Kirkwood: Kitchen

Luckily, the previous owner of my house did an AMAZING job remodeling the kitchen. In fact, it was one of the main things that really wowed me when I first showed up at the open house. I love to cook and entertain, so for me, there is nothing better than an open kitchen. That said, I’m really loving the brass cabinet knobs and drawer pulls that have been making a resurgence lately (inspiration via the one and only Orlando Soria). This was my biggest splurge for something small that makes a big impact. I couldn’t be happier with how the brass hardware turned out compared to the silver hardware that was there when we moved in. I got these 1″ knobs and these 3.5″ pulls.

Since we were replacing the silver hardware, I wanted to make some updates to the open shelving that was there too (since the old shelves were also silver). Previously, these IKEA shelves were mounted. I liked the look of them–they just needed a bit of repurposing.

1. First, we spray painted the brackets black (to appear “bronze”).
2. Next, we got custom cut stair threads to the exact length of the IKEA shelves. Fun fact: if you get 1″ lumber, it typically is only 3/4″, so bring your measuring tape to make sure you are getting exactly 1″ thick lumber 🙂 Thankfully, I had this handy-dandy blog post in my back pocket to steer me straight.
3. After having the fine folks @ Lowe’s cut down my stair thread to the exact size of the previous IKEA shelf, I stained the two shelves (Mini Wax English Chestnut).
4. Once everything was dry, we mounted (in the pre-existing holes) and luckily, it all fit ;).

Absolutely love the kitchen now!

Kirkwood: Laundry Room

One of the perks of the new house is a real laundry room (not just a closet)! This can be awesome for many reasons, one being that you can throw all of your cleaning/supplies/storage stuff in said room. However, this was kind of hard to do with the non-existent storage in the room when we moved in. After taking at our existing space and some pinterest inspiration, we decided to install a mini-mud room, complete with reclaimed wood and IKEA hacks (my fave).

1. I started off by building 1 tall, skinny Billy bookcase, and 2 short skinny Billy bookcases (one with a door).
2. Blake mounted these to the wall, while I stained the interlocking wood we picked up at Lowe’s (and then custom cut to the right size). He mounted the tall skinny bookcase flush with the wall on the left, and the two shorter skinny bookcases horizontally on the wall (one on the floor, the other parallel with the top of the tall skinny bookcase).
3. We then added the stained (and dry) wood to the wall, and plan on finishing with hooks for coats.

This mini mud room may just be my favorite part of the house. There’s now tons of storage, and once topped with a cushion, will be the perfect place to take off your shoes when coming in from the backyard.

 

Kirkwood: Master Closet

Sooo I bought my first house! Yippee! The seller did an amazing job remodeling everything, but of course, Blake and I found more projects to start 🙂 The first project we tackled was remodeling the master closet to be more functional. The previous layout had no drawer storage, and corners were lost with overlapping rods. After busting out the electric saw (on Blake’s part) and some IKEA hacks (on my part), we created a custom built-in closet which came out looking incredible!

1. I started with the RAST dressers (a steal @ $35 a pop). After building (a feat in and of it self), I painted the surfaces that would be exposed the same color as the closet.
2. Once dried, I patched the pre-drilled holes and painted those again. I then added my own hardware from myknobs.com
3. Blake mounted the stacked rast dressers and one Billy bookcase to one side of the closet, and a skinny billy bookcase to the other side. I used the wider bookcase for shoes, and the skinnier bookcase for purses.
4. After all that, we ended up with way more storage as well as hanging space, since we added a second rod across the length of the wall on the left. Good work team!
   

   

   

   

   

 

Goshen: Display Medicine Cabinet

This was a (relatively) quick DIY, inspired by this post:

1. First, we removed the existing medicine cabinet
2. Sand down inside “cubby” that’s left, measure and fit your drywall
3. Use joint compound to “seal” the edges of the corners
4. Wait 24 hours to dry (worst part)
5. Paint
6. Wait another 24 hours to dry
7. Add crown molding trim & shelves
8. Style!

All in all it took about a weekend to complete, and looks so much better than the dated recessed medicine cabinet that was there before.

The Gallery Wall: II

After successfully conquering my first gallery wall in the living room (dream big), I decided to tackle the master bath. The master bath had a HUGE wall space that was mostly unused, save for 3 small prints I had hung there. I had so much great art, and truly wanted to make use of the large space by putting up something I would be glad to see every day. Enter: the gallery wall. I removed the towel bar (my door already had hooks, so it was redundant), and got to work laying out my wall. This was pretty simple (honestly, didn’t even use a level), and I loved the end result, especially since I got to showcase a few pieces from one of my favorite LA artists, Gray Malin.

The only con was the amount of time I spent patching said wall once I took it down, but that’s neither here nor there.

Goshen: Master Paint Job

After living in the master bedroom for 3.5 years, I finally decided that it was time for the dirty off-white (read: yellow) paint job to stop haunting me. I spent hours on Pinterest (so basic, I know :D), and even more time in the Sherwin-Williams store deciding on the perfect gray. I know you’re supposed to swatch the walls and see the paint in all stages (wet, dry, night, day, mid morning, dusk, magic hour, etc.), but who really has time for that? I bit the bullet and went for Sherwin-Williams Requisite Gray, and I’m so happy I did! Disclaimer- it WAS darker than I had expected to go, but that was perfectly fine! This is a great gray with almost periwinkle undertones, and worked perfectly in the Master Bedroom. I loved it so much, I even repainted one of the guest rooms the same color when I moved out.

Goshen: Before & After

Now that I’m all moved out of my first condo, I wanted a place to corral all of the decor photos I’ve taken over the past 4.5 years. I had so much fun decorating it over time, and I really am going to miss the huge vaulted ceilings, tons of natural light, hanging out on the roof in the summer. Not to mention, I loved having my girly decor and tons of room to fill with countless flowers, books, objets, art, etc. Even though my decor style has evolved quite a bit since then, I love looking at the pictures and taking a trip down memory lane! Moving out of here was the end of an era (first place post-grad), so it’s bittersweet moving on, but here goes!

The Gallery Wall: I

The first big project at Goshen was removing those weird 80’s coke den mirrors and replacing them with some drywall, joint compound, a fresh coat of paint, and of course, the ever-so-trendy gallery wall. With some elbow grease and a handy helper, this little nook looks brand new!