Pulling Together Elements In A Room

   

When I am working on a design I like to pull together lots of combinations and possibilities. You just never know what puzzle pieces will complete the picture.

Sometimes it is fun to try something that you really don’t think will work, and it might surprise you, and be the perfect piece for the room.

Always keep an open mind during the planning stages. It will take awhile to get down to brass tacks.

Often times there will be one piece that will tell you exactly what direction to go in.

I am in the planning stages of redoing my kitchen so I am having fun pulling different elements together to see what direction the room wants to take me.

The last time I spoke about my kitchen we were debating on whether or not to put tile on the wall at the end of our breakfast bar.

After a lot of thinking, talking and asking my friends opinions, we decided to NOT do the tile, it just felt too heavy for the room.

Of course I can not let that wall go so I have looked at some different elements that could go there.

It is fun to play with the different elements. Let me show you some of the mirrors I am considering….

I am trying to bring a little bit of black and gold/brass into the kitchen since I have some already in my family room that you see from the kitchen.

 

You can see the black and brass combination in my sconces and my firescreen.

I like the touch of black with the gold.

I already have a Queen Anne mirror that I could paint out in a gold leaf. It is a really good quality mirror, but it is cherry and it is in a closet, just waiting for me to use it again.

This star mirror is probably the most fun of them all. I do love a touch of whimsy and I think this gives me a classic touch of whimsy….

 

Speaking of whimsy….. I love letters, and numbers so when I can add them in a room I will. I found these blue enamels letters and thought I should at least try them. They are vintage, Love that…….

This might be a tad too fanciful, but it is still fun!!

So there you have it. This is what I have been thinking about plus quite a few more details, but more on that later.

UPDATE: Marble slabs are paid for, they are mine!! The contractor is coming tomorrow to discuss details of the job.

 

It looks like this is really going to happen!!

 

 

Listen To Those With Experience!

   

In my lifetime I have learned that it is always good to take advice from the experts.

 

In this case I am talking about designers with years of experience in the field, and in their own homes

Designers have had more hands on experience, and we can all learn form them.

In my years of living I have learned so much from the knowledge, or wisdom of others.

 

If you would like to read more of  what designers are saying go over to my Pinterest board….HERE

 

 

My Kitchen Counter Tops Have Been Chosen

   

Another decision has been made...

After much deliberation we made the decision to go with natural stone. Nothing that we looked at had the beauty of a natural stone.

I read copious amounts of material on the down side and, the upside of marble versus a manmade product like Quartz.

With all the thinking, research, and discussions we decided to go with Carrara Marble.

To say I am excited and feeling very fortunate to be able to do this, would be an understatement.

Hubby and I went to a couple of marble yards yesterday.

 

We looked at several white marbles. This particular yard specialized in white marbles, and it had more than I could have hoped for, or imagined.

In the end it was a toss up between Oro and Select Carrara.

The Oro was amazingly gorgeous in fact too gorgeous for my sweet little kitchen. It had a grandeur to it, that to be frankly honest, just did not feel like my home.

We have Carrara in our home already, and once we saw a full slab it just said, “HOME!” to us both.

I love an understated elegant look for my home, and the Carrara just fits the bill.

So without further ado ………….

I would like to introduce you to my future new countertop….

Slab #1

Slab #2

The reason I went with these slabs is they have a more white-ish background with some clouding, and soft grey veining.

It is very soft on the eye, and it totally reminded me of my entry floor, and guest bathroom floor.

Both slabs came in the same lot so they both have very similar veining. I think having some pattern will be more forgiving if we have any etching or staining in the future.

Honed vs. Polished 

I wanted a soft, flowing, veining ,and this gave me just that. The slabs are honed. After all the reading I did, the homeowners that had marble said it is better to have it honed than to have it shiny, due to possible etching in the future.

BACKSPLASH

The back splash will be a white handcrafted, pillow edged subway tile in a 3X6 size. 

I have two possible choices to ponder. The difference between the two is the tone of the whites.  

One is a brighter warmer white and the other is a little softer with a touch of grey undertone. I will live with them for a week, and then make that decision.

This is a dream come true for me, and I am so very grateful to be in the position to be able to do this.

I promise I will write a post about Quartz products, and all the information I gathered in this process. 

Hopefully what I learned will help you in your future decisions if you are replacing your counter tops!

For now I am just dreaming about my new future kitchen counter tops that will have this polished nickel Rohl faucet…...

I will be getting this sink……..

This is a Kohler cast iron, self trimming farmhouse sink, single bowl Whitehaven K6489-0.

Or

A single basin Rohl RC3618WH fireclay sink

The deciding factor will be made by what the contractor tells us about how the sinks will be installed. 

More on that later, so until then.....

 

 

Decisions And Debates Going On At My House

   

We are in the midst of making some decisions about our Kitchen re-do. 

There are so many directions we could go, but since I am pretty much a traditional-with-a-twist kind of gal it will lean mostly toward a classic look.

The past few days the big debate has been about this wall…..

The wall at the end of my kitchen breakfast bar.

It has always bothered me a bit because it never seemed integral to the kitchen, and I would like to make it more a part of the kitchen area than a part of the family room…..

You can see I put up some tissue paper to get an idea of what  a wall of white subway tile would look like.

We are putting subway tile as a back splash and it will also go around the window, no more wallpaper in this area so in my minds eye it feels as if it should go up the wall at the end of the bar as well.

Hubby totally disagrees, so of course that has put doubt in my mind as well. So what is a girl to do?

Well, if she is lucky enough to have talented readers of her blog she can ask them.

So that is just what I am doing, what do you all think of a wall of subway at the end of my bar?

I tried to do a mock-up to get a visual but it is not really a very good mock-up….

I even played around with adding shelves to the subway wall, but I am reluctant to do that, since I am a no visual clutter kind of gal, and this would be an area I would have to have STUFF so I am not sure about that idea. 

I borrowed some shelving images, and cropped them to go in this space, again, not great but gives me an idea of how it could look.

The shelving would have to be the same green as the cabinetry. The other downside is once you put up shelving on tile it is permanent.

My question to you dear readers is……

Tile the wall or to NOT tile the wall?

 

 

Step By Step Solution For Storing Pillows

   

Pillows, pillows, pillows  I love you so, but what in the world am I going to  do with all of you?

First I began by…….

Once I had all the pillows gathered that I wanted to keep, I took off all of the pillow covers that had zippers.

Next I got rid of the extra down inserts that I did not need.

I decided how many inserts I would need by pairing together the pillow combinations I would use at one time for the different seasons. 

You see I change out my pillows for  Fall/winter, Spring, and Summer.(Now you can understand why I have so many.)

Example:

In the summer time I will need two 24in pillow inserts for the chairs. 

 

I had an extra long lumbar pillow made for the sofa that has it’s own special insert. 

I store this pillow in the playroom in the winter/Fall, and Spring months because it works well with the playrooms décor.

In the winter time I will need two 22 in. inserts and two 20 in. inserts.

Next:



Assess how much storage you will need by measuring the items you plan on storing.

To do this I sat up a folding table in my living room as a holding area so I could see just how many pillows I have.

This was at the beginning of my purging.

This image shows at the end of my purge. Now they are ready to be measured. 

You will notice the  down inserts have blue tape on the tags. I measured each insert, and put the measurement on the tag so I can see it at a glance.

Now that this is all done what to do with all of these pillows and inserts?

In my last post I posted a great idea, using garment bags……..

I thought this was such a brilliant idea, but then came the question of where, and how to hang them in the garage.

In my mind I had hubby building a special area to hang these bags. Then a light bulb moment hit me!

Free standing portable closets…..

I chose this particular one because it is all metal construction, it had good reviews, and I like the clean look of the white.

You can find it HERE and it is on sale right now. I actually purchased two, one for pillows, and the other for out of season clothing.

This measures five feet wide so it is going to hold all my pillows perfectly. They are short enough that I can have shelving above them for even more storage. 

I think this is a win win solution for my over abundance of pillows. Over 30 to be stored.

This does not include outdoor cushions, that is a whole other show!!!

I hope my little pillow dilemma, and solution can help you out if you have the same storage issues I do.