Kitchen Tile — Up + Running!

Look at our kitchen back splash!

We love it!

If you read my recent post about the view from our kitchen window,

here ’tis:

Hi, nice neighbors!

Meanwhile, it’s time to order the light fixtures

for the wall above those windows.

Here’s my choice — the Logan sconce from Ballard Designs:

Red, please!

* * *

But back to the tile.

I chose it because the glaze looks like it was done by hand — so pretty!

Best of all, it’s crackled, which I couldn’t love more!

This adds a lot of vintage style, in my opinion,

+ makes those tiles look as if they could have been original to our house!

Oh, + that pretty but pesky grout left a few traces on the tiles, but no worries.

These can + will be removed later today.

Meanwhile, one more look:

Next up: a DIY range hood project!

Stay tuned!

2 Finalists For Our Bedroom Rug!

I’ve been shopping online for a rug for our bedroom for weeks!

The room is already sporting a dark gray accent wall + pale blue ceiling.

The walls + trim will be white,

 + I want to add a lot of blue accessories.

The pine floor has been sanded + stained a nice, warm brown.

The room measures 9’10” by 11″,

so of course, I am having math anxiety

+ cannot decide between a 4’x6′ or a 5’x7′ rug.

Help!?

* * *

Oh, never mind about that — for now, anyway.

Let’s talk about what I might order!

I’ve whittled down my favorites to these 2 rugs from Overstock.com.

Notice the blue + gray combination — excellent for my color plan!

They are both from the brand Safaveih’s Patina collection.

As you can see, the name Patina refers to the rug’s aged appearance,

which is a ‘thing’ now — new-but-old-looking rugs!

Perfect!

These are cotton rugs + soft,

which is kind of a must-have for our G.O.’s bedroom.

Now all we have to do is decide which rug + which size.

Stay tuned!

Hardscaping Hopes + Dreams

As we were out + about last week,

I asked G.O. if we could stop at a huge place that sells hardscaping materials.

Is that a word?  Hardscaping?

Anyway, I just hope that we can buy some of said-same this year,

as our back yard is currently a muddy  mess!

My plans include this:

Rotten granite, also known (on HGTV) as decomposed granite.

It’s very French, isn’t it?

Crunch crunch underfoot!

My plans include enlarging our driveway + stuff.

Here is a huge pile of it, with our beloved Dory:

Rotten granite will cost us $89 per truck load.

That doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

I also found the bricks that I must have for our front sidewalk:

Looks like genuine old brick like no other product I’ve seen!

Here we have a sample walkway, laid in a basket weave design:

Nice but nope.  I prefer, instead, the herringbone pattern:

Now we’re getting warmer!

And finally, perfection!

Herring bone pattern with soldier course bricks for the border

+ Chloe the Dachshund:

I’ve waited so long + so patiently

for all this outdoor happiness at the Dutch colonial.

Guess we’ll all stay tuned!

Vintage Corbel Snafu

Yesterday I bought a pair of antique corbels,

hoping to use them at the corners of the opening

between our kitchen + dining room.

Like here:

This Old House

And Like my idol, Sarah Richardson . . .

. . . used in her family’s farmhouse:

Look at all those prints, playing so nicely together!

That’s so Sarah Richardson!

But back to me.

 Here you can see our doorway where I hoped to add corbels:

But wait.

It’s kind of hard to see in this photo,

but the cabinet at the right corner is too high on the wall.

There’s no room for the corbel!

F A I L !

The humanity!

Of course, I could always sell my corbels in my retail space.

I will probably do just that, but not before I explore my other options,

or as I like to call it — punting!

Once again, Sarah Richardson serves as my inspiration.

She really likes to use vintage corbels in her designs.

Here are not 1 but 2 pairs,

in the kitchen of that same farmhouse we saw previously:

At the left are painted yellow ones holding a shelf,

+ at right, some white ones are incorporated into the range hood.

Hey!   I thought.  We’ve not finalized our kitchen’s range hood!

Could that possibly be Plan B for my corbels?

Well, here I am, holding one in place:

Frankly, I am smitten.

They’re certainly beautiful + quite old (1890’s, I was told),

+ I have been trying to add some “age” to our kitchen!

Since I’m not the only person in our household who gets a vote,

we’ll have to wait to see what happens.

As always, stay tuned!

Tricking Out Our Kitchen Window

One of the first improvements to our Dutch colonial

was replacing the kitchen’s original single window . . .

. . . with a beautiful, new double window:

This change has been one of my favorites,

of all of the improvements we’ve added to our Dutch colonial!

The fabulous light!

The way it makes the room seem more spacious!

What’s not to love?

 Well, there is one down side.

The houses in our old neighborhood are pretty close to each other,

 + sadly, the view of our neighbor’s house isn’t that great.

No offense to the nice family who lives there,

but I don’t want to stare at the side of your house!

So.  What to do?

Here’s an idea from Pinterest:

bhg.com

How about tricking out that window of ours,

so that the eye stops at it, instead of traveling beyond?

Here’s how it was done in this photo:

1. Shelf  with pretty stuff on it (can do!)

+  2. Pretty vintage window sash

I love the vintage window sash (I’ve done it!)

Check it out — this groovy stained glass sash in our kitchen

of the bungalow where we’re currently living:

Since I really would like to repeat this design feature

in our Dutch colonial kitchen,

I am on the hunt for a matching pair of old sashes.

I’m headed to the flea market today, in fact!

Fingers crossed!

Meanwhile, here’s another kitchen window treatment that I love!

At this moment, this is totally what I wish to do in our new kitchen!

There’s privacy galore,

plus a cool spot to display some of my collections!

WINNING!