No, you're in the right place...

Just thought I'd "redecorate" a bit.

What'cha think?

Aloha a Hui Hou!

No, no, no, no, no

I did want to mention that not everything was sunshine and lollipops.

So, the time was coming for our HGTV moment. As we are driving along I notice that I received an email from the painter with a picture of the cabinets. The Queen was not happy.

I know we talked about it before, having the cabinets look "worn" and I figured out that I didn't want that. It looked fake and messy. I wanted it to look like this:

Not like this:

My excitement of seeing the house, that had been building up for weeks was shattered. I dreaded going in and it put a damper on everything that they did so well.

The rest of the cabs were even darker and one of them had this on it

Is that creepy or what? Roger said it looks like the "Shroud of Turin". Not to mention that strange things happened while that face was up on the cabinet...the water pipe popped off the sink, flooding the basement, our ice cubes grew stalagmites.....just plain strange.

Lucky for us this was a decent painting company and they came in and repainted the kitchen

Love how it turned out!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

The Reveal

With out further ado, our 50% new kitchen. Let's start with entry...

The North facing wall - Before

After

The door you see leads out to the back porch and to the left are the stairs that take you down to the basement.  I painted the wall with 3 coats of magnetic paint and a final coat of chalk board paint.


Funny story about the magnetic paint. I purchased a quart can and asked the guy at the paint counter to "shake it up" for me. He put the little, but oh so heavy, can in the centrifuge and walked away. Surprise, surprise! When he turned around the machine had shaken itself about 2 feet out of it's cubby space. It was also really heavy to roll onto the wall. I'm glad it was a relatively small area.


Oh and another thing about magnetic paint and chalk board paint. If you have them separate, like I did, keep in mind that by over painting the magnetic paint with chalkboard paint it reduces the strength of the hold your magnets have on the wall. Be sure to get it covered with one coat.

The window over the sink faces South - Before

After (OH! I see the curtains are crooked...guess I can't do anything about that right now, can i?)

We are so pleased with how the tile turned out, the color of the cabs, the granite, the wood details, the sink....everything. It is a beautiful little farmhouse kitchen.

The fridge is on the West facing wall - Before

After

You can see we added a 2nd drawer to the left of the fridge. That's where the laundry cute was.  The lower part is still a laundry cute, just smaller, but it's still big enough for what we have to throw down. Down the line I have to insert something so the laundry doesn't get caught on the water line/rafters.

We originally didn't want to have the ice maker hooked up, and then we went ahead and had it done anyway. Not that we really needed a lot of ice while we were there (we only have a few days over 60), but it's good to know that it works.

This window faces East

Here is our "table"and it is just perfect for the two of us. If need be, a 3rd person could sit at the end. Kind of bummed that we decided to skip the silverware drawer, but I'll get over it.

Oh, can't forget the floor....I love, love love the tile floor. Easy to clean, feels great under my feet and looks fantastic, just like wood. I would pick it again in a heartbeat.

Here you can see the under cabinet lighting. It makes the counter tops and back splash shine.

These are the lights we finally decided on. I really liked the farm house ones, but just couldn't get over the price. These cost under $30 a piece and also have a vintage feel/look. In addition they go well with our appliances and if I ever want a touch of color I could always spray paint the skirt of the light.

Oh and they are on a dimmer, which is perfect for our needs.

Looking in from the entry off the front room.

The light over the sink - originally we had planned to put the same light over the sink as we have over the table - turned out it was WAY TOO BIG, so I had to go out and buy something else. As you can see it has similar lines. A good match to the ones over the table.

Window facing East - Before (original listing photo)

After

Two things I want to say about this photo. First, notice the Sit-a-Bit sign over the window. I bought this sign years ago, when we were still living in Waikiki. Amazing how it exactly fits in the color scheme of the kitchen! Love those little coincidences!

Second, the chairs. You can't believe how hard it was to find counter top height chairs! Sure, we found some saddle chairs, but we have those here, never really liked them and replaced them with a nice set I found at Ross. Most of the chairs we found were so cheaply made we just had to pass on them. One day, when we were driving down the road I spotted a 2nd hand furniture store. We turned around and went in. The guy had these two chairs. They were the right height and seemed pretty sturdy. Not to mention the price was right. The guy at the store was so nice. He asked what colors we have in our kitchen and gave us a piece of fabric (enough for both) that will fit right in! I didn't get around to reupholstering the chairs this time, but I will next time...might even paint some of the wood to match the cabinets....we'll see.

Thanks so much for following the progress of the kitchen - Looking forward to getting some good use out of it!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Put a little light on the subject...

As I mentioned before, I've collected a lot of driftwood. Some pieces speak more to me than others - especially, this one

I sanded it till it was as smooth as a babies bottom....love, love, love it! But what to do with it?

Cruising pinterest I found some table lamps made of driftwood and it hit me - that's what I could do with it! So I went out to Target and bought this:

and this:

My original plan was to take the lamp base apart and slide it into the wood (it is hallow). But Roger and I tried and tried but we just couldn't take it apart. I then tried pulling it apart a bit and was able to slip it over the base and TA-DA! We now have a nice "designer" lamp! (do I have to sign it?...lol)

Looking for my next project!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

HGTV Moment...

As we are getting closer to completion  - this is a long distance thing and I've been living vicariously through the photos Lisa has been sending. I get to see every detail, from so far way - it's amazing.


Now I've been thinking about this for a bit and have decided I (we) want to be surprised with the rest of the work. Yes, you read right. Surprised.


This is what I emailed to Lisa and David


"So I feel I'm ready to be surprised with the rest (Roger says "What ever you want sweet", good hubby)....

Please continue to take progress photos - just don't share them with me...I want to cry and be oh so happy when we walk thru that door

Crazy, I know"

Crazy, I know...but that's me! 


Hope we get to see it soon!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Which is it?

OK, totally unrelated....but I was writing someone about the color I plan to paint the light bedroom and was stumped. Every time I write it I think I'm spelling it wrong. The color is Grey...or is it Gray?

Something in my says it's G-R-E-Y....but G-R-A-Y looks good too....oh I don't know! 

Like I said I was writing someone and didn't want to look like a fool so what did I do, I googled it and came across this page.

This one tells me that they're BOTH correct and a cute little spelling rule that went something like this:

In England they write GrEy and in America they write it GrAy. 

I don't think I'll ever spell it "wrong" again! The site also shows other common misspellings and cute ways to remember how to spell it right, like:

abundance - Often spelled -ence Mnemonic: A hot dog can make a-bun-dance

Is that cute or what? I've had my giggle for the day - hope you have too.

Aloha a Hui Hou!

I have a plan...

I've been thinking...All these years that we've been going to the laundromat and feeding the washer and dryer with our quarters, I've been saying "We could afford a really nice washer and dryer with the money we are tossing into the machines every week."

I must admit we get a really good deal on a load here 75¢ to wash and 25¢ for 20 minutes to dry. But on our last trip to the house I didn't have the luxury of having the laundromat on our back lanai - I had to load everything up into the gas guzzling truck, drive to town and sit around for about 2 hours waiting for my $12 worth of quarters do their magic on 3 loads of laundry.

It was then that the brilliant idea hit me. When we get our own washer and dryer I should just keep using my quarters to wash my clothes! Hey, I've budgeted for it. Might as well continue and use those quarters to either pay for a repair (if needed) or towards buying a new washer or dryer down the line. Much better than trying to carve the money out of our savings....

Love my little quarter box that my daughter gave me 

Doing the math, on how many quarters we use for laundry in a month x's 12.  It certainly adds up!  I will have saved enough to buy a new set (if needed) in a little more than 4 years.

That's the kind of math I LIKE!

Now we need to go hunting for a nice and big piggy bank!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Super Moon

A few weeks ago we had the Super Moon and Roger and I headed over to an East facing beach to take some pictures. I was just getting over a cold and stayed home all day to be sure I had enough energy to make thru how ever long we were going to stay at the beach.

Had a little bit of camera fun and will have to fart around and figure out how to get a nice pic of the moon...some day...Hope you enjoy.

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Wingback Chair part II

I was able to get in touch with the reupholster lady I met last year and showed her a pic of the chair. She loved it too! She looked thru one of her suppliers and they could make a chair to kind of look like the original and it would cost as much as the original

This is the original for $3000 It has 2 kinds of fabric and the  main part of the chair is leather.

this is how it could look like for $2400

she couldn't get the side fabric to show on this one, but it would cost  $1900 to make it look like the original

Ok, don't worry, I'd NEVER spend that much for a chair, never ever. So we are looking into the next bet thing I find a quality used chair and re cover it.

So my go to furniture lady sends me some swatches of fabric for the back

Of the 4, I think the bottom one would match best...Now get this, the fabric costs almost $80 a yard and to cover one chair we'll need 2-3 meters (no wonder the chair is so expensive...).

So she is still looking for fabric - maybe even something totally different, that could be more affordable.

Me, I'm looking around for a good use wingback that we could bring back to life to enjoy in our new home. Gimme a holler if you know of one...

Aloha a Hui Hou!

Introducing - My Garden Bloomers

I've been thinking about this for a long, long time....well, since last year actually. When we were at the house last summer and were working in the yard things kept flying into my shoes (rocks and thistles). It was a major cause of grief for me.


I plan to get a pair of welllies for yard work. If I stuff my pants in the boots stuff will still fly in.  If I put them out, stuff can still crawl up. Then it hit me - double pant legs!  I bought a couple of yards of heavy jeans fabric that can take the wear and tear of yard word. Out of that I sewed a pair of work jeans. Then I added the bloomers that will go over the top of the boots, snap close at the bottom so nothing can fly in PLUS I get to flash a little Aloha Flair.

I'm gonna look like such a dork riding our tractor... :o)


Aloha a Hui Hou!

3D

I really like the warmth and the feel of the wood room and would like that feeling for the light bedroom too, just not as much. Thinking of using reclaimed wood on the West wall of the room.

Kind of like this

I plan to paint the walls a light shade of grey. The ceiling and the built in will be white.

Built ins and trim will be painted white.

 The new windows will be white and the casings will be white too. Just like in the bathroom.

This is the West wall that I would like the wood on

I was also thinking of the South wall and remembered the wall tattoo's my sister and daughter have in there homes. I thought a tree tattoo would look nice here...and then hang pictures of our family in the branches, sort of like a family tree.  

This is the South wall

The tree trunk would be in the corner and the branches would reach across the wall.

Then I remembered that the walls are textured and that the tattoo would look kind of rippled and might not stick all over. I looked some more and found these stencils:

A long, long time ago I did some work for a company called Plaid and in one of the goodie bags they gave me there was a 3 piece stencil set of a pot of ivy. It sort of looked like this:


Only difference was that it was a 3 piece stencil. I didn't stencil it, instead I used a medium and plastered and then painted it. The result was 3D, it was like having a real flower pot on the wall, actually 5 flower pots. It was a lot of work but I really, really liked it and from what my daughter tells me - it's still on the wall, so it's held up for over 10 years!

I know I can do this, and I would love to do this....I think I'm going to do this! The plan is plastering the tree in white on the grey wall and hanging the photos in nice wood frames. When I do I'll be sure to take some step by step photos and share the results!

Aloha a Hui Hou!

No more Laundromat for us!

They've arrived, have been put in place, have been tested and they work!

They look so HUGE!

When the weather gets a bit better the contractor will drill to vent out the dryer. I don't think I will need the dryer as much as I need it in Hawaii, (95% of our laundry gets dryer dried) but I'm glad we have one....

Yes, you read right we used the dryer for almost EVERY load we wash. Because of the high humidity our clothes would never really dry and they get musty, really, really fast.

At first we used these and they are supposed to "last"  for a month and they dissolved and filled up with water in half that time.

Now we have to keep a heating element in the closet so the clothes we do get dry, stay dry.

This is from the Gun Safe Dehumidifiers website 

I think/hope the dry temps in Idaho will be more clothes friendly.

Aloha a Hui Hou!