Weekend Happenings: Kitchen Decisions & "Shopping"

The chalkboard wall still needed to be primed at this point.

This weekend Gilbert and I had planned to start demo'ing the wall that separates our kitchen and dining room. We were going to tear down the sheetrock on the dining room side to at least expose what ever is lurking behind the wall. Now we already knew that this was a load bearing wall and after many hours of discussions and phone calls to a local lumber yard, had decided that we would need to purchase a couple of engineered beams to support the load instead of just using regular ol' lumber. So with that settled we thought we were ready to at least start some part of this daunting project.

Well Saturday came and went. We just weren't quite ready to take the plunge and make the mess. The logistics of emptying cabinets, unscrewing said cabinets, taping off the dining room so dust wouldn't fly all over our new chalkboard wall, dealing with electrical wires that needed to be re-located, etc just seemed like too much to tackle at the time. So we stood up, brushed ourselves off, and the hubs went out for his weekly yard duty.

I, on the other hand, had to get over my disappointment of not starting this particular task and turned my focus to something else. The chalkboard wall in the dining room. I decided to go "shopping" around the house looking for items to style the buffet. I did have to briefly call the hubs back in from the yard to hang some shelves from Ikea that we've had sitting in our basement for literally almost a year. And I love how it turned out!

Items left to add: an orchid to replace the cloth flowers, maybe a new lamp and a wood serving board - I've got my eye on this one made by A Sunny Afternoon Co.

The second quick and easy task for the weekend was replacing the light fixture in the kitchen. We were so blessed that the previous owner had really great taste when it came to light fixtures, and was willing to leave the fixtures when she sold the house to us. We have re-arranged the fixtures around in the house and had a few sitting in our basement just begging to be put up. While I loved the current fixture, it just didn't put out much light so we once again decided to "shop" in our basement and put up another fixture that we had just sitting down there. There is so much more light now!

I love that we turned a disappointing (at least for me - the one who just wants to take a sledge hammer to everything....maybe not so much to my neat freak, but oh so loving husband that really just didn't want the mess) weekend into a successful, light stress, easy DIY weekend that made such a dramatic difference in both of these rooms. Now to challenge my inner artist and put the chalkboard wall to good use.

Design Crush: Dining Room Inspiration

Gilbert and I are currently trying to re-invent our house and update the look to meet our current tastes. I've put together a mood board for the dining room and I'm so excited. I can't wait to start purchasing some more of these pieces and bringing the whole look together.

We've already painted the chalkboard wall (I still need to prime the wall with chalk and get to drawing). Then we need to hang up some shelves that we've had for a year or so and never put up.  The other 3 walls in the room are white and we are about to tackle (as in this weekend!) opening up the wall that divides the kitchen and dining room to create a small breakfast bar area and make the two rooms feel more cohesive.

We purchased the Dumont Buffet from West Elm a few weekends ago when they were having the Buy More, Save More sale. Score. And just picked it up on Father's Day. We're loving it already.

I'm still on the hunt for 2 dining chairs that will go with our farm table. We've already got 3 armless leather chairs and a bench. We need 2 chairs to anchor the ends of the table. I like the look of something with a classic shape and maybe a pattern? This one pictured from World Market has been discontinued. Suggestions?

Items pictured from Left to Right: Chalkboard Wall - Magnolia Homes Episode Two, Cluster Glass Pendant - West Elm, EAT Wood Sign - Slippin Southern Etsy Shop,  Jute Rug - Pottery Barn, Dumont Buffet - West Elm, Orchid - available at any local flower shop, Thermalogic Trellis Panels - Wayfair, Suzani Hayden Dining Chair - World Market

Weekend Happenings: Baseball Getaway

We headed South this weekend for a little baseball action and visit with my in-laws to celebrate Father's Day. The only snafu in the trip was actually getting down to Atlanta. It took us 7 hours...7 hours people. We could have almost driven to the beach in 7 hours! There was a tractor trailer accident that had the interstate literally stopped on Friday evening. We even turned our own truck off at one point and were just sitting. Oh well we made it safe and sound. And that's what matters.

Luckily it was a night game and was perfect weather once the sun went down.

Saturday started off with a little home shopping at one of my favorite stores, Ikea. When are we getting one in Nashville? Soon, please?!?!?!? We picked up some fun serving-ware to go in our new buffet that we recently ordered for the dining room (pictures of that to come soon).

The hubs and I.

And then we made our way to Turner Field for a little Braves-Angels action. The game was pretty slow for the first 7 innings so we decided to leave after the 7th inning stretch and beat the traffic. Bad Braves fans! Well we beat the traffic and missed the best part of the game. The Braves were down 4-0 when we left and ended up tying the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the 9th. We got home and finished watching the game on TV. It went to 13 innings. And was the longest game either team had played all season. Braves ended up losing 11-6, but what a game. Lesson learned. Stick around.

Overall we had a great little weekend getaway. It's always so fun to travel on the weekends, but puts you behind for the week. We were scrambling for breakfast this morning. Must hit the grocery store tonight. Oh well. Definitely worth it.

P.S. We made it home in time for dinner with my dad and family. Bonus Father's Day treat.

Throwback Thursday: Our First Glance

This house was pretty much love at first sight for us. We saw so much potential and had the vision. Fast forward 2.5 years and we sort of lost that vision. We were too consumed with the idea of ripping down all the walls and starting over with just the shell. Well now that we've settled into the idea of freshening her up as is, I thought I'd share a couple of the original pictures from when we first saw the house.

We loved the 10' ceilings. All the light that poured in. The 1900's charm. And the overall feel of the home.

Not pictured: the master bedroom and bathroom, hallway bathroom, the backyard and the finished basement as it was when we first moved in. We spent a good two weeks after buying it sanding and painting all the walls and trim. We loved the all white look, but felt like it needed some more color so we painted the walls tan with a few accent walls. Well now after really defining our style we are slowly going back to white. It's all a process and labor of love.

Hey Ya'll

Where to start? Somewhere. That's been our motto lately. My husband and I moved in to our cute, little house about 2.5 years ago. We saw this house before it was on the market and scooped it up without thinking twice.

Our lovely, little house right after we closed in 2011.
We've made lots of little changes and some big changes since then.

And while we love our house for the 3 of us (we have the most precious pooch ever...Mr. Hudson) we know that if we want to have a family at some point we will have to add on. 2 bedrooms will just not cut it. Period. So we started down what we hoped would be a pretty painless road to home renovation. Here's what we thought the process would look like: husband draws plans up, get those plans finalized by an architect, submit plans to the local historic commission, get bids from contractors, secure loan, move in with my parents, start construction. Live happily ever after.

Well as it turns out our well-thought-out, labored over, so desired home renovation and addition that we were in love with came in over budget. Way over budget. Like 2 times over budget, ya'll. So we've been stuck. Do we bite the bullet and renovate anyways (assuming it would appraise for the monster reno) and pinch every penny we have and will have for the next....oh 30 years? Do we put it on the market to see if we get any interest? Do we wait until contractors aren't so busy in the area and are looking for work again in a few months? Or do we just give the house some much needed TLC from the inside out?

After much hemming and hawing. Late nights. Early mornings. Feverish internet searches for new houses.Feeling excited. Feeling depressed. Ready to move. Crying about the thought of moving out of "our home". We've decided to love the house and really get our hands dirty with some DIY renovations. And while our updates won't add any space, I think we'll feel much more at home once the house has a style. Here's to our cute little fixer upper. Let's see what a difference we can make!