For the Home

My Kitchen Reno Dream

September 30, 2011 By Virginia 5 Comments

This morning I received an email from Amazon. They thought I might like to know about a chance to win a $1,000 Amazon.com Gift Card.

Um, yeah!

I might.

LOL.

So, I got to thinking.

What would I DO with a $1000 Gift Card from Amazon?

Well, since the sweeps is hosted by the Kitchen and Bath department, I browsed there first, and found a few things I might spend 1G on.

My kitchen reno dream…

This GE Refrigerator would be a nice replacement for the white number I have in my kitchen now.

I prefer side-by-side models because my back just can’t take pulling out a loaded freezer drawer.

I don’t have anything against white refrigerators.

HOWEVER… my dishwasher, microwave, convection oven, and coffee pot are all stainless.

The white kind of doesn’t go. Not to mention that the trim around the ice dispenser broke off years ago, and it just isn’t pretty.

KWIM?

Speaking of not matching… my stove range is also white. White and black (translate- ugly). So, I found this one…

Isn’t she a beaut?

While I would PREFER a gas range (I learned how to cook on a gas range), our house is equipped for electric. And this the prettiest electric stove I have seen, and it is GE’s Clean Design.

I like that the controls are at your fingertips on the front of the stove, rather than on a backsplash at the back of the stove. Of course, I would have to train little fingers to leave the stove alone, but they are already pretty good about not touching it.

I love that the oven is self cleaning, too!

Also on my wish list item right now is the new Kindle Fire.

Ah, back to my kitchen reno dream…

I am absolutely drooling over this black maple flooring. I would love to have this gorgeous hardwood throughout my house! I would like the look of a distressed black with veins of gray as well.

Since I AM a Klutz (with a capital K), and we’ve been told that it isn’t wise to have wooden floors in the kitchen—as it may become damaged when things are dropped on it—we would have to use ceramic tile or something else in the kitchen.

With the black maple hardwood throughout the house, how gorgeous would this black granite tile be in the kitchen, with those new stainless appliances!

with this tumbled mosaic tile for the back splashes…

Then, just for the pure shock value, I would paint the walls canary yellow and get a vinyl wall decal that says “The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table.” That, or “Kitchen closed, this chick’s had it.” LOL.

My husband chuckles at with me, because I typically have a hard time spending money (when I have it). I tend to sit on it for a while. Let it ruminate. I mean, what if I spend it on one thing, and find something the next day that I would LOVE to have, but am fresh out of greenbacks to pay for it. Since we refuse to live on credit, I would be fresh out of luck! So, large money decisions takes time… and prayer. We’ve been wanting to renovate our kitchen for a while now (can you tell?), so I think this is one instance in which I could dispense of the money quickly.

Of course, I haven’t won the sweepstakes (YET), but I can dream, right?

Oh, yeah, if you would like to enter, simply visit the Amazon Home Improvement Sweepstakes Facebook Page.

What would YOU do with a $1000 gift card from Amazon?

Filed Under: For the Home Tagged With: amazon, enterthis, Sweepstakes

Bathroom Shelf Project

September 3, 2011 By Virginia 2 Comments

Until today, we had a pearl nickel over the tank space saver, by Zenith, in our master bathroom.

I like it, but I think the space could be better utilized, so I asked Hubs to install new shelves, the kind that go on the rails. Like the ones he installed in the laundry room.

(Yah, I know, I need to organize the ones in the laundry room a little better)

So, this morning, we headed out to Lowes to pick up the rails, brackets, and shelves to install in the bathroom.

He got started right away…

And in no time at all, I had new bathroom shelves…

AND MORE STORAGE SPACE!

There is even enough room that I can add a fifth shelf at the top, if I want. I am trying to decide if I want to do that, or if I want to store the extra toilet paper up there. LOL.

Filed Under: For the Home Tagged With: bathroom, DIY

FREE KraftMaid Inspiration Guide

September 3, 2011 By Virginia Leave a Comment

KraftMaid is offering a FREE Inspiration Guide on kitchens, baths, home office, entertainment centers, bedrooms, laundry rooms and more.

Click the image to sign up.

Filed Under: For the Home Tagged With: DIY, inspiration

12 Unique Floors To Admire

August 27, 2011 By Virginia 2 Comments

***warning– this post is heavy on images and may load slowly***

I was recently watching an episode of The Nate Berkus Show (I just love Nate, and want him to come redesign my entire life house, but I would be happy with just the living room, kitchen, one bedroom, or basement… ooooh, basement!) and saw one of the most amazing floors I’ve ever seen.

Yes, I said floor!

Viewer Kristin Kauffman chose to paint her wooden floor because, with four kids and five dogs, rugs didn’t last long. The diy flooring, inspired by sheer genius, is bold, gutsy, and colorific. In short, it is stunning!

see more of Kristin’s painted floors on thenateshow.com.

So stunning, in fact, that she was featured in the February 2011 issue of Better Homes & Gardens, as well.

After seeing how beautiful it was, Kristin painted the rest of the flooring in her home.

Hubs and I will be redoing the floors in our home in the next few years (maybe sooner than later, if that leak under the sink did any more damage than we suspect). So, after watching that episode, my curiosity was sparked. What other unique flooring ideas are out there? Here are just a few of the floors I have admired recently…

Doodled Floor- by Hemmendorff

Jigsaw Floor- offered by prowoodfloors.com

Penny Tile Floor- at The Cup Café at Hotel Congress (Tuscon)

Nickel Tile Floor

Colorful ZigZags- at Poncho No. 8 (London)

Liquid Lava Floor Tiles

City Grid Lines- at Vagabond Travel Bookshop (Stockholm)

I admire all of these floors. I can imagine these are the types of floors that Hildi, from TLC’s Trading Spaces, would design if she did floors. The creative genius that inspired them is awe inspiring. And while I admire all of them, I have to say that my favorites would have to be the painted wood floor by Kristin Kauffman, the colorful zigzag floor at Poncho No. 8, and the color splash mosaic floor. I can see how the design options for the rest of the room would just explode with floors like those. Since Hubs tends toward the minimalist/industrial design tastes, I doubt I would be able to talk him into such a colorful floor palate. However, I do think he can be swayed toward the aesthetics of designing with a few carefully chosen colors.

Which is your favorite?

Have you seen another unusual or unique flooring idea that I should look at?

Filed Under: For the Home Tagged With: colorful, decorating, design, DIY, floor, unique

Faucet Repair Gone Wrong

August 26, 2011 By Virginia 4 Comments

<—Isn’t that a beautiful sprayer?

For several years, I occasionally dropped the “It sure would be nice to have a sprayer on our sink” line to my husband. For the most part, we ascribe to the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” crowd, and a new kitchen faucet just wasn’t necessary. But then, our faucet started getting wonky, and the water pressure in the kitchen was TERRIBLE. And don’t even think about getting a cup of hot water for a recipe. I could literally turn on the tap, leave the water running, and walk to the bathroom and get a cup of hot water and come back before the water from the kitchen faucet would come out hot.

Well a couple of weeks ago, much to my delight, Hubs installed a new faucet, and it came with a sprayer. Perfect.

Until last night, when I was standing in the kitchen, typing away on my keyboard on another post and Hubs came around the corner from the living room and said, “We have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” I ask.

“We have a leak under the sink.” He replied, then continued, “I went to get a flat rate envelope from the shelf downstairs, and they were wet.”

That shelf sits directly below our kitchen sink. When he opened the sink cabinet, I wondered if we would be calling for a faucet repair or if it would be something simple he could do on his own.

I don’t know if you can tell from the photo or not, but the floor of the cabinet is now sunk in, uneven, and the finish is cracked and peeling.

Fortunately, it was a minor repair and just required a little tightening of the hot water hose that had become a little loose.

Unfortunately, the cabinet floor is damaged and will need to be replaced.

We were planning to redo the kitchen floors in a couple of years. I guess we’ll be getting new cabinets, too.

Anyone want to help with a kitchen reno?

I am participating in a blogger campaign about faucet repair by Bucks2Blog and was compensated. However, the views and opinions, and under sink damage, are all my own!

Filed Under: For the Home Tagged With: faucet, repair