Kitchen: Before and After

So, we tore out our 80's style tile counter tops. If you don't remember them, look back at the Holey Moley post. They were pretty bad and totally not our style. The whole coutertop remodel project started when we bought the new stovetop that did not fit in the old slot and of course when we cut the hole in the wall and needed a bar to go with it. Tim got some help from his dad, and they tore out the tile, cement and wood planks on our old counters. Look at that cute boy working so hard to give his wife a beautiful workspace. I love him so much.



It was very hard to have to use the laundry room sink for two weeks to wash dishes. That room is tight quarters! We had to move all of our pots, pans, and kichen appliances out too so they did not get too dirty. We are still trying to remember where we put everything!

Then, we hired Pazzula Plastics out of Huntington Beach to install our Nevermar (supposed to be more scratch resistant than Formica) Laminate countertop in matte putty.
The bar is so awesome! We just have to cut the bar stools down about two inches to make it more comfortable for adults to sit at it. But it is perfect for our little Syd.The wall above my desk will be sanded (once we confirm that we don't have lead paint) and repainted and three Putty Nevermar shelves will be install for displaying pictures and cool kitchen stuff. This was my mom's idea. I cannot wait!
We decided on no backsplash because we want to tile this whole wall. We are going to do 1 inch tiles in a mosaic pattern. Hakatai is a tile website that Tim found. It is so cool. You can pick from solid colors, premade mosaics, or you can create your own mosaic on the website. You enter in the colors you want and choose what percentage you want each color represented. Then it creates it for you. We ordered a sample of this one to try out in the kitchen. We think we may also tile the side of the cabnet that houses the oven. We don't think we will be able to match the stain if we try to refinish it, so Tim's parents suggested tile. I think it will look pretty cool.

Another feature that I am very excited about is the new sink. We almost kept the old sink to cut costs and I am so glad we decided against that. We were most concerned that the sink was undermount so that water and food could be easily wiped into it. The sink we chose is called Karran, another product of Tim's careful research. It is made from a specially formulated acrylic resin and is reinforced for strength with a polyester/fiberglass mix on the underside of the sink. They have yet to discover a substance that can stain the sink. Pazzula Plastics had them so we went for it. We were concerned about doing the double sink because we liked that our old one was a single. But that is all they had. I now really like it. It keeps dirty dishes away from the garbage disposal and gives room to fill pots even when there are dishes in the sink. It is also a couple inches deeper than our old sink, which makes a huge difference. Tim did all the hookups for it. It only took a couple trips to Home Depot. I am amazed that he was able to do this all by himself. It looks so confusing to me. Amazing talents come out when you own a house.

Christmas Decorations

Sydney's room started out as the most festive room in the house. This is a mini-silver tree with all her favorite ornaments on it. The lights are little pine cones. She loves it. And it looks nice from the street too.


Then Tim decided that we needed a 50's style aluminum tree if we were truly going to be mid-century modern freaks. So ebay came to the rescue and our quaint 6 foot aluminum tree came a week later. It came in this puny box (we thought we got scammed) with each of the branches in a cardboard sleeve. The brand is Evergleam. So here it is right after we put it up.

Then we decided that an Evergleam tree is just not complete without the spinning light (color projector) to bring out the tree's true "colors". So another week later (and a few wrapped presents later), here is our Christmas Tree. Tim's mom freaks out because this is the same set up she had as a child.
We also bought seven of these plastic spindles. They are hung from our ceiling in the TV room. Mason loves to look at them.

Lights

Just in time for Thanksgiving we got some dining room lights hung. The light above our formal dining table was purchase several months ago from Excape in Long Beach. The outdoor light is similar to the one we saw at the LB Swap Meet for $45 dollars, but ours is a much cooler (and a little more expensive). This one is a George Nelson Criss Cross bubble lamp purchase through Craigs List (in perfect condition at over half the price!). The one we almost got at the swap meet was a Saucer bubble lamp and we like the Criss Cross much better. It all works out! To see all the styles of bubble lamps click here: http://www.modernica.net/index.php?target=products&mode=search&subcats=Y&type=extended&avail=Y&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&pkeywords=Y&cid=0&q=bubble+lamp&x=0&y=0

New additions to our collection

The past two weekends in a row we have been furniture collecting. Two weekends ago we went to the Pasadena Swap Meet. We found a couple nice things, but overall we thought it was too big. There were so many vendors selling the new, cheesy swap meet stuff like socks, t-shirts, and toys. We quickly found the antique section, but there were very few mid-century vendors. Here is what we got...



Two really cool barstools. Now we just need a bar. Possibly happening right after Thanksgiving.A Catherine Holm bowl. She was a famous kitchenware designer in the 50's. I think I might become a collector!
A cool mid-century style frame. You cannot really tell from this picture, but the edges of the slant in and the mat is a burlap texture. You should have seen the picture that was in it. It was a watercolor of a joker holding some flowers. Bright greens and blues. We got several compliments on the painting as we carried it through the swap meet. Tim and I decided immediately that he better take it out to the car.

This past Sunday, the day after Syd's 4th birthday party, we headed out to Long Beach to search for some more frames. Here is what we came back with...

A cool wooden bench. It fits perfectly.


Another MCM frame. Not in quite as good of condition, but still a neat style. This one has a wooden frame with a thin wooden mat. It will need to be repainted. The water color in this one is not as bad, but it will still be replaced by picture (probably of Mason).

We would have left the swap meet with a Nelson Saucer Bubble Lamp also.

We found one early on in great condition for only $45. We thought about it a little as we walked around the swap meet, but got caught up looking for other stuff. Then it suddenly hit us that this was a cool lamp for our patio and this was a GREAT deal! We ran back to get it, but it was already sold. Tim looked it over again and realized that it was from Modernica, a cool modern furniture store in LA and new these lamps cost $300. It was a total downer to our day. We could not stop thinking about it. So Tim has been obsessed since then trying to find one on Craiglist. Wouldn't you know it...He is actually in LA as I write this post buying one. Unfortunately, our indecision cost us $100. Oh well, that will teach us to think twice.

A New Addition to the Family

This is Smokey (surprised the name is not Princess? We were too...Tim had a gray cat named Smokey when he was little, so Syd loved that name right away). Sydney will be turning four on the 17th and this was her birthday present. Smokey lives on the patio and loves her climbing tower and array of toys Sydney picked out for her. She is so playful and spends hours chasing around a big marble or string. Tim agreed to get her (he has always said he HATES cats) based on the fact that she will be our rat exterminator when she is grown. He already has plans to train her with a life-like looking rat on the end of a stick.

Every once in a while we let her in the living room and watch her jump from expensive piece of furniture to Mason's toys. It is hilarious how much she likes all of Mason's stuff. Her favorite is his ball track and a scarf I let him play with.
(Yes, that is our stove top. It has not quite made it back into the kitchen since the hole. I am kinda enjoying the excuse not to cook!)

As I type this Smokey is sitting on my lap purring. I just said the other day that I don't even care if Syd grows out of the "cat frenzy" because I am loving having Smokey. She spent hours next to me keeping all of my fabric warm while I quilted last week and played with all my fabric scraps. Uh oh, I am becoming an old cat lady!

Firmament

Here is our Christmas present to each other. A C Jere wall sculpture. We have wanted one for that wall since the day we moved in, but had trouble agreeing on which one. This was Tim's immediate first choice, but it took me a while to fall in love with this one. I am now totally convinced that this was the right choice. I love it! When our track lights shine on it it makes the coolest shadow on the wall.

Holey Moley!

Well, we did it. Tim and his dad punched the hole in the kitchen wall. It is SO spectacular. They did this in one day. That is Tim's dad for you. All it needs is some molding and paint and a bar built out in to the living room area and then it is finished. Of course the demolition has inspired a whole new array of remodeling ideas. The latest is that we "need" new counter tops. Especially, if we will be building out the bar, then we might as well make all the counter tops match. We'll see...We have done some research and Formica is the counter top of choice. We now have several samples laying all over our kitchen trying to decide which color will look the best. More pictures of that to follow.

Mason can be playing on the soft carpet while I am cooking or Sydney can be watching a show while I throw her snacks. It is GREAT!

Tims Projects

This was one of Tim's first endevors...He'll have to explain how he got that heavy thing to stay up there.
Before

After

Notice, we are watching Planet Green, of course!



We thought about restoring this old faucet, but new parts would cost about as much as a new one. We found one that is still a wall mount and it has a better water flow and higher neck. We don't miss the hand-held sprayer we used to have. Tim also installed a water filter system because we don't have filtered water in the fridge anymore.
Before

After

Kitchen Remodel

No, not really. We just got a new fridge and dishwasher. Both are Whirlpool and the highest rated Energy Star. Our main reason for getting the new fridge was to save more energy. We will get $50 rebate and we just got $50 for recycling our old one. The dishwasher was given to us by Tim's folks. They never use it. Ours was an old one that did not work and was taken by the fridge delivery guys for recycling. We love them both.



I also splurged on some Le Crueset cookware. I got it at the outlet in Cabazon. We decided we needed to get rid of all of our non-stick cookware (with Teflon) because who knows what damage that is causing to our bodies. So we moved to cast iron. At least that has been around for hundreds of years. It looks pretty nice with all the colors in our kitchen.

Globe Lights

One on Tim's recent projects was hanging these globe lights. He will have to tell you how he managed to get them exactly even on two very different surfaces (I think it was pretty hard). They are not wired yet. We'll need an electricians help with that. But they do look pretty awesome.
Tim really likes the look of globe lights. There was one hanging opposite this wall next to the fireplace that was antique looking and way to decorative for our style. We took it down and we bought one at the Long Beach Flea Market with a chain and Tim tried to redo in a more MCM style. He had to rewire the whole thing with a power strip cord and did not really love the way it turned out.
So he found a matching set on eBay and ordered them. He loved the fact that they had the steel plate and stem with a bendable hinge to hang them on slanted surfaces. They came double boxed and packed with thousands of packing peanuts. They made it safely to say the least. Tim took the first one out of the box and put the stem on it to see what they looked like. Well, the stem slipped out of his had and fell into the inside of the ball....
I thought he was going to lose it! To make a long story short the guy he bought them from just happen to have another globe laying around and said he would send it to Tim for only the cost of shipping for good karma. Tim took him up on it and has that one stowed away in our bedroom to put up once we have them wired and working.

Window Coverings

We went back and forth for the first couple months on how to cover the windows in this house. We really wanted something simple and MCM looking, but we don't like the look of the heavy wool curtains that you often see in 50's style houses. The kids bedrooms were most important because they needed some darkness during they day (mostly for Mason) and some way to keep the monsters out (for Syd). So we found these pull down shades at Lowes (by Levelor) in white. They are light filtering and seem pretty durable. Syd has two in her room and Mason has one in his.



My next project was the kitchen/breakfast knook windows. They are in the front of the house and I felt like they needed something. So I decided to try and make curtains. I got this cool fabric at Crate and Barrel Outlet in Cabazon. I used Stitch Witchery to make these "no-sew" curtains. I still have to hem the sides but I just recently got orange thread. I have only made this set for the knook window. I feel like they have to much of a country look to them. I love the fabric, but I just feel like maybe shades would be a better match for our style. Tim, however, thinks they look really great open, especially from the outside. He likes how they match the orangish brown shade of our front door. I am still not sold. I found a shade at Lowes that is the same brand and style as our white ones, but it is a woven brown and black. I think it would look really nice in those windows. We will see who wins this battle...


A pic of the curtain from the outside to come soon...