Your wish is my command

25 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Gardens, Maintenance, Misc, Outdoor living, Renovating

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Hubby and I have been married a very long time. I consider this a good thing and sometimes scary the way we will inadvertently dress alike without seeing the color shirt/blouse the other one is putting on; or thinking we’re hungry for the exact same thing once one of us has mentioned a menu option.

An example of our being in sync occurred recently and I thought I’d share the story with you…am I desperate for post ideas, or what?

A few weeks back I posted about a new storage container I was fond of…this was a surprise to me because I had fought the notion of having storage containers cluttering up my ever so small pantry for years. Anyway, I blogged about the OXO pop storage container HERE in part because I like to share information with my readers on products that are all they are advertised to be and then some, I’m generous that way.

Hubby read the post, which in and of itself pleases me no end. I can’t tell you how sweet I think it is that he takes time out of his busy day to read my ramblings, but I digress.

So, along comes Mother’s Day and he tells me he has a gift for me. I had asked that he give me my usual hand-picked pound of See’s candy and that was more than enough. Alas, he had my requested See’s and a large box which contains a set of OXO pop-up storage containers. I was a little concerned at first that our smallish pantry wouldn’t be able to accommodate the set but low and behold, we managed. Thank you sweetie, for being such a thoughtful guy.

This is the best (IMHO) and I keep my list of favorite specifics.

To that end I thought I’d blog about some other items on my wish list…hey this just might work!

Our back yard is in desperate need of new grass…specifically Marathon sod, with sprinklers. We have never put sprinklers in the back yard and have gotten by without them up until now. We sometimes travel in the warmer months and it would be wonderful to have auto timer sprinklers taking care of business while we’re gone.

Our guest bathroom is a fright. When we purchased the house 29 years ago the previous owner had installed chocolate brown Kohler tub, toilet and sink. Some time about 15 years ago the brown, much like a black car, showed every scratch and scrape that it had endured and we had a company come and coat the tub and sink with white enamel. We replaced the toilet. This lasted us until about 2 years ago…the coating has begun to chip…we now have a tub that resembles the Gateway computer box (except it’s brown and white) and the sink is brown (since the coating came off in nearly one piece there).

Finally, our patio set is from Costco and is made from “tropical hardwood” which is meant to look like teak and mostly does. It has grayed with age (something I like) and is well designed. Here is the catch, the chairs weigh a ton and will not slide on the concrete. No matter what we try, including fancy “guaranteed to slide” feet. So when we entertain al fresco we must warn our guests to move the chair in a certain way lest the chair collapse on them. *I forgot to mention the chairs have a couple of settings and can fold. So I would like to replace them with the Kooboo chair from Cost Plus. You can read about them in detail (and compare them to the Pottery Barn chair) HERE.

So, just in case we hit the lottery and you are looking for gift ideas, honey, here you go. {giggle}

A living room by any name

23 Monday May 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Decorating, Personal Information, Renovating

≈ 10 Comments

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living room

As I continue to tour you around my dream house…code for showing my reader(s) rooms that I really like, I now enter the living room. The living room in recent years has been called the great room, the family room, the bonus room, the parlor and a few other terms.

I love the sunny, fresh feel of this living room. I’m not sure I could ever paint my wood floors white but I love the look.

Older homes usually have a living room space and a family room or den space. In Southern California the newer homes were designed with a “great room” instead of the 2 separate spaces traditionally carved out of the floor plan.

Image via Apartment Therapy. This is a small space but I love what they did with it and have always wanted brick wall.

Our home was built in 1968 and is a fairly smallish tract house. We originally had a living room and a family room and fortunately our family room was designed in such a way that it is adjacent to the kitchen as well as the fireplace.

This is our mantle…it looks like I was listing a little, sorry about that.

So as I explained HERE we switched the living room with the dining room and renamed the space “library” or reading room, since that is where I most often sit to read.

This used to be our living room…

This was our dining room

If I could make one change to my family room it would be to make it about 5 feet wider…since the wall we would push out (if that was even a possibility) has the fireplace on it that won’t be happening.

This is such an open and airy room with an amazing view. {Sarah’s Summer House, HGTV}

It’s a cozy room and I like it most of the time. I thoroughly enjoy the fireplace in the cooler months and we use the room daily.

Isn’t this gorgeous? I love the crisp, clean feel of the black and white.

Image via Traditional Home

One of my favorite accessories…a doggie!

Image via Tracery Interiors

I love this living room. It’s inviting and looks like it would be comfortable. Maybe that’s the advantage to keeping both a “living room” and a “family room”, there wouldn’t be a need for a television and you could arrange the furniture for comfortable conversation without concern that the chairs and sofa are facing an entertainment center.

Isn’t this clever, an over-mantle where no fireplace exists? I think this is a sweet vignette for the corner of a living room or family room or library.

Image via Michael Whaley

Paladin windows {sigh} Is there anything more to say?

I have always thought a day bed was something that would serve a library or study well…I mean doesn’t reading make you sleepy sometimes?

I hope you have enjoyed my tour of living spaces. What items do you feel are essential to the well dressed living / family room?

Fun in the sun

27 Wednesday Apr 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Entertaining, Gardening, Maintenance, Outdoor living, Renovating

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Outdoor living

As the weather warms I begin to focus more of my attention on life outdoors. I want to be in the garden, working or playing, and I look forward to meals on the patio.

This lovely outdoor seating space is Cote de Texas‘

Image via Country Living

Villa Saladino in Santa Barbara has a lovely outdoor seating area.

Image by Simon Upton ~ Jill Brinson Home

Our patio~teak, gray with age

Image via Velvet & Linen

As I’ve mentioned before, we have lived in our house since 1982. Each room, inside and out, has been renovated at least once, sometimes more. Our back yard is in need of new sod right now and a decision must be made about the 2 gigantic ficus benjamina trees growing there. Roots of these trees threaten to take over the world (beginning with our back yard). The trees do provide a canopy of shade that rivals an outdoor air conditioner on the hottest days.

I visualize this…

Image via French Kissed

I would love to create a gravel or decomposed granite pad where we could place some furniture, maybe dining furniture under the umbrella of the trees and living room furniture on the patio. Pictures like this (above) are my inspiration (Thank you Jermaine).

Image via 5th & State

When we replace our sod (which is now a combination of assorted green weeds and grass—fortunately when its mowed most people don’t realize it isn’t 100% Marathon sod.

Villa Saladino—nice vista, but the grass is lovely, so green.

I think there is something very soothing about green, whether it be grass or plant, it cools me down in the summer months and cheers me up on a gray day.

Image via House Beautiful (Edmund Barr photo)

Image via 5th & State

Vines are another benefit to a yard with cinder block fencing or overly plain wood-fencing. They can soften the space and add interest. Our back fence is cinder block and it’s completely covered in vines so its very soothing and makes a lovely backdrop for the other shrubs and flowers.

Oh wait, how did this get in? Well, you have to admit, Mr. Darcy walking in your yard would be exciting!

Have you started any landscape improvements this year?

Renovation of the library

08 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Decorating, DIY (do it yourself), Renovating

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library

I’ve talked about renovating our library a few times, but I finally started this project. Does that ever happen to you? You think you want to re-do a room and for a variety of reasons you just don’t get around to that first step (in this case, removing wallpaper).

Before renovation (above), after wallpaper removal (can you believe the room was pink?…more on that later).

The room used to be our dining room (read about the switch HERE) but now serves as a smallish “sitting” room which I affectionately call the “library” since the wonderful southern exposure makes it a great room to read in (and yes, the walls, under the wallpaper, were pink) As with so many benefits (plenty of sunlight) there is a down side…everything fades within a very short time due to non-stop sun exposure. I will have to either upholster with Sunbrella fabrics next time or have the windows tinted, or both.

~BEFORE~

Can you see the faded sofa fabric…if not, that’s a good thing because it will be awhile before I reupholster.

~BEFORE~

The thing is, I figured since upholstery is still a ways off I should go ahead and paint the room. Painting became more of an urgency when I decided to move the large, framed print (in picture above) to another location in the house. To my dismay the wallpaper was so badly faded from the sun it looked dreadful.

Stripping the wallpaper wasn’t too difficult. I have used, with success, the liquid remover that you mix with warm water and spray on the walls, then begin to strip the paper using a light hand with a scraper. The labor-intensive part was using TSP and warm water to dissolve and remove the wallpaper paste. If you do not remove every bit of paste your paint will crackle and ruin your new paint job (I speak from experience).

Ta-da…here is the paint color, finished and ready for furniture. What’s missing? The ladder-back chair that sits to the right of the gate-leg table is being repaired. The sun had really beat up the finish and my furniture re-finisher said her could fix it for so few dollars that we decided to let him work his magic.

Finding a paint color wasn’t easy, as I mention HERE. But after an exhaustive search I ended up with a fairly safe, and very pleasing choice—the same color I have in our dining room, which I really like. Dunn Edwards “Inside Passage”. This color can take on a variety of hues depending on the time of day and the amount of light. It has a grayish look and that is what I was searching for.

I kept most of the accessories and wall art in the same place (I did replace the botanic art (which was badly faded) for an etching Son #1 and his lovely wife brought me from Paris, which makes me smile every time I walk into the room. I did add a basket of childrens books under the end table for upcoming visits from our granddaughter.

Oh, and about the pink walls…many years ago I was a total English Country/Mario Buatta gal and cabbage rose-filled chintz with all the accents were my deal. I had a Ralph Lauren “Alison” comforter on our king sized bed in the master bedroom. Hubby used to smile at his friends and declare, “I’m very comfortable with my masculinity”. Bless his heart. Anyway, the pink wasn’t nearly as “pink” as it appeared to me upon removal of the wallpaper and like many things in those early years after about 10 years of pinkness I was over it. There was a collective sigh of relief from hubby and sons #1 & 2!

In the above image I forgot to take the towel off the love seat…this is where the cat sleeps and the amount of cat hair that little towel keeps off the cushion is amazing! On the right is the sofa sans towel.

This is probably the first DIY project that was this involved I’ve taken on since I’ve been working full time. It was rewarding but I confess it took a village…thank you doesn’t begin to cover the appreciation I must extend to my dear friend Gretchen! She spent an entire day helping me paint and then returned the following day to help me paint the crown molding. Gretchen, XOX to you and my offer to help you garden stands!

There you have it…my “before” and “after” Part I. When I reupholster the window seat, sofa and possibly the ladder back chair I’ll post pictures. Any thoughts, suggestions?

One quick note about the Jerk Chicken—I prepared it and it really was easy and delicious. I made a couple of changes and thought I’d pass them along: I substituted jalapeno chiles (fresh) for the habanero chile the recipe calls for. {only because my market didn’t have fresh habanero chiles}…and I used boneless skinless chicken breasts. They were easy and because they marinate overnight, they were very flavorful. It’s a keeper recipe, in my book.

Paint color…too many choices!

28 Monday Mar 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Decorating, DIY (do it yourself), Renovating

≈ 6 Comments

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paint color

I’m in the process of renovating our library (or sitting room, or very small living room, whatever I call it on any given day).

The room was wallpapered with a Ralph Lauren paper made to look like aged plaster (not a really good imitation, but fairly neutral and I liked it for quite a few years).

The print between the plates (above) is the print that now hangs in the dining room…as you might imagine, quite a large patch of original colored wallpaper in a sea of faded paper, not a good look!

About a month ago I decided I wanted to move a framed print from the library into the dining room. I had a little vignette all figured out for the space and was pretty excited for the change. {I do love change!} I moved the print and was amazed at how faded the wallpaper had become.

I confess, I love the new look Restoration Hardware (images above and below) has been promoting and the gray they use became an inspiration for upcoming (and much needed) upholstery fabric for the sofa, window seat cushion, and ladder back chair and ottoman.

Since the library was wallpapered about 8 years ago I thought it was a good time to take down the paper and paint (more on the renovation in a future post).

Image via Elle Decor

I knew I didn’t want the paint to be too sunny since the room has so much natural light, sunglasses indoors isn’t a good look for me!

Image via John Jacob Interiors

…I know this is a bathroom, but the color on the walls reminded me of Restoration Hardware paint and I really liked it. So I bought a smallish can of Restoration Hardware’s Graphite (it was similar in appearance to the above wall color.

Image via Atmosphere blog

Additional inspiration…

Image via Atmosphere blog

I have a gray-ish basket trunk from IKEA that I use for a coffee table so this image was additional ammo for the whole gray paint idea.

Many of you probably figure that finding paint is easy, right? Well, I have seen more paint chips over the past 2 ½ months than I care to mention and ultimately, I have decided to paint the room the same color the dining room is painted, “Inside Passage” by Dunn Edwards.

Image via Country Living

I didn’t think white paint (as in the image above) would be a good fit for the “look” I ultimately wanted to achieve, however, I love this room by Kolene Spicher.

Meanwhile, I looked at Pottery Barn paint chips (Benjamin Moore paint), Restoration Hardware paint chips, Behr from Home Depot, Martha Stewart paint chips, also at Home Depot, and my head was aching by the end.

There are a lot of paint tools online and House Beautiful has one that works well, but there is nothing like painting a good sized patch on the actual wall and standing back to determine its merit. I ultimately called by good friend and designer, Gretchen, to weigh in on the sample. She saw green in the Restoration Hardware gray sample. Knowing her eye is better trained than mine I went back to the Inside Passage by Dunn Edwards.

Image via Jackye Lanham – website

The wall color in the image above is what “Inside Passage” looks like. It has a bit of gray and taupe in it. I like it because it changes looks with various light.

Have you had to select wall color recently? Was it as challenging for you as it was for me?

Kitchen love

17 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Renovating

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kitchens

I was trying my best to organize saved images in files that give some indication of subject. I discovered something…I have more kitchen images than any other topic.

There’s no excuse really—we remodeled our kitchen in 2003 and I love it. For a small kitchen it is very efficient and works well for hubby and I. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will most probably never have a large kitchen and I think that’s okay.

This is an overview of my kitchen; it's a galley kitchen but works pretty efficiently.

Above the scale are some of my favorite cookbooks.

This image doesn't do my pantry justice...it was built to look like a piece of furniture, including a beveled glass front cabinet in the middle, and it works well as a pantry. With a small kitchen I think it adds interest to an otherwise small space.

Many of the images below don’t resemble our kitchen, which is kind of strange, right? I think what happened is that when we moved into this house the only thing we could afford to do right away was to remove the harvest gold Formica with white tile and install new cabinet doors that we had painted white. Our kitchen went from looking absolutely sad to really looking pretty darn nice for not many $$$. I loved that white kitchen even though it was sorely lacking in efficient storage space and the contact paper was permanently sealed on the particle board shelves inside each cupboard.

This is the kitchen of the blogger at A Country Farmhouse. She changes some of her shelf accessories to reflect the seasons.

I really like the wood paneled walls. (KML Design)

An all time favorite; love the black French doors (Tommy Smythe)

I would have opted for another white kitchen when we remodeled but hubby felt very strongly that we should go with stained cupboards. Our kitchen designer’s kitchen was our wish list example of a great kitchen and her cupboards were stained so we all agreed that was the way to go. I also figured that if the cupboards got really beat up and old I could do to them what we did to the old cabinets. We could replace them with white painted cupboards.

The lanterns and natural light in the kitchen makes me swoon! (Alexa Hampton)

Not sure of the source, sorry.

This kitchen makes me smile---all the natural light!

Love the black accents with the white walls, great contrast. (John Jacob Interiors)

Hubby has wanted wing back chairs at a dining table for as long as we've been married...these are great. Question, would we ever leave the table in the morning? I think not.

Bottom line, I love white kitchens as you can see…some of these images make me sigh with happiness.

Do you have stained cabinets in your kitchen or white?

Driving the neighborhood

07 Friday Jan 2011

Posted by Karen B. in Renovating

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remodeling

We live in an older community of tract homes…not the old of Atlanta (built in 1928) but the older of Irvine (built in 1968). Some of the homes in my particular enclave have been renovated and some, sadly, have not.

In any event, there are a few show stoppers, or in my case car stoppers and I thought I’d share them with you. I walk my little dog, Madison, in the area but usually take her out on the main street that circles our community, or up on the hill that cuts over the top ridge of our community. During the holiday, when I thought about doing this, I thought I’d take my camera and see what’s going on in the neighborhood.

Just down the street this home is a total redesign. The contractor, a friend of mine, has done several homes in our community, including my friend’s (Carol and Barry) home.

I like the stone on this house but wish the entry was just a little wider and more roomy.

This is Carol and Barry’s home, decked out for Christmas. Their landscape is still to come but the home has a craftsman/Cape Cod charm that makes it a “car-stopper” in my book!

This charming home (below) is across the street from the major remodel going on. Cathy keeps her home looking good year round. She has done all of the landscape herself, including laying her own sod! I’m in awe.

(Too bad I don’t know how to photoshop these 2 halves of my friend’s house to make one picture, but you get the jest of it, right?)

This is the hill we walk the dogs during the warmer, less muddy, months. We can take them off lead and let them romp and run…very good for dogs and great exercise for people. 🙂 The surrounding view shows our homes, and up on the hill, homes that are way out of our price range.

This is my friend Debbie’s house. She and her husband recently remodeled and while the outside of her home is lovely, the inside is a show stopper. Maybe she’ll let me blog about it sometime.

This is one of my favorite remodeled homes. My photography doesn’t do it justice but it is very pretty.

The owners of this home put up a giant, inflatable pumpkin during October and inside the giant clear plastic pumpkin is a ghost that circles inside—it’s lighted and at night is so festive for all who drive by.

The home below is one that a talented architect designed, I don’t remember his name but he has since moved to Oregon so it doesn’t matter since I won’t be calling him if we ever do any major remodeling of our own home. Anyway, he designed several homes in my community and what I loved about his design was that the homes appear to fit the lot (none of the McMansion on postage sized lots business) and the overall architecture appeals to my traditional sensibilities. He was known for putting front porches on the homes, I could imagine sitting on this front porch and resting with an iced tea.

This house turned out to be quite large for the lot…still, it has some nice features.

So this is just a little peek at some of the homes that are gracing our neighborhood. I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour!

What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

Its official…I have a blue and white room, at last

22 Wednesday Dec 2010

Posted by Karen B. in Decorating, Renovating

≈ 11 Comments

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blue & white decor

Just in case you’re over the steady stream of holiday images (although, I confess, I rarely tire of Christmas images until around December 26th) I thought I would follow up with a post I have published some months ago regarding my love of blue and white rooms…

Not too many months ago I posted about how I had always wanted a blue and white room {HERE}. Many of you suggested that I “just do it” (in the words of Nike). Well, as luck would have it a good friend of mine remodeled her home and had decided that her guest room needed a king sized bed instead of the queen that it was furnished with. She asked if I’d like her ‘gently used’ duvet cover and pillow shams (the cover and shams were like new!).

I don't know the name of this pattern, but it's so pretty and has a linen-like texture which looks great with the off-white, PB iron headboard.

I jumped at the opportunity to take her up on her offer. Son #2 had just moved into a new apartment and the room was ready for a little face lift—especially one that wasn’t going to cost an arm and a leg. The existing quilt, a soft yellow and brown toile from Pottery Barn fit inside the blue and white duvet cover and I had a blue and white stripe fabric piece laying around that I could cover the little French chair with, as well as the 2 small accent pillows.

Part of the blue and white set was a table cloth out of the same fabric for a round pedestal table however the room is small and the nightstands that flank the bed work very well. So I decided to use the fabric from the table cloth to provide welting for the chair and for a flange on the small accent pillows that sit in front of each of the pillow shams.

This is the fabric that the old quilt was made of---in fact the quilt was a Pottery Barn toile.

You can see the stripe I am planning on putting on the accent pillows and chairs right after Christmas.

The walls are painted a taupe color by Behr called Toffee Crunch in an eggshell finish (to be honest, when the room was painted I was not really happy with the glossier finish of “eggshell” but I’ve learned to like it fine).

I had a frame in the garage that had been used in the dining room and it was a standard size so I bought a mirror for the frame and hung it on the long wall in that room. I believe when Son #1 and his lovely wife visit from Austin they will appreciate an extra mirror to use for make-up application (for D-I-L) or for getting dressed. I hung some blue and white plates on either side, just to tie in the blue and white theme.

My friend gave me 2 of the blue and white plates and the top 2 I purchased from a little antique barn in Napa Valley.

A dear friend knew I needed a dust ruffle (the existing one was pale yellow and ivory mini-check) and volunteered to make one for me for my birthday—thank you Gretchen, you can’t know how excited I am about this! So, after wishing for a blue and white room I finally have one.

Dreams do come true! 🙂

Make your kitchen seem larger than it is

06 Wednesday Oct 2010

Posted by Karen B. in Renovating

≈ 4 Comments

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small kitchens

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for small homes—maybe it’s me romanticizing the whole “cottage” idea. That said, I love to cook and the one room in my house I wish were larger is my kitchen. I was able to remodel my kitchen in 2003 but budget constraints made it necessary to keep the same foot print. My friend and kitchen designer, Sotera, helped us maximize the storage and space available and the kitchen works well.

As you can see, my kitchen is what I believe is called a "galley" kitchen; really best if there is only 1 cook in the kitchen as one time.

My little desk sits beside the pantry, which was made to look like a piece of furniture, a look I really like. (Pantry picture is below this picture.

I'm afraid my photography doesn't do this justice. The pantry is painted black with some detailing that makes it look like a hutch. It holds everything we need including a few decorative pieces behind the glass.

There used to be a bank of cupboards above the counter that faced the family room. We took those down to open the space between the kitchen and family room, something that seems to make the kitchen feel larger.

So I read with interest the Better Homes and Garden, “Weekly Home Improvement Newsletter” by Alicia Warden, Assistant Editor of Home Improvement, which was sent via email last week. The title of the piece is “How to make a Small Kitchen Look Larger”.

Right out of the shoot my kitchen failed the first suggestion, paint your kitchen white but I do see the wisdom of having a white kitchen if you are limited on space. As BHG states, “White is your best friend in a small kitchen. It reflects the light, which enhances the sense of space and makes the walls seem to recede”. As these pictures demonstrate, there is wisdom in those words!

A surprise suggestion (for me) was to remove the doors on upper cabinets or add glass front cabinets. I love open shelves but I didn’t realize it would help make a kitchen look larger.

Minimal window covering is another great tip, let there be light. That and borrow space from another room (by opening your kitchen to another space)—we did that and I admit, most of our friends who first viewed our remodeled kitchen thought for sure we had increased the floor space.

Another idea was to add a mirror, framed or as a back splash. I think the back splash idea would be a challenge to keep clean but I’m here to tell you a mirror in the room can make a difference. Hubby and I once visited a charming, small restaurant in Laguna Beach and the mirrored wall tricked my hubby—he backed his chair up and when he looked over his shoulder he mistakenly thought there was someone he had bumped into. It was his reflection! {smile}

I love this idea, carve out storage. I would like to try this when we get around to remodeling our guest bathroom. It makes sense and looks to be something that wouldn’t be horribly expensive. Eliminating clutter is a no-brainer but sometimes harder than it seems, especially in a kitchen—what do you do with your coffee maker, toaster, and espresso machine? Okay, I HAVE heard of appliance “garages” but in a very small kitchen that is a luxury that might take up too much space.

Lastly, make doors disappear. Using French doors or frosted glass doors as opposed to solid doors opens up the room and makes it feel lighter and more open.

I hope you have an enormous kitchen but if you don’t try some of these tips and see how much more room it will seem you have. What do you think? Any ideas for those of us with “cottage kitchens”?

If you’d like to visit this site click HERE. All images via Better Homes & Gardens

Planning ~ Dreaming

27 Monday Sep 2010

Posted by Karen B. in Renovating

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

building, plans, remodeling

plan – 1. to devise a scheme for doing, making or arranging 2. to have in mind as a project or purpose; dream – a fond hope or aspiration

Cart before the horse…I’m always dreaming of the next “thing” (code for project) I’d like to do to my home. The project list is long and money (money being the horse in this whole cart horse scenario) is usually the only hiccup in starting on that project, but that doesn’t stop me. I’m forever thinking of things I’d like to do to our home. I know some you must feel the same way—when you love doing something it occupies your thoughts more often than not, right?

Oh yeah, this is on the list as well---I've even talked to a friend who is a contractor and he said it wouldn't be that difficult to build!

That said, I was reminded recently how dreaming it is only the first step in the process, duh.

Carol and Barry, good friends of ours, recently did a major remodeling job on their home. It took months of working with an architect to determine how the exterior of the home would change, to how each room within the new space would work. Carol is an exercise buddy and know how much time and energy went into the planning process for her remodel, but it was only the tip of the iceberg.

I'd love a little playhouse in the back yard. Image via House Beautiful

As the construction began there were additional details and decisions that had to be made—what kind of hardware for the cabinetry, appliances for the kitchen, flooring, paint color, tile selection, marble/granite, finish on the floors, carpet (where used), lighting and on and on.

The learning curve is very steep on a major remodel, kind of like the learning curve on planning a wedding—there are always things that come up that are somewhat unexpected.

Love the wood walls. Image via KML Design

A recent guest blog on one of my favorite sites, Velvet & Linen, was given by Interior Designer Gwen Driscoll and it addressed this very topic. She said that she feels the most important part of her work with a client is A MASTER PLAN. Read her feature HERE.

…and my point you ask? I believe that dreaming about the next big project could be very helpful if and when that lottery money arrives (no, I don’t actually buy lottery tickets but maybe I should). I’ll have some of the planning done and be better equipped to remodel that guest bathroom that is currently in a sad state to be sure!

I've priced vanities, mirrors, wall sconces and hardware for this bathroom...now all I need is the money, easy-peasy!

Note: I’m happy to report that my friend’s house is close to being finished and I believe it’s going to be amazing. I hope to talk her into a few pics for my blog!