Before and After

We finished our makeover of the pine kitchen cabinet and hutch (see "Naughty Pine" post below) and we are very happy with the way it turned out.  Here's the before...notice the old-fashioned brass hardware and wooden knobs.

And here's the after... love the new hardware.  It's hard to see in the photo but they're a very rustic iron which goes well with the new Wine Glass Chandelier which is made of iron.  I'm also happy with the chalkboard grey background which gives it a really clean and neat look.  I'm going to be a bit more sparing in what goes back on it so it's not so cluttered.

Happy to have the time change since I like it to stay light later in the evening.  Update on my cortisone shot from last Wednesday...so far, absolutely no improvement which is really disappointing.

Jury's Still Out

The jury is still out as to whether the cortisone injection is going to work.  They say it can take several days and up to a week to know for sure.  It went fine and I didn't have any complications or side effects so that's good.  It took all of about 5 minutes total other than me waiting for almost an hour to go in.  Thank goodness for People Magazine's Oscar Gowns edition.  For the first 48 hours, I needed to use an ice pack every so often and that wasn't too fun with the cold, drizzly weather we're having.  It also slowed my painting since it was too damp and cold to paint.  Jeff brought the top part of the hutch into the boy's bedroom so I'll probably work on that today.

My Wine Glass Chandelier arrived from Pottery Barn on Wednesday just two days after I ordered it so I ran all over town yesterday finding 30 wine glasses.  I wanted all tulip shaped glasses but in 3 different sizes.  I found 16 (4 boxes of 4) large glasses for the top tier at Bed, Bath & Beyond, 10 medium glasses for the middle tier at Cost Plus and 4 small glasses for the bottom tier at HomeGoods.  They are all dishwasher safe and I paid around $2.00 for each glass which is pretty economical.  Jeff did a great job of installing it as usual.  So glad he is handy at so many things.  Here's a photo.

The chain swag part looks better than in the photo.  Since I was shooting from below you can't really see how it looks.  In addition to doing the electrical for my chandelier, Jeff also installed two new outdoor coach lights on either side of the garage door at our other house where Jessica and family live.  There wasn't wiring for them so he had to do all the wiring and cut holes in the stucco to install them.  

Kim asked to see our desk area from which we blog.  Here's a photo including Hunter taking up all my space.  He does that when he thinks I need to pay more attention to him and less to the computer.

Naughty Pine

Okay so it's really "Knotty Pine" and I'm in the middle of a pine kitchen cabinet and hutch makeover.  I have always liked country pine but it's really been out of popularity for quite a while now.  Since I'm replacing my pine chandelier with the new wine glass chandelier, I decided to paint my old china cabinet.  Jeff helped me wash it down with TSP (Tri-Sodium Phosphate) and then yesterday I gave it a coat of white primer.  I'm painting it a creamy off-white all except for the back of the open shelves which I'm painting a chalkboard grey.  I found some nice new hardware in a rusty iron that I'll use to replace the brass hinges, drawer pulls and cabinet knobs.  I don't want to spend any money on new furniture for the kitchen because, as I mentioned before, it all really needs to go and have a complete remodel from top to bottom.  I'd even like to remove walls to open it to the dining room and living room.  Every time I paint wordwork I realize how much I hate it.  I don't mind painting walls but I really dislike painting things with cracks and crevices.  I told Jacob to remind me how much I dislike painting the next time I have the brilliant idea to paint something.  I better post a before photo and hopefully I'll like the after.

  This morning at 7 AM, I'm having the cortisone injection in my spine for my ruptured/herniated/slipped disc/disk.  I've seen all terms and both spellings used for the same thing.  Hope it helps!

Bathroom Project

Yesterday I mentioned we were going to do a project in the boy's bathroom in the Thousand Oaks house where Jessica and family live.  We went to Home Depot and Lowe's and decided to go with some things we saw at Lowe's.  It's a small bathroom so we need to stick with a cabinet around 32 inches wide.  I saw this and it looked like cabinets I've seen at Pottery Barn.  It has a furniture look about it.  Here's a photo that I took with my cellphone.

  

They have granite tops that fit the cabinets and we're going to choose the one that is the same as the one in the master bathroom.  Here's a photo of the granite top.

We'll also get the matching mirror for over the cabinet.  There is a recessed medicine cabinet on the side wall so we'll get a new one that has a beveled mirror.  I was thinking about getting a faucet that has the touch control feature.  You just touch it and it turns on to the previous set temperature and it automatically turns off after a period of time.  Thought that would be good for a bathroom that kids use.  But the faucets need a battery and I'm not sure I like that idea.  Will have to investigate that further.