Thanksgiving Kitchen Update

I feel good.  It's almost Thanksgiving, I have no kitchen and

it's all okay.  When I started the kitchen renovation, everyone

wanted to know if it would be done for Thanksgiving.  I had a

good idea that it wouldn't be, and I prepared everyone that

usually comes for Thanksgiving dinner that it just wasn't going

to happen this year.  We made dinner reservations months ago.

So instead of planning what would go in this year's stuffing, when

I'd get my shopping done, how long the turkey would take and what

time dinner would be ready, I'm able just to sit back and enjoy it.

No complaining here.

Things continue to move along.  The door between my dining room

and the new kitchen has been sealed up to keep the dust out of the house.

I couldn't wait to get that door open to see the new space from my usual

perspective.  Adding the pantry and old bathroom into the space added

only four feet to the kitchen but it feels much more than that.  

The new pine plank ceiling is installed.

...the walls are all closed up and the window and door casings are in.

Next comes the floor.

A new window has been installed in the dining room that overlooks the porch...

...and a window that has been covered up for at least 70 years has been restored.

When I first saw the house, it seemed odd to me there was only one

upstairs window on the driveway side of the house.  So without any plan

for what I would do if and when I found evidence of an old window, I

started ripping out closets and walls before I even moved in to the house.

Not only did I find a window, I found evidence of an old, very steep

staircase that went up to the back bedroom.  It seemed odd for such a

small house to have a second staircase.  It wouldn't have been a house

for a family with the means to afford a maid.  I later found in various

census records the family occupying the house had a tenant, probably

to help pay the mortgage.

Note the little bits of old wallpaper on the walls and a board that was

up inside the ceiling.  I would guess it's from the late 1800s.

  

The area where this old staircase was, along with a few feet of the 

dining room, became the new bathroom.

And finally, just outside the new bathroom door, the window has been

restored and brings light to what was a black hole in the house.

This view is from standing in the new bathroom looking toward the

basement door.  I believe the basement door is one of only a few that

are original to the house.  It's 5 feet, 9 inches high.   Adorable.

Work will stop for a little bit waiting for the floor people to

come in and while the kitchen cabinet plans are being finalized.

So I had a little bit of time to set up a little Thanksgiving

vignette.  I don't usually decorate for Thanksgiving but no

dinner planning or cooking to do, I had a little time to play.

With all the mess in the house, I probably won't be doing any

Christmas decorating in the house but I added a beautiful metallic

linen pillow that my friend Carol from 6Wilson made and monogrammed

for me.  It's kind of a mushroom toned metallic that will add a 

subtle bit of bling for the holidays.  You can check them out here.

I have a great deal to be thankful for this year.  My family and

friends are all healthy and happy, I'm getting the kitchen of my 

dreams and I have you that eagerly check in and leave your

thoughtful comments that keep me going.  You're all the best!

To all my American friends, I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

To the rest of you, I wish you the happiest of holidays.

See you on the other side.

Kitchen Chronicles: Planning Stages

I realize we don't even own this house yet... but we're impatient, dangit!

It's 9pm 10pm almost 11pm and I'm exhausted from my 14 hour workday, but so much has been happening around here and I owe you guys an update!

Our loan agent is a rockstar and the home buying process is flying by. Originally we agreed on a 30 day escrow, but we're signing the loan docs tomorrow and closing by Tuesday or Weds (just two weeks after we made an offer!)

Not only have we been dealing with appraisals and inspections and insurance and loan stuff, but we've been trying to plan out all of our major renovations and purchases so we can get a jump start on them as soon as we close.

Our #1 concern: the kitchen.

I finally took some wide angle pics of the space so you can get a good idea of the layout (sorry, they're kinda dark).

Peekaboo to the dining room...

Why is this partition wall even here?

And then there's this bar in the dining room... it's the first thing on your right when you walk in:

Brad wants to keep it and update it, I want to demo it and turn it into a buffet nook.

What do you guys think?

Tough decisions...

The living room is behind that wall of railing. I love how open everything is.

And the best news we received all week came from the inspector when he crawled in the attic and told us that the wall dividing the kitchen and dining room is NOT load bearing. Praise sweet baby jesus, that just saved us a few thousand dollars in permits and plans and frustrations.

The day this place closes we'll be there with sledgehammers knocking that baby down.


What do we have in store, you ask?

Well I've been on Pinterest obsessing over kitchens and accumulating quite the collection of images.

Here are some of my favorites:

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As you can see—there's lots of white and gray, high contrast, modern mixed with rustic/farmhouse touches, bright and open, cozy seating areas. That's the plan.


Since we're gutting and changing the footprint of the room, we had to start from scratch with a custom kitchen.

My first thought was Ikea—and lucky for us they're having their semi-annual 20% off sale (we would just barely make the Dec 1st cutoff).

I am drooling over this kitchen—these are the cabinets I'd get:

It's surely our cheapest option (even without the sale), so I gave them a call to ask how their kitchen planning works—since this is such a huge project and we don't trust ourselves to take care of it on our own.

Unfortunately, they don't offer any measuring, planning or installation services for our location because we live out in the middle of nowhere. We'd have to hire someone who would be willing to deal with cabinets in 5,000 pieces.

I did some research and found that people were overall very happy with their Ikea kitchen, but it took them days of meticulous work, not without any delays or challenges.

Not something I want to or really am able to deal with right now, being the busiest four weeks of running my business (not to mention the upcoming holidays and all the other projects we have to tackle before moving in).

Knowing that Lowe's offers free kitchen planning services, I figured I'd take advantage of it and have them come up with the best configuration so I could compare it to Ikea.

After taking precise measurements, we handed them over to the Lowe's kitchen planner and watched him work his magic for 2-3 hours:

It was an exciting evening.

Here's the general idea of what we came up with...

It's pretty rough and missing some elements, but basically there's going to be a huge island where the existing wall is. Just to the left of the fridge is the door outside. The sink and dishwasher are under the window, and we'd put an oven with a separate cooktop and microwave in the island.

The three cabinets sticking out of the back of the island is going to be a seating area. I'll make cushions and have a big table in front of it, with chairs on the sides. I'm the most excited about this part!


Closeup of the island, but I think this might change a bit: 

From this viewpoint, you're standing where a pantry cabinet will be. I'm most likely going to use a shallow wardrobe from Ikea and give it a built-in look. On the right side of the sink window will be open shelving (which our kitchen planner can custom build himself)

As for colors—they aren't accurate in this program at all, but the cabinets up against the wall will be a light gray with white countertops, and the island will probably be white cabinets with dark gray countertops (not sure which type of counters yet).

Our planner talked us in to using one of Lowe's better quality cabinets, Kraftmaid, and upgrading to "all plywood construction" which is the best they offer. They're always running sales with $1k off plywood construction so he said it would even out in the end (I don't think that's entirely true, but still worth it).

I was expecting this to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-20k, so I was pleasantly surprised when the quote came back in the $9,xxx range. It's a very rough quote and we haven't finished planning all the way, but he said after the discounts and sales they are running, we should be able to get it in the $8,xxx range.

Plus, they do complete installation and project management for under 2k, and if we use their services we aren't charged any sales tax on the entire purchase.

Of course, we still have to buy appliances (planning on getting those at Lowe's on Black Friday), countertops, backsplash, lighting, flooring, etc etc etc....)

In the end we figured it'd still end up in the $20k ballpark, which is totally fine by us to get our dream kitchen. Especially since we bought the house way under budget and planned for this.


Just for fun, I decided to give Ikea's kitchen planner tool a spin this afternoon.

Here's what I came up with:

I used mostly the same measurements but had trouble in a few areas (like the panels around the fridge—it wouldn't let me make those tall enough).

The island didn't have exactly what we wanted (an open cabinet for a microwave), but everything came really close.

One thing I love about this kitchen is the farmhouse sink. If we went with the Lowe's kitchen, we probably wouldn't have the budget for this type of sink (considering Lowe's countertops almost always include a free sink). Maybe I can talk Brad into it though.

These aren't the style of open shelves I plan to build—they're just there to illustrate (excited about these too!)


Ok, so guess what the rough total was for this kitchen—including the countertops, fridge, sink and dishwasher?

$6k! So cheap.

But you know what? The more I think about it, the more I realize that it's just not worth dealing with. I get a headache just thinking about trying to figure this all out on my own, spending a full day at Ikea hoping they are ordering every little part correctly, and then spending 50 hours with boxes and bags of parts, hand tightening Ikea screws with those dang little wrenches.

I'd go insane. At this point in my life, I believe my sanity and peace of mind is worth more than the thousands (gulp) I'd be saving on an Ikea kitchen.

And I think it'd be the right choice for us in the long run—in terms of quality, customization, overall look and feel. We want something we won't have to worry about down the road. Installing a kitchen is beyond our DIY abilities and we are totally cool with spending more and leaving it to the pros (of course we'll stalk watch them very closely to make sure everything is up to par).


Alright, that's all I've got left in me for tonight. By next week at this time we should be the official homeowners and preparing to brave the Black Friday sales to score us some appliances (we need everything—fridge, oven, cooktop, dishwasher, microwave, washer & dryer!)

Oh—and if you're looking to get started on some holiday shopping of your own, tomorrow (actually, today if you're on the east coast) is my biggest sale day of the year: Blue Friday. Keep an eye on my Facebook page for the official announcement!

Have a happy and thankful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Thanksgiving Worksheets & Hostess Gift Ideas - Order by Thurs for Thanksgiving!

About three years go, Mike and I hosted our first Thanksgiving just weeks after our wedding.  I had all of my new wedding gifts and was thrilled to be hosting.  I shared a set of worksheets that I had made for myself to get organized - they are very similar to the worksheets I used in my catering/event business... without the budget part.

Those worksheets have somehow been lost out there (and I have received a ton of emails requesting), so I recreated them for you.   They can be downloaded, here.

I styled them to match my Thanksgiving Place Cards (now on sale).

This worksheet lists everything you'll need to set the table, self-serve bar, kids table, and details you should prepare for the house - guest towels for bathroom, rake leaves, etc.

Every time I throw a party, I make a list similar to this... for my friends who have hosted showers with me, are accustomed to receiving a couple of spreadsheets with my plans : )    I just find that it makes the day of the event so much more fun if everything is planned for ahead of time.  And written down.  If it is written down, my brain can go on auto pilot during the party and I just have to follow my own instructions for cooking times, what platters to use, etc. 

Because everyone's Thanksgiving is a little different, I've also included blank worksheets you can use to fill out.   Here is the preview of the blank cooking schedule, too.

All of these worksheets can be found to download, here, and are formatted in Numbers (for us Mac users), Excel and PDF's.  Hope they make your Thanksgiving planning fun and easy.

If you're not hosting Thanksgiving, here are some ideas from my store for great hostess gifts.

I also now have a very limited supply of Fig & Cedar Candles, $16, my new scent for November (that sold out in the first 12 hours!). 

















Of course, the My Everyday Candle, $16, is always a good option, too.

This is the idea I shared a couple of weeks ago - coffee cake baked in a Kraft Loaf Pan, a linen tea towel, wrapped in a large Cello Bag, tied with Edgartown Sand Ribbon.

The Tablet + Le Pens, $14, is another great gift - now packaged ready for gifting.


And remember, place your order by this Thursday to be able to receive it by Thanksgiving!

Nantucket, Beacon Hill & Concord, Ma | Our trip back

A couple of weeks ago Emma and I tagged along with Mike on a work trip back to Boston.  We hadn't been back since we moved back home last year.  There are so many reasons that I'm glad we're home, but so many things I miss about the entire New England area.  One of the biggest things I miss is being able to get in the car (or ferry...) for an hour or two and be someplace amazing.  

Nantucket was the one place that was on my "list" when we lived there that we never made it to.

Here is the view of the island as we pulled in on the ferry right at sunset.

This is the old, old street right off of the ferry dock - old, old.  Everything on the island is charming, old, weathered and fabulous.  It is known as "the little grey lady" and you can see why in this photo.  

 This is a photo of the town, as we walked just a couple of blocks in from the ferry dock.  See those cobbled streets?  They were made from the stones used to weigh down the empty ships that were coming from England to fill up on whale oil.  I love the history of this little place. 

When we arrived, it really felt like we were entering into a private secret place... does that sound weird?  It is so comfortable and grounded feeling - you can tell that the people there feel like it is their favorite place in the world... this little village out in the sea, all by itself.

We stayed at The Roberts House Inn, a lovely old group of homes in the center of town. 

 This is our room - just as I had envisioned it.  Stately, old, cozy and charming. 

 The view from our window on a chilly November day.

This is one of the new buildings that are a part of the Roberts House.  I love everything about it - I took a lot of notes (and sent a lot of photos to our architect...) for our new addition while we were there.  

 Emma's favorite part of Nantucket?

This umbrella.

Talk about a lesson in keeping life simple... after a plane ride and a ferry boat ride, she loves the umbrella.

We spent just one night there (not even 24 hours), but I'm so glad we finally got to be a part of it.  It was so lovely -  I can't wait to go back during beach season... I put it on my list of places to have a home in my dreams.

Emma watching Cinderella on the ferry ride back to Cape Cod.  Oh, and she loved that we called the ferry boat the "fast flying fairy" - for those of you who also watch the Disney Fairies : ) 

 

We returned to "the mainland" and checked into our hotel, The Taj, just off of the Boston Public Garden. 



I forgot to take photos of the hotel so I borrowed these so you could get a feel for it.  It was amazing.  It was formerly the Ritz-Carlton - actually the first and original.  It is everything you imagine an old Boston to be - elegant, warm and stately.

 

Emma and I spent our afternoons having hot chocolate while we watched fancy dogs go on walks in the park.   (borrowed photo)

For dinner that night, we went to one of my favorite spots - 75 Chestnut in Beacon Hill.  It was just a short walk from the hotel - straight thru The Public Garden.

The next morning Emma and I went back to visit the "Make Way for the Ducklings" ducklings just as we had done a year ago : )

And we looked at all of the leaves - while Emma rode her "horsey" otherwise known as the shoehorn from our hotel room.  We would've been lost on this trip without the fun accessories from the room... we barely needed the ipad.  Kidding - we definitely used the ipad.

 Just through the park is Beacon Hill - my favorite neighborhood in Boston.

It is what you think of when you think about a classic Boston street.  





One afternoon, Emma and I headed back out to Concord to visit some friends and favorite spots.

I'm sure it is no coincidence that these privet berries caught her eye...

I love this little town - I think it is the most quintessential New England town.

 Emma loved her old toy store - but the last time she was here she was still in the stroller.  Now she's rocking out on the guitar....

...and "tinkering" (as she said... another Disney Fairies reference) with the work bench... Santa, are you taking notes?

Sorry to have been away from the blog so long, I've been crazy busy packing up packages for the store - a good thing!  There is relief in sight, as I have my first employee starting tomorrow morning.  I'm looking forward to having more time to spend writing (again!) and researching more fun products to feature.  I'll be posting Thanksgiving planning worksheets this week to help everyone get ready for Turkey Day!  Have a great week : )