January 7, 2013

Our Farmhouse Kitchen

Of all the rooms in our new house I am probably most excited for the kitchen. Ever since I moved out of my parents' house after high school I have lived in rentals. Some of the kitchens in the various houses were okay, but none were great. Most of them have been small and not super functional. So being able to design a kitchen from scratch is a bit of dream.

We really want the kitchen, and the rest of the house, to have a bit of a farmhouse feel. So we've tried to incorporate elements that lend to that style while still being new and very functional. As we've been making some of the final design decisions for the kitchen over the past couple of weeks I've put everything together in a design board to see how it would all look. 

Here's what I've come up with...


1. 48" Wolf range top and stainless steel appliances // 2. Wall color: Benjamin Moore Woodlawn Blue (HC-147) // 3. Shaker style inset cabinetry // 4. Twist Swivel Stools from World Market // 5. Open shelving with corbels  // 6. Countertops: Glacier White Granite // 7. White subway tile backsplash // 8. and 11. White painted perimeter cabinets, Benjamin Moore Stratton Blue (HC-142) for the island // 9. Stained red oak floors // 10. White farmhouse sink with chrome faucet

I wish I could show you a picture of the kitchen space, but a few weeks ago I inadvertently upgraded the iPhoto on our hard drive, which is where I keep ALL of our pictures. This little mistake means I can no longer open any pictures using our computer because our operating system is too old. Bummer. Good news is that my error was just enough of a push for us to decide it was time to order a new computer. I can't wait until it shows up, hopefully sometime later this week. 

Nonetheless, I am so anxious to see it all come together. Obviously we still have more decisions to make like the lighting and window treatments and hardware, but we are getting close. The house is being textured today and will be painted later this week. Cabinetry is scheduled to be installed next week, eek!

January 2, 2013

Published!

A few weeks ago I received an email with the subject line marked as "**Urgent: WSJ Opportunity". I couldn't figure out what WSJ stood for and normally wouldn't even open something like that, but for some reason I did that day. 

After I opened the email I had one of those hit yourself on the forehead, "duh!" moments. 


The email happened to be from a lady who works for the company which markets Ball Mason Jars. And the Wall Street Journal happened to be doing a feature on Ball Mason Jars.  

Why I was getting an email about all of this? 

Well a couple of years ago I did a guest post for another blog featuring a craft using a mason jar. Apparently the marketing group for Ball had found the post, liked the craft, and asked if it would be ok to feature my photo in the story. I know, crazy, right? 


It was not one of my better photos and in hindsight I thought the whole craft a bit silly so I didn't even share it here. It took me several hours and a very legitimate sounding follow-up email to believe that it wasn't some scam. 

Sure enough it wasn't. My photo (and Audrey) ended up being part of the feature on Ball Mason Jars in the December 19th printed edition of The Wall Street Journal. You can see the online version of the article here.