Posts Tagged "Stonington Gray"

Memories… light the corners of my fridge… (one last kitchen post)

Posted by Joy on Jun 3, 2013 in Kitchen | 0 comments

I’m going to miss my kitchen.  A lot.  Yep, that’s right – we haven’t yet sold our house and I’m already getting all nostalgic for the room that caused me so much grief and cost me so many hours while I lusted over other people’s kitchens on Pinterest and planned and researched and obsessed.

But I now love my cute little kitchen.  The floors are no longer blue.  The countertop is all sparkly and clean, and I finally got my double sink.  I adore the Stonington Gray-painted walls, and my fresh clean-looking Snowfall White cabinets.  Plus all the other little things I did to make our kitchen feel like “us.”  I worked hard to make it pretty!  It’s now my happy place – many batches of brownies and cookies and other yummy things (made for the people I love) have emerged from this room.  And it’s where Sweetie and I convene each night after work, discussing our days while sitting across from one another at the island.

Let’s reminisce just a little, k?

Here’s where we started (image courtesy of the original house listing, not me!) with an ugly and rather greasy chair rail, ridiculous light fixtures, dirty cream coloured cabinets, strange gray trim, and a blue peel and stick floor…

Sweetie removed the rather random chair rail, and I painted the dickens out of my wee kitchen and we swapped out all the hardware and the obnoxious light fixtures, leaving us with this…

…which we lived with for quite a while (while I crazily stalked other people’s kitchens and planned and planned and planned some more.)

Then – happy day! – I laid a new kitchen floor.  Best.  Day.  Ever.

…and then (then!) we added new countertops and the fancy new double sink. Leaving us with our current happy (and pretty!) little kitchen…

Happy sigh.  :)

If we were planning to stay in the house longer, I would have put in a backsplash, probably in marble of some sort.  I’ve always adored FrecklesChick‘s lovely little kitchen, and I think a similar tile backsplash would have looked snazzy here.

But perhaps we’ll save all that for the next house.  :)  While I’m hoping that our next kitchen won’t be quite as disasterous as this one was when we moved in, we tend to buy houses with ugly kitchens.  It seems to be our (not at all intentional) “thing.”

So, just to recap (because I love a good Grand Finale!), this…

…became this…

…and this…

…turned into this…

Better eh?  I’d say that’s definite progress.  Here’s hoping the next family who lives in this house loves this little kitchen as much as I do!

And here’s looking forward to having a new kitchen to obsess about and pretty-up at our next home, wherever that may be.  Although I could really do without a blue floor this time.  (Just saying.)

My countertop conundrum (the big debate: laminate vs butchers block)

Posted by Joy on Jan 24, 2013 in Kitchen | 0 comments

I’ve likely mentioned this before (and, well, possibly several times) but there are two things that drive me a little wacko about my cute little kitchen: the countertops and the floor.

The floor is its own separate debate (that I’ve already chatted about HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE just a little HERE too.)  The floor is indeed hideous, and soon needs to be replaced (sadly, teal-coloured 1980′s peel and stick tiles just aren’t my thing.)

But almost equally offensive are my old laminate countertops.  They’re warped.  They’re chipped.  They’re scorched in a couple of places.  They’re, um, blue.  From a distance they don’t look completely awful…

But once you get a little closer, the years of wear and tear (and overall blue-ness) becomes a little more apparent…

Yep.  Kinda gross.

In a perfect, countertop-abundant world, I would adore new Corian or Caesarstone countertops, or some other sort of composite material.  Similarly, granite would be fantastic.  And marble would be positively lovely!  Unfortunately my (rather frugal) bank account has a bit of a say in the matter, and is dictating my choices just a little.

I’ve always lived with laminate countertops.  My mom had them in our house growing up (and recently replaced her old laminate countertops with gorgeous new granite-look laminate counters.)  Every apartment and house I’ve lived in since (including this one obviously) has also had laminate counters.  And I DO like them – untrendy as they may be, they’re rather easy to care for (no sealing, no worrying about standing water or red wine…  install, and enjoy.  Simple!)  Of course I’d absolutely prefer a snazzy natural stone or one of the new composites (oh, Misty Carrera Caesarstone, how beautiful you are!) but from a financial and practicality standpoint, laminate is a far more appealing option.

And, all that said, I HAVE found a laminate option that I think I could live with.  It’s a granite-y laminate called Ivory Kashmire, and it’s made by those fine folk over at Formica.  On the tiny little chip I nabbed from Home Depot, it looks like this…

Which, I’m hoping in my kitchen, would look a bit like this (from the Lettered Cottage)…

Or like this (from Made By Girl)…

Pretty eh?  :)

My other option would be the super trendy (and lovely!) butchers block countertops.  Butchers blocks seem to require considerably more care than laminate counters.  There’s the sealing.  And the oiling.  And more oiling.  And the paranoia regarding standing water.  And the oiling.  And while treating wooden countertops once every few months doesn’t sound like a huge undertaking, I’ll forget.  Guaranteed.  And Sweetie will forget to wipe up water splashes.  Also guaranteed.  And then I’ll end up with watermarks or cracking or whatever normally happens to shamefully neglected butchers block countertops.  And then I’ll be sad.

But, they’re SO NICE.  See?  I want my kitchen to look like this (from the Marian House Book)…

…or like this (from the Mustard Ceiling)…

Love!

I may, in the end, very well end up with both in my kitchen – laminate on the countertops around my cupboards/sink, and butchers block on the island (where its much less likely to come into contact with water, and could look lovely leading into my living room!)  Time will tell.  Until then, I’ll likely continue to obsess over both.

Because that’s what I do.  It makes me sound a little crazy (but, in truth, it’s sorta fun.)

My bedroom redo preview (inspiration for my wee bedroom makeover)

Posted by Joy on Dec 10, 2012 in Bedroom | 0 comments

While I’m busily painting away at my bedroom (since, having divulged a bit about my rather OCD painting process HERE, it’s pretty obvious that this won’t be a quick little project) let’s take a look at what I’m HOPING my bedroom will look like-ish once it’s all finished up.  :)

First, the colours I did not choose.  Our bedroom at our last house was a lovely shade of blue-gray.  I adored it.  Peaceful and serene and so pretty!  And I totally thought that a blue-gray hue was destined to make another appearance on our bedroom walls here in this house.  In particular, either Coventry Gray (which has always been my all-time favourite gray) or Stonington Gray (which is one shade lighter and beautifully graces the walls of my happy little kitchen.)

But when I tried both colours in large swatches in our bedroom, I wasn’t impressed.

Blah eh?  I mean, I LOVE both colours.  But they just looked a little lackluster in our bedroom.  A wee bit “meh”, perhaps.  I was sad.

But then – THEN! – I remembered Revere Pewter, another colour I’ve been in love with for eons and dying to use somewhere in this house.  And then I got all giddy and went completely insane and threw caution to the wind and hurried out to my nearest Benjamin Moore store for a full gallon of the glorious colour.  Yep.  Buying paint without first testing it on my walls is my definition of living dangerously.  I’m a rebel, I know.

But with a colour so lovely, how could things possibly go wrong?  Famous last words?  Nope!  Fabulous snap decision-making, I hope.  :)

(And, to my dear friends who know how I often agonize over paint colours – yes, that’s you Shawn – you should be rather impressed by my rather uncharacteristically quick paint colour decision making skills.)

I don’t have any in-progress shots to share at the moment, but here is the colour scheme (via Apartment Therapy) I’m going for…

…well, minus the nursery part.  There will be no crib in our room, and Sweetie would likely ixnay the pretty ruffly curtains, but I love the beigey-gray with the coral.

Yep.  That’s right.  I just admitted to loving coral.  Insanity eh?  The 80′s most definitely are back.  Minus the ginormous and absurd shoulder pads.  I hope.

What else do I love?  Coral and navy.  Swoon.  See?

I absolutely adore this bedroom from Centsational Girl.  I’m thinking that by adding navy to the coral, I’m semi-guaranteed that Sweetie will embrace my vision.  Afterall, nothing says “manly” like a little navy, non?

And can I just mention that I’d like these pillows (from Honey & Fitz) please?

Please please please?  Like, all of them?

So yes!  That’s the overall colour scheme I’m going for.  I think it’ll be pretty and fresh but still subdued enough to be sufficiently bedroom-ish.

Further bedroom-redo updates to follow!  Eventually.  (Since y’all now know how very very slowly I paint.)  ;)

The pea soup green slumber chamber (the befores)

Posted by Joy on Jun 4, 2012 in Bedroom | 0 comments

So I’m skipping a room.  The back/sun room is all ready for paint (and already had its own “Befores” post HERE.)  The walls have been patched, the ceiling has been painted, and lovely (I hope!) dark Chelsea Gray paint has been purchased.  It’s just begging for a good rolling!  However, that room is currently hosting two very cute (and not yet Jacob-approved) recently adopted kitties (the very kitten-like Erik, and his BFF, the oh-so-sweet Irwin.)  SO, while they’re vacationing back there for another few days (hoping for a full-fledged kitty-introduction this week) I’m moving right along to the second floor.  Specifically, our very green bedroom.

The colour isn’t terrible.  It’s pea soup green, alright, but it’s not offensive pea soup.  It’s just not me.  Plus there are some big ol’ cracks in the plaster that need patching, and I don’t have the name/make of the current colour, so I’ve decided to use all that as an excuse (not that I’ve ever needed one) to paint the whole room in a colour that feels more us.  (That’s my logic at least.  :)  The room will probably either end up being either Stonington Gray (the same colour I already love in our kitchen) or the next colour down/darker on that same paint chip, Coventry Gray (which apparently reads quite blue, but I’m ok with that – I rather like blue-grays.)

Here are a few befores for you (note: our bedroom is tiny!  Most of these are taken either with my back up against the wall or standing out in the hallway.  Yup.  It’s small.  But we spend the majority of our day in the rest of the house, so a tiny place to sleep is a-ok with us!)

(See the hope chest in the corner?  That’s the one I’m not allowed to paint LOL.)  (Not that I would anyway…)  The little white attic door behind the hope chest is getting painted as well in whichever wall colour I choose.  While it’s super quaint having attic access behind the knee wall, I wouldn’t necessarily call that door a feature worth highlighting.  (Although the previous owners obviously did!)

And see that little wood door?

That there would be our closet.  Please note: the closet is about 3 feet wide on the inside.  In total.  And there is no walking-in.  Nope.  None at all.  Sigh.  The closet door will be getting a coat of Snowfall White paint (I painted the also-once-orangey-wood bedroom door when I painted the hallway and it’s sooo much better.)  I wish painting the door also meant more closet space…  At least it means prettier closet space, I suppose.

(Oh!  And the ugly white ceiling fan is getting swapped out too.)

Due to our (very) limited closet space, we bought big huge Ikea Hemnes dressers last summer.  (Remind me, some day, to tell you how much fun Sweetie had assembling these!)  Admittedly, they’re massive, but for some reason they don’t look out of place in our little room.

I’ll probably swap out the rug once the walls are repainted (this is an old beige shag rug I threw down when we moved, but I think it might work better in our dining room.) (Can you put a shag rug in your dining room?)  And the curtains will go (far far away.)

Of us all, I think Jacob is most excited about the room being painted.  While orange cats do look lovely in green rooms, he’s partial to gray, I think.

(Actually, I’m guessing he doesn’t really care.  So long as there’s a big comfy bed in the room, he’s a pretty happy cat.  Cats are kinda wishy-washy like that about paint.)  (I wish I was – it would mean a lot less painting for me.)  (Sigh…)

More kitchen lust (yep, I may have a problem)

Posted by Joy on May 22, 2012 in Kitchen | 0 comments

Let’s revisit the wonderful world of kitchens again, shall we?  :)  I know – sigh, groan…  We’ve been here before.  A couple of times.  But I spend A LOT of time in my kitchen.  It’s the first room I stumble to when I leap (er, blindly crawl) out of bed every morning (since that’s where my beloved and cherished coffeemaker resides.)  (Dear coffeemaker: I love you.)  And it’s where friends and family gravitate to whenever they’re over (I’m not entirely sure why – there’s a big comfy couch on the other side of the island, but everyone always ends up in my kitchen) (although really I don’t mind. :)  It’s where I make the most awesomest brownies ever (and a mean orzo salad too.)  It’s where I sing (like a big idiot) to the radio (and sometimes dance a wee bit too) while doing dishes.  And it’s where the fridge resides (and inside that fridge?  Wine.  ‘Nuf said.)  All in all, my kitchen is a pretty darn fantastic place.  It’s still not the prettiest place ever (although I’m working on that!), but it otherwise rocks.  Need a kitchen-reminder?  Here she is (original cupboards and cutesy little 1940s scalloped trim and all.)

Yep.  Despite that the floor is still hideous (change coming soon!  I hope…) my kitchen makes me happy.  :)  Is it any wonder, then, that I’m mildly (ehem, majorly) obsessed with other 1940s kitchens?  Might I interest you in a peek into my kitchen world?  Let’s take a looksee at other older kitchens, via the good folk at Googlesearch…

I love this kitchen, with its old cupboards but modern stainless steel appliances, courtesy of Casapinka.

(And that floor makes me super happy too.  Oh!  And, in case you haven’t noticed it, looking all lovely back there in the background, just look at that SINK!  Sigh.  Goodness me…)

And check out Carolyns 1940′s kitchen makeover, via Apartment Therapy:

Love love love!  And the dark wood flooring kinda makes me want wood floors in my kitchen.  Again.  (I’m seriously never going to make a final decision regarding floors at this rate, you know.)

But I saved the best for last.  Are you ready for this?  Here’s my favourite of the bunch via The Home Project…

Oh swoon.  Do you see what I see?  Stainless steel countertops, the most beautiful marble and granite floor ev-ver AND lovely old original kitchen cabinets.  So perfect.  I want to sing to the radio (and dance just a little too) while scrubbing pots in THAT kitchen, please.

So there you go – my top three picks (for now) for older kitchens that have been reno-ed (but retain their original and awesome charm.)  Here’s hoping that one day someone finds my 1940s kitchen project just as inspiring!  Until then, I’m pretty darn pleased with it, at least.  (Just don’t look at my floor.)