Archive for January, 2008
Kitchen Confidential
The counters are in and boy are they better than sliced bread. After months of waiting for a surface to dice upon, any old counter would do. But our sparkling new granite is just the bees knees. And instead of revealing the new counters, we’ve decided to make you wait until tomorrow (when the faucet, sink, and dishwasher will be fully installed) and then post the FINAL BEFORE AND AFTERS! Can you tell we’re excited?
But the start of the day wasn’t nearly as thrilling as the end. It was full of the usual trials and tribulations of home improvement. First, when the truck pulled up I thought it was some sort of joke. Check out the vehicle that delivered our gorgeous 520 million year old stone:
That’s right, it’s an Arnold Bread Truck. I thought I was hallucinating. And then when they struggled to transport the insanely heavy slabs into the kitchen and proceeded to wrestle them into place, I expected to peek into the kitchen and see scratched floors, dented cabinets and obliterated appliances. In fact, at one point I passed by only to be greeted by my stove in the middle of the doorway. I never thought the kitchen would have to come apart again only to be put back together after the counters were placed.
But by some small miracle, three ulcer-inducing hours later it looked great. Better than great, actually. And save for one small paint touch up (that I completed once the bread truck pulled away) the kitchen was utterly…
…well, you’ll have to come back tomorrow to see the results for yourself.
Update: Check out the big kitchen reveal right here, and see it after a bit more accessorizing right here.
Home Sweet Self-Assembled Home
Between the numerous pieces of Swedish named furniture I’ve owned (or still own) and my collection of complimentary allen wrenches, there have been plenty of times in my life when I felt like I practically lived in IKEA. I’m sure plenty of you can relate. Especially if your name is Mark Malkoff.
On January 7th, Mark took this notion to the extreme and literally moved into everyone’s favorite meatball-servin’ furniture store. As the comedian documents on his website, he was granted permission to live in an IKEA in Paramus, NJ for six days while his New York City apartment was fumigated for roaches. And this is apparently not his first PR stunt, he’s also known to have visited all 171 Starbucks in Manhattan within 24 hours (which makes me doubt the truth behind his “fumigating” excuse).
Cockroaches or not, it’s definitely an amusing story. If you’ve got a tolerance for overacting, there are plenty of videos to browse on his website. But if you’re like me, you may be better off reading the story here. Either way, I’ve got to hand it to the guy: this is one gimmick that’s hard to ignore.
Maybe I’ll call Target and see if they’re interested in hosting me and Sherry for a little while. We wouldn’t even need to pack any clothes.
On The Road Again: Just Beachy
We’re currently blogging from the beach. Now before you get jealous let me just say that it’s about 20 degrees outside and we even got some light snow last night. But we’re loving the chance to relax and recharge at John’s parents’ lovely beach house just outside of Rehoboth, Delaware.
They recently purchased the house and it’s amazing how comfortable and homey they’ve been able to make it in mere months. And while we’ve spent our time playing board games, reading, watching movies, and snuggling Burger- we thought we’d take a quick break to share some fun decor ideas with you.
First, meet the beautiful beach house (love those starfish in the window above the door):
And now for a little inspiration. How cute (and functional!) are these toiletries displayed in a decorative basket with shells:
All the kitchen accessories are red, from the coffee-maker to the toaster to the tea kettle. So cheerful and fun:
And for the first time in over three months we had a functioning kitchen at our disposal, and boy did we take advantage of it. Among many delicious homemade meals, we feasted on this tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza:
We’ll be returning to Richmond tonight, and while we’ve certainly been enjoying every second of our mini break from home improvement, I’m sure we’ll be wielding a hammer or a paint brush within a few hours of returning home. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Counter Come Home
Our new and improved granite slabs moseyed into town this week and, unlike our last visit to the stoneyard, it was definitely love at first sight. Here’s Sherry gettin’ friendly with our two hunks of Pashmina before they go in for cutting.
The best news of the day was that our beautiful new counters are coming home on Tuesday. Score! That means our Home Depot installer can come back on Wednesday to hook up the plumbing and – dare I say it? – our new kitchen will be COMPLETE.
‘Til then, you’ll find us drooling over this photo we snapped of our soon-to-be countertop.
Great Balls Of Fire
I probably enter a Pier 1 about 2-3 times a year. It’s not that I don’t appreciate their aesthetic, it’s more like I forget they exist. But a few weeks ago when I swung through with a friend of mine, I laid eyes on the cutest little touch of texture: white ceramic honeycomb candle holders.
In fact, I liked them so much that I actually went back and made three of them mine last night. At $4 a pop you can’t get much more bang for you buck. And the chic peekaboo detail- which I didn’t even know was possible in something ceramic- makes them special and maybe even a little sexy.
