Refrigerator Box

You may be wondering, "why on earth have we not heard from Ronda in ages?" Seems to be becoming the norm for me to go a long time between blog posts.

Ah, well, this time I have a really great reason!

VOILA!!

I wouldn't go so far as to say that this is the big kitchen reveal. Quite obviously not done...I won't draw your attention to those things that have yet to be changed.

But do let me draw your attention to the lovely braided rug that my hubby bought me for my birthday!

I spent the last week and a half working on the upper cabinets.

I designed, and my DH built the box above the fridge.  It wasn't there before.
Just a reminder...

Yeah, I know!!!! It's now so light and bright now!!  Love. IT. :)

Trying to decide what I want to put in the open box.  Decor?  ie...

Or some storage options?

These are just baskets I had in other places.  In fact, the burlap lined one has stuff in it, you just can't see it! Bonus! But I'm a big fan of the one on the left.  And I am actually leaning more towards this direction.  Just not sure what I would store up here because I wouldn't want just anything to show up there.

Thoughts?

Blessings, 

Ronda

Why Blog?

Wow, I just saw the date of my last post!

I am really bad at this regular blogging stuff! 

2 weeks! 

Does this imply that I am not cut out for the blogging world? 

I'm not sure...maybe...maybe not. 

A blog in its simplest form is just an online diary.  Simple enough. 

And yet, I have not kept a diary since I was a tween, so why do I suddenly think that I can keep up with one now? 

Maybe because on a computer, it is so much quicker and easier? I mean, who hand writes anything anymore? I seem to have a hard time even signing my name! So what would take me an hour to hand write, I can type out in 15 min or less. And I can add pictures to it, too!

But what kind of content would I be putting in a diary? When I was a tween it was about friends and crushes.  How on earth can I come up with daily, or even weekly, content that anyone is interested in reading?  Especially when it is just about me? 

I hear talk of being "transparent."  What on earth does that mean? Who wants to show their innards to the world? Certainly not me, because then they would see that who I am is only skin deep. Yep, that's right people, this pastor's wife is as shallow as they come! I have nothing of any depth to share with the world! 

That's ok, you say. Not every blog has to be deep and meaningful. Some blogs are just about pretty pictures. 

Oops, so I kind of miss the mark there, too.  I am working on pretty-ing up my pics. Something I am enjoying immensely.  I am finding it takes a lot of work however.  Is that something I am willing and able into which to invest my time? 

I have long thought of myself as a writer, envisioning what it would be like to write a great piece of chick lit (my favorite style of read, btw).  Could my blog reflect that and just be pieces of one big story?

Right now, there is nothing special about my blog.  It is just a poor reflection of other blogs that I follow and enjoy.  Nothing to make it stand out or draw people. 

So, why did I start a blog, you may ask? 

Initially it was to share pics of my current projects with my family and friends who only darken my door a few times a year at most.  And maybe most of them don't even care about what I am doing in my spare time, but I know there are a few who do.  

I know some of you are anxiously awaiting the revelation of what my new mission in life will be. And here you thought that with all this build-up, that I was going to tell you what it was.

NOPE! 

Just some of those random thoughts mentioned in my title! Ha! 

But I will grace you with this teaser of what my cabinets are becoming!

LOVING IT!!!!

Blessings, 

Ronda

4 Hours!!

This morning/afternoon I spent 4 hours sanding a cabinet door!  

It was certainly not how I would have chosen to spend this day.  But since starting this kitchen renovation, I have been trying very hard to make sure that everything that I do will be something that I can be happy with for a very long time.  

So after finishing my pantry (alright, not truly finished as we still don't have the crown molding on it), I realized that I much preferred the finish that I ended up with on that piece to the first cabinet that I had painted black. 

No pic of the other cabinet, but it was just too shiny and the distressing didn't show as much as I would like.  

Here's where my inexperience shows, since I thought that I would just lightly sand to take the shine off, then be able to put another coat of paint, distress again, and top coat like I did the pantry.  

BUT NO!!

I started sanding and the poly coating started to roll and ball up. GRRRR!

So, using a sanding block, I tediously sanded the poly coating off of a cabinet door.  I did it very cautiously to try to avoid over-distressing. I used tweezers to peel it out of the corners!!!  

And the whole 4 hours I was sitting outside in the blazing heat!

Actually it wasn't terrible in the shade. 

And when I was finished I was covered in black dust!

I don't have a pic of the finished product, but honestly, I am still trying to decide whether it is too distressed for my taste. 

In the mean time, note my new clock!

And me trying to be artistic...

Blessings,

Ronda

The Red Door

Happy Saturday to you all!

This was a rather unusual Saturday for me.  

I usually spend at least part of my day cleaning the house.  But today, I had projects that were calling to me...

Every time I walked by the front door...

Going THIS way...

...and THAT way...

I thought, "how terribly brown this area is!" 

(Please ignore the mess in the above pic.  That is, of course, my second project of the day.)

Anyone that had been to my house in the last few days had seen my little paint chips taped to the front door as I tried to decide on the perfect color.  This area was just BEGGING for a POP of RED!

Decision-making in general is not one of my strong suites, but when it comes to choosing the perfect shade of red...that was AGONIZING!!

Time will tell.  It changes throughout the day.  If I don't like it, it will only take another coat or 2 of paint.  

It's growing on me :)

The front entryway still needs something...

Definitely need to rid the area of the last vestiges of the orangey pine trim seen in the pic.  

Next up...

A Day of Rest :)

Have a blessed Sabbath!

Blessings, 

Ronda

Back Hallway and Hoosier Cabinet

I really thought that I might wow you all and put up two posts in as many days, but it just wasn't meant to be!

I did have a very enjoyable evening out last night with a bunch of other homeschool moms. Yes, we are still technically homeschoolers, even though Cammi is taking 2 classes at the high school this year.  

So one of the things that I have done along with the overall painting downstairs was paint a chalk board strip on my back hallway. 

This is what greets most people when they enter the house, since most use the back door. You can see, it is also where all of our "stuff" gets dropped when we come home.  I actually cleaned it up some for this shot! 

I knew that we had to have places to hang coats and such here, so when I started talking about what to use, DH remembered the coatracks that were in the old church.  So we contacted the new owners and sure enough there was still one there.  There were originally at least 4, but no idea what happened to the rest of them.  

I'm not great at fancy handwriting, but it's fun coming up with things to write on the chalkboard.

Part of the reason that we wanted to make the kitchen larger was to be able to move my Hoosier cabinet in there.  This originally belonged to my great-grandma.  

Since this is meant to be a kitchen piece, I thought that I would fill it with kitchen items.

The red recipe box was my grandma's and has her recipes still in it. 

Yes, the chocolate chips are a temptation. ;)

Love cookbooks!!

Blessings,

Ronda

Linking to:

Another Step in the Right Direction!

AHHHHH!!  I am so excited!

No, it's not completely done, but...things are moved back and I am unpacking boxes. 

Here is the view at this point from the front door...

And the view from the back door...

Obviously, there are still many things to finish.  Most notably, the base cabinet with now countertop on the left.  And yes, I have removed the doors from the pantry on the right in preparation for painting it.  

And yes, that is hubby's air compressor sitting in the kitchen! He decided it wasn't worth taking back out to the garage since he hasn't quite finished putting on baseboards.  

Exciting times!! We are just a handfull of boards away from having the floor complete!  

Blessings, 

Ronda

A Good Way To Spend A Rainy Day...

Wondering what I have been up to lately?

Maybe a more appropriate question would be "what haven't I been up to?"

Things have really been hopping since the first of the month.  In fact, I can hardly believe this is the last day of July!  AAAAHHHH! Can summer almost be over?  I had so many projects lined up in my head that I KNEW that I would accomplish over the summer!

I know...unrealistic.  When will I ever learn?

But the good news is that the BIG ONE is nearing completion. 

This was my kitchen at the end of last week when my husband rigged up plastic booths to sand. He is so thoughtful!  This way I didn't have nearly the dusty mess!

Ah, this last pic tells me it was Saturday.  Note the bowl of pizza dough sitting on the stove!  Yes, I cooked through the mess! 

And my before pics of right before we started painting to show all the lovely red paint.  I liked it, but am SO over it!

 You can also see the blue that was in the original dining room.  

And of course my not-so-lovely blue countertops which I am over, but am helpless to do anything about right now since they are not at the top of the priority list. 

My beautiful daughter helped me with the painting to work off her trip to Holiday World.  Actually she says she was going to help anyway.  Either way, I was very grateful for her help as it was a very large job.  1 coat of primer and 2 of topcoat, all those cabinets, and lots of wall space!

So, that's what I have been up to!

I will get some more pics up once we have the base boards back down and stuff pushed back to the walls.  

Also, after 7+ months DH is about ready to put down the final boards on the floor!  YIPPEEEEE!!!

Blessings,

Ronda

Help With a Decision!

I realized today that I had yet to show off the cabinets that I painted in my tiny downstairs bathroom! 

I won't give you the complete reveal because the floor is not done and the trim is still off the doorway. 

But I want opinions, so please read to the end of the post!!

For a while now I had been contemplating painting some of my cabinets.  Every cabinet in the house originally looked like this--

So the logical place to try was this tiny downstairs bathroom where there was only one small upper cabinet and a vanity.  And I knew that white and distressed was the way to go for this primitive loving girl.  

I love them!  Just hoping they hold up for several years, even though it really wasn't too difficult.  

Now for the big question!!  As hubby works diligently to finish laying the wood floor in the kitchen, I can see that I REALLY don't like the floor against the cabinets.  This should have come as no surprise to me since that is why I am painting all my woodwork! 

Something must change!  

The cabinets are custom-built, solid oak cabinets.  I don't know that I can bring myself to paint them.  So I have though about a darker stain over the existing, but that would also darken the kitchen.  So the other option is white paint like I did in the bathroom.  Just maybe not quite as distressed.  

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE GIVE ME OPINIONS!!  

I'm not in a hurry to do it, but when I have a decision like this, it typically consumes my thoughts until I decide! Help put me out of my misery!

Blessings, 

Ronda

Linking to:

http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2013/08/party-junk-200-grain-sack-projects.html

More Kitchen

Some of you may be wondering how the big kitchen reno is going! 

Well, I will get to that in a minute...

Last weekend we the privilege of attending the wedding of Jeff's youngest brother and his lovely bride.  Actually, Jeff did more than attend, he officiated.  It was a beautiful wedding and a great time with family.  Our oldest son, Matt and his wife, Sarah were here from South Carolina for the wedding and also for her to spend the holiday weekend with her family.  

After the weekend, while Sarah drove home, Matt stayed for several days to help Jeff work on the kitchen project.  

When I came home on Sunday, this is what I found...

Both sons were here helping Jeff and they had thoughtfully put up plastic on both sides of the wall that was coming down to try to prevent drywall dust from going absolutely everywhere. 

The bad part was the fridge sitting in the middle of the current kitchen!  Made it extremely tough to move around in there. I knew I wouldn't be doing much cooking, but this kind of sealed it! 

Here is the view from the other side after the wall came down.  

This is Matt laying the subfloor in the room that originally had carpet. 

And after the plastic came down and the fridge got moved to someplace easier to handle...

Yuck! This shot makes me very anxious to get rid of the blue laminate countertops...but...that will be a while.  Unlessssss...well, still thinking about that.  

The wood floor is about halfway across the kitchen now, but you will have to wait for the finished product to see the pics!

Blessings,

Ronda

A New Normal

 Welcome to my new normal....

At least for the next couple of months that is.  The kitchen renovation has officially begun!  One wall in the kitchen is going to completely disappear and one set of upper and lower cabinets will be reconfigured.  

 In the mean time, all the "stuff" that was in the cabinets has had to go elsewhere and the things on the countertop had to be moved to other countertops.  Didn't have much space in the kitchen to begin with, but now, despite the hole in the corner, it feels like the walls are closing in! 

And for those of you who told me I would get tired of a dark color-- I confess, I am ready for the red to be gone! Even though it has only been on there for a few years (3?), it is going to go away.  Unfortunately, the blue countertops will not be going away quite yet.  Those will have to wait until we can save up the funds. 

Hoping the next investment will be a new range :) Once again, when funds come available.  Stainless steel, smooth top! 

There are a few other projects on my radar alongside this one.  Hopefully I will take the time to blog about them!

Blessings,

Ronda