new old mixer.

So on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon we decided we would take an adventure and bike up to Milton to the Garage Sale Store. Yes, in Milton, WA there is a garage sale store. It is only open on Saturdays from 9-3 (no earlies!) and was rumored to having been shut down. Well, the rumors were false and we had a fine time biking up to the top of the hill (which I thoroughly enjoyed after so much biking around on flat ground).

Anyways, perusing the many aisles I came across this mixer which I immediately took a liking too (if for no other reason the chrome was cool and a KitchenAid version of this would be at least $300) ~

I turned it on and it worked through all the speeds perfectly, and it comes complete with a little wind-up timer. I did not already own a stand mixer–just a crappy hand mixer that I bought years ago at Kmart or something like that. I know the whole 'retro' thing can be taken too far but I do not think I have crossed that line. And this one–like the fan–is just cool.

Oh, and it was ten bucks.

Then it was just a matter of fitting this in my pannier and making the bike ride back down the hill and home. No problem. I love it.

More ideas.

So Friday was a good day on the idea front thanks to a forwarded link from Katie. In that single link came two really big ideas: one to solve my fireplace dilemma and another to provide me with the perfect kitchen cabinets for the real kitchen remodel in a few years.

The problem with my fireplace has always been (despite the gas insert someone installed, which I will remove and return it to just being a wood-burning fireplace because there is nothing better than the sound of crackling wood on a chilly winter evening) the fact someone painted over the bricks at the bottom part of it. And I have always wanted a brick fireplace (one of the things the house I bought had to have was a fireplace–along with a big, covered front porch and window over the kitchen sink among a few others) and I was looking at either a) somehow successfully stripping the paint off all the bricks or b) completely tearing it out and redoing it. Neither one a great prospect. But here is this idea ~

Now I realize it is not brick and I am still coming to grips with that (there could be nothing cooler than a wall of old bricks in my house–especially in my bedroom). But I could make this work with the top half of the fireplace and have a great mantel dividing the two. I could perhaps figure out a way to create a border of bricks and paint them black just like this idea (along with the inner hearth). For the outer hearth right now it is some lame ceramic tiles that were laid (but not grouted) when I signed on the dotted line. But I never grouted them because I knew I was going to rip them out. I had envisioned a nice big (it's 18" x 5') slate slab (ideally, one big piece as opposed to tiles) but I am not 100% sold on that yet.

Okay, and then for the kitchen cabinets ~

What I noticed of course right away was the moulding at the top of the cabinets. Uh, which totally matches the moulding around the windows and doors and will go with the crown moulding that I'll hang along the high ceilings (from that earlier post). I am not sold on the supports they have beneath the cabinets and probably will leave that part out because they don't fit with my style, but this was priceless. Even the lower cabinets with the baseboards are perfect. I love the bin pulls for the drawers but would have to replace the small circular cabinet knobs with these because, well, I like squares and rectangles and right angles in my designs.

And I also really dislike dark cabinetry because it's, well, too dark. And makes the whole room darker. So I would paint them (most likely) just white. Or maybe a light grey. But the point would be to have light cabinets contrasted then with a dark (maybe granite, maybe concrete–not sure yet) countertop. And stone flooring (like a dark slate).

Another thing about it that caught my eye that I'll be debating is the wainscoting. Wainscoting is super-classy so I might just be inclined to put it in my kitchen like this, reaching up the walls at least four feet (maybe more) with a dimensional stock border going around it (4" or 5" I think–like the window casing along the sides). And of course then the color of the kitchen would be a rich one that would contrast with the white wainscoting, moulding and cabinetry (not–like this picture–white!).

So anyways, a couple of really good ideas all from one post. I was excited. And thanks Katie.

painting option #1.

Okay, so I did this earlier in the Summer (after I finished laying the sidewalk)–took a photo of my pretty-crappy-on-the-outside-needs-a-new-paint-job house and then went to work in Photoshop creating masks for every different section and applying different paint colors to them. The trim. The porch floor. The gutters. The railings. Etc. etc. Good times. But it is cool that it is possible to try out different color combinations and colors easily before ever dabbing a brush in a can of paint. Or–for that matter–before even buying a can of paint (see–there actually are practical uses to Photoshop!).

So the before ~

And then the after ~

This is Benjamin Moore Historic Collection Peale Green (HC-121), a brilliant white trim and some grey or other (there are a couple in the HC collection). I will try other options before I actually go out and buy paint but if anything it goes to show how crappy my house actually looks right now–in case I need motivation (although painting the exterior of my house ranks fairly high in the category of projects I would never look forward to doing myself).

Oh yeah, I also 'Shopped in a new door more along the lines of what I will be getting. What I did not bother doing was replacing the crap metal railings and the crooked stairs. But I will for real. Oh–and get a classy porch light. I love how I did not even bother to move any of the shovels or broom before taking this. Now that is classy!

hanging out to dry.

Katie turned me on to the idea of hang-drying towels because they remain slightly stiffer than when tumbled in the dryer and I have really taken to the concept. So much so that I, um, might need to get a bigger (or an additional) clothes rack.

(Music note soap courtesy of Julian for this past Father's Day)

And a little over a year ago, had I taken this same shot it would have looked like this–not sure if I have mentioned or not but I am way into before/after shots of my house. They are entertaining–at least to me.

fireplace idea and other moulding musings.

So a year or so ago I was wandering around downtown Olympia with a friend and we found ourselves in this tiny little bookstore with an actual decent sampling of Bungalow books (hard to find unless you are browsing around Powell's in Portland). And I found this perfect little book called Small Bungalows that was filled with a smattering of good ideas for my house and so I had to buy it. One of those ideas that I will be incorporating in my living room is this one of a fireplace ~

This will go wonderfully with this idea for paneling that I got out of some advert at a local door and trim shop ~

Which now just happens to match the pattern on the rug. Perfection.

And then finally–the idea for all of the crown moulding of my house probably starting with my bedroom once I get to that point since that will be the first 'real' completed room (the kitchen and guest bath will be torn out eventually so I did not hang this moulding up in those rooms when I updated them) ~

A piece of crown molding combined with a piece of dimensional stock (probably 4" I am thinking) and then at the bottom a piece of fillet that matches the window moulding (in the background–mine already is exactly the same which is why I loved this idea). I got it out of a painting book I think I found at the library and think it will look quite nice when finished.

rug.

Well, on this very rainy Sunday instead of out in the mountains on Matthew's and my epic Stuart Range traverse I found myself instead on my couch caramel latte in hand reading a bit more of David Roberts' memoirs On The Ridge Between Life and Death and various browsings on my PowerBook and then the sun came out for a brief moment which made me remember I had wanted to take a quick photo of my new living room rug that I (well, someone may disagree) found at Ikea that is perfect. Not only is it perfect for my living room–because of the rectangular pattern and all the right angles which will match the paneling I will be installing in here whenever it is I get around to this room (and despite the fact I have done literally nothing to this room I still like to look back on what it looked like when I first moved in)–but it only cost thirty bucks! And rugs are expensive. And of the things I do not mind spending good money for, um, rugs are not one of them. So this worked out amazingly and the only question that remains which I have mostly already answered is should I get the slightly larger one?

Eventually I am going to be getting this coffee table and I think the bigger one will look slightly better with that in place. But regardless, it is the perfect rug and it is nice to have even a five-by-seven soft piece of something to step on in my house (all hardwood and vinyl-to-be-stone-or-tile flooring right now). And there is a lot to do in the plans for this room but I will save that for another day.

Now back to reading. If the sun stays out–later, a walk.