Category Archives: Kitchen

Kitchen Tile, I Love You

Posted on April 12, 2012 by | 2 comments

Our emptied out kitchen was bizarre and no matter how much the floor was cleaned, it still looked dirty.

Yes, I still need to put artwork in that Ikea frame . . .

Thanks to all the grooves imprinted into this linoleum tile, it was a major dirt catcher.  And a house with two dogs does not need any dirt catchers.  Plus there was some charming other features like this hole to nowhere:

The water line and gas line come up through a separate hole so this is a head-scratcher as to its purpose.  Direct “telephone” line to the work bench below?  Dunno.  We filled it in with an old champagne cork.  You can also see how the previous owners didn’t undercut the jams and instead left more dirt catchers there.  Lovely.

What is lovely?  A sight for now-sore eyes? (Sorry about that gross pic.)   The kitchen at around 10pm last night.  New, gorgeous 12×12 tile in a nice warm grey.

JT and his dad worked hard all day and I came home to a half tiled kitchen.  Fast forward to 10pm and it was pretty much all wrapped up.  The elder Mr. T is at our house right now (the benefits of retirement) finishing up the pantry floor and a few other things.  I’m so lucky to have such a handy and helpful father-in-law (and husband too).  My boys take good care of me. 

So, we’ll be grouting come Friday! I’ll be back with more pictures, don’t you worry.  This is the biggest project we have tackled on the house to date and it will be such a MAJOR improvement.

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Posted in Around the house, D.I.Y., Family, Kitchen

Little things can make a big difference!

Posted on April 10, 2012 by | Leave a comment

We’re kind of bogged down in the middle of a bunch of projects right now and I haven’t wanted to post blog updates of every minute detail.  It’s the after shots that are so much fun, not the little incremental during shots. 

We did what we thought would be a little project last Saturday that in true DIY form, turned into a big project (or at least time wise.)

The music room has been mostly done for a while but the door has always bothered me.  All the other doors in our house are solid core old wood doors with Art Deco knobs.  The music room door was a cheapo solid core door FAUX PAINTED (by the previous owners, obviously) to look like wood with a hideous brass knob.  It was time for it to get lost.  We had hunted around the Habitat for Humanity ReStore for a new/old door with no luck.  Then we remembered there was one in the garage . . . . that used to be the back door on the house before the sun porch was added on . . . and it was a (almost) perfect fit!

It wasn’t really a perfect fit.  JT performed door surgery and cut off a lot of rotted stuff at the bottom, notched out space for the hinges, then had to shim and shim and shim (and then power sand) for this thing to fit.

But through sheer willpower and determination, he got it to fit.  And it was worth it.

It’s a relatively small change that makes such a big difference!  Now we can see into our magical little music room haven but keep the pesky peeing Sophie from visiting her new favorite spot on the rug.  Light can flow through the whole house.

The music room beckons you in to hang out and relax (and play a guitar if you are so inclined).

It’s not all the way done — JT has the knob soaking in a concoction of chemicals to get some paint off (the previous homeowners were very liberal in their application of white paint and we find it most of everywhere).  So the new/old knob still has to go back on.  We’re also going to install some blinds on the music room side of the door so if we have a house crasher/overnight guest they can sleep in privacy. 

Here’s the view from the other side:

(See Mr. Shenanigan peering in? — the bottom panes are just at nosy dog height).  The black chair is just visiting the music room temporarily. . . .  it has been preempted from its (new) normal spot by, of all things, the refrigerator.

Yup, kitchen tile is HAPPENING!  Wednesday night folks.  I’m so excited.  All these little (and big) projects makes this old house feel like our home.  

Have a great week everyone!  Since our kitchen is in disarray I will be eating lots of fast food, tiling my heart out and enjoying every second.

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Guitars, Kitchen

A weekend’s work is never done . . .

Posted on March 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

It’s back to Monday folks and I am having crazy crunch time at work.  That is why I value my time at home so much.  So many people in the field I work in are workaholics.  I have always tried to work really hard (and efficiently) while I’m at work, but then leave it at the office.

And come home to . . .

Baby booties?  My Stitch and Bitch project is finally complete . . .

(See this post for the Purl Soho pattern and info.  Super easy to make, just takes a little time — best done in front of Netflix & How I Met Your Mother).

New bamboo shades?  I tried again (very unsuccessfully) to do the black-out cloth on the back of the woven shades we had already.  Total fail.  But they were all pretty busted up anyways (don’t buy cheap!) and afforded zero privacy.  So on a routine visit to Home Depot, we splurged(ish) on new shades for the music room and bedroom.

These are terrible, terrible pictures.  JT speed-installed the blinds on Sunday night as the light was fading fast.  I’m going to take all new pictures of the music room soon . . . .

And new light fixture (coming soon)?  The soffit over the kitchen sink has long had a scary, scary hole in it. . . Hole no more, light fixture to come. . .

Back to the grind.  I’m already looking forward to next weekend and finishing up some more projects (I’m looking at you kitchen soffit.)

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Posted in Around the house, Gifts, Hand Crafted, Kitchen

Lights Out!

Posted on March 1, 2012 by | 4 comments

Dejected by a long week of short days and high stress at work, it seemed like we needed a little unwinding in the evening.  Ally at From the Right Bank had posted a sweet blog letter (you can read it here – note her blog was hacked and she has been having some trouble with images) from Heather describing a power outage and I took inspiration.  We decided Tuesday was “Lights Out Night” and grocery shopped accordingly. (Salmon and lobster pinwheels with baked potato, steamed broccoli and a broccoli risotto, so good.)

And husband bought me some flowers.

We didn’t really go all the way “lights out”, we just said no TV or internet.  We made a nice dinner, had some red wine and settled in on the sofa to read Steinbeck (The Pearl for me, East of Eden for JT).  All in all a great night and I think this is a tradition we will keep.

While digging through the box of candles for ones to light up, I inadvertently brought one upstairs that had a little history attached to it . . .
 Yep, that may or may not have been the high school dance that started this whole crazy thing.  We didn’t actually burn it, but put it out on the table for grins.  Also, JT’s cousin made those incredible turned wood candle holders as wedding gifts.  Love.

You guys may think we are just wine drinking slackers over here but some progress was made.  The kitchen is now bluer.

The ironic thing is that when we bought the house the kitchen was painted a soft blue color and had this lovely blue plastic laminate countertop (prepare your eyes for a hideous picture . . . )

Oh the horror.  It’s come a long way baby.  I’ve got my mind set that March is going to finish this one.

Another little kitchen item was installing some more functional storage solutions – #1 a Grundtal rail system from our last IKEA trip.

I’m noticing red wine was involved in this project as well.  Hey, it’s good for the heart and I am all about heart health.  Also, while I understand the mechanics of power tools, I try to avoid operating them at all costs as I am left-handed and convinced one will kill me.   JT is kind enough and right-handed so he’s the power tool man.

Since we have a grand total of 8′-6″ of countertop with accompanying under-counter storage, having a nice way to store some of our pots and pans is something we really appreciate.  It’s still simple, clean and miles away from that tower of clutter shelving we used to have but gives us a way to really maximize our tiny kitchen.

So that’s it for this week.  We’re just hours away from another weekend and I’m hoping to get some more Grundtal installed but also have some family moving duties to attend to.

Don’t forget – life is what you make it.  If you want more evenings drinking wine and reading classic literature with your high school sweetheart, then take Nike’s advice and JUST DO IT!  Or maybe you want something else like more time playing Scrabble.  JUST DO THAT TOO.  Maybe a project might not get finished as quickly, maybe you’ll have to wait one more night to pay some bills but it will all be worth it in the end.  The blue kitchen will just have to wait (although I am absolutely loving how that kitchen of mine is  coming together! . . . )  All in due time.

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Posted in Around the house, Design Diversions, Kitchen, Miscellaneous Diversions

And more sewing . . .

Posted on February 16, 2012 by | 1 comment

I’ve had my trusty old Kenmore out and rigged up and ready to go for some sewing work sessions this past weekend.  Let’s see what I battled out . . .

Cue scary music for “before” image of kitchen — specifically the back door.

Can’t you just picture ax murderers lurking in the dark, waiting to kick in the door and cut you into pieces as you do dishes?  No?  Me neither, really — there’s a sun porch outside the back door so the ax murderers can’t get too close.  But we were getting a little “too close” to the neighbors who could see right into our kitchen (and vice versa – but actually from our kitchen door we can see into their bathroom . . . .)

So (sew!) cafe curtains were born!

I found a nice polka dot at Hobby Lobby and bought 1-1/2 yards.  It was a little light so I also bought a light white cotton to use as an interlayer.  Since, in theory, we will use the sun porch (right now it is a storage room for fun things like firewood and weed wackers and recycling bins), I wanted both sides to be nice.  I doubled up the polka dots and added in the interlayer and sewed a pillow case (for all intents and purposes).  Then I folded up and ironed both of the open ends of the “pillow case” (really the bottom of the curtain here) and finished it off with a heavy zig-zag/interlock stitch in white. 

I wish they were a little fuller and had a little more movement, but they’ll do for now.  For about $10 in fabric and a curtain rod and clips I already had lurking in my Hoarder’s-style basement, it’s a nice privacy solution. 

As you can see from the photos, the kitchen is about to be “smurfed” into the same blue as the music room.  I struggled along for a while, thinking I would keep it white one day, then convincing myself to go for blue on others.  Finally I couldn’t handle the indecision any more and emailed some of my college classmate/fellow designers for advice.  They steered me right and we’re going for broke with blue.  (Thanks Erin and Kristin!)  Even as a design professional myself, there are some decisions I will just over-think and over-think until nothing happens. 

So I’m excited to kick off the next phase of kitchen reno – painting, painting and painting!  First the walls, next the cabinets and finally the doors and trim.   The cafe curtains may have to get moved out of the kitchen temporarily to avoid being splattered in blue, but we’re enjoying them for now!

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Posted in Around the house, Hand Crafted, Kitchen

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Confession

Posted on February 1, 2012 by | Leave a comment

I have a confession to make folks. 

Brace yourselves.

When I got out of bed last Saturday morning and made my way to the kitchen, my (one and only 8′-6″ span of) counter looked something like this:

Messy kitchen counter

Shocking.  Bad. 

A quick empty and reload of the dishwasher later, it wasn’t looking so bad (aside from the red toaster that doesn’t match and the patches of green wall let over from taking down the wine racks and the painter’s tape because I’m getting ready to paint again and . . . and . . . )

I think it’s about to get a lot worse before it gets better.  (It gets better, I promise). 

But JT is going to pick up our new tile this week so there will be demolition work soon.  (It might get loud.)Crossville EcoCycle Wetlands

We’re installing Crossville EcoCycle tile in color “Wetland”.  It is a more commercial based tile, so super heavy-duty and the extra bonus is that it has over 40% recycled content in it.  The brochure picture doesn’t do it justice, it’s a nice warm grey color with hints of tan — another chameleon like our Sherwin Williams Amazing Gray walls in the living room.

So here we go everybody.  I’m holding my breath and jumping into the unknown.  First house, first kitchen (small) renovation.  Wish us luck!!

(PS — I should clarify that this is more of a teaser post.  As you may have noticed, we move at a snail’s pace around here.  I’m planning on completing all the kitchen stuff by the end of March.  Two months.  We’ll see.)

(PPS – JT is dragging me out to the middle-of-nowhere-Missouri tonight to look at some other Craigslist guitar he’s considering for his eBay store.   Keep us in your thoughts so we don’t get mauled by ax murderers.)

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Posted in Around the house, Guitars, Kitchen

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The Kitchen inches forward . . .

Posted on January 23, 2012 by | 2 comments

Monday again.  Yoinks.  Last weekend didn’t seem nearly as productive as I wanted (but is it ever really . . .) but we did get a few little things done, mainly in the kitchen department.

A new microwave!  Retro style!  Thanks to an Amazon gift card and selling the old bulky black one on Craigslist (finally something sold!)  this one was a break-even change.  The new microwave is just a few inches smaller than the old one but it is so much “lighter” visually.  The white color and the smaller size really help it feel more at home on the buffet.  And I couldn’t resist the retro styling. Although it does have some new annoying beeps.  Oh well.

Also, you may notice in the photo above, JT installed a cafe curtain rod for me on the back door.  Fabric has been purchased for said cafe curtain rod . . . we’ll see how much I have to fight with my sewing machine before these curtains get produced.

Another item we tackled this weekend was the big cutting board sitting on the island cart.  It had gotten really junked up and we hadn’t used it for a while.  I took it down to JT’s basement lair where he power sanded it for me and then I treated it with 3 coats of Howard’s Butcher Block Conditioner.  It’s food-safe and gave a nice luster back to the ol’ cutting board (an IKEA grab.)

Peeking out from behind the teapot on the buffet you may just be able to see a 45 record.   It’s one of JT’s favorites, Carl Perkins and it’s got the Sun label on it.  JT received it as a gift from his brother and sister-in-law. (They give good gifts — remember the Eames rocker?) We had it in the music room for a while but the black vinyl record wasn’t quite “popping” against the black background.

One piece of white canvas and some painters tape later, it has moved into the kitchen as a cheery little rock n’ roll memento.  (We all went on a family trip to Memphis a few years ago and JT really enjoyed Sun Records.  In fact I think he almost had a stroke when the tour guide started playing the piano that Jerry Lee Lewis used and he could touch the guitar used by Scotty Moore.)  The nice thing is that this is a totally reversible operation — all I would have to do is remove the tape and fabric and we’re back to a black background.  The song featured is “Dixie Fried” which I thought had appropriate kitchen connotations.

The record actually does play and we have an MP3 recording of it from our vinyl ripper that JT did before it was framed up.  I’ll have to scout around and see if I can add it to this post.  I definitely will cue up some Carl and maybe a little of his friend Elvis to get me in the mood as I work on the new curtains.

Update: I found the “Dixie Fried” MP3 file from our vinyl above.  You can listen to it here: 02 Dixie Fried.  Enjoy!

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Posted in Around the house, Kitchen, Music related

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Changing it up, one piece at a time

Posted on January 16, 2012 by | 2 comments

Weekends have been good over here at Living Analog — things keep moving around and I keep checking items of my January to do list to get me closer to my big project goals — living room, bedroom and kitchen. 

This weekend I hit the kitchen.  By just rearranging a few pieces we already had, it made a big impact and set in action a chain of events that will (hopefully) lead to getting the kitchen to a happy place.

The wood buffet used to be in the dining room.  I was sick of all the clutter (and mess) of the open shelves in the kitchen and decided it was time to do something about it. 

Now a lot of special use items like the ice tea maker, griddle and food processor can sit down in the big drawer of the buffet.  The top drawers are deep enough for our ramekins and other cooking utensils.  The wood contrasts nicely off the white tile and adds an element of warmth to the kitchen.  It’s not a huge change but it’s enough to make a difference and get me started with the kitchen.

There are still many, many things to be done before this space is looking ship-shape.  We are putting down warm grey ceramic tile, and I need to do something about the wall color.  There will be window treatments and cafe curtains on the door.  The knife rack is going to be relocated to make space for some artwork and a pot rack is going next to the glass block window.  I’m on the hunt for a smaller microwave — that sucker is ginormous and takes up more room than I’d like.  I also need to sand and paint the door, especially where Shenanigan keeps kicking it.  Maybe we’ll get him a bell instead — that seems a bit more genteel. 

 The big blue bucket you could see in the “before” pic is currently at our “spray booth” (aka the back yard) getting a coat of teal.  It will come back in and sit under the buffet to hold some bigger items live vinegar and vegetable oil and rice.  These pictures are making me realize I need to get in there and corral that cord as well — I hate cords!!!  I’m also not loving the wood bread box on the wood buffet so that might get shifted around too . . . things are always shifting and moving around here (to the point where JT usually has to ask where I’ve put something . . . .sorry hubby).

I’m so excited to finally start implementing all the changes I’ve been dreaming up for the last little while now.  Unfortunately moving things around also tears up the rest of the house as things are temporarily relocated and accessories readjusted.  Case in point — the dining room where the buffet used to sit:

Right now it’s a holding zone for all the things that will go in the future-shelving-unit-with-glass-doors that I’m on the prowl for.  I’ve got a few leads too . . . but until then, it’s life with the repercussions of redecorating.  I currently have these bad boys up on Craigslist here and here.  Craigslist doesn’t seem to be turning things over for me or JT (with guitars) as quickly as it was before.  Has anyone else run into this?  At any rate, a little rearranging does a body (and our kitchen) good.

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Posted in Around the house, Furniture, Kitchen

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