The new kitchen (long and rambling)

Sorry, this entry is kinda long and almost pointless, unless you are interested in remodeling kitchens....

Today my mom and I went down to finalize the soapstone counter top we are getting for the kitchen.  I say we because apparently I represent dad's interests in the kitchen design, so I get to have input (and he doesn't).  Its actually kind of stressful, in a weird way.  I don't live here, and this isn't my money that we are spending on the kitchen, but I still have a big say in what its going to look like.  But its more than that.  This is our last ditch effort to raise the value of the house so that it wont be knocked down.  Its a beautiful 1950 Ranch, 4 bed (yeah, that cold attic is actually a bedroom... thats on the list of repairs haha) 2.5 bath house.  It has a study, a split level finished basement, a family room, "formal" living room with gas fireplace, hardwood floors and a big lot.  But, its on the cusp of being a tare down.  It kinda hurts my heart.  I guess I dont get the need to have the GIGANTIC homes that people seem to want around here.  Why on earth (unless you have a lot of kids) would you have a 7 bedroom home!?  And the thing is, the master bedrooms in these homes are HUGE, but the other bedrooms are really small.  Which makes no sense to me.  Sure, adults in the home share (traditionally) the master, so it should be bigger.  But kids are in their rooms a lot more.  (Well, I was) And no, I am not talking about punishment... but quite play time,  studying, reading, day-dreaming.  I want my kids to have more than a small closet like room to do all this in.

In all seriousness, the fact that we are increasing the value of the house isnt the only reason we are putting in a new kitchen.  The old one was falling apart- water damage, broken cabinets, and in desperate need of a new counter top.  But, as far as homes go, a new kitchen is a good investment. 


In my next life, I will be a home flipper and a real estate agent I think... haha

Decorating and such

OOOO art!



While I was in NC, my mom had the house painted (interior - the exterior is that vinyl stuff).  I picked the color, a lilac, because it went better with our new rugs, which are a yellowy/beige-y color).  Its awesome (my room used to be this awesome blue color so I had to pick an equally awesome new color) ANYWAY, they took down all my pictures/shit that was on the walls, so now I have to hang it.  New house rules is that because my room is the "guest room" everything on the walls has to be in a frame (I dont know if we are going to have any "guests" but better safe then sorry).  So, no crazy bulitin board (sad face) and no silly random pictures (those are all down in NC anyway).  But now I have to figure out where to hang all these things... and should I hang all of them?

ok  so I have 6 awesome, professionally framed crate labels - (the top 6 on the bed).  Those are definitely going up cause they are cool.  I have my NAU diploma (the UNCG one comes later this month) and my Sigma Tau Delta certificate (uber nerdy I know) and those are also really nicely framed... should I hang them up by the little desk in here? (Linds- its the small this-end-up desk)  I also have a non-professionally framed, but still cool 4 year varsity swimming award from HS.  It was my proudest moment in HS, but its a little dorky, so should that go up?  I also have a HUGE crest that I made for my Letter Signs and Symbols class, and my brother has a matching one (you can see it leaning on the wall).  The frame matches the rest, but the only wall it would fit on is DIRECTLY over my headboard... is that too much?  The last thing on the bed is a poorly framed vintage reproduction of that french black cat poster that everyone has.  Its a cool print, but the guy did a shit job framing it (no mat, and some white shows from the edge of the border.... I dont think I will hang that, but I also dont know what to do with it.... maybe it will come to NC with me and add to my random walls.

In other decorating news, I am getting two new lamps for this room (YAY LIGHTING) which is a big deal considering my mom HATES HATES HATES lamps... I have no idea why, but its like pulling teeth to buy one and put it in a room. 

OMG how cute are these - I have a thing for branches and birds... I think I am going to get either the green or lilac (not shown) shade.  Yeah, these are totally from PB kids - we get ALL the pottery barn magazines, and these were in them.  We also saw it in person at the mall (I could not get my mom out of that store - I think I know where I will be registering for my furniture when I have kids - she loves the stuff).  (hey mine and my brothers bedroom sets are from PB kids as well - the kids furniture is a more normal scale than the rest of the furniture, which is designed for those new huge houses).

Ok, off to decide where and how to hang this stuff... and feed Symon, who is going NUTS.  Damn cute kitten...

LOUD NOISES

We are having the kitchen remodeled - its going to be almost the same size (everyone keeps asking if we are making it bigger... no, our kitchen is plenty big), its going to have soapstone counter tops, light maple cabinets, a built in wine rack, stainless appliances and even a spot for a little flat screen tv.  I wish I had taken pictures of our old kitchen - it was pretty cool. We had it done about a year into moving to C-town - the old old kitchen was original to the house so it was all 1950's awesomeness.  My mom had a TOTALLY white kitchen installed.  White cabinets, white countertops, white appliances and white sink.  It was pretty cool, but the counter was completely wrecked from bleaching it (it was white Formica so if you spilled anything on it it would stain...hence bleach) the cabinets were starting to fall apart and it needed a new stove and oven.  So, we tore it out.

I will post some pictures of the remodel so far.  They had to do a lot of prep work because all of the electric had to be updated to make code, we needed new insulation in some spots and we moved the stove/oven so they had to move the gas line and the big power line.  Currently there is a wall of cabinets done on the fridge side of the kitchen (wine rack, 2 large pantries and space for the fridge) and right now they are hanging some other cabinets up.

Our biggest challenge now is the back splash.  Having a soapstone one installed will cost about $4,000, so we are going with subway tile.  Any suggestions on the color?  It needs to be light, but work with the dark ass soapstone (google image search it - its dark!) and the light maple cabinets.  Soapstone tends to have a slight greenish cast to it, so we were thinking a green glass tile, but I dunno.

Let me know your thoughts!