Kitchen Design - Ocoee Home

September 09, 2015 by Scott in home, projects

I don't know about you, but I love inspiring kitchens. One of the toughest parts of renting, is not being able to change things in the kitchen. We have a decent kitchen in our rental, but it would still be fun to make some changes. So I thought it would be great to debrief about our Ocoee Home kitchen. We had so much fun creating this space--over 5 years ago. (Where has time gone!?) I first want to talk about the planning period. When we began planning for our renovation and actually renovating, Pinterest did not exist. Can you imagine a world without Pinterest? My life was less inspired. However, even without Pinterest, Scott and I took to the internet in search of most things. The times we ventured out to a showroom or store, we were left unimpressed or uninspired. We loved that the world was quite literally at our fingertips. So since there was no Pinterest, I would bookmark every. single. thing. I. liked. You can only imagine how many bookmarks I had and how difficult it was to look through them all. We also spent a lot of time flipping though magazines at my mom's house or Barnes & Noble. The girl in me who loves school supplies and organization (hence the DIY planner) created a notebook organized by room with magazines pages and samples.

That notebook brought me so much joy! In fact, I had an entire file box filled with fabric, rug and tile samples much like a hoarder. The dreaming part was fun but it can also be overwhelming because you literally have so much to choose from. It may be tough to narrow down what you really want and you totally get the pressure of picking out the right thing because there are hefty dollar signs attached to get item. Nobody wants to waste money or want to change it within a few years. So take some time to plan and figure out what you really want.

Maybe you feel lost even figuring out what you want. I took time to figure out our style by looking through lots and lots and lots of pictures. As I looked through inspiration photos, I noticed that the same things kept popping up--white, marble, accents of black, chrome, open shelves. We were also very drawn to using two shades of paint--one for the majority of cabinets and a different one for the island. Through this process of researching, we were able to figure out our style--classic modern is what we called it. We were designing a house that was originally built over 100 years ago and was technically considered in the country even though it resides about a mile from the city square. We wanted to restore the classic feel yet add modern touches. Figuring that out helped us tremendously. To figure out your style, ask yourself as you research:

What do I love about this picture?
What do I not like about this picture?
What does that say about my style?

Here's some examples of how we implemented classic modern: Our cabinet choice nods to classic shaker style yet the black sleek hardware is modern. We chose classic white subway tile with white grout to capture both a style that is classic yet clean and modern. I realized that I didn't like rounded edges. Most of the pictures I liked had straight or hard edges. That signifies a more modern style than traditional. Get the idea? All houses are different yet this house deserved a little bit of modern mixed with its classic beauty.

I want to share with you the few main inspiration pictures behind our Kitchen renovation. The first comes from the Southern Living Idea Home from Senoia, GA in 2010. At that point, we knew we wanted a mostly white kitchen but we still hadn't landed on where to buy from. We had quotes from Home Depot and a local cabinet maker--both so much money. When we saw this picture, we realized that we could do an Ikea kitchen. There are a few things from this one picture that narrowed our ideas: Ikea cabinetry, custom hood woodwork, custom woodwork on the back of the island, wood floor stain color, and to push our kitchen table right up next to the island. That is a lot from one picture!

Another kitchen that largest influenced us was designed by Urban Grace Interiors. This kitchen is completely swoon-worthy. Behold this glory...

This kitchen mostly inspired us to do a few things, the first being open shelving. We mimicked the bracket design from this kitchen. I just LOVED the chalkboard idea so I, Miss Not-so-crafty, created one out of scrap wood from Home Depot and a little chalkboard paint. At first, I wrote HIS GRACE IS SUFFICIENT because that was the daily reminder that I needed (Amen from all the mothers of little humans). Then after a while, I realized how fitting GIVE THANKS BE JOYFUL was for me and changed it. We obviously loved the white cabients but we also drew inspiration for our hardware from here. Originally, we were going to do chrome or silver hardware to go with white marble countertops but when our countertop choice changed (due to the amazing deal we scored from Ikea) we changed our minds. In fact, we were already living in the house before we ever ordered the hardware. When I saw the specks of black in the New Venetian Gold Granite, I decided we should accent that in our hardware.

Here is another picture that inspired how I decorated our open shelves. The open shelves really were one of my all-time favorite parts of the entire house. It was a place that could truly capture my personality. We used everything that was on our shelves. I wanted it to be functional yet beautiful.

The last kitchen picture that was a big inspiration for what we did was the home of Julie Holloway from Milk & Honey Home. She also had beautiful open shelves. The hardware in here is what we originally were going for until our countertops changed. We chose the same oval lanterns, sink faucet and apron front fireclay sink.So now you know how our kitchen evolved. You can see all the elements from the pictures before displayed in our kitchen. Spend some time figuring out what you want--you don't want to change it within a few years. We originally wanted a different color island but decided that it would be easier to start with a white cabinet and then paint it down the road if we needed a change. Don't rush the process and be flexible (like we were about the hardware).

If you are in the middle of researching a kitchen renovation, I hope our steps help you. I have a whole board of kitchen inspiration for you to jump start your research. At the end of the day, you want to create a space that you enjoy and feel at peace.

DIY Planner

January 15, 2015 by Scott in projects

For as long as I can remember, I have LOVED all things organization. I used to create charts for my family as a child—these mostly had to do with family devotionals. Little Miss Super Spiritual here. I have always loved pens of all kinds and colors. One of my favorite things about having books is the ability to write in them. That was always something that made me sad about using iBooks for my reads. I wanted to physically use pretty pens to make notes. I could honestly spend lots of money on planners and such. However, for me, I’ve never quite found the right one for me. Each one had different features that I liked but never altogether. The one I was using a cute yellow + white stripe planner by BlueSky that I bought at Target. I have pinned so many different calendars and planners. I found great printable options on Esty or Pinterest (HERE AND HERE) but again not everything I wanted in one place. Not too long ago, I found a pin (and this one) about turning a Moleskine journal into a calendar. You had me at Moleskine. You see, those are my go to journals. I absolutely love writing on graph paper. I have no idea why. Maybe someone could physco analyze me about that one. It seriously makes me happy. For years, that journal has been my go-to for thoughts, scripture, & prayers. I am not much of a DIY gal. I have the ideas but I would much rather have someone else make it for me. That may be the perfectionist in me—I don’t like doing something that I might fail or be imperfect the first time. My husband on the other hand, desires excellence, but he enjoys the process of figuring it out. That’s why we make a good team. I can make him to do all the work ;-)

However, with this project, I knew I wanted to tackle it myself. I wanted to give it a try. I read over Kyla Roma's post about how to create your own planner out of a Moleskine journal. Then, I started figuring out the logistics. I took out my current journal and started drawing things in the back. I landed on what I really wanted and then realized that my journal wasn’t big enough. Whomp, Whomp. I should have done the math before purchasing and opening the new Moleskine journal. Based on my window of time to complete this project, I decided to create a 6 month planner so that I could use the Moleskine journal that I already purchased. I bought my last planner back in July when school started and I kind of loved getting to begin a “clean slate” in July so I can look forward to that in 6 months.

Here is the breakdown of my journal…

Supplied needed:

Large squared Moleskine journal
Pen (I used the fine point black sharpie)
Ruler with a straight edge
Coffee, wine or drink of choice
Pandora or Spoifty

Here's what I have in my planner plus how to make each section. I apologize if this tutorial sounds wordy and confusing. I should probably update with a video tutorial. No hate :-)

MONTHLY: I have a monthly calendar. The monthly calendar spreads across 2 journal pages.

HOW TO CREATE THE MONTHLY PAGES

I left the first page of the journal blank. That way I could begin with two pages facing each other. From the top line, count 6 points down. Draw your line across both pages. Next count down 26 points from your line. From there, draw a line across both pages. Now, count over 8 points from the top line and draw a line down connecting the lines. Count over 7 points and draw a line down. Count over 7 points and draw a line down. Count over 8 points and draw a line down (this will cross over the middle of the journal). Count over 7 points and draw a line down. Count over 7 points and draw a line down. Next, create your horizontal lines. Count down 5 points from the top line. You will do this 4 times until you reach the bottom-line. I added little Post-it tabs to each month to make it easy to flip through.

WEEKLY: Then, I break it down weekly. The weekly pages spread across 2 journal pages. I left space at the bottom of each page to write notes or make lists.

HOW TO CREATE WEEKLY PAGES

The weekly dimensions are similar to the monthly ones. Start by counting down 6 points from the top point of the page. Draw your line across both pages. Next count down 26 points from your line. From there, draw a line across both pages. I decided to add a 2 square space to write the date so I drew a line across both pages at that point. Now, count across 9 points and draw a vertical line down to the other horizontal line. You will count across 9 points 4 more times. The spine of the journal should naturally separate Wednesday from Thursday (no need to draw a line). For Sunday, count down 12 lines in the Saturday column and draw a line across to the edge of the page. If you want the 2 square space for the date, then add that to Sunday as well.

MEAL PLANNING: Then, I have a page for the weekly meal plan. It has helped me significantly to plan out breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all family members. For whatever reason, I have a hard time packing lunches the night before school so I have found that if I know ahead of time what I want to pack, it cuts down the time significantly. Granted, I’m only packing two lunches but it does speed up the process for me. At the bottom of that page, I have a space for my shopping list. I am a total list maker. I wanted to keep all of my lists in one place rather than making my shopping lists on a separate piece of paper which eventually end up trashing my purse. This way, I can look back as I meal plan and use ideas from weeks past.

HOW TO CREATE MEAL PLAN PAGE

Count down 4 points from the top of the journal. Draw a horizontal line. Next count down 21 points from that line and draw another horizontal line. Remember you are just working on one page not two. For your vertical lines, the first line begins at point 3 from the left. The next one is 7 points from there and the last is another 8 points. The spine will be a natural line for you. Now let’s work on the horizontal lines. There are 3 squares for each row. You will repeat this until you get to your bottom line. This will leave plenty of space at the bottom for a shopping list.

BLOG CALENDAR: The final page for each week is my blog editorial calendar. I am a planner…hence why I love daily planners. No shock there. That means, that I function best when I have a plan. It is great to be able to write down ideas or topics, what needs to happen next and see the progress. I took inspiration from HERE.

I would have liked to include 2-4 black pages for each week or month for space to process ideas but just didn't have enough pages in my journal.

HOW TO CREATE AN EDITORIAL BLOG CALENDAR PAGE

Count down 4 points from the top of the journal. Draw a horizontal line. Next count down 30 points from your line and draw a horizontal line. You will have 5 rows across—each have 6 squares. Count out those squares and draw lines. Count from the spine, 4 points and draw a vertical line down to your bottom line. Your next column is 7 points from there. Repeat that one more time.

As you get going, you will definitely develop a rhythm and it will go faster. It was fun to play around with what I wanted and figure out exactly how to make it work.

I am pleased with the overall look and feel of this planner. My heart beats wildly at the squared paper. And I really like that it fits nicely in my purse. It makes it easy to take grocery shopping. The drawback is that you have to do it yourself. Moleskine does have a planner journal but again it wasn’t exactly what I needed. This project took me a couple of days to complete. It is tedious work—measuring, counting, drawing—but it was kind of a nice change of pace for me. I just put a little Jesus Culture on in the background and went to work.

For Rent Part 3

November 11, 2014 by Scott in home, projects

How To Be Creative With Restrictions

We are in the middle of a series about rentals. You can read Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed it. In Part 2 we talked about creating a space that reflects who you are. Today, I want to extend that conversation because part of creating a space in a rental (or a home with a tight budget) that reflects you means you must be creative. Most rental spaces come with restrictions—wall colors you don’t like, room arrangements, strange kitchen layout, outdated bathrooms. You get the picture. The first thing I suggest doing, is contact your landlord or property management person and ask if you can change anything. You never know unless you ask. This goes back to Part 1 in that we need to change our perspective towards the temporary. We need to stop viewing that space as temporary and dwell where we are. If you get the go-ahead from the landlord, go nuts. In our current rental space, we got permission to paint (everything is now Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter). That alone made a huge difference in our space. You just have to remember that if you paint something bold, they may ask you to repaint before you move out. I would love to paint the ceiling in our girls room a pale pink and the French doors in the kitchen a light blue. I need to take my own advice and ASK permission! Next we replaced outdated fans with new light fixtures (which we will take with us when we move). You can see those in Part 2. Besides paint, repositional wallpaper is a great option for temporary spaces. I’ve seen some removable wallpaper products online and in stores. Check out these from Target. We have thought about hanging this in our hallway bathroom. Personally, I'd like to use the mint color diamond pattern in there. It’s just another way to be creative with restrictions.

Part of getting creative is working with what is naturally good or pleasing or beautiful in your space. You want to accentuate that. Our home has some great bones. Both the kitchen and the master bedroom have French doors that lead out onto the deck. White curtains hang effortlessly to frame the French doors making it feel like a retreat. The living room has built-ins that surround the fireplace. We styled the built-ins and the paint color makes the crisp white trim pop. The master bathroom has a glass surround shower and clawfoot tub. We accentuated these things. We painted the bathroom a light creamy gray over the pink that was working against it. Find ways to show off what is intrinsic to the home.

Something else I’ve learned about dwelling where you are and creating a space with restrictions is to not be afraid. When we finally finished renovating our dream home, it wasn’t but a few months before my husband broke the news that we needed to sell the house and move to Atlanta. My heart sunk the bottom of the ocean. All of the sudden what was supposed to be my forever, permanent home felt very temporary. I was afraid to do anything in the space especially poke holes in my brand new walls. It took months before I allowed myself to dwell in our dream home even though I knew it was going to be temporary. To really be present in your current space, don’t be afraid to put holes in the walls. Again, you may live somewhere that hanging pictures or curtains are now allowed. If so, then work with what you’ve got by playing up accessories in your space or use Command strips. But if you don’t have the hole-restriction, then for heaven sakes, hang your pictures and curtains. We hung white curtains in our rental home it made the space look so fresh and clean. We immediately hung pictures. At the end of the day, you may need to fill in those holes before you move, but your space will have reflected you much more while you were there.

And lastly, get creative by being flexible. Often in rental spaces, you didn’t get to pick exactly how you wanted the layout of the house. We moved from a 5 bedroom (plus bonus room) home to a 3 bedroom home. Our first inclination was to put our girls in the back bedroom leaving the other bedroom as an office. We really felt like in a space this small, that it was more important to have a third living option rather than a rarely used guest bedroom. This third space had a sofa in it for any overnight guests. We also have a queen size blow up mattress if needed. You know, it’s not ideal. We would love to have a space dedicated to guests, but in this small rental, it just wasn’t the best option. We really wanted to USE every inch of our home. The girls had a room, we had a room and also an office. This worked well for the first 6 months. Then, we realized that our girls CANNOT sleep in the same room together with their toys. These people were waking at 5:30 to play, fighting by 6:00 and momma in the fetal position on the closet floor by 6:03. Not a good situation #thestruggleisreal So we opted to be flexible. We didn’t love losing our third space but that seemed like the best option at the time. We sold the girls’ twin beds and bought bunkbeds. Now they sleep in the smallest room with only their clothes. That move allowed us to make the old bedroom into a playroom. Part of me feels funny that they have 2 whole bedrooms dedicated to them in such a small house but it has also worked out nicely. They can create and play without stressing momma (I don’t do well with messes). So what did we do with our desk you ask? We got creative. We sold the desk that Scott made and bought a computer armoire off Craigslist to put in our kitchen. Bye-bye coffee station turned command center. Hello, Ballard Designs work station. It’s not ideal to work in the busiest part of the house, but it’s all about being flexible.

I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to For Rent. There are some great blog posts there along with inspiring pictures to get you motivated. Part of surviving Sarah is learning to be content. I am naturally a discontent person. I like change. I want to push things to be better. I can be frustrating (even to myself) so learning to content with where I dwell is a big deal to me. At the end of the day, I want (you included) to enjoy where you are. Enjoy the process of creating something. Don't rush it, but take your time. I tend to want to get to the end--of races, books, movies or circumstances, but isn't life supposed to be about the journey. Doesn't God tend to reveal Himself in the process? The same is true with your home. Enjoy the process of creating a space that reflects who you are. I want your space to absolutely reflect who you are and what you love. I hope you’ve liked this series. Let me know some of the ways, that you have been creative in your rental space.

For Rent Part 2

November 03, 2014 by Scott in home, projects

How To Be You In Your Rental Space

I started a new series called For Rent to help you find yourself in the home where you are.

It wasn’t long after we decided to move back to Atlanta that we realized we would need to downsize. We were mere children living inside a nearly 5000 sq ft home. However we often looked more like people crashing there than living since most of the rooms were less than occupied.

In preparation for moving and downsizing, we made the decision to hold lightly to our stuff. I went from room to room and listed out all that we had. Then, I asked myself these questions: “Do we need it?” “Do I love it?” I did the same tasks with the contents of our kitchen cabinets, closets and toys. We weeded down probably 60% of our stuff. We either gave it away or sold it or in some cases gave back hand-me-down furniture.

By the time we got to Atlanta (took ages to sell our dream home), we walked into a 1850 sq ft rental house. We practically had just enough stuff. Since I had disposed of most of our furniture, I was left with stuff I liked. So we put it to good use. We made good use of what we had while reflecting who we are.

For instance, what was once a coffee bar in our dream home is command center for kids and life in the rental home.

What was a dresser in our master bedroom now serves as a media piece of furniture in the rental.

Our fancy sofa from the dream home living room made our little rental living room look perfect.

We (I mean the handy husband, Scott) pieced together two salvaged pieces of wood to create a desktop to sit on top of two filing cabinets we already owned.

We made good use of what we had. Once we settled in, I took note of what was missing. Turning to Craigslist, we found an armoire (already painted SCORE) for linen storage in our bedroom. Next, we hit up Ikea for a dining table, dining host and hostess chairs and a dresser. Lastly, we needed rugs since most of our rugs we sold since they were too big. The runners came from Home Decorators and living room rug from Target.

Another way to inject who you are into a rental is to paint and change out light fixtures. We asked permission from the owners before painting. We actually didn't ask permission about the lights however we knew we would put their old fans back in place before we moved out. The kitchen and living space was a dingy yellow color and the master suite was PINK. Actually, MAUVE. I typed all caps because I want to yell it at you! Can you believe that?!? If you know me, you know those don't reflect me. We painted the entire space (minus the turquoise hallway which still needs to be painted.) Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter. This color is so versatile and makes everything look good! Honestly, the light fixtures really sell this place and make it look like us. The living room and dining room chandeliers came from Southeastern Salvage in Chattanooga.

One thing I learned through the whole moving process was to enjoy where you are. Whether you are in your dream home or temporary home, enjoy where you are. Maybe step one is actually changing your mindset or perspective. I wrote a little about that in the previous post. In my rental experience, I am able to enjoy where we are much better when I don't view it as temporary. Do what you can do to enjoy your time there however long or short it is. Make good use of what you have. Be creative. Don't just buy something or accept something because its cheap or on sale or it was a family piece. You will love your space more if you are surrounded by what you like.

When you are renting, it’s tough to want to spend money on stuff and furniture for a home that may be temporary. To make a space reflect who you are, start with what you have and then go from there. Make a list of what you have. Do you need it? Does it serve a purpose? Can it be replaced easily? Do you love it? Keep what you love and move on from what you don’t. In Elsa's famous words, "Let it go." It helped my space be me when I got rid of stuff that stressed me. There were pieces of furniture and artwork that just didn’t fit me. It's okay that you don't like something. We all don't have to like the same thing. Maybe you think I'm crazy for painting over the pink. Maybe pink walls are your jam. We are all unique and have personal style. There was something freeing about narrowing down our belonging to what was us. When I walk into our rental now, I feel the whole thing reflects our style. Any home can feel like home if you inject it with who you are.

For Rent Part 1

October 30, 2014 by Scott in home, projects

When we moved from Atlanta to Tennessee a several years ago, we needed to rent a house while we renovated our dream home. Scott tried his hardest to get me to rent a RV and park it on the property of our dream house. Seriously? We had an almost 2 year old and a very pregnant, emotional, hormonal woman. Do you see the problem there? We had some issues finding a rental home in the first place, and after searching and searching (side bar: it's hard to find a rental home in a small town because it's always by owner or local agency rather than on zillow), we finally found a tiny 2 bedroom town home. I. Mean. Tiny. We were in need so tiny it was. We had to rent it from some local-jocal (said it the most southern hick accent I could muster) who was also known as the local mob boss (a detail we did not know about until after the papers were signed). Cue the Godfather. That rental lasted all of two months when we woke to gunshots fired at our doorstep in the middle of the night. It was a case of domestic violence and when it was clear that the assailant worked for the Godfather and the Godfather had no plans of punishment, we moved AGAIN. A sweet college friend of mine rented her house in the historic downtown just a minute away from our dream home. Perfect situation. But one thing was wrong, I viewed our rental time as temporary. And honestly, I think most people who rent treat that time as temporary. The house was absolutely charming. It was build the 20's with a swing on the front porch. It had great potential to be a home for us. But we moved in and rather than thinking how we would be there almost a year, we lived as if we were visiting for the week. Let me just say that I think that perspective made the waiting process more difficult. It made the wait feel like eternity because we never settled down. After we moved out, a dear friend moved into that house to rent. And you know what? She decorated it like she was there to stay. It looked so beautiful. The wall colors (which we weren't allowed to paint) weren't my taste (and probably not her's either) but she embraced it and dwelled in it.

When we moved to Atlanta not too long ago, I decided to do the same thing as my friend. I knew we would live in this rental for a year maybe longer, but I chose to not view it as temporary. I chose not view it as a holding card for my next house. I chose to dwell. To remain. To be all in.

So as I begin this series called For Rent, I want to challenge you to change the way you view your rental or your current home for that matter. Maybe you are dreaming about what's next to the point where you can't enjoy what's now. Here's what we are going to talk about in this series called For Rent:

How to be you in your rental space

How to be creative with restrictions

That leaves me with you. Are you someone that dwells or someone that waits for what's next?