Big day tomorrow!

We close on our new nest tomorrow morning! Is it a bad sign that I'm already tired and the work hasn't even begun? :) I could tell I was feeling stressed earlier, when I was getting extra upset about unimportant things. I'm like my own therapist. "So Cameron, are you angry because your shoe came untied or is this a manifestation of the stress you feel because you're buying a house and all the responsibility that comes with it?" Hmm.

I'm sure I will feel a little better once I can get into the house and actually take some ACTION on the unknowns instead of thinking about what action I might want to take SOMEDAY when I get in the house. I'm also excited to get a feel for its personality. Hopefully the living room will tell me what its favorite color is. If not, by a lucky turn of events my mom is in town this week, and I'm sure she'll have some great input and ideas. I am so relieved she will be here!!! (please note the multiple exclamation points)

Anyhow, I will let you all know how things go and try to keep you in the loop on our projects we'll be working on.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that I found a fridge! My husband and I have been trying to decide between buying one on Craigslist or buying one new. There was also discussion about whether we should get a black one to match the other appliances or plan ahead to replace all appliances and begin with a stainless fridge. Well, I was at Lowe's over the weekend with my friend Chez (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHEZ! I LOVE YOU!), and we stumbled upon a stainless fridge in the exact model I wanted with a little dent on the door. It was DEEPLY discounted, so I snatched it right up! What a great find! Big thanks to Chez for the appliance shopping moral support!

Alright, that's all for now. Please be saying prayers for my sanity! Can't wait to share more soon. :)

Another Kitchen Thought

Here's the deal: I really, really want a formal dining room. I am not a fan of the "open layout" trend. When entertaining, I want it to look easy with a spotless house and a lovely table setting in a room that feels special. But if the only dining space is in the kitchen, which is also completely open to the living room, that means my guests can see all the dirty dishes and countertops I didn't have time to clean up before their arrival. For these and other reasons, I don't think open layouts are Donna Reed approved. However, with our price range, we can't afford to be too picky. If a house otherwise meets our requirements, I don't want to get hung up on its lack of a formal dining room. I mean, I'm not Donna Reed. Get over it. But, I had a great idea today. I mean, I was SOOOOO excited when I thought of it. I later realized that the excitement was probably more from a nondrowsy allergy medication/coffee induced high from this morning. I've calmed down a little since then, but I am still excited about it nonetheless.

What if I dressed up my kitchen/dining area to make it feel a little more fancy? Like the kitchen is now part of the formal dining room. It's so simple, I don't know why it didn't dawn on me before. In fact, all two of my readers (hi Mom, hi sister) are probably thinking, "Duh, Cameron. That was so easy, we didn't already tell you that because we thought you knew." In fact, I think I'm excited because of the simplicity, and it's my blog. So humor me. :)

This morning I was checking Twitter, and one of the bloggers I follow linked to the following pictures and commented on how she'd like to throw a cocktail party this kitchen. What? A cocktail party in a kitchen? After seeing the picture, I understood what she meant, and my wheels started turning.



See?! Totally begging for a cocktail party. While this kitchen isn't completely my thing, I love the idea that it represents. My kitchen can feel special like a dining room. (I just have to really make sure I have time to clean up those dirty dishes and wipe off the counters.) (On another parenthetical note, I am SO loving the capiz shell chandeliers I'm seeing everywhere lately.)

Thinking through this concept, a kitchen I posted about previously came to mind:


This kitchen is open to a casual eating area (for all intents and purposes we'll say it's not a formal dining room even if we don't know that for sure). We already know the kitchen is beautiful from my previous post. Then, the designer has given the eating area extra oomph with that chandelier and dressier chairs. The important thing about this kitchen/dining room is that it feels special, but it also feels comfortable and inviting. It's not necessarily begging for a cocktail party, but it would be a perfectly appropriate dinner party setting. This kitchen is much more my style than the cocktail party kitchen, even though I think the cocktail party kitchen is fabulous!

I'm having so much fun with this, I'll almost be sad if we do buy a house with a formal dining room. Almost. :)

Kitchens

So one of the rooms I have tried to think about the most is the kitchen. The reality is that we will probably not buy a house with the most updated kitchen and likely won't have the money to install new...everything. With that in mind, I am preparing myself to end up with honey-colored cabinets, old laminate countertops and non-existent backsplash. Not my favorite.

Ok, so we all know that you can paint cabinets and add neat hardware. What if that's not enough? Luckily I stumbled on a couple of blogs that inspired me to think more creatively and presented a couple of options I'm excited to consider.

Cote de Texas is a fabulous designer in Houston who takes lots of time to truly narrate you through her posts. She did an extensive post about kitchens here, but there is one particular kitchen she mentions that I got so excited about. Here is how the kitchen started:


Definitely has those elements I discussed earlier: outdated cabinets, old counter, non-existent backsplash. No, thanks. Here is what the homeowner ended up with:


Um. Yes, please.

Can you believe it? Those are the same cabinets in the same kitchen. They moved the upper cabinets almost to the ceiling, added molding, and installed a shelf below them for cookbooks, appliances, decorative touches or whatever. I mean, sure this still was not a cheap remodel with the new...well...everything else, but you could still budget for hiring someone to move the cabinets for you. You could probably pretty easily install the molding and the shelf yourself. (Side note: I am loving subway tile like on this new kitchen's backsplash.)

Some other elements I think really modernize the kitchen are definitely the colors. The old kitchen was so dark and felt so small. Even with the dark countertop in the new kitchen, the new lighting, white backsplash and white upper cabinets make all the difference in the world! As far as making the new kitchen feel so much bigger, I think moving those cabinets up makes the biggest difference. They also hung the window shade from the molding rather than the window frame. It's like an eye lift for the room. Both of these changes brings your eye up toward the ceiling. Pair that with the brighter paint, and you have yourself a much more airy feel. I'm also liking that they painted the lower cabinets grey. Besides adding some visual interest to the room, I'm thinking they probably show less scuffs and wear from people kicking them shut and such (who would do such a thing...).

Ok, ok. We've saved the cabinets, but we're still doing a ton of work moving them. Also, what kitchen wouldn't look beautiful with new countertops, backsplash, ceiling, floors, and appliances? What if we don't want to deal with moving cabinets? That's where this next kitchen I will show you comes in. I first saw this kitchen on Cote's blog here, but the kitchen is discussed in much more detail by its owner, Layla, here. Layla clearly has a knack for renovation, but I want to talk about her kitchen in particular. Here is what she started with:



Again, the kitchen I figure I will purchase in our first home. Here is what Layla's kitchen looks like now:



Yum. And again, those are the same cabinets AND the same countertop! She removed the doors of the upper cabinets, painted, added decorative molding at the top and added decorative corbels underneath. Now her old cabinets look like neat shelves from an old general store or something. Love it! She also added some beadboard to her backsplash. It even took me a while to realize she kept her old counter tops. I read in one of her posts that she chose her dining room color to coordinate with her counter since she couldn't change it for a while, which I think was a great idea. It ties everything together very nicely. Talk about working with what you've got!

Here's a nice close up of the cabinets:


I'm not saying that keeping old cabinets and countertops is what I want. Shoot, I could post a thousand pictures of fabulous kitchens with marble and granite and amazing sinks, etc. I want those kitchens. However, I am excited at the opportunity to get creative with what I'm given. Bring on the honey cabinets!