a little something for the kitchen wall

I think that spring is finally on its way! It did snow a bit overnight, but the sun is finally shining once again this morning. And looking at the extended forecast, I see temperatures in the 50's and low 60's. No more 30's or threats of snow - hooray!

(Sun on pachysandra this morning)

You might remember that back in January 2017, we had a pass-thru cut out in the wall between our living room and kitchen. To this day, on the kitchen side of the pass-thru, the wall has remained blank. I didn't want to hang just anything; I was waiting until I found exactly what I wanted. I tried various art work and even played with some plate arrangements (having Brian hold things up on the wall so I could stand back and see how it looked), but nothing ever looked "just right". I'm always amazed at those who can put together a room immediately.

I saw this wooden sign at Hobby Lobby and was immediately drawn to it. I thought this might finally be The One. I've also been wanting to incorporate this vintage iron shelf into the wall decor, so when I put the two of them together...

I think we have a winner!

You can see how this wall needs more though. And with the severe angles of the cut-out plus the rectangular wooden sign, it needs some softening up. So, my next step is going to put putting some plates - probably only three - above the cut-out.

Oh, hello Miss Clementine on the heat vent. By next week, she won't be doing that anymore. 🐱

~ Happy Thursday ~

mantels and windows

Having never had a fireplace mantel until recently, I've been playing around with decor. Why didn't anyone tell me it's harder than it looks?! There's a lot involved - scale, layering, color, balance and symmetry. I can't tell you how many times I've changed this up. This shall do for now. The framed photograph in the middle is one of Tim's from his BFA art show last year. I know it's hard to tell from my photo, but it's a photograph of a staircase and entryway. The shadowing and textures in this photograph are amazing.

There's just one little problem that you don't see in the above photo - but you'll see below. The mantel juts right up to the window trim. (Yes, we need new windows and trim, and we hope that will be coming soon.) So, that leaves the problem of hanging curtains. We obviously can't do so now, as the mantel is in the way.

The window is actually a double one and the room looks harsh without a soft window treatment. We can't leave the windows bare (if they were pretty) because a neighbor's house is right outside this window. So...any ideas? I thought of fabric Roman shades, but I still don't think that will make the room look soft enough, especially when the shades are down at night. There IS room on the left side of the window for fabric to hang down. I have some gauzy sheers that I was thinking of draping over a curtain rod above the window and then just letting some hang down to the left. Tacky? Silly looking?

View from the kitchen...here you can see the left side of the double window.

We're not the only ones that like the new pass-thru. Clementine loves perching there. So far, my glass pieces have been fine. Clem's quite dainty and has never broken anything.

I still haven't decided on any art or decor for the living room or kitchen walls, but I am loving the light that we now get in both rooms.

Happy weekend, everyone!

all done

The contractors actually completed everything in just four days! That was making the pass-thru, making a custom mantle, ripping off the wainscoting in the kitchen and installing new drywall, priming and painting the entire kitchen, tearing out the old range hood and two small cabinets above the stove and installing an over-the-stove microwave, painting the living room wall of the pass-thru, and replacing a couple of ceramic tiles and cracked grout in the master bathroom. 

I spent 12 hours straight on Friday putting the house back together. I made at least 40 trips down to the basement to get the furniture (nothing too heavy - I left the kitchen table and living room console table for Brian and Tim) and every item that was in the living room and kitchen. Because of the drywall dust, I also mopped the kitchen and living room floors three times, plus a fourth time on my hands and knees.  Let me tell you...I hurt from head to toe by the time I went to bed.

I wasn't able to get any decent photos until Saturday morning due to the continual dreary weather, but the sun came out for a few minutes and I ran to get my camera.

Ta-da ~ the completed living room pass-thru! It is amazing how much bigger the house looks and how much light now comes into both the living room and kitchen.

Other side of the pass-thru, as seen from the kitchen.

Don't the walls look totally different without the wainscoting? And no more blue! I know it looks bare and plain, but I'm actually enjoying the "clean" look for now. I want to change things up a bit with wall decor and want to make absolutely sure of what I want before I start putting nail holes in the walls.

In case you forgot what that kitchen wall (above) looked like before:

The completed fireplace. (Decorating not complete.)

The only problem we ran into was discovering some spots in the kitchen that needed paint touch-up and a portion of baseboard shoe molding that needed more nails, as it was arching a bit. We think they got a little sloppy near the end on the last day because they were in a hurry to finish. They had a new client to go to the next day. We had to contact the owner of the business and he sent the main contractor back this morning to touch up the paint and fix the baseboard shoe.

Was all this work worth the anxiety and stress? I would've said no in the thick of it, but now that it's over, of course my answer is yes. I'm just glad it only lasted four days. ;-)