Sparkle in the Kitchen

This week, I've thrown my multi-tasking skills to the wayside and have eating, sleeping, and breathing kitchen prep.  Seriously, I've been dreaming about this kitchen.  Great for progress, but not so great for blog content.  I was scrambling to the finish line- or so I though.  The cabinet install was supposed to be happening as I type this, but at the end of the day yesterday, it got pushed back to Monday <pout>. The good news is that in scrambling to get stuff done, I got all the dirty work accomplished- trim, ceiling, walls are all painted, new light fixtures are installed (including relocating one), floor is patched (the depth difference of the base of the old cabinets vs. the new), and all the appliances are unhooked.  I'm holding on to the little wins right now- if you ignore the boxes on the floor and the exposed vent duct, the room is starting to look pretty snazzy!  I'm so pleased with the light fixtures!

The sexy pendant from Lowe's inspired the lighting.  Before finding this one, I had been looking at comparable lights online with prices from $150 and up.  When I found this guy for $48 it was a no brainer.  I found the other light on Amazon in the same finish and it fits perfectly in the space!

Now, all I have left to do before install is to clean up from my projects, throw down some paper to protect the floor, and start to shop for accessories.  Ok, so maybe the "shop for accessories" part doesn't need to happen before the install, but it's definitely helping to keep me sane through the chaos.

The polished chrome light fixtures will unintentionally match the cabinet hardware, so I'm eager to mix in some other metals.  Who knows what I'll end up getting, but here are just a few of the things that have been catching my eye.

Kitchen goodies 1/2/3/4/5/6

Maybe if I'm stealth about it, I can sneak my vintage owl cookie jar into the decor without hubby noticing.  Think I can pull it off?

Clark Update: 30 Days Later

Last week I made a quick mention of Clark in one of my vacation posts that I'm sure most of you missed it. WE ACCEPTED AN OFFER!!!

While Hubby and I were partying away at my college roomie's wedding on June 2nd, we were also exchanging e-mails with our realtor, counter offering, then accepting an offer on Clark!  Happy- dancing ensued, but seemed appropriate since we were already on a dance floor.  I'm still nervous for the home inspection (which is happening as I type this!) and hope everything sails smoothly to closing, so keep your fingers crossed for us.

Aside from general maintenance (mainly yardwork), I haven't spent too much time out at Clark since the first open house on May 10th.  Just before the last open house and the showing that lead to the offer, I did do some minor staging.  Our realtor wanted to place a vignette in the basement to show that it could be usable space.  I couldn't let the basement be the only spot in the house with furniture, so I got creative with things I already had and placed a couple vignettes in the upstairs as well.

The living room was my favorite.  I added a small entry table and a chair vignette:

This 'art' is an ad that I received in the mail from Madewell, framed in an IKEA frame; the planter is from Anthropologie and was the centerpiece from my friend's wedding last year; and the adorable table I borrowed from Mom before she sold it on Craigslist.

I'm calling this area the "reading nook."  I purchased the lamp (from Target) before the house first went on the market since there's no overhead light in this space.  The chair you might recognize as my $12.75 thrifted chair (that's been living in our bedroom) and the pillow, which I had in my office, was purchased from Target.

The kitchen just got a little hominess.

Every time I knew that we had a showing or open, I made sure that there were fresh flowers in the vase.  The vase and tray were both purchased from HomeGoods just for Clark-staging purposes.

I also added a bowl of apples, hoping it would made the kitchen a little more welcoming.  Come in, grab an apple, stay a while!.  Ok, I really just wanted another excuse to ogle the backsplash.  Hello sexy tile!  The bowl was a wedding gift almost 4 years ago.

The vignette that started it all suffered from poor lighting in the basement:

Our Realtor, Amy, borrowed the chairs from another house staging; the indoor/outdoor rug I purchased to add a pop of color here for $15 at Ocean State Job Lots; the pillows I've had for about a decade (from j.c. penney maybe?); and the cute side table I just bought at the ReStore for $11 to refinish (or restore, if you will... sorry...)

I also added a small 'station' right next to the garage door to show that you can use it as a mud-room-type space.  I'm still not sure if this area really adds anything, but I guess it doesn't matter now, since he's essentially sold!

The bin usually chorales my shoes in my closet (from Container Store), the ottoman is from our entry (Target), and the pillow is the same vintage as the blue from the other basement vignette.  The raspberry pillow here was also my attempt to tie into the pink rug in the other area.

Mother nature also did me a favor and helped to stage the front garden (aka the flowers are in bloom!)

I don't think I ever showed you the full front door either.  I love love love the skeleton key welcome mat (Threshold from Target... I think all the Target stuff I mentioned here was actually Threshold too.... add it to my list of addictions)

I'm not sure if all my staging was 100% successful, but I'll call it a win, since 2 days later we had an official offer!

Once we go over all of our numbers again, I'll give you a summary of how we did on our first flip, since I know a lot of you are curious.

I just hope we can sail smoothly to the closing!

(New here?  Clark's our very first flip house- check out the process!)

Office 2.0

The saga is over- the home office has been Hubby-fied.  About a month ago I claimed our guest room/den as my new office and forfeited the existing home office to the Hubs, his video games, and his music composing.  As part of his birthday present, I bought him a second monitor to facilitate his music editing and restyled the room accordingly. I'll admit, I'm really pleased with the space, and excited to share with you, but I'm less than thrilled about the photo quality.  Daylight is elusive for the blogger with a 9to5 job and I'm far too impatient to wait for the weekend to photo it properly first.  A proper photo-shoot will follow soon, but until then, please don't hold it against me.

Prior to this make-over, the room had been in a bit of disarray.

4 chairs in this tiny space was 1 too many.  Once my parents closed on their house, we sent the big beige chair to go live with them.

The saga of this room was really about the computer monitors.  A comedy of errors, but less funny.  The new monitor was intended to be a surprise installed before he got home on his b-day, however the delivery man had different plans.  He ruined my surprise by delivering it a mere 5 minutes before Hubby left for work.  FIVE MINUTES!!!  Aaaanyway, the first monitor that I ordered to match Hubby's current discontinued monitor wasn't wall mountable.  I didn't even know they made monitors that you couldn't mount these days.  What is this, the ice age??  So came the second monitor.  The same model, but wall mountable.  Too bad the screen quality looked like poo and had half the contrast ratio of its discontinued counterpart.  So I gave up on trying to match the existing and ordered a 3rd of Hubby's choice.  With new articulating wall mounts, I reworked the gallery wall to be more Hubby-oriented.  He doesn't need pics of my sister and me at her wedding in his room.  (Sorry sis!)

Gallery wall 2.0 includes all of Hubby's Sox tickets from the past few years, an antique painting he bought in France, a watercolor by his grandmother, a ceramic carving he got in Cancun this summer, and still a few wedding pics (can't let him forget all about me- with his new set-up, he could spend days in there).

With my books and items moved to my new office, the built-in shelves got a make-over too.

Styling included Transformers, video games, TTRPG books, and a rock n roll piggy bank among other things...  and, yes, an adult male inhabits this space.  (If you aren't familiar with the term TTRPG, it's probably better you not ask.)  What make's this all somehow work, though, is it's juxtaposition next to some more 'refined', 'adult' pieces: an antique chair and another of Hubby's France art finds.

Why, yes, those ARE Calvin and Hobbes books hanging out with the art book.  I knew Hubby would appreciate what the association implied (think about it).

The room isn't 100% complete just yet.  Over the winter I'll be refinishing a craigslist desk that's been hanging out in our basement (check it out here) to replace the aging overscaled IKEA desk.

Hubby seems to be really happy that he has a room decorated for him, and I'm happy that I have a husband who lets me 'style' his Transformers.  Optimus Prime's never looked so good, if you ask me.