Springing Forward

New England is once again having a spring identity crisis.  The birds are chirping and it's supposed to be in the mid 50's.... Too bad everything's still covered in a foot of snow from Friday!  I'll take what I can get, though- I LOVE spring! Not that I'm wishing the time away (because I certainly need every second I have to get Clark the flip house ready to be sold!), but for the past 6 months I've been counting the days until March 18th- next monday!  It's a trivial reason, I'll 100% admit it.  It's the day I can upgrade to an iphone 5 without having to pay an arm and a leg!  I've been living through the worst cell phone on the planet (true story) for almost 2 years now, I'm surprised I haven't thrown it out the window!

In sheer excitement for my future phone, I started looking at cases yesterday.  I've bought prints from Society6 in the past, but I had forgotten that they offer most of their prints in iphone cases as well- a design geek's dream!

They have some seriously amazing iphone cases with art prints and typography:

but I'm so drawn to these simpler, yet still graphic ones:

Although I loooooove the look of these cases, I'm torn about needing a beefier case to protect the phone.  I haven't ruled out buying a beefier case then adding some pizazz to it myself, but until then, I'll ogle over these. So many options, what's a girl to do?!

cases via Society6: 1/2/3/4/5/6

Overdue Kitchen 'Reveal'

I've shown you almost every room in my house over the past few years- even my embarrassing basement, but this is the first time I've actually taken real pictures of the kitchen. I showed you the kitchen way back when we moved in and installed the dishwasher, then 2 years later (hangs head in shame) when we got more new appliances.  Well, with the addition of a chevron rug, the room's actually feeling welcoming.  Not yet done, but very welcoming.  I'm even almost tempted to cook!  Almost.

It's shocking how much of a change 2 new appliances can have.

Flashing back to when we moved in, the kitchen was feeling a little cramped and dated.

We moved the fridge to a more logical nook across the room, added a dishwasher & extended the counter, and now the new appliances.

I bought the rug on a whim ($20 from HomeGoods) and it feels like it was made for that spot.  It's indoor-outdoor so it can stand up to kitchen messes.

The To Do list for the kitchen still includes

• Replace cabinets- although these look nice, they're barely functional
• Replace lighting and broken fan
• Paint- this color came with the house.  I like it, but want to tweak it a little and make it a bit mint-ier
• Install stainless vent hood
• Roman shade (or faux roman shade) on windows

That list doesn't seem that intimidating since it's pretty short, however replacing the cabinets will be no small feat- especially with our house's lack of level floors.  I'm itching for new cabinets (if you couldn't tell), but it'll have to wait at least until we sell our first flip house.  The flip kitchen can be my trial run for cabinet installation.  I'm itching to get started on that too- closing in a week and a half!!

Anyway, back to this kitchen.  What do you think??  I love how you can transform a room without major alterations.

2-Toning

I've got kitchens on the brain, have you noticed? Our propane tank is getting delivered TODAY and we'll be able to use our gas stove!

Even though we won't be doing anything about the cabinets for a while, a girl can dream, right?  And I am.  The issues I have with the current cabinets are:

• Poor quality-  falling apart drawers and cabinet boxes
• Useless soffit wasting 8" of usable space above the cabinets (covered with beautiful laminate)
• Dated door style on uppers (at least more traditional than my taste)
• Not a wood tone I would ever pick
• Inconsistent finishes- wood doors, veneer sides, & laminate boxes.  Makes perfect sense, no?

Hubby and I actually are partial to dark wood cabinets like this kitchen.  LOVE everything about this kitchen.

But our kitchen isn't spacious enough to pull it off sadly, and we aren't white kitchen people.  I love looking at pretty white kitchens, but it doesn't really fit us.  I've been drawn to beautiful 2 tone kitchens lately- dark on the bottom, but white on the top to brighten up the space.  I love this one so much, I pinned it twice apparently.

So I decided to have a bit of fun with photoshop and test out the theory on our kitchen.  I also tested a lone vent hood vs. cabinet with vent.

The lone vent hood doesn't float my boat as much as I thought it would.  Being that the stove is tucked in the corner, the room feels a little off balance without the cabinets.  It definitely makes a difference to have the cabinets reach all the way to the ceiling, though.  Any added storage in a small house is a definite plus.  I do like the 2-tone a lot, but again, Hubby's not convinced.  Silly boy, when will he decide to actually trust his designer wife?  Oh well, its a non-issue until we decide to do the cabinets.  I'm pulling for them this year, we'll see how good my convincing skills are.

What's your vote on the kitchen?

images: 1/2