FOR THE LOVE OF AN ACCENT WALL

Oh, how I love a good accent wall!

Here’s ours:

That’s our downstairs bedroom, sporting Pittsburgh Paint’s Volcanic Ash.

We both LOVE it!

As is usually always the case,

I went through a lot of choices before finally choosing the dark gray.

I valiantly tried to persuade myself to go with Benjamin Moore’s Hale navy . . .

apartmenttherapy.com

Pottery Barn

. . . but for some reason, I just couldn’t pull the trigger!

 I was very tempted

by Southern Living magazine’s painted gingham wall tutorial:

Southern Living

OMiGosh — how charming is that?

VERY!

Saner heads finally prevailed when I realized the following:

1. This happiness would involve way too much MATH.

2. It would require G.O.’s assistance.

3.  It would probably last a day or 2 or 3 or 4.

What to do?

  Well, they make some pretty groovy buffalo check wallpaper:

dailyimprint.com The pale blue paint on that cabinet rules my world!

I even lugged the insanely heavy wallpaper book home for a look-see!

However, in the end, I feared it might be too ‘granny’ (God forbid!)

Besides, wallpaper is crazy expensive,

+ I’ve only got a bazillion other things I need to buy!

Dark gray paint, it is!

My plans for this room include some blue to go with all the gray,

so we painted the ceiling the palest of pale blues:

Everything else will be simple + white

so that the gray wall will be ‘the star’ of the room.

* * *

Next up, my fun gets even funner,

as it’s time — at long last — to be choosing the pretty stuff!

Say hello to these affordable cuties from Target:

I don’t know about you, but polka dots make me happy!

I like a few favorite rugs from Wayfair.com, but I’ll share those later.

Stay tuned!

“PLAN A” BACK SPLASH TILE

If you’re a regular reader,

you’ll recall that we recently suffered a tile snafu at the Dutch colonial —

it being something about the space between the counter top + the window trim.

It wasn’t working with the 3″ x 6″ tiles I’d chosen:

When I leaped ahead to Plan B, which was penny rounds . . .

. . . this had G.O. promising to change the wood trim

or anything, really, to avoid penny rounds!!

Can you imagine how difficult they must be to install?

So.  Back to Plan A.

Check it out, in progress:

If you think they look great here,

wait until that protective pink paper goes away!

The grays of the tiles + the counter tops look smashing together!

The gap below is the space for our range:

T

So.  What color grout will we use, you ask?

White, like that in my inspiration back splash, here:

heavyontheveggie.jpg

LOV-ing that pretty runner, which is a “thing” now, for kitchens.

I like this one from Overstock.com — called Cross Stitch.

It’s indoor/outdoor, which would be perfect in a kitchen, don’tcha think?

Stay tuned!

CORBELS + CABINETS

As I mentioned earlier,

there seems to be an infinite number of ways to trick out one’s kitchen cabinets.

My plans include quite a few of said same, including this one:

Corbels underneath the uppers!

That’s the former kitchen of the kids from The Lettered Cottage blog.

They’ve posted a tutorial about how they re-did plain Jane cabs.

http://theletteredcottage.net/guest-post-by-mr-lettered-cottage/

* * *

So.  Back to my plans — the same Home Depot corbels under our upper cabs!

They’re less than $10!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Waddell-CR-310-9-3-4-in-x-9-3-4-in-x-1-3-4-in-Solid-Basswood-Arch-Corbel-10001523/205977517?N=5yc1vZc62i

For here:

Stay tuned!

COLOR FOR OUR UPPER CAB’S INTERIOR

I amused myself the other day,

as it occurred to me that I should re-name my blog:

things-that-I-want-for-the-Dutch-colonial-that-GO-ix-nays.blogspot.com.

Oops.

I doubt that he finds all this as amusing as I do.

But wait.

Here’s yet another idea I must have —

painting our upper cabinet’s interior a contrasting color.

Oh, + the bead board?  That, too.

BHG.com

I would love to accomplish all this in our own glass door cabinet, here:

When I first sprung this idea shared this idea with poor G.O.,

he was definitely not on board.

Pinterest images to the rescue, once again!

Feast your eyes on this yummy-ness, below —

I’m so loving the yellow ware + ironstone with the pretty gray!

Oh, + more bead board!

BHG.com

When was the last time I saw old school cup hooks, like this (below)?

apartmenttherapy.com

How retro!  How cute!

Looks like I’d better get showered + dressed + be over at the Dutch colonial!

STAT!

 

TOE KICK MUSINGS

Different day — same topic.

How can I make our Dutch colonial kitchen look more original??!!

So far, my instant age ideas include our cabinet hardware.

Red glass!

Some reclaimed lumber in a beam + possibly a range hood:

Possible vintage fabric curtains for windows + sink:

And now for my latest, greatest instant age idea!

Tricking out the toe kick!

Check it out — they, too, have a blue ceiling in their kitchen!

You see, it’s all about making one’s lower cabinets look like furniture.

Faux legs, like on a dresser!

The Lettered Cottage blog

Or we could include what I’m calling a solid kick.

This is definitely a ‘thing’ now.

All my beloved British home magazines have kitchen toe kicks like this:

I couldn’t love this kitchen more, but I can’t find the source. If anyone can give me the heads up, I’d be glad!

And for our last but not least toe kick eye candy,

this kitchen has both the furniture legs + the solid toe kick!

Better Homes and Gardens

OMiGosh!  I’m not sure I could love a kitchen more!

Note to self: find a vintage or vintage-repro rug, stat!

Here’s a contender; it’s indoor/outdoor, believe it or not!

Called the Cross Stitch outdoor rug from Overstock.com

I love that it looks like a modern log cabin quilt!

But, once again, I digress.

 Back to my new toe kick obsession.

Poor G.O. is not yet hip to this latest design idea.

 I hope to share all these photos with him later today.

Stay tuned, everybody (+ keep your fingers crossed, too!)

Reclaimed Lumber Beam + Range Hood

A few days ago, I was complaining that our kitchen looks “too new”

+ that a nice box beam made from old lumber would be just the ticket.

Not long after I started searching for said lumber,

our neighbors down the alley began tearing down their old garage!

How fortunate for us, no?

Here’s G.O. sorting through the pile o’ wood:

Next, we loaded our boards into G.O.’s Ranchero:

And back home:

Yes, our new/old boards will make a fantastic box beam

between our kitchen + dining room:

But wait.  There’s more!

We’re going to need a range hood for over our new range!

As often happens, my mind started racing toward a new project,

+ it wasn’t much later that I was searching Pinterest

for photos of wood range hoods!

Like this:

Hometalk

G.O. wasn’t on board at first,

as he thought maybe a wood range hood would be too “rustic”.

Source unknown

I feel his pain, but all these kitchens look kind of like ours,

meaning it would look just fine!

HGTV’s Fixer Upper They re-did a house for a young couple that was opening a coffee shop in Waco, TX.

The Lettered Cottage blog The old pendants + chippy blue painted table are wonderful!

While searching for old wood range hoods,

I found this metal one that I couldn’t love more!

Midwest Living magazine Oh, how I love scallops! And their old stove, the shelf, + the marble subway tiles!

But I digress, just a bit.

Back to my range hood hopes + dreams.

I’ll think + plan + sketch like crazy, so stay tuned!

RANGE IS HERE!

Our kitchen is getting closer to its finish line.

Our range has arrived!

That thing is incredibly heavy.

Since G.O. says I have “mouse arms”,

there was no way the two of us could get it into our house!

So.  He ran across the alley + asked our nice neighbor to assist,

while I snapped this photo of said same.

Oops.  Sorry, neighbor.

Back to the range.  Here ’tis:

Still no back splash tiles.

As of this moment,

I’m leaning toward white penny rounds with gray grout.

Stay tuned!

Farmhouse Sink + A Tile Snafu

Our IKEA farmhouse sink is finally in, over at the Dutch colonial!

See for yourself:

IKEA

While I like that sink + (a little bit less) that faucet,

I love my choice of back splash tile!

They are 3″ x 6″ subways with a crackled gray glaze.

Home Depot, online.

Martha Stewart paintable bead board wallpaper from Home Depot

Perfection — the way they complement all my design choices!

But wait.

There’s a problem with the size of my tiles

as they relate to the size available for our back splash.

We would end up with a row of tile slivers, to fit the space,

and nobody wants that.

ON TO PLAN B!

T

My mind immediately raced to the oh-so-cute penny rounds.

Exhibit A:

Home Depot

In addition to their being super charming,

they are very vintage style, which is just the ticket!

After a somewhat lengthy online search last night,

I found them in the color I desire — gray!

Galaxy gray penny rounds Source unknown

Marble mosaic penny rounds Sarah Richardson

Beautiful, ’tis true, but I fear they’re too busy for our kitchen.

They’d clash with our semi-busy counter tops:

So.  After yet more online searching,

I finally found penny rounds in a solid gray!

Lowe’s online

But wait.

Our grandlad G.O. immediately nixed the idea,

as he claimed small mosaic tiles like that are very difficult to install.

So is it on to Plan C?

Or will I get my penny rounds?

Stay tuned!

Adding Age With Vintage Fabric

I recently complained that our kitchen’s looking too ‘new’,

+ I mused that a reclaimed lumber box beam might help with that:

So.  What else could I do to add some instant age?

Enter vintage fabric!

I bought this very pretty table cloth today;

it started out as a flour sack in the 30’s.

Look at the sweet hand stitching at the hem!

Darling, right?

Very!

 And the red goes with our glass cabinet pulls:

And that cheerful blue is nearly identical to our ceiling!

Since I love vintage fabric,

I already had this gingham check tablecloth:

Don’t they look great together?

My plans for them include sewing short tiers for here:

And here:

And possibly on the glass doors of this upper cabinet:

I know!  That’s a lot of curtains in just 1 room!

But wait!

I’m even toying with the idea of this:

Country Living magazine

A skirt for our farmhouse sink!

Stay tuned!

Ceiling Beam Musings

The closer we get to the finish line of our Dutch colonial,

the more impatient I become!

Take the spot where our kitchen + dining room ceilings meet.

Please.

 

Will the dining room ceiling be blue like the kitchen’s? you ask?

I think so — since the rooms flow together the way they do.

Maybe something a few shades lighter — we’ll see.

If you look closely, the new kitchen ceiling is about 1/2″ higher

than the old one of the dining room.

Our plans include adding a box beam there.

Something like this:

Country Living magazine

I want to get some reclaimed lumber to make our beam.

That’s really going to ramp up the vintage charm of our kitchen!

It needs it — everything’s too new!

 The brown of the reclaimed boards

will tie in with the oak kitchen island, don’t you think?

 

It’s time for me to start searching for reclaimed lumber!

Stay tuned!