Kitchen, Continued: "Back to those things we said we'd do when we toured the house the first time"

Ever since we moved in, there's been this strange cabinet-where-a cabinet-used-to-be-or-something, next to the refrigerator. The previous owners put their trash can there; we opted to put the trash can elsewhere so we could pack it full of crap:

   

I kid. Anyway, the first time we toured the house, we were all like "we'll put a wine fridge there!" Sure. Only.. a "wine fridge" has never been anywhere really close to halfway down The List. ("The merest thought had not the inkling of a possibility to begin to cross my mind...") We'd halfheartedly "measure" any wine fridges we stumbled across at Target, decide they were too wide or something and go buy popcorn.

BUT.

We're trying to shape up the kitchen, if you hadn't noticed. What with the new and refinished countertops, new sink, new faucets, and tiling project--it seemed like time to do something with the un-cabinet. THEN we just so happened to find the cheapest and most-appropriately-dimensioned wine fridge we'd seen yet. So, Merry Christmas to us:



If anyone's looked into these things you might be thinking to yourself, "but those aren't meant to be 'built-in'! It says so on the side!" Welp, thanks to the weirdness of this cabinet area (I still don't know why the door got cut off, whenever it did), there's actually built-in dead space to the sides and back of the unit. Its little vents have all kinds of room to do their thing. So, uh, chilled beverage anyone?

Living Roomarama: Part the Second

We said goodbye to the old furniture last weekend. It did us well. It's on its way to my sister-in-law's new house. At the same time, we also welcomed a new sofa and rocker into the mix. Surprise! Surprised? We were. Here's the digest:

• We were on the way to order a new sofa from Rooms to Go. They have a nice slipcovered line right now. It was comfy, not too expensive, and I love the tailored-yet-aesthetically-rumply-slipcover look. (Thanks, mom!)
• On the way, we decided to stop at an antiques/consignment shop we'd heard good things about, but is never open when we can go.
• Three pieces of furniture later, the living room has gone in an entirely different direction and I'm planning a wee upholstery project for the coming weekend.

Here are the spoils (keep an open mind). One strange, spring-loaded rocker that my mother-in-law spied in a window display (it might throw you over backwards, but as long as it's not, it's REALLY COMFORTABLE, y'all): (It has wiiiiiings!) One behooked wall-mirror that we think used to live on a dresser (but will now live over a fireplace): And finally, the pièce de resistance and thwarter of new-sofa-buying: I love this. It too is surprisingly comfortable (according to the Mr., very, very nappable). It makes me feel like I'm in the lobby of the Grove Park Inn or something. Somebody get me a cigar. I am starting to think we're some sort of safe house for weird sofas. (Need I remind you of the fauxfa?) Come one, come all. You will be appreciated and lovingly reupholstered. Obviously, "threadbare yellow/pink velvet" and "royal blue sateen" are not exactly the looks we're going for with these. I'm going to attempt the recovering myself (with the prospect of professional help if necessary.) Look for updates on that. And, in case anybody's interested, you can get upholstery tacks and those hobnail-like things at your neighborhood Lowe's...

Flatpackin'

I've already mentioned our trip to our local IKEA (sidebar, those of you out there who actually do live in one of the, what, six? major US cities to have its own big blue store of Swedish modern wonder: to us, "local" means "closer than the others," and a trip to one still means hours--yes, hours--on the highway listening to our own tailpipe rattling, because no matter who you are those boxes don't fit in the back of a Jeep and aren't we lucky that IKEA knows that about us and provides nylon cord for us tie down our hatches if we're unprepared to do so? For some of us, IKEA shopping takes determination and a certain amount of faith in complimentary insurance mechanisms), and there's not much to say, other than we bought a couple of very large pieces of furniture. It's always easier to put them together than I expect it to be. Our MARKOR still flat-packed:

It might sound stupid, but I find the whole thing less intimidating if I separate all the bits-and-pieces first (it's faster, later on, but also make us familiar with the parts so we're less likely to use the wrong thing at the wrong time). A gajillion pegs, bolts, etc., during the sorting process:

45 minutes (or so?) later:

"Bam." Okay, I stink at photojournalism. I was too involved to take pictures. It's now filled with books--really sturdy. We actually got this because what we were there to get turned out to be, like, two inches too big for the wall it had to go on. This particular one wasn't something either of us had picked out online; for some reason it looked a lot better in the store, and we're really happy with how it went up. The other giant thing we got was a wardrobe--the LEKSVIK 3-door, to be exact. We already had a dresser with the same finish. It's ginormous, but it does what we needed it to--we basically needed a second closet in our bedroom, where there wasn't one. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it.

Goodbye, Tile Floors! (Almost).

So there's no longer a question of whether we're getting rid of the tile or not; Saturday's the day. I'm a little bamfoozled that somebody comes to your house and where 5 hours before there was one floor there is suddenly another. Bamfoozled, but excited. We chose option number 3 (see the tile post from before):

It was a tough pick, but in the end what tipped the scales were three new product reviews on Homedepot.com. That sounds ridiculous, but somewhere three people have no idea they just helped us make a huge decision. It's somewhat a leap of faith, too, because, well, these people could have nothing in common with me taste-wise, but we really were having such trouble deciding that it really did come down to that. Ah, social web media. So anyway, mom helped me heft 15 whopping boxes of hardwood floor into the house, which looks like a lot, and isn't really; only about 300 square feet. Here it is, looking all full of potential and ready to go places:

Sidebar: my advice to ye-who-might-be-considering-the-costs-of-putting-in-hardwood: don't underestimate the cost of the trim. You can get away with white (or whatever color your baseboards are) quarter-round moulding, but the transition pieces (t-moulding and reducers) have to match. The floor itself may be super cheap per square foot, but they sure as heck never discount the trim. AND it adds up, because you pretty much need one length for every doorway. That's the update. More to come!

Four Green Chairs, ISO Large, Fun-loving Table.

"Hi."

As we have never before had a dining room to call our own, it might come as no surprise that we had no dining furniture. Call me naive, but I didn't realize that SIDE CHAIRS could cost $200 (or more!) APIECE. Thus, our outlets for finding dining furniture have looked more like thrift stores and consignment shops. Which, actually, has been really fun. I'm kind of picky about this, and won't order anything online without seeing it first--this is our first house and the first time we've actually been responsible for finding our own furniture to serve a specific purpose. Thus! We were really happy to find this set of 4 (green!) side chairs for a steal at a local shop. They'll be the first of a set of chairs that we'll be able to use not only as dining chairs but extra seating throughout the house. The wall color in the dining room (hard to tell from this photo) is a kind of mustard-yellow, so they complement it really well. When we bought the fabric for the upholsterer, I also found some more that blends this emerald green with mustard yellow AND a soft cadet blue--something that will coordinate our dishes (and the new kitchen wall color--but more on that later) with all the green and yellow. What'll we use the fabric for? Seat cushions (or covers, if we find chairs we like that have upholstered seats), a piano bench seat, or a curtain panel--BWA, HAHAHAHA. The chairs are table-less right now, but they shouldn't be after this weekend. Pier 1 has an amazing table (big, slab-top, distressed--everything we were looking for) that we'll pick up as soon as we have the vehicle to do so. We weren't looking for too formal a table; this is going to have to serve every purpose we could throw at it--breakfast, dinner, crafts, games, easter-egg dying--so we wanted something we wouldn't always be worried we'd ruin. This is a horrible picture, but should give you an idea (fyi, it's Pier 1's "Torrance" table, and it's big--84" by 42"):

I think that's it re: Table and Chairs. Will post pictures once table has arrived and is constructed...

The Fauxfa, Redux

Alright, so I know I'm in arrears with my promised posts. Consider this a bonus. We are now the proud owners of a multi-generational piece of furniture, lovingly referred to as the "fauxfa." Not quite traditional sofa, not quite futon... in a class of its own, really. Seriously; by "class" I kind of mean "weight class," because BOY, they don't make sofas like this anymore. I think it's mostly steel. Anyhow, so the thing folds out into a sleeper kind of like a futon, but is completely upholstered, and the seat and back are more like a mattress (it does have springs) than a cushion. Those of you who know it are like, "ah, yes," and those who don't are really confused. We're gaining two rooms in the place of one with this house; we have a living room, and a 'family' room. The family room is smaller than the living room, but in the back of the house where the doors to the screen porch and patio are, as well as the kitchen. We figure we'll be back there more than we're in the living room at the front of the house, but our large couch and loveseat won't fit in the family room. SO. Enter the fauxfa. The fauxfa was the only couch in my old apartment (before I met the Mr.!) but since then languished in our office for close to two years--bedecked in a dingy, fraying, once-very-expensive striped upholstery fabric. Besides playing host to the occasional third houseguest and holding the Mr.'s feet when he does his situps, it's been a place to throw bags, coats, magazines, our beloved cornhole boards... you get the picture. Well, no more! We considered buying new furniture for the family room, but if we did that, we'd have to get rid of the fauxfa--something that made us kind of sad. It has such a history. (Mom can remember at least two prior upholsterings.) It's actually kind of comfortable as a bed, and, well, as I said before, they don't make 'em like they used to. I called and got a quote for having it reupholstered. ("Halt," you say--"aren't you making slipcovers or something?" Yes, and that's fodder for another post. However, the way this thing unfolds... my brain explodes trying to think of how I'd make a slipcover for it and keep it functional.) The upholstery folks were great, but understandably confused by my description (it was also difficult to refrain from calling it the 'fauxfa.') I ended up having to fax them pictures of it in various stages of movement:

Great, huh? So. Upholstery is, yes, expensive. It's not quite as expensive as buying a new couch, though (especially a sleeper). We decided it was a good compromise. We're now really excited about having it in what will probably be our most-used room. We got to choose the upholstery fabric, which was difficult; it's really hard to try to anticipate whether a giant piece of furniture covered in fabric A or fabric B (or C or D or.. you get my point) will look good, or stupid, or whether we'll hate looking at it in a matter of days. The expense means there's a lot riding on the decision. What we picked might come as a surprise. It's plaid, which for those of you who know me will make all the sense in the world. It's not a crazy plaid, but pretty large-scale... and (I'm realizing that I'm painting a very odd picture with this) mostly orange. Yep. Giant orange plaid. I promise, though, I really think it'll look good. I hope. We're having the buttons on the back (the back is tufted in four places) replaced with slightly larger ones, and we're doing away with the skirt. It will look like a completely different piece of furniture when it's done, that's for sure. The upholsterers picked it up yesterday (three cheers for free pickup and delivery!) and we'll get to see it in a couple of weeks. Cross your fingers, and look for an "After" post!

We Have a House

So, last Thursday, we bought a house. It was a little surreal; there were words, a lot of signing things, some large numbers, more words... and then there were keys. Sitting in the empty house for the first time, knowing it was ours, was pretty exciting. Or scary. Or both. So what do you do with an empty house you can't move into just yet? (The Mr. has a business trip in a few days and we'll move after that.) You start making plans. And going to Lowe's. Now, after spending a bunch of money on stuff we didn't need when we could make 'maintenance requests' of our landlord (and have a glass of wine while we waited for them to show up)... we have begun. Read on--our hope is to document with this blog our first foray into the world of property ownership.