#StapKitchenReno - Update #2

Well, it might not mean checking several items off the list, but we (Chris) did knock a pretty big one off the list!  We said adios to the partition wall between the kitchen and dining room and it is amazing how much bigger the space feels now!  It is also a lot brighter now that the big dining room window is a part of the new kitchen space.  Since the kitchen is on the East side of the house, any additional natural light come the afternoon is much appreciated!

#StapKitchenReno

As you may have gathered from the title of this post, our kitchen renovation is off and running!  We have a lot to do in a relatively short amount of time because we made the silly decision to finish it in time for a big veggie potluck group dinner we are hosting at the end of August!  Crazy?!  Probably, but it will also push us to get as much done as we possibly can before then!  Fingers crossed that our dinner guests don't have to wear hard hats when entering our house come August!

Since we all know renovation updates are not my forte (understatement of the year!), feel free to click on the Latest Adventures tab above for quick photo updates as we go through this renovation. #stapkitchenreno

Here's a little sneak peek into what we need to accomplish in this space...

• Remove partition wall between dining room and kitchen
• Dismantle existing kitchen cabinets & island
• Remove dishwasher, range and microwave (and sell!)
• Remove tile flooring in dining room
• Remove and/or reroute electrical from partition wall
• Assemble new kitchen cabinets (yay, one down!)
• Have wood floors extended and refinished
• Repair drywall on ceiling and wall from wall removal
• Install new cabinets, hardware, drawers and doors
• Have new countertops installed
• Install new sink & appliances
• Install hood over new cooktop
• Tile wall above sink & cooktop
• Put toe kicks, moulding, and other finishing touches on the space.

I love how simple it all sounds!  Ha!  I am sure we are in for some surprises on this renovation.  But I am so excited to see how it turns out!

Dining Room: Curtains are Finished!

Okay, so I am not about to pretend that they look professionally made, but I do have to say I am still quite happy with how they turned out.  Being a newbie at this whole DIY thing, next time I would make sure that the fabric doesn't wrinkle super easily (this fabric does, boo!), but other than that they turned out just fine!

Don't mind the mess on the table, and that half of the dining room chairs are missing (they still need to be painted!)  The focus here my friends, is the curtains.  :)

I am not going to pretend that this project went off without a hitch, however.  I was meticulous with ironing and hemming the fabric (face down on the living room carpet), even attaching blackout fabric (fancy, I know! ha!).  When I finished the first panel, I threaded the curtain rod through it, pulled it upright, and realized that I had sewn it upside down!  The anchors were upside down, and just looked silly.  So I gave up on Monday night, vowing never to do a DIY project again.  Dramatic, I know, but I can never seem to get my DIY projects just the way I want them.  Chris was supportive and said that he was sure I could easily fix it another day, and that he thought even upside down, that they really warmed up the room.  And you know what?  He was right.  (Not that I told him so at the time)  So last night as he was out at a networking event for work, I tackled fixing the first panel, and finished the second panel.  And I felt such a sense of accomplishment!

Next dining room project?  The chandelier!  It's hard to tell in this photo, but the finish is a weird burgundy with black splatters.  Can we say dated?!  I have a few ideas rolling around in my imagination for what I want this chandelier to look like when I am finished.  We will see how it turns out!

Oh, and I really need to tackle more of the chairs.  Maybe this weekend?  Chris has to work, so it should be the perfect opportunity... should being the operative word here.  We'll see how motivated and patient I am feeling...

Dining Room: DIY Curtains

Okay, so after weeks of scouring the internet, and coming up empty-handed for dining room curtains, I decided to make my own!  Eek!

I found  lovely fabric on clearance (love it when that happens!), and found what sounds like an easy tutorial to follow on Pinterest (where else?!).  Fingers crossed that they turn out -- I am hoping to start them tonight!

Here is a little sneak peek at the fabric I am using...

And the curtain rod that I snagged on Amazon...

So excited to finish another piece of the dining room DIY puzzle!  Stay tuned...

Weekend Recap

Chris spent the weekend working on a big project, so I spent some much-needed time around the house doing fun (and some not-so-fun) projects.

I finished all of the chair cushions for the dining room (so exciting!), and the table is all finished, with the exception of some wax I need to polish it with before we use it.  And I made a teeny bit of progress on the actual chairs.  They became quite the pain to paint, as they have a lot of great detailing.  It really made me wish I had a sprayer to paint them with.  Or someone who could do it for me!  Kidding.  Kind of...

So the dining room is coming together.  I have a few more small-ish projects I want to do in there before I do a before & after post.  Stay tuned!

I also spent a lot of time in the kitchen this weekend.  Cleaning and cooking!  Since Chris had to spend the entire weekend working, I decided to make it as pleasant as possible for him by making some tasty treats.  

For dinner on Friday, I made mexican chickpea tacos, which were a huge hit!  Though I will not take credit for the recipe, as my friend, Claire, introduced me to it from a blog she follows.  I did mine slightly different than the recipe on the blog, and really liked the simplicity of them.  Of course, I forgot to take a photo of the chickpeas once they were in the actual tacos, but here is a look at them marinating.  Yum!

{ click here for the link to the recipe I used/adapted. }

I used regular taco shells, as opposed to making them into lettuce wraps, though I may try that in the future. I also only added guacamole, lettuce and tomato.  The marinated chickpeas are so delicious that I wanted them to have the spotlight, rather than add a bunch of other flavors that would drown them out.

Saturday, we had leftovers, while I slaved away on the dining room, and Chris continued work on his project.  Then I made dark chocolate covered strawberries as an afternoon treat!  I think I may have been more proud of my clean kitchen, then my strawberry efforts, as you can barely see the strawberries in the photo!  Ha!  A clean kitchen island is definitely my happy place, though it doesn't look like this as often as it should!

Sunday, I made a delicious (faux) chicken salad on top of a bed of spinach.  I have shared the recipe before, but here it is again.  So simple!

Beyond Meat (lightly seasoned "chicken")

0% fat greek yogurt (I like Fage)

diced celery

grapes, halved

pepper, to taste

Use the combination that you like best (I like extra grapes!), pour on top of spinach, and enjoy!

And for dinner last night, I made a great vegetarian chili with corn on the cob (even though there is corn in the chili as well...

It was a bit of a random assortment thrown in to make the chili, but it actually turned out pretty good.  The nice thing with chili, is that it doesn't need to be a precise recipe.  Just know your key ingredients, and throw them into the pan to simmer away all afternoon.  Here is my rough recipe.

2 cans kidney beans

2 cans black beans

1 diced white onion

4 cans fire roasted tomatoes with green chilies (medium)

1 16 oz can tomato sauce

1 packet taco seasoning

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin

1/2 package frozen corn

Combine all ingredients, simmer until beans and onion are tender.  Enjoy!

All in all, it was a great weekend!  I got some great exercise in, and spent some much needed time at home, tackling several "chores" that have been neglected the past few weeks.  

Although we were disappointed that Chris had to work, we are looking forward to the long weekend so we can get out and do some day trips exploring more of Colorado!

What did you do this weekend?  Any big plans for the holiday weekend?

Dining Room Update

Well, last night I got hit by the DIY bug again, so I dove into the dining room project hoping for more progress than last time.  My goal was to finish more of the chairs, but when I realized I was out of the required spray primer (and far too lazy to go to Home Depot), I changed tactics and decided to re-cover the cushions of the chairs instead.

{ work in progress, don't mind the mess! }

I realized when starting the cushions, just how much work all of these "easy" DIY projects actually take.  It wasn't just a matter of cutting the fabric and stapling it on, there is more prep work involved than I allowed myself to think about.  Like ironing the fabric.  For someone that only breaks out her iron for special occasions (if that), I was not thrilled at the idea that the fabric was wrinkled, but I did what had to be done. I really want this space to look nice when I finish.

After four cushions, I realized I may suffer from ADD, because I spotted the dining room table out of the corner of my eye and decided to start priming the table!  It gave me a really good idea of how nice and bright the table is going to look when it is finished, and got me really motivated to get everything done!

So much motivation, in fact, that I got a brilliant (I think!) idea for a chandelier makeover that I hope will finish off the room nicely.  I also spotted a cheap rug (thank you very much, IKEA) that goes so well with the vision I have for the room.  I see an IKEA trip in my near future.  I seriously love that place.  Except having to put together my own furniture.  Not cool.

All in all, I think it was a successful DIY evening.  So what if I only finished four chair cushions and the top of the table?!  Every little bit is progress, even if I don't do things in a very logical order.  Or at least that's what I keep telling myself.  :)

My goal for tonight is to finish the remaining chair cushions.  I just have one question.  I used one of the chairs for my "office" upstairs, painted it white and gave it a fun coral cushion.  Should I make one other chair (that will not be stored at the table) with a coral cushion, so that I have 8 gray and white striped and two coral?  Or leave the remaining 9 the same gray and white striped with only one coral?  It will only really matter if we have 10 people sitting down to dinner, which I doubt will be very often...  Decisions, decisions. Let me know what you think!

Hopefully I can post an update with a finished room soon.  I feel like I have so many "works-in-progress!" Stay tuned!

DIY Newbie

As the title suggests, I am just starting to break into the DIY world, and while I consider myself fairly handy and capable, I am learning that there is a lot of patience needed when tackling any DIY job.

Case in point?  Our dining room table and chairs that we got for a bargain on craigslist.  The character of the table and chairs is really great, and the table is literally four feet wide, providing plenty of space for guests to dine over with ten chairs!  The set is from the 60s and has not had any part of it updated since then, so although I loved the character of it, I knew it needed some freshening up.

{ a before shot of one of the chairs. }

We are sort of going for a beach cottage type theme on the main floor of our house, without being over-the- top-annoying-beachy (very technical terms, I know...).  So I figured painting this gorgeous table and chairs a nice, bright white, would fit in nicely.  And then when I re-cover the cushions as well, it should bring them into this decade!

{ a work in progress... }

What I didn't realize is that priming ONE chair would take me nearly an hour!  With a total of ten chairs, that is a lot of time, and that is only for the first coat!  I have four chairs done, and hope to finish the rest of them in the next week or so.  Then, I can tackle the giant table.  It is a risky piece of furniture to paint, simply because of the amount of traffic a dining room table will see, but I have faith in the tips I have found online that it will all work out fine.  Fingers crossed!  

Stay tuned to see the final product once I finally get around to painting the table as well.  I am really excited about this room coming to life, as right now we very rarely use it.