Ara-basking in New Backsplash

We took the backsplash plunge! While I can infinitely explore the "what ifs" of most design decisions, my husband balances this tendency. After another dizzying visit to Floor & Decor (aisle upon aisle of options; it's overwhelming and amazing all at once!), where I searched for the "perfect" choice, he reminded me that there was more than one perfect choice. That many different tiles would look great in our kitchen, and it was a matter of making a decision and moving on. That we wouldn't be "wrong." Sage words. That led to:

It's the "Arabesque Lantern White Porcelain Mosaic" from Floor & Decor. Just $3.97 a sheet! Used their silver grout, which is just a little lighter than the cabinets. Easier to clean than white, and I like the contrast. The tiles themselves complement the farm sink, and have a simple elegance to them. 

While there are probably a million other tile combos that would have worked, I now have something that I love and the bonus of knowing we saved a ton (our other tile considerations were $10-$30 per sheet). I now find myself working from the breakfast bar to admire the end result, basking in the backsplash. 

Kitchen Post-Wall: The Open Look

One day, I really was going to go back and detail the full process of how we turned our cramped 1970s kitchen into our favorite spot in the house. But, as I come up on a year since the project started, it's time to admit that it ain't gonna happen. Besides, all people really want are pictures of the good stuff right? So here goes, starting with when we had a wall between the living room and kitchen, and when we didn't...

The "nook" in the foyer (below) is the old entrance to the kitchen, which is now moved down to the other side of the breakfast bar. It solved a flooring problem, namely that tile had been run past the end of the foyer...now we've incorporated that section into of the foyer. Also, it gave me something I've always wanted: space for a storage bench in my entryway. 

On the kitchen side, the fridge backs up to the nook, recessed so as not to block window sight lines. I opted to put my Hoosier in this corner, rather than add more cabinets. I worked hard on that baby, and love that we fit it into the reno (and saved $$ by doing so!). 

For the fun of it, here's one during. See more pictures of the de-construction here.

The day this opened up, I sat on my couch with a glass of wine and just stared at this opening for like an hour. Partly marveling at how much that beam of wood added to the renovation costs (see the budget breakdown), but mostly at how drasticly the feeling of my home changed pretty much overnight. Ok, more pretty after "after" pictures to come.

Ikea Cabinets: A Sea of Boxes

It's one thing to hear that your Ikea kitchen will come in a million different pieces that need to be puzzled together. It's another to come home to delivery men turning your garage into a warehouse:

This picture is taken AFTER we'd pulled a number of boxes into the house to start assembly. It's overwhelming to say the least. Not to mention, it's recommended that you check each box against your order to make sure everything came as it should. This goes much faster as a two man job. Coffee doesn't hurt either.

When ordering Ikea or any RTA cabinets, be sure to clear space for the flood of cardboard coming your way. Preferably, this will include some horizontal space so that you can get to what you need without risking life and limb under a tower of cabinetry.

However, this sea of boxes is not as overwhelming as it initally seems. Each box is clearly marked with product numbers and dimensions. Just keep the inventory list handy to "decode" as you get into putting it all together. Plus, there's a certain satisfaction watching the pile get whittled away each day. Although you may not be very popular with your waste removal service on recycling day.

Ikea Kitchen Budget Breakdown

Once upon a time, I naively thought we could remodel our 1970s kitchen for about $10,000. Then I did some research on material costs, talked to some contractors and took an honest look at our scope of work. This scope included:

• Removing load bearing wall (see how we made that budget-breaking discovery!) between kitchen and living room
• Widening the doorway to the dining room
• Closing off an entry to the kitchen, extending foyer
• Moving the stove, sink and fridge
• Relocating the garage door

My revised, more realistic estimate was closer to $15,000, with a contingecy of $2,500. Eventually, we landed in the middle of those two numbers, spending a little over $12,000 (scroll for spending breakdown). The bulk of that came in construction costs (thanks load bearing beam!) and cabinets. Even with the Ikea 20% sale, we bought a LOT of cabinets, and splurged on getting mostly drawers for the base cabinets, a few glass uppers and extra organization, like lazy susans for corner cabinets. 

There are also some areas we haven't spent on yet. We put off the backsplash initially due to exhaustion; once the construction was done, my husband and I (along with some incredible friends) were the labor. Now, it just hasn't bothered us to not have backsplash, but I'm sure I'll get remotivated at some point and tackle that project. 

"The Help," AKA, husband and family friend

Also, our floor started as a mishmash of tile and wood. It remains that way. We used extra pieces of wood floor that we had on hand to fill in the gaps left by the remodel. It really doesn't bother me, but I imagine we'll make it either all tile or all wood before selling. Which means we have a few years to worry about it. 

My guestimate is that if we'd bought everything at full price and paid for somebody to do everything; design, construction, install cabinets, etc, we'd have spent closer to $25,000. I'll know for sure when we get our house appraised for refi this spring. Fingers crossed!!

Later I'll post where we saved, and where we spent a little more, often out of necessity. But for now, here's how it all played out:

Item/Task	Budget	Notes
Move Door, Fridge
Move stove
Hood Vent
Hood Vent Labor
Move wall, add beam
Add'l wiring
Total Construction	6432	Contractor
Floor wood, pro	-	(perm floor, pending)
Floor (vinyl click, us)	20
Cabinets + wood counter	5167.62
Lighting (use existing wiring)	220
paint (us)	80
knobs (Ebay)	79
Backsplash		(pending)
Install cabinets (us)
Supplies (us)	145
Counter removal	225
Sink	69
Stove	750
storage bench, foyer	70
bar stools	50
Subtotal	13307.62
Subtotal	13307.62
Recoup		Returns, sold
Cabinets	300
Counters & sink	400
Stove	350
Return cabinets
Return supplies	50
Recoup total	1100
Net Total	12207.62

Sneak Peek: Looking into New Kitchen

As I go through my chronologically-challenged blogging, I couldn't help but put a sneak peek of the finished product out there. Well, finished-ish...still have to do more trim, backsplash and a few other items that have been languishing once we got the kitchen to a useable space.

Here's the view of looking in from living room. We built the island using 39" Ikea lidingo wall cabinets facing into the living room (so much storage!!) and regular base cabinets for the front. My husband built a base that the cabinets rest on, and connected them to each other from the inside.

More to come soon, promise!

Stray Dog-ish Lamp Upcycle; From Brass to Kick-A$s

While we pushed to get our kitchen presentable by Thanksgiving so that we wouldn't have to serve our party of 18 Domino's, it meant cutting a few corners and deciding a couple of things were "good enough" for the time being. To this day, we have yet to add backsplash, and we reallly out to figure out why that light switch won't go all the way in...

Replacing the light over the eat-in portion of our kitchen fell in that category. Luckily, I found this whimsical lamp that would contrast so nicely with our dark gray cabinets and deep, red-brown koa floor:

At $675, this beauty from Stray Dog Designs with its paper mache leaves was only $575 over budget. Since this is more than we spent on any actual appliance, I couldn't quite justify the numbers. So, for $5 at our local ReStore, I picked up one of those ubiquitous brass lamps that hung in the foyer of every 1980's suburban home. 

A little on the shiny side, but that's why spray paint was invented. Plus, if you can look past the gleam, it actually has decent lines and detailing. Thus began my first paper mache project since elementary school! 

My "glue" was a simple mix of whole wheat flour--because it is all I had--and water. Just adding liquid and mixing until it had a glue consitency. With some trial, but mostly error, I experimented on the best way to form the leaves. Eventually the process was:

• Layering several pages of newspaper, cut out dozens of leaf shapes
• Wet a leaf "pile" with the flour glue using my fingers
• Press a twist tie (nothing fancy here!) into the center of the leaf
• Wet another leaf pile and press on top, squishing all around the center to make sure the tie is glued in
• Place leaf on its edge on cookie tray; if placed flat it WILL stick to the tray
• Bake at 200 degrees for 30 minutes

Yum...paper leaf nibbles, anyone? In addition to the baking, which was to guard against mildew setting in, I allowed the leaves to dry overnight on the counter. Next step was to line them up and spray them down:

The twist ties, I mean wire, are used for wrapping the leaves to the frame. I secured a few with an extra dot of glue, but for the most part, the wire seemed to do the trick. If it weren't for the darned spray paint, this would've been a very green project! 

I completely dismantled the light fixture for painting. The glass is still sitting in a pile, patiently waiting for me to have a stroke of genius on how to use it in another project. *Note: If you'll need to reduce the length of the chain, do it at this stage. Not after it's attached to your delicate finished work, when each link pried off is a chance to ruin your entire project and learn entirely new curse words. 

I hand painted the "candle" parts the same gray as our cabinets, and decided to make the tips of each junction point oil rubbed bronze. The rest got the blue spray paint treatment. Here it hanging in the laundry area, mostly painted and with a few of the leaves attached. I went witih round bulbs vs. the flame type that came with it, to give it a more modern look that was closer to my inspiration piece. 

And here it is proudly hanging at the front of our kitchen:

Obviously, it's not an exact match to the inspiration Adelaide pendant lamp, but I think it captures the whimsy of the leaves and bright color. Not to mention, I had the opportunity to match it exactly to the blue I used as an accent in the kitchen and the "Lidingo Gray" cabinets. (Lowe's did an awesome job of matching that!) Oh, and I saved like $665. 

Please ignore the patch work we need to do above the fixture. It is being added to the "we'll get to it later" list. Right after the back splash, and that wonky light switch. 

Picking a Contractor & Load Bearing Walls

The easiest way to pick a contractor is...I'm not sure there is an easy way. I've mostly picked bad ones. Or, maybe it would be more fair to say, there were always disappoints involved. There was the super personable guy, recommended by a friend and son-in-law of a colleague who was great in helping to us to reimagine our backyard and plan out the right decking. Versus our starting point of only seeing what was there and limiting ourselves. He and my husband even became friendly. Because they had three months to get to know each other, as the project drug on, and on, and on.

And who can forget the gentleman who took my money for some painting work, but didn't feel obligated to perform said work until I got the police involved. Ah, memories.

With the kitchen, we talked to a few different contractors. They might have all been great, but we decided to go with the first one who gave us the worst news: The wall we planned to take down because it wasn't load bearing, was load bearing (scroll to bottom for signs that a wall may be load bearing). This was after the other guys all agreed with us that it wasn't, and we planned our kitchen and ordered cabinets based on this assumption. We decided to hire the bearer of bad news, on the basis of he knew what he was was talking about.

The adorable shop where I randomly found our contractor. 

Incidentally, I found the company when I popped into this cute, sparkly shop in Historic Occoquan. Somehow chatting with the owner turned into talking about my kitchen project to her introducing me to a contractor who happened to rent her back office and was renovating the wine shop up the street. OF COURSE.

The moral of the story? I guess it is to ask around. If you like how somebody else's space looks, ask who built it and get referrals. Always get a second opinion. Or even a third. For us, it was the fourth one that was a charm, and that got us the company that knew how to NOT crash our second floor into our first floor.

I do regret going with the "time and materials" option that they offered, vs. working off a project rate/estimate. That took 2 weeks and several thousand dollars more than planned, since the time overruns were on our dime. But the quality of work was good, and felt collaborative. And our master bedroom remains firmly ABOVE our kitchen. Pretty happy about that!

Oh, wait. He's right. That IS load bearing. (Note the header beam.)

A few signs that a wall may be load bearing, though you only 100% know by opening it up:

• It runs down the center of your house.
• Another wall runs above or below it, parallel. A sign that the weight carries all the way through both walls and down to the foundation. 
• It runs perpendicular to floor joists. Caveat: some houses have joists running in more than one direction. That's where we got confused...

Don't that wall fool you. It's stronger than it looks.

Ultimately, we opened the wall to see that the contractor was indeed correct. We did save $$ by not hiring him to do that part. We know how to smash things pretty well. I think I will retitle this blog, "Learn From My Mistakes."

Numerar Counters: Choosing, Sealing

The beech Numerar counters look lighter in real life. Nice glow to it.

After weeks of debating whether we should save money by going with the Numerar wood counter tops, we decided that we actually liked the oak look and would be foolish to not get them. As always, there was a catch. The Numerar line was being discontinued, and would instead be replaced with an MDF product with a wood veneer. What the what? Ugh.

But, if we bought a few pieces that were longer than what we needed, there was enough left in stock for us to do our kitchen in beech. If you are shopping for an Ikea kitchen now, you will not know what I'm talking about. The discontinuation of Numerar was a bleep in the store's timeline. Two months later they'd brought back the beech counters (not the oak, though), I'm guessing due to the fact that nobody wanted those ugly veneer wood wannabes. Wonder if they still sell those?

This meant we got to exchange our too-big pieces of wood and end up with exactly what we needed. Bringing our total for counters to about $500. Not too shabby to for a natural surface that brightens up the gray of our cabinets. Plus, if we ever want to upgrade, we can either use the wood in another project or sell it on Craigslist. We paid so little for it (comparitively speaking), that it wouldn't be painful to switch it out in the near future. That being said, we really like the wood. So it will probably be sticking around for a few years. Another plus: Wood is easy for the DIY-er to work with; no special tools or skill required. As long as you can use a tape measure, level and saw, you're golden.

Protecting the New Counters
Like every other decision, I spent hours researching how to seal them. For those who don't know, while wood has the advantage of being repairable via a light sanding, it also has the disadvantage of being a sponge. Sauces, water, everything, can leave its mark. Sealing helps to prevent that.

I did read about people staining their counters, and while I initially considered that direction, I decided that 1)the light color had grown on me 2)I didn't want to worry about food safety. While I didn't plan to prep food directly on it, we are messy folk. Food is bound to make its way off a cutting board now and then. Or rest on the counter while waiting its turn for the food processor.

I started with mineral oil, picked up at Giant for about $3.00. It went on easily, but you have to re-treat fairly often, and I wasn't confident that the wood was sealed enough. I decided to bite the bullet and splurge on General Finishes Salad Bowl Finish by Rockler, which I had to order online. It was popular with woodworkers and if it was safe enough to eat salad from, I was sure it was safe enough for the occassional stray veggie in my kitchen. I'm very happy with the end result--it gave the wood a soft sheen that made the tones seem richer, but did not change the color of the wood. Spills seem to come up easily, even when I find water that's sat for awhile. (Apparently I'm the only family member who is worried about warping and staining...sigh.) One tip: Seal your counters BEFORE installation. That way, the underside is also protected from humidity. Or, do as I say, not as I do...

Kitchen Planning, A Learning Curve

Early on in our dreaming-of-a-new-kitchen (at a stage when "planning" was too strong of a word; we'd just moved in and a remodel was at least a year out of our reach), we stopped by Ikea just to chat with one of their planners. His advice would come in handy when our dreaming turned to planning:

• Live with the space for awhile. See how you use it.
• Pretend stuff has been moved; fake cook at the new stove location, block off the island space with tape and see how it feels to walk around it.    
• Traemand design services offered through Ikea for an additional fee are hit or miss. For the most part they are not true designers. We ignored this bit of advice and ultimately felt like we wasted our money. We did not use their design, and then couldn't get a response when we asked for a revised quote for the construction.  

If you can afford it, a qualified designer may be a good investment. Me, I bumbled my way through a few programs before just settling in with the Ikea online planner, with all its ups and downs.

Ikea 3D Planner Pros:

• As you go through, it's pricing out everything you need. You can easily play around adding or removing elements to see how they effect cost. 
• It's fairly simplistic. You don't have to learn a whole new skillset, like with say, SketchUp.
• At the same time, you can add windows, doors, floor and wall colorings, giving a pretty good sense of what your room might look like. 
• You can pull up your plans at Ikea and their kitchen staff will help you play with it (I recommend going a few times. You'll get new ideas from each person and learn some tricks for using the software). 

Cons:

• Glitchy! Save often. It is not uncommon to lose an hour's worth of work. Sometimes you can't move a cabinet where you want, especially if you are placing it somewhere it doesn't "expect" a cabinet.
• It's meant for laying out cabinets. If you are moving walls, you'll need to trick the software. We drew our whole first floor as one room, and then added obstacle walls to mark where the new walls would be. Talking to Ikea staff was a huge help in figuring out how to work around this. For us, it was nice to get a sense of how all the spaces would relate to each other. 

In the end, talk to Ikea staff early and often, read blogs by people who have been there, done that (here's one I found helpful), and you should be able to greatly shorten your learning curve. I learned a lot the hard way, but I did manage to design a kitchen we love using the Ikea software. 

After like 100 design variations, we finally settled on one that worked and purchased cabinets based on it. So you can imagine how excited my husband was when, after standing and staring at our kitchen one last time, I thought of IT. The design. The way it should be. All we needed was to change out a few cabinets. And move the garage door. (Good news, Ikea is great about returns!) I share that because you'll find your plan evolves as you go along. That's normal. Allow yourself to think of every possibility and then scale back if need be, vs. starting from a scaled back perspective and seeing what will fit in it. It could save you having to return some cabinets!

Why Ikea?

I have to admit, as much as rely on Ikea for affordabe home goods in many cases, I hesitated on outfitting my kitchen with its cabinets. I was worried that the quality may not be the best, or that since their style is so recognizable, future buyers might be turned off by the Ikea brand.

So began some research. First, I questioned my realtor (turned friend) who assured me that it would not hurt resale. That could be different if you're in a million-dollar neighborhood. In ours, the fact that the kitchen was updated and opened would make it a standout. I turned to blogs about other people's experiences with Ikea cabinets; most reports seemed good. 

Cliq cabinets are made of wood & stylish.
They just didn't fit our budget.

I also looked at other brands. I was in love with the gray Cliq cabinets, but their estimate was about $8,000 with a discount. Gray was our preferred color, partly because we thought it would be a good contrast with the dark wood floors and, well, we just like it. 

I made the rounds to Lowe's and Home Depot, as well as getting samples from some of the online RTA (ready to assemble) cabinet companies. With the former, I found that I couldn't what I wanted for my budget. At the lower end, the materials were pretty much the same as Ikea. 

We almost went with one of the RTA companies. Even though they didn't have the gray that we wanted, the price was comparable to Ikea and the fronts would be real wood. 

Still, I'm not the decisive type, and my husband had never seen Ikea cabinets in person. So we made a trip to the store, where we got some insider information: in fall 2013, they would be introducing Lidingo Gray in the US (it was already available in Europe). Suddenly, the color we wanted would be attainable at a price we could afford. This

Ikea gave us a similiar look for half the price!

was in late spring, but we decided to plan our remodel around the US release of the cabinets. With all the bells and whistles, we'd spend about $4,000--or half of the first quote we received. 

While I took the long way to get to this decision, I don't regret doing the research and spinning my wheels a bit. I don't feel like I compromised and automatically went with the cheapest option. Ultimately, it felt like the best fit for our situation and budget, and while I can't yet speak to long-term durability, I'm pretty darn happy with how they look and function.

Oh, and we saved a ton being able to install the cabinets ourselves. (By "ourselves," I mostly mean my husband and a family friend.) According to him, the process was pretty straightforward. The written directions are basically stick figures and sometimes confusing; his recommendation is to watch the installation videos on YouTube. They're also helpful for putting the cabinets together.

"Before," Meet our Pre-Reno Kitchen

My husband and I have added a few people to our circle in the last few months. We recently had some of them over, and all commented on how nice our kitchen is. And while those unsolicited compliments are like music to our ears, one thing about them bothered by husband: "They don't know nice it really IS because they don't know how bad it WAS." If he had his way, we'd keep the before pictures displayed over the sink.

Luckily, I continue the 39" cabinets over the sink, so this cannot actually happen. But, I know what he means. Seeing where we started is key to understanding how much changed, and how much work we did. This one's for you, honey!

At a glance, you might be taken in by the granite counters, nice tile and stainless steel appliances, as we were. However, it only took one meal for us to realize just how dysfunctional this space was. Everything was squeezed into half of a 16' x 11' foot kitchen, reducing prep and cooking space to about a 6' x 6' space. For no good reason.

No cabinet on the left (if you are facing the sink), upper or lower, was accessible when the dishwasher was open. Shortly after unpacking the kitchen, I had to turn around and rearrange all the cabinets so that nothing we used regularly went in those cabinets. If you opened the stove when somebody was at the sink, that person was trapped. If you opened the stove and dishwasher at the same time, the doors touched. When the fridge door opened, the entry to the dining room was blocked. And that door to the garage, behind the pennisula that cut the kitchen in half, meant that you couldn't pull stools up and make good use of that space either.

The photos with the yellow are the "before, before," from when the house was listed for sale. While I forced myself to live with the layout for almost two years, the  harvest yellow walls and flourescent light were non-starters. I painted before I even got all the boxes unpacked. Also, when we moved in, the fridge had been moved into the nook where you see the white bookcase. So truly everything cooking-related was squished into that back half of the room. And while the white paint on the cabinets may have prettied them up a bit, it did nothing to overcome the cavernous, unuseable space at the back of the corner base cabinets. 

This last picture is more to show the scope of work. And how messy my foyer can get. Though that doesn't seem to phase River and Buddha. The couch in the upper right of the pic is on a wall that no longer exists. Then, where you see the entry to the kitchen would become a recessed nook for the fridge in the remodel, as well as creating a bench area. Which is oddly one of my favorite outcomes of this whole project--having a place to sit and take off shoes when you come in the door. Sometimes it truly is the little things.  

Glass Door Knobs Dress Up Pantry

You may recall my excitedly awaiting the arrival of the vintage glass door knobs that were to grace my new Ikea pantry cabinet. The good part about my procrastination in writing about the kitchen renovation is that I've had a few months to think it over, and it's definite--I LOVE having this bit of history gracing my kitchen. The scale is perfect and they are beautiful, receiving many compliments.

When shopping for vintage items, places like ReStore (used and new items donated to and sold by Habitat for Humanity), thrift stores, yard sales and architectural salvage places are all good options. However, when I'm too busy, tired or in need of something very specific, Etsy, where I found these knobs, and Ebay are my go-tos.

Sure, I could drive all over town checking the above places, but for about the same price, I can find exactly what I want and have it shipped to my door. As much as I love DIY and the thrill of the hunt, there is a value to time. Chalk that up to lessons learned the hard way!!

As far as hanging them, we debated a few options, but ultimately de-threaded the screw that would have went through a door (easier said than done!), drilled through the cabinet door and secured them that way. We had to measure out to make sure the screw fell between the draw fronts inside, since there's no room between those and the door. That lesson we just learned through our keen powers of observation. No hard way required. Whew.

Ikea Changed My (Kitchen) Life

Ok, as I've indicated in earlier posts, I got swallowed by the kitchen renovation, which also overlapped with my trying to start a new business PLUS dealing with an extended illness of my husband. If these sound like excuses for why I'm blogging about redoing our 1970s kitchen well after it's (mostly) done, they are. But, pretty good ones. I think. So today I take you back in time, to the magical day when I realized that our new Ikea cabinets would change our lives. Back in "the old days," pre-Ikea, I spent a lot time giving tours of the kitchen--to my children and husband:

Male House Members: "There's nothing to eat."
Me: "Have you looked in the pantry? There's 20 of that soup you like."
MHM: "Nah-ah. I looked. There's only organic food I hate." 
Me (opening the door and pointing to the bright red cans taking up a full shelf): "Right here. Tons."
MHM: "Oh." (In the case of my husband, the "oh" would be followed by thanks. He is a gentleman.)

Now that conversation goes like...nothing. It doesn't happen. Even my teen MHM can find what they want with the pull-out shelves in our new Lindingo gray pantry (so pretty, too!).

Boo. Yah. I keep most of the organic stuff in its own drawer now, so it doesn't get contaminated by the guys' food and to cause them less confusion. And, oh yeah, because I have SO MUCH STORAGE now!!!

Another example of the handy-dandy organizing is this upper corner cabinet with lazy susan. No more things getting buried in dark, forgotten spaces. No joke, everybody started drinking way more tea. It's easy to see and oddly enjoyable to spin the carousel around to find something tasty. 

I'm now replacing teas that sat around since last season, but I consider that a good thing. And nobody asks what kind of tea we have any more. So, yes, the pull-out drawers and lazy susan options are a little spendier. But it is worth it. I can honestly say it changes the way we eat, interact and use our kitchen. Not to mention, we saved so much by going the Ikea route, it wasn't too painful. Now, if only we hadn't decided to remove that load bearing wall. Ugh. 

One day I will write about the long, bumpy road to my DIY planning, and how those HGTV shows are more accurate than we'd like to think. Something always goes awry. Like the first three contractors tell you the wrong wall is load bearing...........Make sure to add a contingency to your budget, and don't secretly think in your head it's not part of your "real" budget, and that you'll never spend it. You will. And if you don't, celebrate by buying a lottery ticket. Because you are one lucky SOB. Just sayin'. 

Let There Be (Super Pretty) Light

I need to go away more often. This weekend I joined some old friends for our annual trip to The Festy, a music festival at Devil's Backbone brewery near Charlottesville. The downside was two nights of sleeping in the rain and a second wind for the cold that's been haunting me for two weeks.

But the PLUS side was coming home to:

(Thanks honey!) The Harlowe Wire pendant lights I ordered from Pottery Barn are even prettier in real life! (Tip, look on Ebay for people selling Pottery Barn coupons. Worth it for bigger purchases.) These lights add just the right amount of sparkle. Now we can see Edison bulbs peaking through without being blinded by the light. Crud, now I have Manford Mann stuck in my head...and you can too:

Sorry, back on track. Glad I did a little bit of extra shopping around and decided to fudge the budget the tiniest bit. These are the first thing you see when looking at the kitchen and one of the first ones when walking in our home, and they totally dress the place up. Woo and hoo. 

New Life for 1920s Handles

Another piece of the kitchen puzzle. Last night, I ordered a vintage glass door knob set on Etsy, from the 1920s. With some adaptations, I plan to use a knob and back plate as the pull for the lower pantry door and just the knob on the top part.

I think the larger scale will fit well with this massive cabinet (22" x 15" and 30" deep), while still tying into the small glass knobs I'm using on most of the doors. It's so exciting waiting for the mail these days!

Ceiling Bling

Maybe it was the heady rush of realizing how much I'd saved on my yard sale cabinet pulls, or maybe it was the need for something SPARKLY to look at  on this dreary fall day. Oh wait--I blame my friend Liz for letting me know that Pottery Barn had 20% off their lights this week. And thus, I found myself pushing our lighting budget up by about $40 (or about $120 if you go by the price of the lights we purchased but are returning) so that we could own three of these: 

We'd gotten a great deal on some copper-look lights with Edison bulbs, at just $40 each including the bulb. And they look nice--if you don't look at them. With the exposed bulb at eye level for adults seated at the bar, the effect was a bit blinding. So the lighting search re-started.


We looked at Ikea, back to Lowe's, Amazon, Etsy, round and round. I think the extra money we are spending on the Harlowe Wire & Glass lights is a small trade off for the time I will save by ending my internet search!

Also alleviating any budget busting guilt was finding these EXACT lights on Ebay, new in the box, for the sale price, but with no shipping or taxes. That saved over $30. Which is just enough to make me feel like I got a good deal and enjoying checking another item off the list.

Victories of Frugality

Ah, that moment of pure joy and smug satisfaction when you realize just how good of a deal you got. In this case, while shopping for appliance pulls, I came across the style of cup pulls (who knew there were so many types of pulls!) that I'd purchased at a yard sale and will be using on our new cabinets.

It turns out they are Hickory brand "Charleston" pulls, selling from $4 to $5 each, and the knobs can be had for about $3 each. So I'm feeling pretty darn good about buying a bag of 12 pulls and 16 knobs for a grand total of...$4. Victory!

Time to go list the knobs, which we are not using, on Ebay and recoup some money towards the kitchen fund. I only need 100 more discoveries like this to offset the cost of that silly load bearing wall! Baby steps.

Knobs! Mismatched Matching

Because I planned to change blogging platforms, I've put off blogging about our Ikea kitchen remodel. Unless you count posts composed in my head. There are like 30 of those.

Anyway, as a result, I still plan to chronicle our DIY remodeling adventures, but it will now be out of order and a bit willy nilly. So, let's start near the end with cabinet hardware. I'd set a low budget ($70) for this considering that we need 12 pulls, 16 knobs and 6 appliance pulls. It meant scouring for deals and some creativity.

I'd picked up this pull and knob set for $4 at a yard sale over the summer, originally for another project, but ended up not using them. While the knobs were a little flowerly, I decided that, for my budget, I could learn to love the cup pulls. The catch was trying to find knobs that would match. Until I thought of a much better idea. NOT matching.

Especially since I was shopping on Amazon and Ebay looking for deals, it was impossible to determine if I'd end up ordering something that would prove useless. Glass became the work around. Last night I ordered 18 of the oval glass knobs pictured at right. For...drum roll...$2.35 each, on Ebay. This is a savings of several dollars per knob, compared to retail prices. With shipping + yard sale pulls, that brings me to about $53 total on cabinet hardware. And I have faith that I'll find those last few appliance pulls at a yard sale this weekend. Stranger things have happened.

At least some parts of this project are coming in under budget. Finally!