Kitchen Hits and Hurdles

When I was in about third grade, my girlfriends and I were obsessed with watching the making of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. There was something about going behind the scenes and learning about all the little details that we just couldn't get enough of. Maybe we just dug Michael. Maybe it made the spooky video less scary. Maybe we all had latent makeup artist dreams. I have no idea, but peeking at the process that led up to the final video was extremely satisfying for our little nine-year-old minds.

Although Mr. W's and my recent kitchen remodel wasn't as scary as the Thriller video (well, maybe as scary as the part with the dancing zombies...), I thought it might be fun to dive into some of the details and share some of the behind the scenes stories with you all.

When you see before-and-after pictures, it's easy to think that everything just fell into place perfectly but we had plenty of blips before getting to our lovely final product.

One of the first was with the hardware we ordered. Mr. W was extremely "particular" about the kind of hardware he wanted, so after spending literally hours researching options, we finally ordered these from Lowe's. And when they arrived, the orientation of them was not what it appeared to be in the picture so we sent them back. Then we ordered these from Home Depot. They had been discontinued, so we had to put in a special order to get the full number of pulls we needed. When they arrived we understood why they'd been discontinued. The quality was awful. So we sent them back... Finally we found these guys in chrome and we felt confident they'd fit well in our space. It's funny because we had talked about tab pulls in the very beginning—clearly we should have trusted our initial instincts.

Another snafu we encountered was with the pendant lights. Again, we did quite a bit of research to find products we liked that weren't a million dollars (like these, which I also loved). We finally settled on ordering three of these from Wayfair. Unfortunately one arrived with a dent in it, so we had to request a new one. The cost to ship back the dented one was high enough that Wayfair told us to just keep it—it wasn't worth the cost to return it. And then they proceeded to send us two replacement lights. Mr. W contacted them and they agreed we could send back one of the undamaged lights. But that left us with four lights....and we quickly decided we only wanted two (not three) in the kitchen. Doh. Thankfully, there's a project in the works at our house right now that involves turning the two extra lights into cool sconces for our smaller bathroom. Stay tuned on the details of that.

When Mr. W went to install the cabinets above the range section of counter, we had another doh moment—which are super interesting to navigate when you're married... I think engaged couples should have to attend weekend retreats where they remodel a room and if they still like each other when the weekend is over, they're cleared for marriage. Remodeling is like the ultimate team-building exercise and can very quickly become fertile ground for fighting if you don't keep the right attitude. So when Mr. W went to hang the cabinets and we realized that making them the same size/height as the range hood created unbalance in the entire room, we quickly had to work together to come up with a solution.

Enter: open shelving.

Yup, these little shelves were totally not planned but I love them and am so glad that our measurements were off so Mr. W could build them. He, of course, was also thrilled that I would have even more surface space for knickknacks...

Ignore the unfinished caulking around the cabinet. We're still working on the final touches in here.

So what did we get right in this room, you may be wondering?

Well, I love the Carrara marble subway tiles and the silestone countertop. I think they strike a nice balance between modern and classic looks.

I had no interest in helping choose a faucet (Mr. W investigated like 100 before finding one that fit his requirements) but I like the one we got a lot. It has a touch sensor which is a blessing and curse. So great to be able to just bump the water on and off when you're doing dishes—but sometimes I accidentally turn the water on my arm when I'm wiping up the sink... Not so much fun.

Another thing we love is the highly functional cabinet additions we ordered for our large, awkward corner cabinets. Before we remodeled, the corner cabinets were like black holes where one might lose a cast iron pot for months or discover a family of tarantulas living inside an infrequently used vase. But now, the lazy susan, slidey outey action makes everything very easily accessible.

Under the two drawer units on either side of the room are a couple more ultra cool space maximizers. These toe-kick drawers are the perfect size for cookie sheets, placemats, and pizza stones. Love that they make such great use of space that would have been wasted otherwise.

Although I really like everything in the new kitchen (boy was Mr. W right about the soft-close hinges) I think the most exciting addition was the pantry closet. When we first started designing the kitchen layout, we didn't have a pantry in the plan. This did not make me happy. After living with awkwardly spread out food for a year, I really, really wanted a pantry. Not sure why it took us so long to realize we could tuck one in the corner where the old hutch had been, but when Mr. W suggested it, I think I jumped up and down and then kissed his whole face off. It was the perfect spot for one and we have it so packed to the gills now, I don't know how we'd survive without it. I luuuurrve it.  

Now that I'm done with this post, I'm not sure it was nearly as thrilling as the making of Thriller. But given how often I dance around the new kitchen to old school Michael Jackson music, the tie-in seems very appropriate.

The Difference Between Male and Female Home Updates

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that "small" home updates vary greatly based on the sex executing them. Men and women are wired so differently. Even when we're toddlers, there seems to be an innate tendency among girls to nurture their dolls and play house, while the boys go down a sort of destructo-derby path, crashing toy cars and toppling building block towers. These varying inclinations were very evident this past week in our house as Mr. W and I each took on update projects.

Exhibit A
My update was as simple as working with an existing fixture and giving it a mini facelift. After my traumatic bird episode last week, I was totally in coping-through-creativity mode and decided it would be fun to repaint a planter so it coordinated better with a picture hanging in our living room.

Here's what our mantel looked like before:

Can you tell turquoise is my favorite color?

If you gaze down the mantel, you'll see this picture hanging on an adjacent wall:

 

Although there's some aqua in it, the deeper blues really pop. So I wanted to bring something into the living room that would tie into the cobalt and navy hues. After picking up some spray paint at the hardware store, and realizing straight bright blue was a bit too much, I settled on sort of an ombre treatment that used cobalt and oil-rubbed bronze—which I applied afterward with a stenciling brush. I also replaced the jade plant in it with a shorter, stouter clipping.

I think it turned out pretty cool. And now the dark blues in the painting aren't so lonely on the nearby wall.

Exhibit B
The "small" update Mr. W chose to make involved removing cabinet doors, reorganizing the cabinet's contents, finding a new place for the trashcan and recycling, and rewiring electrical so that it powers a new oven instead of the old one that came with the house. You know, just a minor tweak to the surroundings...

Here he is disassembling the old oven:

I didn't want a gaping hole in the middle of the kitchen, so after he disconnected the old oven, he put it back in its spot to serve as a cookie sheet storage facility.

And here he is connecting wires and making me nervous that he'd somehow electrocute himself even though the breaker was off...

Viola. Our new oven is installed. Too bad we don't have the new kitchen to match yet.

 

I think the best part of Mr. W's way-more-complicated project was that he was trying to beat the mother-in-law clock while he was doing it. My parents were on their way to our house after camping in Morro Bay and Mr. W wanted to have the oven situation completely figured out before my mom could arrive and give him a hard time.

He didn't make it, but my mom was impressed and didn't harass him too much. With all the commotion, I don't think she even noticed the new succulent pot on the mantel... Well played, Mr. W. Well played.

Blowing the Doors Off

I'm going to try to keep this brief. Between work, life coaching, traveling to Canada and Santa Ynez, trying to participate in the occasional social activity, and managing the upkeep of multiple properties, this girl hasn't had a whole lot of time to blog. However, she has had time to paint and organize stuff at the future wine country abode.

Before Mr. W left for Vancouver, we decided to take the doors off this closet in the new house's hallway and paint it the same soft grey we chose for the walls. I couldn't be happier with the choice. It looked like this before we moved in:

Now it's filled with books and games and pictures and DVDs:

I think it'll add a little interest for visitors when they venture from the dinner table to the bathroom...

I also decided to remove two of the bedrooms' closet doors last weekend. My parents were visiting—celebrating their 49th wedding anniversary. Don't you want to applaud that? It is seriously impressive that people can stay together that long. I look forward to celebrating five decades with Mr. W someday. Anyway, with their helpful hands at the ready, I was able to remove and repaint 8 doors. And laugh hysterically as my dad flapped around like a wild man when he walked into a cobweb inside one of the closets...

 

Now instead of the old garish yellow doors, I have nice clean white ones.

Bye bye buttercup.

In the spirit of door removal, I also decided to take apart some of the kitchen cupboards. Here's the before (before we moved in, that is):

And here's how it looks now:

It's kind of amazing how much more this one little change opens up the whole kitchen. I can't wait until we gut the whole thing and have some other open shelving for our ridiculous mass of cookbooks. (The picture above represents about 1/4 of the collection...)

I'm sure I'll have the house just the way I want it by the time we're ready to start remodeling. I guess that'll allow Mr. W to have more of a say in how things go and not feel so much like I'm designing the whole house without him. And I'm sure that'll move us a step or two closer to that five-decades-of-marriage goal...

Decorating Adventures, Wine-o Style

What do you get when you mix a house in the Santa Barbara wine country with one crafty wife and one absent husband? Lots of quirky kitsch and a strange abundance of turquoise. 

As silly as it may be for me to decorate our house in Santa Ynez before we live there full-time, it's nearly impossible for me not to do it. It's like an addiction. It's like a wonderful blank canvas that I just want to keep painting and repainting (I recently rearranged bookshelves in the hallway 3 times and intend to do it probably 5-100 times more). I cannot help myself. And the fact that Mr. W isn't there to steer me makes it even worse.

For example, when I was up at the house a couple weeks ago with my sister and her daughters, I bought these AMAZING vintage lucite grapes at an antique store.

My sister and nieces (and Mr. W) thought I was crazy to pay $39 for these suckers, but look at how much something comparable sold for on One Kings Lane! I think I'm in the wrong business...

Once I had those gorgeous puppies up on the mantel, the little picture I had hanging above them just didn't cut it. So Friday night, I set out to create a new piece of art to put above the fireplace. I started by tracing some printed cardstock letters and sketching out a wine bottle.

It took for freaking ever to get the whole thing painted. Much longer than I anticipated. But I guess this is what people do when their husbands are in foreign countries. They sit on the couch drinking wine and painting and watching Say Yes to the Dress on Friday nights... Here's what it looked like when the job was done: 

It probably won't last up there once we move in permanently, but it makes for a fun conversation piece now. And it's a good indicator of life right now. I didn't have Mr. W with me this weekend as I painted molding, scrubbed floors with a toothbrush, and lined some more shelves in the kitchen with contact paper, but I did have a tall, dark, handsome bottle of Tobin James 5.

I also had a sort of neat "local" moment when I went to one of the local tasting rooms where we're members—it was my first time going in to pick up our wine club shipment instead of actually having it shipped to our house. I was excited to be able to just walk in, and was even more delighted when my favorite little wineista (Wine barista? What do you call tasting room servers?) greeted me by name and wished me well when I told her we were in the process of moving to the area. 

Hopefully living up there won't cause us to become to one-dimensional. Or wine-dimensional. Maybe it doesn't matter. Que Syrah, Syrah, right?

Two Weekends in Santa Ynez: A Pictorial Review

 Look what I made Saturday night!

Before I lived with Mr. W, I remember feeling like his house was a sort of haven. I would come over on the weekends and feel like I was at a mini resort. I wasn't far from home, but I was far enough out of reach that it felt like an escape. There always seemed to be time to read a magazine over breakfast or catch up on my latest novel before dinner.

My new haven is our Santa Ynez house. The drive up the California coast—with the expanse of blue water keeping me company out the driver's side window—seems to slowly, steadily calm my soul. By the time I arrive in our semi-circular drive, I'm filled with gratitude.

I hope this feeling lasts after we move. It's become fleeting for me in Hollywood, and I hope the calm I feel in Santa Ynez doesn't dissolve as our furniture and regular daily life take up residence in the house.

Since Mr. W is in Vancouver, I've gone up on my own the past two weekends to chip away at the seemingly endless to-do list there. It's coming along. It makes me smile bigger every time I visit. Here's a little recap of some of the progress...

 I don't know how the previous owner went about picking the paint colors, but pretty much everything was red or yellow. And let me tell ya, those aren't the easiest colors to cover with new paint. But after who knows how many hours of taping and brushing and rolling, I made it happen.

During one of our first weekends at the house, we went to an estate sale in the neighborhood (which apparently are the thing to do on Saturdays up there—the traffic on that street was crazy) and I developed a crush on these geode bookends. I picked them up for $15.

I felt even better about the purchase when I saw these on One Kings Lane a couple weeks ago:

Our other bedroom at the house feels a lot like my apartment with my old duvet cover on the bed. Mr. W doesn't love the girlie grandma-ness of the room, but I adore it.

A dear friend made us a piece of art for Christmas, and I thought it was the perfect addition to the room, with its fun cheery message and bright paint colors. She made it in honor of Mr. W's scheme to grow lemon trees with the seeds he brought back from our honeymoon in Amalfi.

In addition to picture-hanging, painting, and fire-making, I hemmed all of the curtains, pruned some of the flowers, re-affixed weather stripping to the front door, and taped off the hallway so we can paint it when we go back up after Christmas. There are 8 sets of cupboard/doorway molding in that dang hallway. It took me 2 hours to tape it all. But it's worth it. All just part of creating the dream.

Two-Timing

When I was a single girl, I often felt like I was living a dual life. I had my apartment, social circle, and niche in my cute little town—then I had the life I lived at my boyfriend's house. For the sake of niceness, let's pretend that boyfriend was only ever Mr. W. 

It was like every weekend I packed a bag and drove 25 minutes away to go enter into my altered existence. In my other house. With my other people. For a long time, this double duty way of operating was exciting. I got to escape to fantasy land four times a month! But after awhile, I just wanted the two lives to become one so I could relax and quit packing and unpacking clothes and all my other important lady items.

Then, of course, I moved into Mr. W's place and missed my cute, girlie apartment for about 4 months. Go figure...

Since we received the keys to our new/future house in Santa Ynez, I find myself feeling again like I'm living a split life. One foot is in Hollywood, enjoying familiar comforts, plugging away at the job that has long served me; the other foot is in Santa Ynez, eager to take a step forward into the realm of wine country life coaching retreats and full-blown backyard farming.

And just like when I was dating Mr. W, every time I have to leave the "other" life, I just want to lie on the floor and have a small crying tantrum.

The new place is just so wonderfulllll...

This past weekend, we went up to work on the house and were lucky enough to get a boatload of help from my parents.

Cute, aren't they?

We didn't just get twice as much stuff done as we would have if it'd been just the two of us. We got about fifteen times as much stuff done. My parents are expert DIYers and almost stubbornly productive. My dad insisted that he had a blast power-washing the house.

However, he was so wet when he finished, my mom hung his clothes on our back fence to dry. Tighty-whites included. Yes Santa Ynez, we are the crazy LA people who put our underwear on display for the entire neighborhood to see...

Here are just a few snapshots of the progress we made Saturday and Sunday:

 

I'm in love with my new rug. It was a steal on RugsUSA.com—75% off, plus free shipping. I think she's so pretty, I'd let Mr. W take her on as a sister wife.

My mom did a bang-up job of recovering the light fixture with a pretty, soft grey, brushed silky fabric. She's like a sharpshooter with a glue gun.

We did some work to the bedrooms, too, but I'll save those for another post. Still lots of items on the to-do list, but at least it feels like we're making a dent. The funny thing is, this is all just interim renovating. Sometime in 2014, we'll be gutting the entire kitchen and both bathrooms. But for now, we'll enjoy our seahorses and retro ash cabinets. And maybe we'll miss them when our dual lives reunite and we're finally living together under our new roof.