Before/During: Kitchen/Dining Part 1

We have a dining table. Two of them actually.

This one we inherited from Husband's grandfather. I love it.


Look at these legs! Aren't they just divine. Eventually, I'm going to have a leaf made and the whole thing refinished and the chairs tightened and then it'll be superb.

This one is our landlord's:
Yeah, it's nice. But we don't need it. It's not ours. We don't want it. It's IN THE WAY. By July he's going to sell it. And when it's gone - and I get back from Dallas, our dining table will move into the kitchen area.

Before July, this is going to be emptied and moved out to the garage where it will be put to use storing things like Christmas ornaments and garden supplies. Or whatever.

These two items will get moved into the kitchen:

The dining room will become a play area for the baby. Before that, though, it will become a little loungey seating area. The light fixture will be replaced. It will be awesome.

So that's the plan. This weekend, I got fed up with the cabinets over the penisula in the kitchen. I've been meaning to open them up since we moved in, and fill this awkward spot with cookbooks, but I just hadn't gotten around to it. (Full disclosure, if we ever buy this place I will take untold amount of please in taking a sledgehammer to this particular set of uppers.)

Before:


After:

See that bit over by the wall? It's weird to get to and you can only get to it from the window-side of things. That's Where the cookbooks will go.

I did not straighten before I took any of these pictures because I'm lazy. And I just did the dishes. I promise it's not nearly as visually noisey as it appears here. I blame the camera. And also my laziness.

So since I have until July to get all of this prepped...and even longer before we actually become parents, I'm taking my sweet time. It doesn't help that I get distracted. Or that I'm also trying to finish a novel. Wish me luck!

Now I need to learn to quilt

First it was the tie dress:























Now it's quilts made from old dress shirts with tie-inspired borders:
















found at My Spinning Wheel via Inchmark.

Instead, and because I don't own a sewing machine - YET - I'll be hanging some framed posters and folding laundry and trying to figure out why my favorite time to take pictures of flowers is during a misty rain...























What are you doing this weekend?

Nursery 1.0

So this is my first official draft of what the nursery looks like.

I'm playing around with doing the boards - and this is less and inspiration board and more a planning board - completely digitally, a la Making It Lovely (which it always is.)

Although none of this is purchased, this is the plan. The backdrop is actually the room. Note the paneling. The fact that I like the paneling and couldn't paint it even if I didn't like it means that it stays and some art is hung. Given that we don't know the gender of the child, I haven't even planned it.

The fan is from Target. All of the furniture save the rocker, but including the pendant, is IKEA, as are the rugs. The fatboy ottoman is there as a placeholder. I will have a squishy ottoman, but will it be fatboy? It's hard to say. I'm also a fan of beanbags and at some point - when toddling happens, at least one bean bag will make its way into the room. The butterflies, purchased from Neimans and used in both my wedding and my sister's wedding will hang in the window - as part of science if it's a boy and part of pretty if it's a girl.

Like I said: incarnation one. I'm exploring the flor tiles, and while they're starting to be ubiquitous, I made love them anyway...

So that's what I've done today.

PS - In case you don't stalk me, Husband and I are adopting. We'll start the match process in the fall. To follow those exploits, go here and click on the adoption tag.

One More thing...

If we owned this place, I would do this:

To this:

And so would you. Those slats look out on our back garden and I feel that it would work better to be more open than what it is now...being haunted by the early 80s...

Some Pretties

I went through my back issues and pulled some tear sheets for future reference:

I love doorknobs.

That little pink Ghost Chair at an art Table...swoon.


This + Book + Lemonade - flies = perfection

Happy Easter!

Randomness

Remember the fab moleskin icons that I used to clean up my desktop? Yesterday the AT geniuses provided me with a link for Leica Icons...I've replaced my photo file icons with those. It's cute.

Also, I've been trying to figure out the best way to get organized now that I'm down to the nitty gritty of it.

Decorno (whom I stalk under my personal email alias) is using a binder for her kitchen renovation. My next big project will definitely involve one of those.

MSN (shockingly) had some good organization tips:

I like this one but don't know where I'd apply it, exactly.

This one more likely:

(here)

Especially since I have a nice large wall over our toaster oven.

And not design related at all, but I'm sharing anyway because I love the image.