my view!

Oh Lord Help Us, We're Re-Doing Our Kitchen

I promised you all I'd be keeping it real here on my blog.  Well, it doesn't get any more real than this!  We're heading for a major kitchen renovation.  I know this is weird (and maybe I'm just weird!) but I really love it when bloggers let us into the process of a renovation.  Because truly, as much fun as it is to watch Fixer Upper and see the whole house transformed in an hour while I sip on a glass of wine, come on!  We all know it's a lot more painful than that.  So now you all get to join in my pain!

Here's a photo of our kitchen from when the old owner still lived here.  I know it's not my style at all, but can you tell from this photo how warm the house felt?  They really loved it well, spent so many happy years here and raised their sweet family.  The house has good memories, I know.

My husband had the genius idea to break that wall down (the one with the stove on it) and enlarge the kitchen into the dining room.  You may remember we've already relocated the dining room to our huge front room/living room/library. (We really don't know what to call it anymore!)  The old dining room was pretty small, especially when we tried to have more than six people at the table, so this was a natural solution.

So here are my own personal DIY Show stars, all ready to break some stuff, whether by hammer or by...sword.

Starting to look like we're making progress...

And now it's really serious.

And this is about where we are now.  We had to rip out some pretty unbelievable soffits above the cabinets.  They just weighed the whole room down.  Unfortunately they also contained quite a bit of wiring, plumbing, and HVAC.  Of course!

Now we are in the phase where we try to rework or reroute all of the stuff that used to hide in the soffits, so that our walls can be regular height and our new cabinets can reach all the way to our 8-foot ceilings.  To be honest, this is the part that is hardest for me mentally.  I don't have the skill to do any of the work, and even when it gets done, it really hasn't made the kitchen look any prettier.  I just have to keep telling myself the ugly has to happen before the pretty can come!

One more thing to do...repair the floor where the old wall and cabinets came down.

The bane of our kitchen are these plumbing pipes.  Trying to figure out some way to get them hidden in the walls.  They stick out almost 12 inches and used to be hidden in those soffits.  Hmmm... awaiting professional plumber!

We are working with a kitchen design company to create the new layout.  I initially thought I would DIY, but I can't tell you how helpful it has been to have a professional involved.  I'm still selecting all the colors and finishes and design elements, but having someone measure things and tell me what kind of clearance we need around the island, where to put the dishwasher, work triangle, etc. has been SO much better.  We want to live here for many, many years, and I want to do this kitchen once and do it right!

And when things feel really slow-moving or frustrating, I just come back to my computer screen and stare at the photo that has inspired my remodel.  Photo quality is blurry, I am sorry!, but it's from an old Southern Living article a few years ago.  Ahhh...

You'll be hearing about this kitchen a lot, and I hope to pass along any tips I can about how to make it happen without losing my mind, or breaking the bank!

Williamsburg Inspiration

Well friends, I must admit...my determination to get back into blogging has been unfortunately timed with the end of the school year for my kiddos.  I'm so busy running around buying teacher gifts and planning ice cream parties I haven't had much time for blogging!  

So before May is completely over, I thought I'd share a quick inspiration I had last month when my family and I went to Colonial Williamsburg for spring break!  And just for the record...great trip for an 8 and 6 year old...not so great trip for a 1 year old with fast legs and grabby hands.  Hence the baby backpack in the (very unposed) photo below!

Williamsburg in April was just gorgeous.  Greener than my native Ohio, with the yellow and purple flowers just peeking out.  Unbelievable!

I know absolutely nothing about photography, but the scenery was so pretty that it made even my photos look good!

One day we (over) paid for our older two kids to rent a colonial costume.  This was SO much fun for Nina, our daughter.  She spent her time curtsying and acting very demure, as she believed a young colonial lady should.  It was so sweet!

Our son Henry was less than thrilled with the costume options for boys, but got really psyched when they showed him the hat.  The hat couldn't save him from a few 6-year-old catastrophes, though, as you can see below. (I think this particular one had to do with not wanting to walk because his legs huuurrrt!!!)  It's so hard to be Henry sometimes.

Eventually we did get him to smile!

The beauty of Williamsburg is just so lovely because it's so untouched.  I love our suburban home in Ohio and our little community here, but what I wouldn't give to live on a farm (maybe minus the farm chores)!

So I came home and gave my suburban home a little farmhouse love with colors that reminded me of our trip.  It's the little things, right?

I hope you all have a wonderful last few days of May.  Can you believe it's almost summer??

Remodeling the Basement, Part IV

Are you guys sick of my basement yet?  I kind of am.  I promise you this is the last installment of this series, but I can't stop until you've seen the rest of it!  Plus I think this part is the most dramatic change, so that's kind of fun too!

Here's a before shot of the basement.  You can see off in the distance that the left side (as you come down the basement stairs) was open, with a large structural pole in the middle (covered by paneling).  They had a pool table over there. 

We really liked the openness of it, but when sweet Vivi was born, we gave up our guest room to make her nursery.  (Good problem.) Plus, my husband Brent works from home, so he was desperate to have an office with a real door that closed, so that he could actually get stuff done if the kids were in their playroom during his workday.

I am so proud to say that handyman Brent did all this!  He built walls, installed doors, hung new paneling to match the old stuff, moved the stair railing from one side of the stairs to the other, built shelves...basically everything!  We hired someone for the electrical because we thought it would be better if the house didn't burn down.  :)

So that door to the right leads to Brent's (tiny) home office, but he claims he likes that room better because it catches some of the natural light from the other side of the basement.  My favorite part is that antique door.  We picked it up on Craig's List, sanded it down and re-stained it, found some new hardware, and then hung it on a sliding track.  It's such a tiny room that a traditional door would have been really hard.  Plus, we love how the warm wood of the antique door is the first thing you see when you come down the stairs!

Here's a slightly better shot of the office.  It's so small and the lighting is so weird that it's hard to get a good photo.  And I haven't found time to hide all those computer wires so it's not very pretty either!

Behind Brent's desk is a closet with some simple wood shelves.  I hung those curtains believing that they would actually close and hide some of the clutter...but they've never once been closed, I don't think.  Oh well!

The view from his desk chair.  My husband was (he would say is) an Eagle Scout.  See all those patches?  Maybe that's why he's so handy.  He could probably also tie some really cool knots, but we haven't found an avenue for that particular skill yet.  :)

OK, back out to the hallway.  Here's a shot of the old basement, with the stairs on the left to orient you.

And here's our new guest room!  You can kind of see the doorjamb in the foreground there, which is now the first thing you encounter on your left when you get to the bottom of the stairs.

I really wanted to make the room feel cozy, which I guess is good because there are no windows over on this side of the basement.  I didn't want people to feel all creeped out when they stay at our house! This inspiration picture below (from Ballard I think?) was kind of what I was going for...but I was trying to use what we already had in the house, so mine's not nearly as pretty as theirs!

It's not a huge room but there's enough space for suitcases and hopefully no one has yet hit their head on our drop ceiling tiles.  That door you see below leads to the storage room and furnace.

Antique dresser from Craig's List with some simple new knobs from Hobby Lobby to spice it up a bit!

My little helper in the corner!

I tried to add a lot of little lamps around the room, but kept the shades black with gold lining in the inside.  The gold lining reflects the light and is key for warm light.  If you have a black shade without a lining, I find the light to be cold and almost purple...makes me feel like I'm in a hospital!  So if I have a shade that doesn't have a lining at all, I've actually had good luck with using a thin bead of hot glue on the inside edges and some gold fabric and attaching one myself.  OR, if your shade has a lining already but it isn't gold, you can get gold acrylic paint and some liquid fabric paint medium (to mix with regular paint to create fabric paint) and re-paint the inside of the shade if it's got a different color liner.  Make sense?  I can't tell you what a difference it makes to the whole feel of a room!

Below is a scrap piece of barn wood on the wall.  We attached some old doorknobs we'd collected and then I just sealed the barn wood with some clear polyurethane.  The queen headboard was another Craig's List find, and originally it was all wood, but I painted the trim and bedposts with some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen (dark wax on top).

This is the closet off the guest room.  It was big enough to fit a work table in there, so now I can keep my sewing machine set up and not have to move it from room to room to get it out of the way! (Still I can only sew straight lines.)

Lots of shelves and storage options, but we made sure to include a spot for guests to hang some clothes if they need to.  Just have to move my gift wrap out of the way if they do!  :)

My husband rolls his eyes at the sheer number of little lamps I have all over my house, but they make such a difference for me, especially in this closet.  Instead of a teeny tiny prison cell, it actually feels cozy when I'm working down here!

So there you have it!  The basement is complete. Now I'll stop going on and on about it like your Great Uncle Merle with a four-hour slide show of his trip to Arizona.  :)