Archive for November, 2007
Soy To The World
Every once in a great while some amazing product comes along and shoots me with cupid’s arrow. Swiffer duster pads (they grab every dust particle instead of pushing ‘em around). The Diva jeans by Old Navy (I swear they’re better than Sevens- I own three pairs). Life cereal (is there crack in there?). And now there’s a new product to shower with affection: Method Holiday Aroma Soy Candles.
Love, love, love the streamlined curves. Worship, worship, worship the yummy peppermint vanilla and cinnamon bark scents. Adore, adore, adore the fact that they’re made from eco-friendly (and health-friendly) soy. So don’t walk, run to the nearest Target and snatch up as many as you can. At under seven dollars a pop, they’re a total steal (and they last longer than most other under-ten-dollar varieties). And because they’re only available in these cute shapes and scents over the holidays, it’s time to make ample room in your closet for enough to last you til next November.
Image courtesy of Method
Shameless Self-Promotion
In case you missed the orange button that screams (begs?) “VOTE FOR ME!” on our sidebar, then you wouldn’t know that we’re entered in RemodelingMySpace.com’s “Remodel, Blog and Win” contest. Their esteemed panel of experts will award the $5,000 Grand Prize to the bloggers demonstrating the most home improvement AND blogging prowess.
But another esteemed group of experts – you the people – will award the $1,000 People’s Choice Award by casting your vote by November 30th. (I’ll take care of that brown on my nose once I’ve finished buttering up you beautiful, beautiful people.)
If your love of voting for things (or earning compliments) isn’t enough, your vote will also make you eligible for the $250 Random Voter Award. They’re not giving anything away for prettiest or smartest voter because you’d take both by a landslide.
For those who have already voted – THANKS! But be sure to go back and read the article they just wrote summarizing our blog. Here’s our favorite excerpt:
“In a refreshing twist, the blog post writing on Young House Love is shared by both John and Sherry. Regardless of who writes the posts, they are entertaining and well written! House renovating with a sense of humour – it’s the only way to fly.”
And, in the interest of fairness, check out the other entries here. We especially enjoy Becoming-Home and Our New Old House.
Beachy Keen
After months of meaning to hang some curtains in our all glass sunroom to soften things up, John and I finally made the move yesterday. We took white $5 cotton panels (gotta love Ikea) and hung them in all four corners of the sunroom to block minimum light but give it a clean beachy vibe. And we didn’t even have to go to Lowe’s for hanging supplies. John just used twine and nails to secure them right under the molding for maximum height. Very MacGuyver of him, huh?
Here’s a before shot for reference:
And the easy breezy after shot:
And more of a wide shot to see them in context:
I Dream of Kitchens
With our kitchen designer back in town we took some more measurements and worked out all the kinks in our design – and FINALLY ordered the cabinets and countertop this weekend.
That kicks off the slow process of fabricating and installing everything, which is estimated to take 12-ish weeks. Fortunately, we know the Home Depot is generous with their guesstimations, so we’re crossing our fingers for something a little sooner. Either way it buys us plenty of time to fill everyone in on the details.
When it came time to start the design process, Sherry and I holed up in Barnes & Noble one night sifting through home magazines and books, searching for the perfect kitchen as a springboard for the design process. (I had a lot of catching up to do since Sherry has volumes of Domino and Blueprint memorized, not to mention hours of HGTV and TLC logged in her brain). After seeing plenty of crazy, plenty of country and plenty of uber-modern kitchens we both agreed that THIS is our dream kitchen (courtesy of House Beautiful):
(Click picture to see larger)
Obviously, this is WAY bigger than our space, but it inspired us to go for a clean, classic (hopefully never dated) kitchen. Starting with this picture made our design decisions a lot easier and our kitchen desinger was eternally grateful that we didn’t change our mind a million times throughout the process.
That’s not to say we didn’t depart from the dream in some cases. For instance, we love the subway tile backsplash but right now we’re more interested in something paintable so we can get a punch of color in there (that can be changed). So we’re going to go with a granite countertop along with a matching 4″ backsplash to hopefully catch all the splatter with room above it for some nice water resistant semi gloss paint (in the same gray-blue color that we love so much in our bedroom).
So, actually, maybe the picture above is closer to where the dream has evolved. We’ve chosen similar cabinets (and even have a corner one with a pretty glass insert), the same stainless hood, and a built in look for the fridge. The only major difference is that our countertops are a lighter color, which we hope will keep things airy in our small space. Either way, we’re happy and excited for all that fabrication and installation to finally get started. Stay tuned for up to the minute details…
