Our new kitchen!

Other than wishing a happy 27th birthday to my husband Mark, I'll cut right to the chase today, people!

When we left off, we were here:

UPDATE:  Here is a REAL flashback to just four months ago when we bought the house:

And now, four weeks later (half of which were spent on the rug which must not be named), we're HERE!!!! :

I am LOVING the new kitchen. As soon as we started bringing in the counter tops and putting the tile on the walls, I became super giddy. I have had so much fun moving things around and decorating the new and improved space!

So, we spent half of the last four weeks waiting on 'the rug' that I had ordered towards the end of the kitchen renovation. Bad timing on my part since the 'icemaggedon' hit directly after I ordered said rug and it ended up taking 15 days to arrive. Plus, now that it's here, I'm not sure it's any better than the previous rug!

Here are the two rugs, I want your vote! Tell me which one I should keep in the kitchen:

Should I keep this old rag rug that gives it sort of an Anthropologie vibe?

...Or should I continue my love of stripes with this black and white rug that lends itself more to the East Coast casual vibe?

(it has been rainy for a while so the images with the black and white rug are more yellow due to the fake lighting...please don't hold that against the rug or these photos!)

And of course, here are some more photos of my new favorite place in the house:

Taking on this project was stressful and tiresome, but I'm incredibly proud of Mark and I for doing it so quickly and without any major breakdowns. We had the help of Mark's dad Ian and I couldn't thank him enough for the knowledge and elbow grease he's contributed just so I can have a pretty kitchen.

I'll be doing a price and project breakdown here later to let you know how we did it and how much it cost. But for now, we have a beautiful kitchen. Except for this eyesore below...her time here is quickly coming to an end!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

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One more thing! Please be sure to check out my Etsy shop! I've added lots of things, tweaked some things, and lowered prices on many of my handmade custom items. I hope you can find something you like and I always welcome your feedback. Thanks so much!!!

Kitchen renovation...

In just over two weeks, our kitchen has gone from this....

...to something way more pretty and awesome!

Come back on Monday for the full kitchen renovation reveal!!! 

:)

Happy Friday!

Christmas at our house 2013

It's finally Christmas at our house!

Here was the snippet I posted the other night:

And here is our beautiful REAL tree in all it's glory:

I really like the placement and the tree itself this year!

I finally joined the cool kids with 'christmas mesh' or whatever it's called and I like it! I am a major failure at making it look good, but I like it!

Mark put the star on the tree after chopping off the abnormally long tallest branch. 

Of course I'm already done with my shopping so the presents are tucked nicely in, hiding the fact that I don't have a tree skirt. Shh!!

Some of my favorite ornaments:

Our first ornaments as a married couple...his and hers!

Mark's soccer ball and baby me in the background (with major glare. Sorry!)

I have a BUNCH of dollar store ornaments so I just fill mason jars and random vases with them. It's easy and festive! This is the half wall behind the tree.

We also have our countdown sign and look, more ornaments! 

I found this sign and switched it out for the "B" on my wreath to make the complete transformation to a Christmas wreath.

I'm still missing a lot of decor that will go in the kitchen (can't wait to reveal that this week!!!) and also a bag of decor was left at my parent's house so that has yet to be set up. Cross your fingers we get our Christmas lights up this year! I can't believe we're so late to the game! I guess it's all worth it for a new kitchen, though. :)

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving recap and renovation updates!

oh.

whoops.

Sorry to go all MIA on you guys last week! It was CRAZY. I worked for two days, which means BUSY, and then Mark and I jetted off to Mineral Wells to do some camping with my family for Thanksgiving. We sped back to DFW on Friday and have been slaving away on our kitchen ever since!

Here are some photos of the last week:

ready for Thanksgiving, Bennett style! 

(bag courtesy of my one and only SIL Andrea! check out her blog!)

We got to the campsite on Wednesday night and we had to immediately open Noah's birthday presents! He turned 5 on the 27th! Big boy!

Motley would not settle down and kept pacing behind our fire circle. Eventually we put her on a leash and encouraged her to lay down by our feet, but she went and jumped in this chair and curled up and slept for an hour or so. Poor baby wanted to sit in a chair like all of the OTHER people! #mydogthinksshesaperson

We went on a tiny hike by the lake and came upon this fishing pier. After Motley managed to face her fears and make it down the bridge, my mom noticed there was 'something' in the trashcan!!!

A sleeping (yes, sleeping and breathing hard) raccoon!!!

We took a hike to the 'cliffs' on Thursday.

Baby Audrey!

The cliffs reminded me so much of my grandparents Christmas tree farm in the Ozarks! It was a fun little hike and we got lots of exploring and rock climbing under our belts. :)

After a yummy breakfast on Friday courtesy of my sister and her husband, we raced back to town. The following three days looked like this:

I had Mark take photos of me since I am usually the one behind the camera, but I couldn't keep a straight face while posing for this one.

We've been living in squalor for a week now!

Sorry, that's all you get to see of the remodel! Be sure to follow me on facebook or instagram  @buchanandiana for sneak peeks this week. I'll be back next week to post the finished product - hopefully!

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury...

People of the Internet: I need your input!

I pinned this image about 5 months ago when we were closing on our home:

I LOVE how this looks and since then I've thought about painting my own window frame. I know there are a lot of orange haters out there, but I actually like the orange. I would be open to more reddish-oranges or maybe even coral. I could explore other color options, but let's get over the first hurdle...

Here are two vantage points of my kitchen (these are the listing images):

If you notice, you can't really see the window unless you are IN the kitchen. That way, my fear of a color being 'too much' would be lessened. 

I mentioned here that Mark and I purchased counters, tile, and a sink for our upcoming remodel (scheduled to start next week!!!) so here is what the new scheme will be:

floor tile as-is

cabinets and cabinet hardware as-is

sink hardware as-is

counter top (not exact color but close) : 

back splash tile (also to go on 'dead end' from back splash level to floor):

sink (similar):

light above sink:

As seen here in our 'after' photos, the walls are Behr: Dolphin Fin (grey) and "dead end" wall is chalkboard paint. 

So, as you see, I have a lot of flexibility to add color.

Second point, and most difficult to master: The window is semi-new, replaced by the previous owners. It is metal and does not have the mullions like the inspiration image. Therefore, it would be very difficult to go back to simple white metal for a future owner or if we didn't like it. We would either have to strip off the paint, which could still damage the white paint on the metal underneath, or we would have to paint over it.

Now that I've presented all of the evidence, I need you as my jury to help me decide! (although my husband gets the last word) 

yes or no?

p.s. how do you like our scheme so far? I'm FREAKING OUT and can't wait to see the finished product!!! :)