I'M BAAACK (part 1)

Hey, its 2018 and I resolved to blog this year, so here goes nothing!  Its been so long that I seriously forgot how... feels a bit like riding a bike after a couple tequila shots.  Wobbly.  

First off, and most importantly, I just want to thank all of you for your kind words.  When I last posted I was in a tough spot, and honestly I'm still a hot mess.  I still struggle with the motherhood/work/guilt thing and I have not found the silver bullet for staying organized and focused.  But can I tell you how nice it is to know I'm not alone?  All of your comments got me through a pretty tough time and I am forever grateful.  I have gotten better at being more mindful, keeping my stress level down and overall just not giving a fuck or comparing myself to others.  (That last one is a HUGE game changer.)  I had to step off social media and Pinterest and blogs in general to clear my head and reset myself.  

As for this blog, I am going back to the start.  I had to figure out what I liked and disliked about the whole experience.  I started blogging as a journal to keep track of my projects and it lead into a whole bunch of How-To/ DIYs.  It makes me so happy when I know I helped someone figure out how to make or do something- so I am going to keep doing tutorials.  I met so many talented and creative people here, and had many great opportunities that I'm thankful for.  What I hated doing was sponsored posts, I hated editing my voice,  it didn't feel authentic.  It felt like an ad.  So I am not gonna do that.  I'm not here to get rich, although that would be cool, but it has to feel good.  I make some money off Adsense, YouTube and fabric I design on Spoonflower and I'm happy with that.  This blog will basically be about what I'm up to or making and I hope to help or inspire someone in the process.  

OK,  so where were we? 

When I last left off (2+ years ago) we were remodeling our kitchen... and we have long since finished that, remodeled our bath and spontaneously moved down the street to a new house.  A LOT of stuff has happened so even starting this post has been a bit daunting trying to figure out where to begin...so much to tell you, its gonna be a multi-post I suppose.  

I guess lets start with the kitchen.  

Back in the fall of 2015 we finally did the kitchen over completely.  Took down the mudroom wall and opened her up and added lots of lights and windows. 

For anyone new the party here, I've had many incarnations of this kitchen... "renovated with paint", walls taken down and lots of piecemeal.
So lets do a before montage for old times sake.

(ORIGINAL VINTAGE KITCHEN circa 2009 when we moved in)

Renovated with Paint (everything including the counters) 2011

WALL DOWN (2012)

2014

For this renovation we carried the hardwood throughout and I stained the whole first floor a soft caramel to kill down the orange oak undertones.  It was a two part process that killed my back, but it was so worth it.  The living room was original white oak and the new floor that got laid throughout the kitchen dining room was red oak (oopsy!) so the red oak had to be dyed with a water based greenish color first prior to staining.  In the end everything matched and there was peace and harmony at the red and white oak border.

We decided not to do an island because my husband is a Spartan and felt it would make it too claustrophobic, even though I really wanted one.  Just have to choose your battles.  

But I must say we had some great dance parties in this space, and in the end I loved the openness of the kitchen- so I'm not mad.

We did IKEA cabinets throughout and I absolutely love them. I used their kitchen planner to lay out the space, and it was easy.  I miss this kitchen so much and would totally do it all over again.  

My favorite part were the drawers.  And the drawers INSIDE drawers.  

I loved having my plates and bowls in a drawer next to the dishwasher.  The ultimate lazy unload!  

I even used these cabinets in the master bath renovation,  but more on that in the next post.

 Found some porcelain numbers at a junk shop in NH to commemorate the 2015 finish, and put them on the mega cabinets we used as mudroom storage lockers.  

Hardware is from the Dakota Collection at Restoration Hardware.  

Countertop is Silestone Lagoon.

Lights over the windows are from Illuminate Vintage.

And I used my Tribal Maze wallpaper to pop in some pattern and color.

SO that is the kitchen in a nutshell.  Let me know if you have any questions or if I left out any sources.  I'll be back with a bathroom post next as well as more on the new house.  

And again, thanks for reading this blog and all your comments.  I'm glad to be back!