house – Page 8 – emerald city diaries

my long weekend in pictures.

{ben, sarah, sam, diane, cal, aaron & i went wine tasting in woodinville on saturday.}

{posing with the pig at project v – a vodka distillery.}

{we stopped at woodinville’s warehouse district where many of the vineyards in eastern washington set up tasting rooms. there were lots!}

{190 proof vodka. i was more interested in that beautiful demi john it was in.}

{the moon was awesome this weekend. this was taken saturday night.}

{we have grapes growing over the fence from the neighbor’s yard.}

{we are bird-sitting this week for ben & sarah. welcome hamachi & azul!}

{sadie surveying while aaron & i did some yard work on sunday.}

{another free giveaway on craigslist. we use craigslist to get rid of so much: cardboard boxes, old TVs, old furniture, etc. this is also a hint for a post later this week.}

{a dessert smorgasbord from menchie’s at the u village.}

{aaron is embracing the trend of fascinators.}

{aaron installed a dual-flush handle on our toilet this weekend. i hope this helps keep our water bill low!}

{i got some framed pictures ready to go for my desk at work: an instagram of sadie, & aaron & me at a wedding this summer.}

{yummy chocolate from theo’s.}

{chocolate covered fortune cookie? yes, please? also, i am taking that fortune as a sign that i need to get back into some crafting projects that are on the back-burner.}

{yummy dinner at snappy dragon to start the week. we sat at the jiao zi bar & enjoyed lots of yummy dumplings.}

we had a lot on our plates this weekend & are thankful it was a long one! aaron’s parents were here until sunday morning & there was so much to do in the yard & around the house. i am bummed that the weekend is already over (it was so nice to sleep in & hang out with aaron & sadie), but the forecast is shaping up to give us at least another week of summer-like weather, so i can’t complain too much. how was your long weekend?

my weekend in pictures.

{sadie hunting for bugs in the backyard.}

{the cranes for the 520 bridge construction at sunset.}

{olympics.}

{we attempted to dig out the roots to two box hedges that bit the dust after our plumbing work.}

{success! take that root ball.}

{it looks so strange with no hedges here.}

{removing my gel polish manicure.}

{playing hopscotch in the neighborhood.}

{bbq at rhett & lindsey’s new place. killer views of lake union & the city.}

{i like the team spirit at the u-district safeway. go huskies!}

{i found a lucky penny on my way to greenlake sunday morning.}

{we finally caulked in the kitchen. tip: use painter’s tape!}

{aaron ran around all weekend propping open all the storm windows in various parts of the house to help us stay cool in the 90 degree weather we had in seattle this weekend. i realize 90 is not that hot, especially with much of the country into triple digits, but this is HOT & we don’t have A/C.}

{more olympics. despite the heat, sadie was really into cuddling.}

how was your weekend?

the big kitchen reveal.

this is the post that you have all been waiting for: the big reveal!

i have shown you the kitchen updates in pieces, but it looks so great when its all put together.

in case you missed the updates, here are links: painting cabinets, painting backsplash tile, painting counter, & roman shade.

{a reminder of where we came from.}

{sorry in advance for the dark pictures. when we had lots of sun in seattle, the kitchen was still a mess. naturally, as soon as i was ready to take pictures, the rain came.}

crazy, huh? it is amazing what a couple of coats (okay, a lot of coats) of paint can do to a space. when we first bought the house, we thought we would have to eventually gut & remodel the entire kitchen (including taking out the pantry). but, after seeing it, i think we may be able to replace the countertops & the appliances. {sidenote: i didn’t like the appliances when we first moved in, but come to find out, older appliances work amazingly! despite not getting consistent temperatures in our oven, i can get boiling water in two minutes!} also, we are thinking of eventually replacing our kitchen table with a kitchen island (since we have a table out in our dining room).

i also added a bit of art to our kitchen walls. i really loved the idea of framing vintage flashcards into sayings {see here} but i was too lazy (& cheap!) to find all the flashcards i would have needed. so, i decided to diy it. i also couldn’t find red frames either, so i diy-ed those too by spray painting white target frames red.

to make the flashcards, i just typed out the phrases i wanted, printed them out on resume paper, cut into long rectangles, & rounded the corners. then i glued the “flashcards” onto white cardstock.

i would love to hear your thoughts about our new kitchen. is your mind blown? (mine is.) it doesn’t even look like the same room. i can’t believe it every time i walk into the kitchen. it is so much more light & airy.

i still need to add some more color back in, as well as find new kitchen lights (aaron & i both hate the track lights that are currently in there). future plans: globe pendant lights, brightly colored rug(s), fresh flowers, colorful trivet.

what have you updated lately? have you ever thought of painting your kitchen?

kitchen mini-blind update (or pinspiration: no sew roman shade)

the most recent update to the kitchen was to change the face of the mini-blinds. we have mini-blinds all over our house, including on our kitchen window {obviously}, but the truth is i really hate mini-blinds. we had them on our living room windows until we put up the curtains & i had aaron take them down about six seconds after the curtains were up! we also have mini-blinds in both our bedroom & the office, but until i find curtains or another window covering, those will be staying put. unfortunately.

but, more about the mini-blinds in the kitchen. we really don’t need a window covering at all since privacy isn’t an issue & we get lots of morning sun into the kitchen via the window. i would hate to put something on the window that would prevent the sunshine from filling the room, but since the mini-blinds were already there, i decided i would try to spruce them up a bit {& if that didn’t work, i would just take them down & leave the window bare}.

i had heard about being able to make a roman shade from mini-blinds months ago, & i found this tutorial floating around pinterest.

{the original tutorial: no sew roman shade from a mini blind.}

i also found this image on pinterest around the same time i found the tutorial & knew that black & white stripes would look great in our now-grey & white kitchen. i also liked that the stripes are vertical.

{image via}

supplies:

mini-blinds
scissors
glue (i used fabri-tac)
fabric (amount depends – you will need about 2 inches longer on all sides than your blinds)
iron (optional, but it would be difficult to iron your fabric after it is attached to the blind)
ruler or measuring tape
washers (optional. i used one on each string to help me not have to tie such huge knots)
needle-nose pliers (optional, but i found them helpful to undo the original knots)
masking tape (optional, but i used it to hold down the string while measuring)

this project was pretty simple & only took a few hours. just be sure you have a big table or do this on the floor (i opted for the table plus the ironing board since i didn’t want dog hair all over the fabric!). i followed the tutorial & only had to improvise when re-tying the knots at the bottom of the blinds.

first i had aaron help me take down the mini-blind from the window & i laid it on the table. i took off the long, skinny wand that makes the blinds turn up & down (you won’t need that anymore). i also should have dusted or cleaned the blinds, but i didn’t.

then i untied the knots below on the ladder string & clipped the string from above too. {the ladder string – this is what i am calling it since it looks like a ladder – is the one that holds the blinds & turns them, not the one that pulls them up & down.}

once the top & bottom were free, i just pulled on the ladder string & cut each little “ladder” section.

i decided to keep five blind slats for the roman shade.

i spaced each blind slat seven inches apart, starting from the top.

i taped down the ends of the string so they would stay still as i measured where each slat would go. be sure that you have enough string at the end to tie knots to re-secure the slats. i put the tape right at seven inches so i would be ready for the next step.

when i got to the bottom, it was time to re-secure the end of the blind (that i had taken off in the beginning). i put it up on its side right against the tape (so it would be at seven inches) & began my knot tying.

i ended up finishing the knot later in the project (you can see the fabric is already on) but i essentially used the washer in order to not have to tie an enormous knot. then i kind of stuck the washer into the bottom of the blind.

{black & white stripey fabric from this etsy store.}

i measured the fabric so that each side was two inches longer than the blinds, cut the fabric, & ironed it. then i ironed half-inch seams on all four sides. {sidenote: i originally planned to sew the seams because i thought it would look nicer, but because of the two-color fabric, you would have been able to see the seam.}

{fabri-tac. this glue is great because it is very quick drying & clear.}

finally, i laid the blinds over the fabric, re-measured the seven inches between each blind slat, & glued each slat down to the fabric (put glue on the rounded side of the blind). let the glue dry before hanging; i waited a couple of hours just to be sure.

then re-hang your blind & admire. i sort of like the look of some folds in the fabric, so i didn’t pull the blinds all the way to the top.

even though these roman shades didn’t add much color to the kitchen, i love the simpleness & whimsy they bring to the space.

this is the last post before i reveal the entire kitchen, so definitely stay tuned.

do you have mini-blinds you don’t like? would you consider converting them to roman shades?

kitchen counter update.

the last major update to the kitchen was to the laminate countertops. as much as we loved the salmon pink color of those counters, we knew the color had to go. since we didn’t want to make a huge investment into replacing counters yet, i decided to try a new paint by rust-oleum that is meant to resurface laminate counters. there is no sanding, priming, or sealing & for about $25 it seemed like an easy decision.

supplies:

cleaner (i used fantastik degreaser)
rust-oleum countertop coating (home depot or lowe’s)
paint tray
smooth paint roller (i used a leftover roller from painting the cabinets)
paint brush
paint thinner (i didn’t have this but highly recommend it to clean your brush)
painter’s tape
painter’s paper (optional)

{the basic supplies}

{we decided on grey mist for our counters. it seems a little bit lighter in person than that little swatch.}

first, i taped & papered the door trim, tops of appliance, anything i didn’t want paint on. i didn’t tape off the tile because when we took out the old caulking, it left me just enough space under the tile to get a paint brush. {sidenote: if you get this paint on tile, immediately remove it with a wet papertowel or rag, or else it won’t come off!}

then, i began painting the edges of the counter with the paint brush. i then moved onto painting the rest of the counter with the roller brush. {sidenote: i recommend using a paint brush as little as possible with this paint because it leaves brush marks. also, i found painting in small sections helped: paint a foot or so of the edge of the counter with a brush, switch to roller & paint the rest of that counter section, move onto the next section & begin with brush, etc.}

i ended up doing just two coats, letting the first coat dry 24 hours before beginning the second. then, the paint needs 3 full days to fully cure.

i am pleasantly surprised with the finish as it is really smooth & even. there are a few places where you can see brushstrokes, or where something stuck to the paint & dried, but all-in-all i am really happy. this countertop paint is a really great & economical way to update & change the color of your laminate countertops.

{we also began the caulking process once the counter was dry. this was sort of a fail & we still need to caulk under the tiles.}

stay tuned next week for a total kitchen reveal! it is really amazing how much a few coats of paint have completely transformed our kitchen.

are you looking to upgrade your countertops? have you considered painting them (if they are laminate)?

disclaimer: i was not paid by rust-oleum for this post. i used its new countertop coating product & was happy with the results.

kitchen backsplash update.

if you have been following the blog over the past couple of weeks, you know that i am in the process of updating our kitchen. no big remodel, just paint!

a few weeks ago, i started by painting the walls a light blue-ish grey – moonshine by benjamin moore – but the actual paint i used was the new valspar allergy & asthma, which i also used for the living room, that i had lowe’s colormatch for me.

then, i sanded, primed, & painted the kitchen cabinets as seen in this post.

next step: painting the backsplash tile.

we had this really lovely backsplash tile that was forest green & pink tulips. while it matched the pink laminate countertops really well, there was no room for flowers in our kitchen update & it had to go! i knew it would be really expensive to rip out the old tile & replace it with new (& tiling isn’t something i am quite ready to learn how to do yet), so i was going to try my hand at painting it. i figured, worst case, we would have crazy-looking tiles for a while until we saved up our pennies to re-tile. it seemed worth the risk.

i started googling (aaron, pretend i said binging) a phrase like “how to paint kitchen tiles” & i found this tutorial on painting backsplash tile. perfect i tell you, like it was meant to be!

i pretty much followed her tutorial, including cleaning supplies & paint supplies. in the end, i needed many, many, many more coats of paint than the original tutorial called for, but that was likely because i was trying to make such dark tiles a very light color (read: white). honestly, this was a big project & took many hours & lots of patience, but it was SO worth it!

supplies:

degreaser, dish soap, rubbing alcohol
cloth or rag
craft paintbrush
surface conditioner
enamel paint (i used ultra white)
enamel paint dilutant
gloss finish for enamel paint
small foam roller
bonding primer (this wasn’t part of the original tutorial, but i needed one coat of it)

after my order from misterart.com came in (where i ordered the surface conditioner, enamel paint, enamel paint dilutant, gloss finish, & foam roller), i gave myself a little pep-talk & went for it.

{deep clean of the tiles}

{this is what i was working with. it is crazy to see these pictures after seeing the tile after the painting process!}

after a good clean, i started with the surface conditioner. i used a small craftbrush & coated the tiles with the surface conditioner. then i let it dry.

after the quick drying process on the surface conditioner, i got ready to start with the first coat of white paint. i put a glob of paint into an old GladWare container & then added drops of the dilutant until it was the consistency of Elmer’s Glue. {sidenote: the first few coats i diluted down to a glue consistency, but on the later coats i kept the paint a bit thicker.} then i started painting. i used the same small craftbrush so i would have more control on the edges. i painted in small sections, & found that painting the grout first & then going back & painting the tiles made the process a lot easier. once i started the second, third, etc. coats, i didn’t focus on the grout & just painted the tiles.

after one coat of paint, i noticed a lot of the paint on the edges wasn’t sticking. boo. i briefly considered re-cleaning the tiles & then adding another coat of surface conditioner, but then i remembered the bonding primer that i used to prime the kitchen cabinets. when i bought it, the gal told me it would basically prime to anything. sure enough when i went to the basement to check the label, it listed ceramic tile as one of the bonding surfaces.

so i went off-tutorial & painted a (thick) coat of bonding primer. after the primer was dry (i waited at least 12 hours between coats for the entire project), i started in – again – with the enamel paint.

after about the second coat of enamel paint, i knew that i would need many more coats than the three that the tutorial suggested. so, i kept painting. & painting. & painting.

aaron & i figured out pretty quickly that i was never going to be 100% satisfied with the whiteness of our tiles regardless of the number of coats i painted. the tiles that had tulips were still showing an outline of the tulips, but the dark green color was slowly starting to fade. i finally had to call it after seven coats. yep, seven. i still had almost a full bottle of white enamel paint left (i had already used three) but wanted to make sure i had some paint around for touch-ups in the future.

as per the tutorial instructions, after my seventh – & final! – coat, i quickly went over my freshly-painted tiles with the foam roller in order to smooth out the brushstrokes.

after the paint was dry, i let it dry almost a full 24 hours, i put on two coats of gloss glaze, allowing for drying time in-between coats.

after the glaze was dry, aaron & i used a small razor to cut away the old caulking from between the tile & the countertop. this was mostly in preparation for my next step: updating the laminate.

it is easy to be picky about the tiles not being perfect (i.e., look like brand new white tiles), but for $30 in supplies we have a new backsplash & i couldn’t be happier. the change from the forest green & flowers to the bright white made such a huge difference in our kitchen. really, it was an amazing transformation.

the downside: it highlighted our very pink laminate countertop. boo. one of our friends commented that we had a nice colorblocking going on with the grey cabinets, pink countertop, & white backsplash & upper cabinets, but we weren’t really diggin’ it.

up next, an update to the countertop!

have you ever considered painting a backsplash?

pinspiration: wine box garden.

this is a bit of a belated post, especially since it was completed back in may!, but better late than never, right?

as soon as we moved into our house i knew i wanted some kind of a garden. since i didn’t want to take on too much (like building raised garden beds), a small herb garden seemed fitting for our first garden. especially since i am not exactly known for having a green thumb.

almost as soon as i pinned this idea on pinterest, my friend amanda commented that she had two wine boxes that would be perfect for the project. i knew it was meant to be!

{the original tutorial link: diy wine box vegetable garden.}

supplies:

wine box(es)
dirt
seeds or plants
drill for making draining holes
1×2 & screws if you want legs
cork, sharpie, & bamboo skewer if you want to make signs

the wine boxes that amanda gave me were gorgeous. they were high quality & already had the dividers inside. my dad added the wooden legs by screwing on pieces of a 1×2 (i think) & then snapping off the end of the top screw so that i wouldn’t cut myself when i was planting. my mom drilled a couple of drainage holes in each section as well.

my mom & i decided the best place to put the garden boxes was over on the side yard (east of the house). here, it would get sun & rain, but not be in the way (like they would have been on the porch, which was the original spot for them).

we filled the boxes up with dirt, & then planted seeds for basil & baby greens, & plants for thyme & chives. we also added a rosemary plant in a separate planter as it was too big for the wine box.

i had some corks lying around from our wedding (we used them in our centerpieces & in the bulletin board my mom made for our seating chart) & we used those for marking the different herbs. i used a (purple) sharpie marker to write what the name of the herb was, & then we stuck the cork onto a bamboo skewer, & then stuck the skewer into the dirt near the plant.

{left box from l to r: thyme plant, basil seeds, chive plants. right box: baby greens seeds.}

it has been really fun to have our own herb garden & be able to use the herbs in our cooking. it is so much cheaper to grow an herb plant than to buy the cut herbs at the store. i think next year i will also add parsley to the mix.

{those tiny little green leaves are my basil plants! once they start growing more, i will have to thin them out.}

{the chives are flowering!}

{the baby greens!}

do you have a garden – herb, veggie, fruit, or otherwise? what is your choice of planter?

my weekend in pictures.

{we have a very big & expensive hole in our yard as a result of a few plumbing issues. this is the not-so-fun part of homeownership!}

{sadie & i enjoyed some deck time before i went to yoga on friday morning.}

{jez (our jetta) just rolled over 70,000 miles. not bad for a 2003. not bad at all.}

{we enjoyed a yummy dinner at boom noodle on friday. delish!}

{we saw the new woody allen movie with my grandmother. it was funny & definitely gave us the travel bug. rome anyone?}

{we finally visited the restore in ballard. it is filled with fixtures from houses that are usually discounted quite a bit. there was a little too much for us, but maybe if we are looking for something more specific. #overwhelmed.}

{while we were in ballard, we stopped to have lunch at the ridgeback café. this is justin’s restaurant, the husband of our realtor PJ who made all of the delicious crepes at our housewarming party.}

{sadie was so proud of herself & the hole that she dug under the fence. we were invited to our across-the-street neighbors’ house on saturday for dinner (due to our plumbing issues this week) & decided to leave sadie in the backyard. shortly after we had finished dessert, we get a visitor to our dinner party in the form of sadie showing up at the neighbors’ house like she owned the place. we were sure she had hopped the fence & followed our voices, but soon enough we discovered she is a digger. boo.}

{aaron, sadie, & i took a family walk over to greenlake on sunday morning. it was sunny & beautiful!}

{i don’t know why yoga in the park is such an omg, especially in seattle, but i guess it is.}

{sadie toweling herself off after a much-needed bath.}

{we were downtown running a few errands & i gave aaron the tour of the new nordstrom rack.}

{burrito bar at whole foods. yum-o.}

{san pellegrino & mango/peach nectar. delish! next time i think we will try it with some prosecco!}

we have had the most beautiful weather since july 4th & it finally feels like summer! how was your weekend?

this old house.

our house was originally constructed in 1908, making her 104 years old!

as part of our closing gift (along with the fabulous housewarming party) our realtor PJ – his name is Padraic, but i had trouble saying it when we first met so i dubbed him PJ instead – gave us a print of our house as it originally looked.

{1908}

{2012}

clearly there are a few changes to the outside of the house: the entryway and front bedroom closet were added when the front porch was enclosed, and the garage/shed was torn down. i am glad we have a small entry space as well as a pretty decent closet in the front bedroom (as it holds extra clothes, craft supplies, etc. that we don’t want to have to go to the basement for every time we use them). while it would have been nice to have a garage or shed in the side yard, it is nice to have such a big yard space (relatively speaking of course).

i was also always curious whether the front window popped out was an original design, or added later. i guess i have my answer!

the house, after over 100 years & a few updates, looks much more like a craftsman that it did when it was originally constructed.

have you dug thru the archives & found an old picture of your house?

updates to the living room: art & curtains.

i didn’t grow up with window coverings, mostly because i grew up in the country, but i do like curtains on windows if they are done right. i love the idea of adding a fun texture, color, or print thru a curtain, & that is what i set out to do when shopping for our living room.

i wanted something that was fun & could give us some privacy if we needed (especially on the front window) & also could be lined, if necessary, to help keep out the winter chill. when i started my search, i toyed with the idea of making curtains, but then i considered that our ceilings are vaulted & two of the three windows are big (over 80 inches), i scrapped the idea of making them. i figured it would cost me way more in fabric than just buying curtains, plus i risked having to have a seam in the middle of the fabric. no dice.

so, the search began. it didn’t take long for me to figure out that finding six 108 inch panels would could cost a small fortune. i have been a fan of west elm for a long time (our bed frame & sheet-set-turned-duvet-cover are from here) & we recently got a store downtown (yay!). i have found myself finding more & more things that i like for the house at west elm, including the perfect set of curtains!

i found these scribble lattice curtains & instantly fell in love. {spoiler alert: these are the ones i bought!} they were fun, grey, & long enough. i held out for about a month or so because even though these curtains were priced well, i needed six of them. i finally headed down to the west elm store last month to see if they had them in stock. well, there weren’t any in stock, but {the good news!} all curtains happened to be on sale plus free shipping (i also had a 10% off coupon west elm sent me when we moved). i ordered them on the spot. {the bad news} they were backordered for three weeks. the original shipping date i was told would have had them delivered this week. luckily, they were shipped early & we were able to hang them the night before our housewarming party two weekends ago {much to aaron’s dismay. he was a trooper though & since i made it easy & marked & measured everything out, he couldn’t say no!}.

curtain rods, surprise, surprise, can also be expensive, especially since we had two long windows. we had a curtain rod left over from our old living room which would fit the small window, so i just bought two matching ones! {the rods aren’t available online, but i have seen them in stores recently. the rods are a dark grey metal with “glass” balls on the ends.}

we hung the rods two inches from the ceiling & it makes the ceilings look even taller! seriously, it doesn’t seem like it would make a difference, but it does. plus, the curtains pool just a few inches on the floor (which is what i wanted), so no hemming for me!

i apologize for some of the dark pictures. ideally i would have taken these in the morning when the sun is shining thru the living room windows, but we haven’t had much sun lately. {surprise, surprise, i know.}

we also decided it was time to hang some art in the living room (as i was tired of the coupons being hung on the walls & worrying about the art being stacked on the living room floor). we had a gallery wall in our last living room & used many of the same pictures, but made the centerpiece this convex mirror i picked up at, you guessed it, west elm. {it isn’t available online anymore, but there was one left at my west elm store – the display – & i talked them into selling it to me!}

i also tweaked the wall arrangement right above the entryway table. the mr. & mrs. lower artwork was originally also hung on the wall, but it didn’t look right – maybe it was the frames, or perhaps grouping in odd numbers. i am thinking about hanging the letter L in this arrangement too, but for now it works.

we have lots of art {you should see the stacks we have stored in the office!} & i thought this corner would be a good place to display some more pictures. the large koi used to sit on our mantle at the townhouse & the three smaller pictures are a mix of some of our favorite engagement & wedding pictures.

art & curtains up. it finally feels like we are living here!

have you hung art or curtains recently?