As we get ready to move away from our Connecticut home, it's fun to take a walk down memory lane. It's pretty crazy the changes and transformations that took place here. We've been getting lots of questions on if we regret anything, or "would we buy it again or do it again?" Let's find out! IKEA Kitchen Cabinets with Semihandmade Fronts The fun of a new kitchen space can quickly be sucked up by the fear of doing it wrong or regretting your choices. Do we regret our choice?! NO! We got the look of custom cabinets for more than HALF the price of actual custom made cabinets. Plus we ... Read More
Search Results for: built in banquette
DIY Picture Ledge for art in our Kitchen
Finally did something on the large open wall in our kitchen! We built a picture ledge for all our fun kitchen art! Why didn't I do this sooner? This was my original plan when I designed the kitchen. I had even created a design plan with all the art I wanted to use on the picture ledge. Then when our kitchen was finished I just ended up putting the art all around the kitchen. Today we gathered it all together and made a simple picture ledge. Kevin went to Home Depot and had them cut pieces of this maple wood to the size we wanted. They charge by the liner square foot and our Home Depot ... Read More
Our Top Tools for Every Home DIY Project
I watched Kevin in awe as he created Finn's built in bunk beds! I mean, what can't he do? My favorite part was when he told me "If I can do this, ANYONE can." This is SO TRUE! Kevin is smart and hard working, but doesn't have a building background. The only experience he has is the stuff you see him build-- He learns as he goes!! He is confident and problem-solving and those traits (and access to youtube) is really all you need to accomplish almost every DIY home project! You have seen us hang board and batten in this dining room. Kevin learned how to bury our tramp, install tile on our ... Read More
Upstairs Family Room Update
There are no accidents. When we began our home renovations last fall, we discovered an original brick chimney that extended from our kitchen to the upstairs family room. It had to come down to make room for our banquette plans and therefore left a gaping hole in our upstairs family room. You can see the chimney in the photo below, covered in removable brick wallpaper... If you missed it, we decided to add the brick from our old chimney to a wall in our kitchen. It was meant to be and I love the brick wall! It didn't really solve the hole in the family room, though. We had a couple options ... Read More
House Details- Molding, Shiplap, Paint, Doors, Woven Shades and More
Creating a cozy home--especially with new construction or with a renovation-- is really in the finishing details. I wanted these details to come together in a way that felt like they'd been here all along and also be unique and modern. These small particulars can be overlooked by so many, but I get asked about them all the time--which makes me so happy! So I thought I would just do a blog post dedicated to all the "house details"! From the exact shiplap, doors, door hardware, paint and more! Let me know if I missed something! (Curtain rod HERE and Curtain Panels are older, ... Read More
Our Kitchen Reveal- What 9 feet does to a Kitchen!
So basically it's Christmas in May because that is how excited I am to reveal our most-loved, most-used, and most- anticipated renovated room! You've already seen bits and pieces, but I am excited to show you all of the ins and outs and invite you in for the grand tour! I sourced everything out for you at the end of this post. I will also be back with a full, budget breakdown for this remodel! But today, let's just look at our new pretty kitchen! Our new kitchen!!! We ended up doing Semihandmade Door with an IKEA Kitchen. It was a fun an affordable project, check THIS ... Read More
Friday Favorites- Update on our Remodel and our Magazine!!!
How are you doing? We are staying at an extended stay, a short walk from our home. Our contractor is still working, so we decided to move out so they could come in and work without us being there. Paint, do the trim, refinish our floors (the floors take like 3-4 days) and a bunch of other things! We have actually been out of our house for 9 days and it looks like it will end up being 16 days, hopefully in by next weekend. The place we are staying has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, mini kitchen and table. Not bad. But not Bahamas like where we were supposed to be for Spring ... Read More
Favorite Wall Sconces from Amazon and Magic Light Trick Round-Up!
I did a recap of the magic light trick on my instagram and I received a lot of requests to share my favorite sconces. I actually go to Amazon first, because free shipping and so many affordable options! If you are are new to the magic light trick, it is a trick I came up with over 2 years ago!!! Basically the magic light trick opens up the possibility to put a light anywhere in your home. You don't have to hard-wire anything and you do not need an outlet! You just need three things to create the magic light- Magic puck light HERE (these are my favorite and last 100 hours- plus comes with a ... Read More
Remodel & Elevations PLUS What I Bought from Serena & Lily Black Friday SALE
You are not alone if you have found yourself wondering if we are REALLY going to do our renovation! I shared WAY back on August 4th that we were going to do an addition to our home (on this post). Everything always takes a bit longer than you wish it would. I have been sharing on Instagram Stories the progress, and a lot of progress has been made this week!!! We did decide on a contractor so that was a big update that I never shared. We had two bids, one was about 50k more than the other and we had worked with contractor that was less anyways, and really like him, he has done other things for ... Read More
My Major Kitchen and Bathroom Design Inspiration- Remodel
We are hopefully getting closer to our project getting started. But there are just a lot of steps involved in a remodel (especially if you live in a flood zone). We had our contractor come over and give us a bid, waiting on one more bid. We then have to submit the bids to the town for permits. Then hopefully they can start!!! We cannot wait to see workers here everyday expanding our kitchen and adding a master bathroom!!! I put together a design inspiration board so I personally can remember everything that has been on my wish list! It is hard to remember. Highly recommend going through ... Read More