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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Pinterest-Kitchen Inspiration

This week I am dreaming about my kitchen.  Can you tell I love white cabinets?
I am really in love with the subway tiles and the butcherblock countertops.













Source: houzz.com via Jennifer on Pinterest














Source: bhg.com via Jennifer on Pinterest


That sink is awesome eventhough I really want an undermount.

I think we are going to take our cabinets all the way to the ceiling.

The blue subway tiles are pretty cool too.  Look more butcherblock. 

I love the glass cabinets.  I wonder if I could keep my cabinets neat enough to pull this off?




Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Kitchen Remodel Progress

Harper and I went camping last weekend with her Brownie Troop.  I have no decent photographs that document the trip though.  My lens was fogging up and then my battery died.  I checked it before we left so I am not sure what happened.  Ugh.  Oh well, I was busy tending to 6 little girls so photography was not a high priority.

The weather was awesome this weekend, so the kids spent a good portion of the day Sunday outside on their skateboards.  Aren't they cute?

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While I was away camping, Mitch met with a firend of ours who is an interior designer.  She is going to put together some plans for us.  I am so ready to have a plan in place so we can get this project moving.  The other designers presented us with a proposal, but the price was a little more than we were wanting to spend.

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Mitch was pretty busy too with baseball, watching Miller, and meeting with our friend.  He did manage to do some adjustments on the door, put on a coat of paint, and start drywalling. 
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I told you it was going to be a slow process.  Hopefully my documentation of the remodel won't bore you all to tears.  My goal for this week is to do some decluttering and cleaning out.  Maybe I will actually be able to get to my sewing machine.  Right now it is buried under a bunch of junk. 

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Pinterest- Mason Jars

Mason jars can be so charming as well as functional.  This week I am featuring some of my favorite mason jar pins.

Isn't this so romantic?



I think this would be a perfect way to have an indoor herb garden this winter.


I really need to try this. 


This is also on my to-do list.


I think this is a great way to organize random stuff around the house.



I just love the look of the spray painted jars.


I think this would be a perfect way to drink my daily green smoothie.


So what have you been pinning this week?

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Kitchen Remodel- Week 1

I have nothing crafty to show this week. Between the kitchen remodel and reading the Hunger Games series, I have not even touched my sewing machine. Has any one else read the Hunger Games? I really didn't want to read it, but my husband talked me into it.  Of course he was right.  The books are really good.

 I do have some pictures to show of the kitchen remodel progress.  My husband was able to make new steps for the landing.

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Then he made the opening for the door. Bailey likes having multiple ways to exit the house.

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Here's the view from our family room.

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Then he was able to get the door in on Sunday.

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Here's what it looks like from the garage side.

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We also met with some designers on Friday afternoon.  They actually thought that we should keep the parquet floors and refinish them.  They said that they have seen them stained a dark espresso color that looked really good.   Even though I had my mind set on real hardword or bamboo, I am all for reusing.  So I am excited that this is an option.  They are supposed to came back out for some measurements so that they can write up a plan for us, but I am not sure if it will actually happen.  They did not seem overly anxious to work on such a small project, especially since Mitch is going to do a good part of the work.  I guess we will just have to see what happens.  We also have a friend that was an interior design major coming over this weekend to give us some advice.  I am ready to have a definite plan in place so we can get to work. 

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Kitchen Remodel Phase 1

We live in a single story ranch home that was built in the 1970's.  We painted the cabinets, walls, and replaced the countertops about 7 years ago.  We did the countertops ourselves.  We used granite tiles and wood trim painted black.  It gave the space an updated look, but over time the wood is always getting knicked and always looks like it needs to be repainted.  The tile is uneven in places and has cracked in one place.  The flooring is parquet that requires waxing.  Let's just say I am most excited about replacing the flooring.  I know I will regret saying this, but I can't wait to be able to mop my floors. 

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About 3 weeks ago my oven exploded.  Okay, not really, but I was preheating it and I heard a loud pop.  The oven would not turn on at all.  So Mitch pulled it out opened it up and could not figure out what was wrong with it.  It was pretty old and not the best oven.  We were planning on eventually replacing it anyways so we decided that we did not want to spend the money to get someone to look at it not knowing if it was even fixable.  We put it on the curb and it was gone that night, so hopefully someone was able to save it. 

We have come up with about a million different ideas for the space.  Mitch and I are both very indecisive, so deciding on an actual plan has been the hardest part of thinking about a kitchen remodel.  Since we were still saving money and not actually ready to do the remodel, we were not forced to make a decision.  The whole oven incident has made us start seriously thinking about the kitchen remodel. 

Well, over Labor Day weekend Mitch decided that we would definitely be moving the door from the garage into the house.  We enter the house through the garage into the kitchen.  We are planning on moving this door over so that we have more wall space in the kitchen.  So he started building a landing that would span almost the width of the garage.  This would enable us to have a space that could act as a mudroom, pantry, and laundry room. 

Here are some photos of the progress so far. Please don't judge me on the appearance of our garage.  It really is out of control. Our original plan was to build a storage shed, but it is on hold for the time being.  This is our garage before.
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New sturdy landing. 
DSC_1367 DSC_1368-edited We still haven't decided exactly what we are doing, but I thought I would document the process here.  Who knows maybe one day I will have a magnificent kitchen remodel to reveal.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Pinterest- Healthy Lunch Ideas

Like most of you, I am obsessed with pinterest.  I thought it would be fun to show you what I am pinning this week.  I have been thinking about new, creative, healthy lunches for the kids. It has to be something easy and something that I know they will eat too. 

 
Sprinkles make everything better, right?




















My kids love sushi. 


I would like this in my lunch box.







Source: None via Jennifer on Pinterest










 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nice twist on a traditional sandwich.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Anything on a stick is sure to be a hit.

I have tried this before.  It works!


This is a good way to get the kids involoved.


I actually have this sandwich cutter.  I guess I should use it.

Mmmm.  Yummy.


What have you been pinning this week?

Monday, September 12, 2011

Organic Striped Baby Quilt Pattern

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I am very much a beginner when it comes to quilting.  I am still a little intimidated by the process, but I feel like I am slowly getting there.  I decided that I wanted to make a quilt for a baby gift.  I knew I wanted to use organic material, so I found this adorable fabric at fabricworm.com. I fell in love with it instantly.  I did some sketching, some math, and finally settled on a plan.  I decided to do a simple striped quilt utilizing the whole width of the fabric. I used 7 different fabrics.  I already had the Michael Miller woodgrain fabric, which matched perfectly.  I ordered a half yard of all the fabric except the orange dot fabric that I used for the backing.  I used 1.5 yards of it.  I would suggest getting 2 yards of the fabric you are going to use for the backing though.  I had absolutely no wiggle room with the 1.5 yards.  I also had a yard of the woodgrain fabric so I used it for the binding. 

Here's the breakdown:
1 yard of the fabric that will be used as binding and for stripes
2 yards of fabric for backing and stripes
5 half yard cuts of various coordinating fabric

Finished Quilt Size: 40" x 50"
I wanted the stripes to be random widths.  I labeled the photo so that you can see the measurement of each stripe.  I used the width of the fabric selvedge to selvedge.  Then once the fabric was cut I trimmed the selvedge off and made sure they were all the same size.  The ended up being about 40" wide.

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I pieced the quilt top together.  Then I realized that I did not quite have enough for the backing so I added a stripe towards the bottom.  If you use 2 yards of fabric, you should be able to have the whole back solid though.
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Then I basted the top, batting, and backing together and quilted it. I lined up my walking foot on each of the seams and quilted along each side.

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I used a 2.5" strip for the binding.  I sewed the binding to the back by hand.  I really like how it turned out.  
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