Kitchen Sneak Peak

I know, I know, I've been promising the after photos from my huge kitchen renovation.  I am the worst when it comes to taking photos, but I am working on that weakness.

Here's a sneak peak for now.  More to come in the next week.  I pinkie promise.

Everyone Needs A Little Animal Print

I am so excited to share this picture with everyone. We finally had our antelope runner installed on our wood stairs. The stairs are completely enclosed and access only the second floor which is all kid space. We wanted to add a runner with a fun print, something unexpected since you can't see it from the rest of the house.

I realize an animal print rug is not for everyone and I wasn't even sure it was for me, but then the idea grew on me and heck why not. These stairs have come a long way since we found them in their original state. You can see a before picture and progress pics I posted about here.

My interior designer insists every home needs one animal print somewhere.  So here's my somewhere.  It's super soft and perfect for sneaking upstairs to check on the kids. 

Purple Inspiration

I just discovered this wonderful blog called Nursery Notations and loved this great post on decorating with purple.  As some of you may already know, I plan to decorate the baby's room in purple.  This post is very inspiring.

Mug Love

I love this mug.  I really do, it so pretty and a set would be beautiful in my new kitchen.  I have inquired about the cost for one set and found it here.

Kitchen Artwork

I am working on artwork for the kitchen and am pondering a few pieces that have recently caught my eye.  The first is this beautiful 40"x40" photography print on Etsy by Carl Christensen.

Who says you can't have a fun photograph in your kitchen.  Does kitchen artwork have to be about food?  I like the subtle pop of color with the orange and fun casual feel it brings.  I want my kitchen to be fun and casual.

I also like this one for all the same reasons, fun, casual, muted colors.

Next up is this bleach wood starburst mirror from Ballard Designs.  I really like the muted color of the wood, but I also feel like I need to take a twelve step program and move away from the starburst. 

Or maybe something weathered and old like this Wisteria window pane. 

What would you hang in your kitchen?

The Kind of Island I'm Currently Dreaming Of

Since I am now in the no travel zone of pregnancy and chin deep in home projects this is currently my island retreat.  I love the giant X and color of this island.

Image via ?

Renovation Realities: Cabinets Take Shape & Countertops

Lot of fun progress this past week. The cabinet builder started framing everything out and we picked the stone countertops. The outer countertops that line the walls will get a honed carrera marble and the island will be soapstone. The backsplash will also be a honed carrara subway tile.

I always wanted a honed marble for the counters, nonnegotiable, but to have soapstone too! It’s a dream come true. I never thought my husband would agree to both as they are on the high maintenance side.

When we picked the stones I gave him three options of my favorites and didn’t tell him which was which. His options were, slate, soapstone and honed granite. Lucky me he picked soapstone!

I am super excited to share the progress over the next couple of weeks. We’ll be picking paint, lighting, seating options and heading towards the finish line.

Countertop Pics

Remember these cute basket? Love them in my mud cubbies.

Kitchen without the island.  That's the new range hidden under the blanket.

Renovation Realities: Progress Puts A Smile On My Face

Demo began on the kitchen this week and not a moment too soon as I am now 20 weeks prego.  Let's get this baby started before the real baby arrives.

Here is a before of our kitchen when we bought the house a year and a half ago.

And here is what it looks like right now. 

This may look like a disaster to some, but to me it's a beautiful thing!

Did I mention the temp is dropping to the 20's?  That's really cold for Houstonians.  Needless to say, this part of the house is freezing.

Renovation Realities: My Faucet Infatuation

A long time ago, before we ever purchased our current home, I fell in love with this kitchen sink faucet from Perrin and Rowe by Rohl. I promised myself that when I got the chance to gut a kitchen I would put this beauty as the eye candy of the sink.

Well friends the time has come and yes, we ordered this faucet in polished nickel and yes it is everything I had hoped it would be and then some. It's so beautiful and shiny and I could stare at it for hours.

We also ordered these little babies for the kitchen cabinets in polished nickel from Restoration Hardware.

Renovation Realities: Kitchen Sink or New Bathtub

Lots of fun stuff arrived this week for the kitchen renovation and other home projects.  One that made me really excited was our new Shaw apron front sink.  We purposely ordered a large sink since we were going with an undivided basin.

We just didn't expect it to be so big.  We've got lots of room for dirty dishes; and the kids. ;)

That would be my 4 year old sitting in the sink!

Renovation Realities: My Life Right Now

Project Bump is well underway in our home. Currently the entire second floor looks like a painting nightmare and a Dexter kill scene. In case you are new to this blog, our house is 50 years old. I know that's not ancient compared to some homes, but 50 years has made its mark and the second floor needed a major drywall overhaul.

There were cracks, drywall tape wrinkles and studs poking out in everywhere. Not to mention we just had new recessed lighting added to every room. When I say the previous owners did nothing to update this home, I mean nothing.

The second floor will basically be our retreat when we gut the kitchen in a few weeks. To get the space ready for baby and our new family room headquarters, it was time to bite the bullet and get it done.
Every wall and ceiling is getting all new mud and texture to completely smooth everything out and repaint. It's a mess right now, but when it's all done, it will look like beautiful new construction sheetrock. That makes me very happy.

Here is the gameroom.

Here is Jacquelyn's soon-to-be new room as she'll move to the other end of the house when baby comes.

Jacquelyn's current room and soon-to-be nursery.  Yes J is still sleeping in her room.  They haven't started painting so I was told it was OK.

A Little French Ambiance

Lots of fun things going on here. Some destructive renovation work and other pretty accents. I just ordered this beautiful light for my dining room from Circa Lighting.

Lavender Musings

In the mist of kitchen planning, work and being a mother and wife, I am also working on the nursery for my little one.  Since we're having another girl I've decided to design the nursery in lavender, cream and flax.  I stumpled upon these gorgeous images from A Creative Mint blog and it definately got the juices flowing.

Amateur Appliqué

Like most people I am obsessed with Leontine Linens custom monogrammed appliqué bedding and towels. I have one big hang up; I can’t see spending hundreds of dollars on custom linens when I have all the professional equipment at home to create the same look.

Since I have two girl rooms to plan for, I’ve decided to try and master the large appliqué monogram. I have appliquéd before, but never on such a large scale. My plan is to appliqué the baby’s bumpers and a valance in my older daughter's room.

We’ll see how it goes and I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Images via

Resolutions Are a Funny Thing

Inevitably a new year comes around and everyone resolves to make positive changes in their lives. Some are simple and realistic others ridiculous and completely unattainable. Nonetheless, the majority proclaim some sort of personal achievement for the New Year.

A few years ago I decided to make realistic goals for myself and spare myself the disappointment of not following through. Here’s a list of my 2011 New Year goals.

image via Lonny Magazine

1. Start sewing beautiful linens for my own home. Believe it or not I am the shoemaker with no shoes. I spend the majority of my time sewing gorgeous drapery and linens for my customers and as a result my windows are poorly dressed.

2. Have a HUGE tag sale that we have been putting off for about a year. I prefer to call them tag sales because garage sales sound so junky in my opinion. Over the past couple of years we’ve purged and updated our home and as a result we have piles of home accessories and furniture to sell. I have done my fair share of donating to the Salvation Army, but this go around it’s too much to haul so tag sale it is.

Image via Housebeautiful.com

3. Renovate my kitchen top to bottom. That’s right we are ripping her down to the studs and bringing her into this new millennium decade. Goodbye 1959, hello 2011.

4. Completely redecorate my daughter’s room and give her a proper big girl room.

These last two are the most precious resolutions to me.

5. Spend more quality time with my daughter and carve out special mommy and me moments as often as possible.

6. Have a healthy pregnancy and deliver this baby girl in my tummy that’s been growing for the past 14 weeks. Yep, I am prego and life is about to get a lot more hectic for my family. We are very excited and feel very blessed.

Happy New Year to all and best of luck with your resolution list. My one piece of advice, keep it simple and achievable.

What a Lovely Lady: After Photos of Our Home Exterior

Here are some updated pictures of our major home elevation renovation.  My apologies for the long overdue reveal.  The project has actually been complete for a few months.

This home was built in 1959 and while it has great bones, the archicture of the home was seriously lacking.  Here are few befores:

As you can see the house looked like it was sinking because it was covered by a brick pony wall and large shrubs.

Behind the brick wall was a garden of weeds and more weeds accented with gravel.

The front door; not very welcoming.

And here is the After!  As you can see we knocked down the brick wall and removed all the existing overgrown plants.  The outside was completely resided and everything was painted Martin Senour Linen Weave.  We also added new cedar wood shutters and metal hardware to the second story windows and painted them Gaunlet Grey by Sherwin Williams.

Pulling down the wall gave us added bonus space for a proper front porch.  We had Pennsylvania Bluestone installed to give the porch a solid foundation and expand the overall footprint.  The chairs are from Ikea with custom outdoor pillow-makes for a great spot to enjoy a glass of lemonade or an afternoon cocktail.

We completely overhauled the front door by removing the old door and centering the new one with side lights.  This made the front porch more symetrical, and with the custom gas lanterns and planters much more inviting.  The door is painted Showstopper Red by Sherwin Williams and all though the picture is a little dark, the color is a gorgeous red.

A few other fun details are our new doorbell and mailbox. 

(Can't figure out how to turn these photos in blogger photo uploader.  Very annoying)

Hope you enjoyed the tour of our home exterior!