White Furniture Style Cabinets

1. A work in progress




2. The furniture panels?





3. Counter Choices



So, let me give a few explanations.


1. I have always wanted white furniture style cabinets. Well, not always, but at least for the past seven or eight years. And although they sometimes have a very traditional feel, I think with the right mix of materials, they can also be very contemporary. The cabinets are now 3 months in the making, but I am hoping that in the long run they will be worth the wait.


2. This is the beginning of the furniture panels, or the "pretty part" of the cabinets. When the cabinet is complete there will be a baseboard piece on the bottom that finishes everything off.


3. After a VERY lengthy process, I have decided on light brown quartz for the perimeter cabinets, and outside island, and a beautiful white veined granite for the center island. I LOVE the look of Carrarra Marble, but with 3 kids the upkeep didn't seem too appealing. I hope the white granite will still have the clean fresh look of the marble, but without all the work.


I will post an update when the cabinets are more complete. And I am crossing my fingers that the granite guys will come measure tomorrow! At this point, countertops would be a dream come true.....

Indoor Plumbing

New Toilets



New Sink in Hall Bath


So, I have to admit, lately I have been feeling grateful for indoor plumbing. My brother Todd, recently had to replace the main sewer line all the way out to the street, which meant excavating his driveway, installing all new pipes, and tying into the city line. It also meant very rudamentary plumbing for an entire week while the work was being done. So although I had planned this post to show off my new square vessel sink, and shiny new toilets, the thoughts of walking down to the church to use the facilities have made me realize that we are very lucky to have the level of convenience we all take for granted.

Bonnie's Kitchen

My cute neighbor Bonnie is ready to upgrade to a new kitchen. She asked for help with the design. Here are a few options I created for her. The current kitchen is large, at nearly 20 x 14, but has very little storage. There is a large island with a cooktop, and a row of cabinets behind, which are the only cabinets in the whole kitchen. The room has to work hard since it is also the only dining area and the main family hang out. She could definitely expand her storage, as well as work area, by using more of the available wall space around the room. She is going to end up with a really beautiful, functional kitchen.

Making Work for Later

There are so many amazing wallpapers out right now. I love the mix of traditional patterns in really modern colors and textures. But even though I love how it looks, it is going to take a lot to convince me that I actually want wallpaper of my own. I have removed more than my fair share of other people's wallpaper over the years. In fact, there have been times that I have sworn on my life I would never install wallpaper as long as I lived. It is just inevitable that at some point in the near future the paper will go out of fashion. So even while you are hanging it, in the back of your mind you are thinking that you have just created yourself the unenviable job of removing it.

Anyway, I think it might be worth the work later if I knew
my room would end up looking like this.....


and the perfect shade of paper to match my new
pale pink room would be this.....


(All images from Designers Guild)

Small People

(Pottery Barn Teen)

I love kids rooms! I love that the sky is the limit! I love that you can stick with a theme! (Kids rooms are also the only places in my house where I will ever actually allow a theme). I love that the kids have a small place in the world they can really call their own. And I love knowing that I am creating a place where my children will spend their formative years growing, sleeping, laughing, and learning.

Designing the kids rooms is a bit of a challenge since I have to make all the design decisions like paint and lighting right now while still in the construction phase. To make those decisions easier, I am using fabric as the jumping off point. I figure if I have the fabric picked out first, I can coordinate colors and patterns from there, even if I don't quite yet know in what application I will be using them.
(All professional images from Pottery Barn).


This is the beginning of Cameron's room. He is a really cool guy, that is going to be a teenager before we know it. He picked the base color, and I added the racing stripes for a bit of interest. I would love to add a cool storage system like this one below from Pottery Barn Teen.







Lucy wanted a "pink" room, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't boring, or cliche. I chose a pink that is a bit of a chameleon, it looks pink, peach, tan, rose....I love it! I would like to do a graphic wall paper on one wall, and I would love to get her a vanity like this one. I can just imagine her putting on lip gloss and playing with her friends there for hours.







Quentin's room concept is actually the most put together. I purchased the wild west fabric I am going to be using months ago. He also already has his navy blue bunk bed and furniture set. I can't wait to add all the details. The image below is just the way I would like his room to feel when its all finished.

Around the House

Around the house, things are being transformed......



(Quentin's room NOW)


(Quentin's room before)


we now have a spot for the kitchen.....


(kitchen space NOW)


(kitchen space before)



plywood & 2x4's are being replaced with paint & drywall.


(living room NOW)



(living room before)

Open for Business

Over the weekend our framing sub-contractor completed the opening of the old house into the addition. I can't believe how much it has changed how the house feels when you walk in. We should be getting drywall tomorrow and that will be an even bigger change. Very exciting!




The first sign of an opening. We let the kids take the first swings.


During.


After.


The old view from the living room.


The living room view now.

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at the master and hall baths. They are not quite ready to unveil, but the complete shower tile is a big step.


aaaahhh, white subway tile



1 x 3 brick mosaic in Crema Marfil marble

The Beginning

Just over two years ago my husband's company relocated us from Salt Lake City to Denver. Eighteen months later, they asked us to transfer back to Salt Lake City. Initially we rented a house about 30 minutes south of the city, but the constant state of transition seemed to be taking a toll on our children. We decided the most logical decision would be to simply move back where we came from. We had loved the school, the neighbors, and the church. Not to mention the close proximity to both our families. While still renting, we began looking for houses in our prior neighborhood. When a house on our old street became available it seemed too good to be true. The house would allow me the chance to feed my design obsession, and allow us the perfect location to raise our family.

The house certainly had potential. Six bedrooms, a huge garage, and a large addition with room enough for an open family room and kitchen. Along with potential, the house also had its fair share of challenges. The first, and biggest challenge, was that the previous owner had been a sweet old lady with a serious hoarding condition. We were not able to take possession of the home for several months after the owner passed away, because it took her children that long to remove all of the woman's belongings. Four large roll-off dumpsters of garbage, numerous trailers given to "Goodwill", yard sales, and furniture removal companies were all employed in the clean-up effort. We basically bought the house sight unseen, since we were not allowed to even see the home before the cleanup was nearly complete. I think that is probably a good thing.

The second big challenge was altering the floor plan. The never-completed 900 square foot addition above the garage had to be retro-fitted to include a state of the art kitchen, mudroom, pantry, and family room. The prior kitchen was converted into a master bathroom, and walk-in closet. The old master bedroom closet was eliminated in order to expand the hall bath. The location of the remaining bedrooms was not altered, but the entire house was gutted down to the framing to include new drywall, paint, windows, doors, lighting, and trim.

With the changes to the floor plan complete, we can now focus on the third challenge, which is giving the house a beautiful finish. This is the fun part. I hope to create a neutral palette with punches of my favorite colors (hot pink & turquoise blue), along with a few sparkly pretty things. I like eclectic and vintage furnishings, but I have to use those things sparingly since my husband does not.

Come along for the ride. I am going to try to document the rest of the process as best I can. It has already been an incredible amount of work, but also rewarding too. I can't wait to see the end result!


The hall bath shortly after demolition began. The previous owner had cut a whole through the sub-floor to act as a makeshift laundry shoot.


This is the former location of the kitchen, now employed as a master bath.


The exterior.