2015 - that's a wrap/Plans for the New Year

Happy New Year's Eve!!

There will be no Top 15 from 2015 for me.  We have been winding down this week putting away our Christmas decorations and doing some planning for what comes next in our house makeover.

For those of you who may be new here, we purchased this ranch home in August of 2014 and have been working our butts off to make it our own. (Check out some of the older posts by clicking on the House Tour button above)

Right now we are trying to wrap up the kitchen/living room remodel.  The kitchen is done for the most part.  We still have to do something with the ceiling, whether that be just painting the popcorn ceiling or do something to cover it up.  McG is hoping to cover it up, but I am voting for just a fresh coat of paint.  With so many other projects on the horizon, I would just like to knock this one off the list quickly and cheaply.

He has been working to box in the columns between the kitchen and living room.  Here's the inspiration we are working towards.

We are leaning more toward the first one and are building them out of MDF that will be painted white.

We have also been looking at replacing the kitchen island with something more open and industrial looking. Now that the kitchen is mostly white, we are looking for something of a statement piece that will stand out against the clean white background.

found on Style @ Home Magazine

Last night while shopping at Costco, we found something that we think is sure to add some great style...

This is the Whalen Industrial Metal and Wood Workbench.  It is six feet long and stands 37 inches high.  The fact that it has castors is a great plus for us because it can be moved around as needed. McG and I both like the fact that it is open at the bottom.  We feel it may give the kitchen a bigger feel being able to see through it.  We purchased it and it is sitting in the spare bedroom now just waiting to take up residence in the kitchen!  First up though, is recycling the current island into two smaller cabinets that will get installed on either side of the picture window in the kitchen.

So there you have the next few items on our to-do list for the New Year!

We are wishing you all the best as we head into 2016 - and we look forward to having you continue to share in our dreams for our home!

Cheryl

Better Late Than Never...The Christmas Tour

I'm really behind in showing you my holiday decor this year, but as the saying goes....

Better Late Than Never!

I really didn't do any big decorating this year and it feels good to keep things simple.  With the kitchen renovations taking up quite a bit of our time, I needed to wait longer than I wanted to, to put my decorations out.

I hope you take the time to look around the house as we continue to getting ready to celebrate

Christmas later this week.

The table got a small Christmas runner that I purchased at the thrift store for a dollar, along with a

metal basket that I had on hand here filled with a garland and topped with ornaments and pine cones.

I also added these cute wooden tags that I purchased on clearance last year at Target.

 I kept the living room very simple with just some pine cones in a basket on the coffee table and some lighted branches in my owl vase in the corner and some ornaments on the shelves of the bookcase.  I let the tree take center stage in the living room.

 Our tree is in the corner of the living room by the front door.

I went with a blue, green and silver theme.  All these ornaments are new and were purchased on
Boxing Day last year at Home Sense.

In the family room I just decorated the hearth and hung the stockings.

I will be taking the rest of the year off from the blog to enjoy time with family and friends.

I'd like to wish you all a safe and Happy Holiday season and a very Merry Christmas!

Cheryl

At Long Last...The Kitchen Reveal

While it's not totally done yet, I wanted to share the great transformation the kitchen has undergone so far.  Here is where we started when we bought the house in August of 2014.

Oak cabinets stained dark walnut and great hardwood floors.

We took down the shelving on either side of the sink cabinets and took down the wavy valance that really dated the kitchen.

The layout and flow of the kitchen worked well, but we wanted to lighten things up.

Back in March we took down the wall between the kitchen and the living room.

We patched the floors where the wall came down.

We took down the wooden hood vent cover and opened up the shelving over the stove.  Next we ripped out the old counter tops and installed new ones, along with a new sink.

We boxed in the cabinets around the sink and moved and centered the light fixture and added new lights throughout the kitchen.  We also purchased cabinet doors from the Habitat Restore to finish off the ends of the cabinets around the sink.

Next we added bead board as a back splash and as wainscotting around the room.  The paint colour was changed as well to Dorian Grey by Sherwin Williams.

We also painted and added new trim. The room is so much lighter and brighter already at this point.

We sent the cabinet doors out to be sprayed and we painted the bases and crown molding.


AND HERE SHE IS NOW...(I apologize for the dark pictures...it's been cloudy and raining here for days!)

We added a new bank of drawers on the base cabinets.

One of the last projects was to add this tile around the stove area and around the window.
More on this project to come at a later date.

Projects still to come in the kitchen:

-   add drywall to the ceiling to cover the stucco
-   split the island in two and install cabinets on either side of the window
-   build a new island
-   finish up the columns between the kitchen and the living room

What do you think about our kitchen transformation?  I am loving it!!

Cheryl

Linking Up @:

Coastal Charm
Northern Nesting
Life On Lakeshore Drive
A Stroll Thru Life
Cozy Little House
Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Lavender Cottage
Kammy's Korner

A Quick Update to the Small Bedroom/Storage Room and a Little Peak of the Kitchen!

We have four bedrooms in this house.  The tiniest room we were using for extra storage and as a work room while working on the kitchen.  It had been a nursery in a previous life and still had the "bear border" up there.

Yesterday we decided to clean up that room and try and organize it in a way that we would also be
able to use it as a workout room.  We have a treadmill that we would like to use, but it had been barricaded in with tools and stuff.

I took down the border using a mix of hot water and fabric softener to loosen the glue.  We left the cloud painted walls for now because painting this room is just not a priority.

Here's a look at some of the mess that was in there.  We purged some stuff and I took that to Value Village to donate.  Other stuff got put in totes and put in the garage.

We purchased two heavy weight plastic shelving units from Costco for $40 each and assembled them

Then today I picked up two matching shower curtains for $10 each and attached them to the shelving units with Velcro to hide the clutter.

I apologize for the dark pictures, it's been raining here today.  This room also didn't have an overhead
ceiling light, only a lamp that turned on when you flicked the light switch.

We had two cage lights leftover from the kitchen makeover that we didn't use.  McG added a hook in the center of the room and we hung the light and draped the cord over to the outlet and plugged it in. Now we have an overhead light. He will definitely be installing a proper ceiling fixture at some point, but this proved to be a great quick fix to our lighting issues in this room.

The room is more organized and brighter and now we can actually use the treadmill.  It was good to get this project checked off the to-do list, especially now that winter is upon us and we will be looking for ways to exercise indoors.

Be sure and stop by later this week when I will be revealing the kitchen makeover...Here's a sneak peek to tide you over!!

Cheryl