...Changes...

So I finished school at the U. And as a graduation present to myself, decided to apply to go to more school! Hooray!

I spent the last month pulling together my application to LDS Business College, Interior Design program. I had to put together a color board to be accepted into the program. I think it turned out nice. I wanted to make it stand out and not just be on black foam board, so I wrapped the board in canvas so it looked like a linen board.

To maximize space on the 9"X12" board I stacked the upholstery fabrics and made them into a little booklet. I glued the furniture onto the fabric they would be upholstered in.

This is a picture of a collage wall and the accent pieces used to decorate the room. I had my sister write all of the labels, her handwriting is very architectural in style. Does that make sense? It does in my head!

I had to make my own white furniture. I couldn't find a picture I liked. I wanted this trellis wallpaper inside to add some special detail. Love it!

These are the accent colors to be used throughout the room.

My darling husband ripped down a sample of wood so I could make my wood floor into a herringbone pattern. I was scared for Drew's finger tips. He made it out with all his digits. Phew.

I ended up cutting my own dental moulding. Snipped every detail... Worth it... I think so! Well after all this work I got my acceptance letter! Wahoo! Onto the next big adventure!

I can't wait to bump into Hannah on campus. She pretty much runs the school. Trust me! She's even on the website!

That's Some Dog!

Poor pooches have been neglected. Here is Caesar on his knees begging for some attention.

Look how long he is! What a guy!

My Drew...

Stayed up until 3 AM this morning painting the gloss accent on the trim.

He's half man... Half amazing. It looks so great. With the morning light I think we capture the truest color of the walls. We haven't finished the ceiling because we decided we need to add one more can light to avoid a dark spot in the corner of the room. And accent art lights to highlight the glass tile. It's now a functional kitchen! Hooray!!

Thankful for a Sink!

Our faucet and sink are installed. I think the industrial sink was our best choice. I absolutely love how it looks. The way it functions with this sink... Phenomenal! It can reach every nook of the sink. And this sink is enormous!

The kitchen is really coming together. Just in time. I was starting to go a little crazy with no where to move. Seeing it all come together with more then double the amount of walking room and countertop space, makes it all so very worth it!

And the walls... Consider them done! New drywall, mud and sand, mud and sand, spackled, primed and two coats of paint later... Done!

The beam has been Puttied and caulked and we have painted the inside of the trim the flat white.

Now we just need to paint the glossy trim!

The paint turned out perfect. This for sure is my favorite color. Cleo contrasts the color well.

Tile and Storage...

You're probably sick of seeing progress shots... Not much I can help you with there!

We went completely overboard with trim on the vent beam. I'm crazy about it! Can there really be too much trim?? I say NO!

Here's how the beam looks tonight. Puttied and primed waiting to be caulked, spackeled and painted! Like I said before the inside of the panels will be a flat white and the trim will be a semi gloss white. Overkill again? Maybe! Worth it? Totally!

The underbelly of the beast! Look how good the post looks! With our little trim piece waiting to be stained.

The process of grouting. I won't lie I kind of had a pit in my stomach when we started grouting. I still wasn't sure about the white grout. I was scared it would show all of our mistakes, and errors in the tile sheets themselves.

Drew taught me you apply the grout, which should be a toothpaste consistency, in 45 degree angle swipes. Good to know.

I. LOVE. IT!!!!

The mistakes are so minor, and the grout actually minimized their appearance! And I think the white grout really highlight the pretty individual tiles. Whereas I think a matching tan grout would have made it look like a giant blob. No detail.

Those lines look pretty straight if you ask me.

Anyway... The whole process of remodeling the kitchen was to give us more space. That we accomplished. Now the trick is with more space, how to maximize our space to get the most storage. To really utilize all of our work.

I need need need these corner cabinet pull and slide cabinet shelves. The pull out and twist. And the far corner can slide to the opening. Only problem is the only place I can find them is Europe. Where they really know how to use small spaces.

Another idea I found was stair storage. Used all the time in Europe. Genius!

This is what we are putting in one of out cupboards. I hate seeing a trash can and it's nice to know the pooches can't get into the trash.

This is what we are doing with our sink legs. I'm so excited! A hidden spice rack! I love finding different ideas for storage. So many creative things to do!

Trim

We are trimming the kitchen out. Oh my goodness it is looking beautiful.

Here is our window and crown moulding. Drew did a fabulous job!

Here is our vent we hid with wood crown moulding and trim. I love the detail on it. We want to put quarter round on the inside of all the squares. We will paint the beam white with the base a flat or semi gloss and the trim with a higher sheen. To really make it all pop.

Here is the bottom post all trimmed out and ready to go.

Drew has spent a lot of time on adding little details to our kitchen. And I think it will really pay off. Here is some trim he routed from a strip of wood. While the rest of the post will be white we are going to stain this routed trim piece.

I am going to go ahead and take credit for this idea. I hate cut tile. I swear it never turns out straight. So we just tiled right up to the ceiling and put the crown moulding right on top. And it is a perfectly straight line. Drew was just extra careful in making sure the nails were shot in the 1/8 gap between tiles. Perfection!

Here is my dry run for grout colors. Drew bought some 'bright white 'non sanded' grout and here's how it looks. I love it, but I might have to try a less stark contrast. To hide the discrepancies in the tile. And that's where we are today.

Paint!

I'm stuck.... Paint has me stumped! We had the paint all picked out and then we found the tile. And the paint is just not working.

The green and creme were the colors we wanted to work. They just ended up looking like a country ranch. I hated it.

Then we sampled some silver sage. Blah, looks awful. So we tried the green from our room.

Which is the one on the left. I think I love it!

This is the first time I have been completely stumped for paint color. Hmm...