Wordless Wednesday

 

Kitchen ReDo

I have been more than distracted lately. As you may have read previously we've been working on updating our kitchen. We bought a farmhouse complete with a farm kitchen, but it was just too dark and dirty.

We decided that New Years weekend would be a great time to begin since we had a few extra days off work. It felt like we barely even started that weekend. All it seemed like we did was peel endless amounts of wallpaper. Thank the Good Lord only half the kitchen was wallpapered. Removing wallpaper is such a mess!

The stuff  below helped a lot with getting the remainder of the glue off.
                                          

I found myself coming home after work night after night refinishing cabinets until the wee hours of the night. On top of this redo I've been having health problems. I've been trying my best to stay positive and go on with life as normal but it's been tough. I've developed a large, complex ovarian cyst that has been causing a great deal of discomfort. I was referred to an Oncologist. I've been battling lots of emotions and thoughts. Thankfully I've not been alone in the battle. I'll be going in for surgery on the 31st. Even though this redo took a little longer than planned and it was LOTS of work. I'm so thankful we did it and we're pretty much done except for all the little details like artwork and such.

Can you believe these pictures?

Our goal was to brighten up the space. We're thrilled with the results! It's not like we have tons of experience with this kind of stuff, so we're pretty proud of our work.

The picture above is the eat in part of the kitchen, aka dinning room. I'm still in shock that the previous owners left us that 8ft solid wood farm table. I'll never forget the owner saying, "are you sure it's okay if we leave this table, I know it's probably not your style?" In that moment I held back a squeal of excitement. That table was love at first sight and I can't imagine the space with out it.

We saved a lot of money by keeping the appliances and counter tops the same. Refinishing the cabinets was such a roller coaster. It was a 4 step process that didn't start out looking that great. I was very nervous wondering what I would do if I didn't like it. I ended up refinishing all the cabinets because my husband said I had the "touch" and the finish needed to be consistent. I'm wondering if that was just an excuse? At least he did all the tall person stuff and actually put all the cabinets and new hardware back in place.

I chose to have 3 different drawer pulls from the rest, a spoon, fork & knife. I'm looking forward to someone asking where the forks are. Then I can direct them to the fork drawer!

I'll have to share more details on the cabinets later. So what do you think of the redo?

Keeping Tabs

Where does the time go? I've been planing this post in my head for quite some time but I just haven't been able to carve out time to actually write it. I'm humbled that even when this space is silent there are still new followers. I appreciate you all so much!

I'm hoping that by now you have your 2013 calendar and have already started writing down important dates and things to remember. I love keeping tabs and staying organized. I could spend entirely too long setting up a calendar for the year and of course waaayyyy too long looking at all the pretty calendars and deciding which one to get.

Lucky for me last year I discovered a blog by the name of Design Crush. Every year Kelly hosts a Calendar Swap. People from around the world send in their contact information and then she sets up matches. Kelly shares ideas for calendars on her blog and this year she created a Pinterest board for all of us to follow and pin calendars to.

It's always so fun to learn about the person you were set up with and anticipate the calendar you will receive in the mail. Last year I decided to make a perpetual calendar for my swapmate. I'm still planning on making one for myself but haven't got around to it yet. You can never have too many calendars right?

This year my swapmate sent me TWO calendars! How awesome is that!?! These were not just typical calendars though. Truly they are works of art and a labor of love. I feel so blessed.

The first calendar was made by my swap-mate herself and her amazing press, which you can read a little about here.

This calendar inspires you to keep writing and gives you a different theme to write a letter about each month. Isn't it so creative and beautiful? If you're interested in finding out more about Melanie's other letterpress items you can go to her website at greymoggie.com

Melanie also teaches letterpress workshops at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center and she sent me the calendar that they put together. All proceeds from the calendar go to help maintain the studio and equipment.

Now this calendar is AMAZING.

I absolutely adore that each month is different and unique to the artist that created it.
March is one of my favorites. Save a spider day makes me laugh.

Of course I LOVE November. It's like they created it with me in mind.

I'm so thrilled with these calendars and impressed by the quality! I'm looking forward to enjoying them all year long.

Have you ever participated in a swap of some sort before? If so what kind?  I would love to host a swap here on the blog, what would you be interested in swapping? 

 

Wordless Wednesday

NYC

Many of you probably spent New Year's watching the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of your own home. Have you ever been to New York City? I can't imagine actually being in Times Square to watch the ball drop.  I much prefer to be in my warm house, in my cozy pajamas, drifting in and out of sleep.

We went to New York City for the first time the day after Thanksgiving, what's that called?, Oh BLACK FRIDAY. Yeah I know probably another crazy day to visit for the first time. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be though. No we didn't wake up at an ungodly hour with the plan to shop. We just wanted to see the city because we never had before. This was my glimpse of the New Years Ball.

It looked so tiny way up there! New York City really transforms at night.

Times Square in particular was packed.

After seeing Times Square on a pretty typical night I decided that watching the ball drop in person was not an adventure I would like to go on. 

My expectations weren't very high since I don't consider myself a city loving person. Crowds of people aren't really my favorite thing either. We went with my sister-in-law and her husband. I love them. I wish they lived closer.

Where we live now in PA is not very far from NYC, so we drove to Staten Island and took the ferry. It's free and has great views.

 We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was beautiful.

Getting off the ferry puts you in the financial district which is not as crowded and eases you into the madness. We didn't really have a solid plan, which was good and bad. There was so much to see and explore, one day is definitely not enough.

NYC is beautiful in it's own way, it really took me by surprise. The contrast between the old and the new.  There are lots of natural elements too. It will be fun to go back in the spring.

There were so many interesting architectural details. It was hard to take everything in and capture all that I wanted to.

Seeing the site of 9-11 was very sobering. St. Paul's Chapel across from the site is definitely a place worth visiting.

 There is so much history in that place.

May this New Year bring you HOPE and be full of blessings. I'm humbled that you read my blog and am thankful for my newest followers.

 

I'm excited to see what this year will bring. I already know that a new kitchen is in the works. I've been working on it non-stop the last 4 days. The goal is to brighten the space up. I think it's working. The difference is already HUGE.