This post has been a long time coming! If you know me, you know that I have an infinite love for white kitchens and have been wanting to update ours practically since the day we moved in. I always love to say that our house has good bones but it was (and still is) full of lots of orange oak and birch. In the spring, Stephen and I finally made the decision to give our kitchen a makeover and it's amazing how much it has transformed the space. While we still have oak trim and floors, the kitchen update has brightened up our space in a serious way and I love spending time in the kitchen now more than ever.
I will say that I was slightly hesitant to paint even up until the day the painting started. Our cabinets - despite the color I didn't love - were high quality and once you paint them, you can't go back. That being said, the paint and hardware change has brought our kitchen into this decade and I have no regrets at all!
While I considered doing it myself (I did our bathroom vanities last year), I decided that a kitchen paint job was a) more of a project than I wanted to handle and b) I was too scared of messing it up! We hired a painter who removed the cabinet doors, took them off-site to spray, changed out our hardware, and even built a few doors for some weird spaces. We had an open area that we planned to do a built in microwave, but we could not find a microwave and trim kit that would fit (after months of searching). So we decided to have doors built to cover the awkward area and I think I like it even better!
We also had glass doors put in above our coffee nook and that has made all the difference with that space. Before, it seemed that those shelves accumulated junk and mess whereas now, we have a pretty little area that I actually enjoy looking at.
At some point, I would love to enclose the space under our coffee nook (it is one of those kitchen desks that we never use as a desk) and create a pull-out trash can area but that's another project for another day.
The Punch List:
- Paint Cabinets
- Paint
- Update Hardware
- Add doors over microwave and coffee nooks
- Change out faucet
- Change kitchen and breakfast nook light fixtures
Earlier in the spring, I also recovered our breakfast nook chairs and bar stools. I've thought about changing out our bar stools completely at some point (the paint color we chose for the bar is much more similar than I had originally planned) and but for now, I think the reupholstery works!
Our kitchen project has been a long time coming and also a labor of love but it's been so great seeing it all come together. While there are still a few things I'd love to have done (a backsplash being one of those!), our current updates have really brightened up our home and created a space I love.
Source List:
- Kitchen Flush Mount: Austen Modern Ceiling Light
- Breakfast Nook Lantern: Varnum 4-Light Lantern
- Kitchen Cabinet Color: White (we just told our painter a stark white)
- Bar Color: Benjamin Moore Coventry Gray
- Faucet: Kraus Oletto in Brushed Brass
- Cabinet Knobs: Schaub Menlo Park 1.25" Knob
- Drawer Pulls: Schaub Menlo Park 8" Pull
Before:
Shop the Post:
It's been a long time coming but one of my stay-home projects has been updating our front porch, and most specifically, our front door. At some point, we would love to get a new front door, but in the interim, ours really needed a fresh coat of paint. After Hurricane Florence, the paint on our door started majorly chipping. Our front door isn't weathered all that much due to the depth of our covered porch but with all the blowing rain that hurricane brought, the door was really impacted. What started as a few small paint chips ended up with large chunks of black paint chipping off. Super cute.
I looked at front door paint colors for months and had narrowed it down to a few favorites. I was continuing to look on Pinterest but finally just called ahead to our local Benjamin Moore store, ordered Hale Navy for curbside pick-up and got started!
Front Door Paint Steps:
- Sand down windows and door
- Clean thoroughly with Simple Green cleaner
- Lightly sand again
- Do one more wipe down with Simple Green
- Tape windows and hardware
- Paint!
I painted our bathroom vanities back in the fall so I had some of the materials I already needed + a good idea of how long the project would take, but even still, when I first got started, I thought I had made a huge mistake. Thankfully, after the second coat of paint, everything looked nice and smooth!
Materials Used:
- Quart of Benjamin Moore paint
- Sandpaper bar
- Paintbrush
- 4" roller brush
- Painter's tape
Once our front door was updated, I wanted to freshen up our swing area as well as the planters around the front door. While I decided to keep our faux topiaries and front door rug, I knew I wanted a little bit of color around the door. I searched online for new planters but ultimately found a set from one of our local plant nursery's. I also bought a set of elephant ear plants to complete the look! We love hydrangeas so I bought two small ones to put in these little planters.
Shop the Post:
This time of year is when I'm in spring cleaning and declutter mode but I also want to add a few new and updated touches to both my home and the shop! We've also hosted Easter lunch the last two years and my guess is that we'll do it again so I'm trying to get ahead of the game this year and get all of my planning done so that I'm not running around trying to get those last minute touches the day before!
Red Wine Glasses - I have these white wine glasses from Crate & Barrel but recently saw these pretty red wine variations! Such a great price!
Floral Pillow - There's something about an easy change of pillows that can really update a space. This one would be so cute on our porch swing.
Melamine Plates - I love melamine plates especially during the spring and summer months when we may eat outside. We normally set up a few tables outside on Easter Sunday and these non-breakable options are still luncheon ready without the worry of getting damaged!
Fresh Linens - Spring is such a great time of year to freshen up your towels. I want to change up ours in the guest rooms for sure.
Faux Florals - While I love real flowers, it's nice to have a few faux arrangements around the house. I love this one for our dining room!
Dainty Frame - I'm majorly overdue for getting some photos printed of all of our 2019 adventures. A pretty frame can easily update a space.
Floral Vase - This pretty floral vase is not only a great purchase for yourself but would also make a pretty hostess or housewarming gift - just add a few hydrangea stems and you're set!
Candle - This time of year is when I start changing away from my fall scents and pulling out my pretty spring candles.
Salt & Pepper Shakers - How precious are these shakers? I snagged a set of these for one of our tables and they look adorable in my china cabinet as well.
Basket Tray - I purchased a new tray for our bar a few months ago but now I have my eye on this one! So pretty.
Shop the Post:
After a few years of living in our home, we finally updated our master vanities! Our house has a lot of oak - I mean, a lot. From the trim to the doors to several vanities, it's everywhere. I had a feeling that a coat of paint would do so much for our bathroom but I had no idea how much more it would make me enjoy being in there!
My husband and I each have separate vanities across from each other, which meant two separate painting projects. I tackled the sanding, painting, and door re-installation and let him handle adding all of the hardware! I've gotten all kinds of questions about the process, so dive in!
What color did you use?
Light French Grey by Sherwin Williams
Where is the hardware from?
Etsy! I looked long and hard on Pinterest to figure out exactly the look I was going for. I fell in love with the look of lucite pulls and this shop has a great selection for a good price.
What kind of paint did you use?
Emerald Interior Acrylic Latex Paint in a satin finish. This is a paint and primer in one so I skipped the extra step of priming cabinets.
How many coats did you do?
Three coats!
Supplies:
Supplies:
- 2" paint roller
- Painter's tape
- Sanding blocks or electric sander
- Lint free cloth
- Cleaning solution
Step by Step Process:
- Remove cabinet doors
- Label doors with numbers - I did not do this and wish that I had!
- Sand vanity frame and doors - I purchased a few sander blocks from Sherwin Williams on recommendation from the staff there. Next time, I would probably use an electric hand sander.
- Use painting tape to cover any areas you don't want paint - I covered the floor just under the vanities, the area '
- Clean all areas - I used Simple Green (purchased from paint store) to scrub down every area that was to be painted.
- Paint & Sand - One thing I did that I never would've thought to was lightly sand between each coat. After each coat dried, I would lightly brush the sander over to smooth out the surfaces and then wipe the area down with a clean lint-free cloth with just a touch of the Simple Green.
- Re-install cabinet doors
- Add hardware
I also took this time to update our vanity spaces - I tended to always have some kind of clutter but with the addition of a tray on both mine and Stephen's, I've created an area that I enjoy keeping clean and organized. I love Capri Blue candles, so I've repurposed them to hold Q-tips and cotton balls. I snagged a cute little soap dish from a store in Williamsburg to hold my charcoal bar and this little sugar dish (other options here) holds my Invisalign. I also purchased some gorgeous little hand towels from Etsy and love the custom monogram the shop created!
I was so excited to dive in that I didn't take very good before photos - but the junkier the before photo, the better, right? We still have some oak in our bathroom that we'd like to paint but for now the vanities have made such an improvement.
Shop Bathroom Accessories:
We've had our bed in a box from Zinus for just over two months! I've always wondered how mattresses like these would turn out for the long term for both sound sleep as well as durability. The highlight: we've enjoyed it so far. The lowdown: we're not sure how long it will last us.
I spent a lot of time scouring the internet, polling readers, and reading reviews to find a mattress that could potentially work for us. Both Stephen and I prefer a firm bed and while there was nothing wrong with either of our mattresses (we each "brought" a queen bed into our marriage), we were ready to upgrade to a king size. I have also suffered from years of back and neck pain, so finding a good mattress was imperative for me. After a ton of research, I landed on the Zinus brand and we purchased the Pressure Relief Euro Top iCoil Hybrid Mattress.
The pros:
- Timeframe of shipment - it was at our door in under 7 days from the time we ordered.
- Easy delivery - we didn't have to worry about meeting a mattress company at home to get it inside. It just came with regular package delivery.
- Inexpensive - for a king size mattress, I was shocked at the price.
- 100-Day Trial - I liked that we had this option to give the mattress a try. I will point out that many companies do offer a trial period.
The cons:
- Mattress stability - this is our biggest concern with our mattress and I'll dive into that below!
Our mattress arrived, we set up our new bed frame and headboard, purchased box springs and voila - our mattress was ready to go! It was a fairly easy transition. For the first month, all was wonderful! While the mattress was more firm than I was used to, I transitioned pretty easily and Stephen was loving it.
Flash forward another month, however, and we've noticed that the mattress is starting to sink and sag a bit in the areas we where we sleep. At first, you you could barely notice until lying down but it's now become a more visual issue as well. It's not hindering sleep currently but our concern is that within 6 months time, we'll have a fairly new mattress that is starting to sink in and we'll be on the hunt for something new.
The conclusion:
We're really not sure. Both of us our sleeping pretty well with our mattress and surface level, we really do love it. Our issue is projecting what it will be like 6 more months down the road. While we're enjoying it for now, we're almost thinking we'd prefer to return this one and invest in something that will last us a bit longer. So stay tuned on what we decide!
Shop the Post:
If you follow along on Instagram, you've probably seen that we've been working on a few updates to our bathroom! We have a setup that works nicely in our master bath, but some of the features are dated. While our light fixtures over the vanity mirrors were just recently replaced, I was wanting to do some other cosmetic updates to liven up the space! In a dream world, we would give the bathroom a complete overhaul, but I'm hoping some of these updates will transform our bath.
Short term goals:
- Paint vanity cabinets
- Add hardware
Long term goals:
- Paint trim
- Add flushmount fixture
- Add framing around mirrors
Over the weekend, I got started on some of our short term goals by painting the cabinets! I'm going to share more about this process once we get things more settled, but I did end up going with Light French Gray as the color. I think I could've even gone with a darker grey, but I do think this color is beautiful! We are now working on adding our new hardware but had to put the drawers on hold to get longer screws based on how our drawers are put together.
One thing I would love to do to pull the room together is to add this flush-mount fixture! I love the look of capiz and think adding in this floral fixture would tie the room together. We don't have the headspace in the bathroom to add a chandelier so a flushmount will help update without taking up too much room.
I've spent so much time on Pinterest reading about bathroom updates so I'm hoping that our vision will come to life!
Idea Sourcing:
- Paint: Sherwin Williams
- Hardware: Etsy
- Flushmount: Pottery Barn
- Frame: Pottery Barn
- Print: Etsy
- Towels: Target
In my latest 101 in 1,001 post, one of my to-dos was to find the perfect porch swing! Back in April, we hosted Easter lunch at our house and there's nothing like hosting a holiday party to get things moving on home progress! We ordered our porch swing and hung it the day before, and we've been enjoying it ever since!
Our porch is wide as well as deep, so we were flexible in what we wanted. I loved the look of the oversized bed swings but I also knew that I wanted to find one under $400, and the bed swings are definitely more of a splurge item. When I found this one on Hayneedle, I knew we had a winner (it's currently on sale)!
I accessorized with some last-minute pillow finds from Target and while they're not outdoor pillows, the porch is completely covered so I went for them anyway!
We still have some accessorizing to do on porch (and I'd love to add rocking chairs on the other side). I recently purchased this rug and now just can't wait for it to come in!
Shop Porch Swings:
Shop My Look:
Shop Our Porch:
I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend! Ours was certainly filled with so many blessings. We woke early Sunday morning for a beautiful sunrise service at Wrightsville Beach. It's the first time we've done that as we normally go to traditional service but I honestly think this may become a new tradition for us.
Last year, we hosted Easter for the first time. It was also our first time hosting a holiday at our home. We decided to make it a tradition, hosting our second annual Easter luncheon! This year, our crowd expanded and we had around 25 people! Thankfully, we were blessed with beautiful weather which makes it much easier for us to entertain.
In theory, I should have showcased our Easter tablescapes before the occasion, but in all honesty, I didn't have my tables planned until super last minute this year! Despite that, I'm going to keep some of our setup into spring as it works well until we get to summer as well.
We have a formal dining room and then our breakfast room off the kitchen, so we had 12 dining seats that are normally in our house. We also added a 4-person table with chairs that Stephen used before we got married, which worked out perfectly. We also set up two 6-person tables on our back patio - thank goodness it wasn't raining! If it had been, we would have had to make a plan B for sure!
For our indoor tables, I wanted to keep everything cohesive and simple and use some of the pieces we already had. My sweet mama purchased these adorable bunny plates from Pottery Barn (sold out online but available in some stores) and let me borrow them. They were the perfect pieces to add with my Vietri chargers and Raynaud dinner plates.
It's amazing to me how much fresh flowers truly brighten up a space! I knew that I wanted a large but simple arrangement on our dining room table and then would play it by ear from there so I headed to Trader Joe's for some fresh cut florals. I will say that this time around, they didn't have quite as much of a variety as they sometimes do, but it's also because I had a vision (they did have gorgeous tulips, but this vision didn't include those...). From TJ's, I purchased the long-stemmed hydrangeas and snapdragons.
I had to go to Harris Teeter for a few other things, and they certainly didn't disappoint. I picked up some bells of Ireland, lilies, and curly willow branches. The lilies, hydrangea and willow branches made for the perfect outdoor arrangement, which I filled with bells of Ireland as well.
For our outdoor tablescape, we mixed and matched new with old. We purchased these rope melamine plates from Pottery Barn last year and while we sometimes use them for dinner on a regular night, they are perfect for outdoor dining! I added a few pretty square ones that I found at Home Goods and then topped each of them with these fun floral salad plates.
Stephen and my father-in-law also hung our new porch swing this weekend! It is safe to say that I absolutely love it and know that I will spending so much time out here, especially on these cooler spring days!
I hope everyone had the best weekend! All product details are listed below.
Inside tables:
Chargers - Vietri
Dinner plates - Raynaud China
Salad Plates - Pottery Barn
Glass candle sticks - Pottery Barn
Purple napkins - World Market
Green napkins - Pottery Barn
Monogram Napkins - Mud Pie
Floral table runner - Target
Outdoor tables:
Woven chargers - Wayfair
Melamine dinner plates - Pottery Barn
Melamine salad plates - Target
Square plates - Home Goods
Shop the Post:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)