Design Inspiration Monday

Some things that have caught my eye lately for a great reason:

All above images from AT

Other than the post I did about this house tour, this is the best one i've seen. The exposed brick, duh. I especially love that the brick is almost all throughout the house, how dreamy! Also the plumbing and pipes everywhere, with the gauges on them. Oh man, I would love to have pipes exposed and after seeing this house, I actually want to go out and find vintage gauges and use them somewhere, somehow. Obviously the card catalog is fabulous. Obviously. And last but not least, the type print drawers. How amazing would it be to have that whole set. I know I totally have an obsession with things with lots and lots of drawers, like our CC, or our coffee table, but man oh man would I love to have one of those cabinets. Be sure to go and check this loft out, you will not be disappointed.

Above images from AT

Those images of kitchen are not only breathtaking because they are super beautiful kitchens, BUT also because one of them is mine...

JUST KIDDING. Man that would be cool though, right?!

They are extra amazing because of the unique storage they give you. Ranging from the branch offering a natural towel hanger, to a shelf in front of the window. The thing that gets me about the kitchen with the mass amounts of windows though, is how much sun you would have on you while in the kitchen. Now I know i'm an esthetician, so I naturally freak out about that, but seriously, thats a whole  lotta time of your life being directly exposed. Yikes, do I sound crazy?! Sorry, i'll stop on the skin care rant.

All above images from Campagne Decoration

These stunning photos are from the French magazine. I cant decide which one I like the most... what do you think?

Hope yall had a great relaxing weekend! Happy Monday!

<3,

Adri

Kitchen Makeover: How To Lay a Brick Wall

By far our favorite thing about the kitchen is the new brick wall.

It is incredible.


The wall has so much character now, and adds such a cool dimension to the kitchen. We ordered the brick veneer from Marvel Buliding & Masonry Supply. We chose the English Pub brick, and it is just perfect! The grout that we went with is called Winter Frost, which comes out a really pretty light grey. The brick was $.95 a piece, and we had 940 pieces, so with tax it came out to about $1,000.

The process they did was this:

1. Draw leveled lines across whole area, each line should be spaced equally with enough room for the brick and the gap between the brick. So if your bricks are 3" tall and the spacing is 1/2" then the lines need to be spaced 3.5" apart.
2. Some people prefer to start at the middle of the wall, if we were doing this ourselves that is probably what we would have done, but since we hired professionals (and our floors were level leading up to the wall) they started at the bottom.
3. Apply mortar to wall for bricks to stick as well as to the back of the brick itself with your trowel. Start with the center brick and work your way to the ends (or you can start against the a corner wall if you have one), this will ensure a more cohesive look when finished.
4. As you approach the edges of wall cut the end pieces to fit, keep the excess from the ends you cut as you may be able to re-use them.
5. Let 'set' for a day {I don't think this was necessary, I think it just worked out that way because they didn't fully finish the first day}
6. Fill in the gaps with grout (preferable with a bag that basically looks like those things bakers use to apply frosting to cakes, they are like cones with a spout, these will be available at the store you purchase the brick/grout from). We chose to do a scraped look with our grout (meaning its not smoothed out), rather than a smooth finish. It makes it look a little more rustic and old.
7. Smile BIG because it looks so rad!!!!!

At first I really wanted to have J and I install it! I thought it wouldn't be that tough, I mean- how hard can it be to lay brick!? Well, since we are on a serious time constriction since J is going back to night school to get his MBA, he said we needed to have it done and didnt want this project to linger. These guys were machines getting it up! So freaking fast! They were pretty cute too, every-time I whipped out my camera to get a shot, they would all stop-turn around and smile HUGE cheesy smiles, and then quickly say "ooo just kidding" and RUN out of the photo before I could get it! Haha, they did this every-time! Love them:)Without further ado, here are some 'in progress' shots.

You see that gray stripe in the middle?

That is where the laundry room wall connected. Just so you have your bearings.

Work station for cutting the brick. Honey wanted to help..and trust me, she tried:

You really think I would show you the finished product already..no way, I promise I will once its all finished, hopefully in the next couple weeks. As for Boomer, he's just tired of not being able to nap in his normal places:

So what do you think? Have any of you done a brick wall in your house? If so, show me the link!

<3,

Adri

Need Your Help...

I'm not doing a normal post today because I have had a lame headache all day long, and have been at my parents doing laundry all day long {yep, no washer/dryer working over here still}. BUT I do want to ask y'all if you have any favorite quotes or verses that have impacted you in some way. We are working on a pretty cool project for the kitchen and are going to use either a quote or verse on it, and would love some input. Give me what you got, anything and everything. Thanks!!

<3,
Adri

P.S.- I feel totally weird not posting a picture, that goes to show how I feel right about now. Boo.

DIY Valentines Day Wreath

I don't know about you guys, but I am so over the kitchen right now. A little note on reali time updates- today..ohhh today. We put the sink in today, should be super easy right? Nope. The sink itself was totally crooked. Anyway, I don't even want to talk about that! More to come later.

On a much happier note, I took a break from non-stop kitchen thoughts and made a quick valentines day wreath. I wanted it to be more natural looking, rather than the glitter,heart,IN YOUR FACE, v-day wreath. It didn't take long at all, I think what took the longest was trying to decide what I wanted the lay out to be.

Supplies:

• Cheap cute doily {from Goodwill for $.25
• Fabritac- you definitely could use a hot glue gun, but mine disappeared..
• Wood vine wreath $1 at Savers, on sale from $2
• Fake flowers, I have NO idea why I had these, esp. considering I hate the color pink
• Lace to hold it up

I simply sewed the flowers together:

Attached the doily with thread and some fabritac just to but safe, and heres the end result:

I like that its not too obvious of a valentines day wreath, just simple and pretty:)

What wreaths are yall making for the occasion? Link them up in the comments!

<3,

Adri

P.S.- I linked this up with my favorite parties:)

Inspiration Monday

Some things that have caught my eye lately for a great reason:

Claire-Anne O'brien

These chunky knit stools from CAO are so funky and comfortable looking. They have so much texture that it makes me want to reach out and grab it!Also, I obviously have a thing for yellows and grays, its like she knows me;)

AT Casa

Papa Bear chair by Hans Wegner much?! We have friends that would kill to own one of these babies for themselves..only problem? Oh you know- the fact that they range {for the real ones} up to $30,000+. They do look so amazing though, and are a dream to sit in...

All above images by Tara Sloggett

This stylist Tara Sloggett is incredible. So many photos of her capture such pure and simple beauty. The fact that she can work with all different mediums is especially fun to look at. She even makes eggs and spices look rad, who else does that!? And of course I love her work with the print drawer, she puts mine to shame! I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of her work.

Hope y'all had a fabulous weekend. I'll tell you one thing... I cannot freaking  wait any longer to get back to cooking in a kitchen. I am going mad over here. So mad that even my most favorite restaurant, Pita Jungle, doesn't even sound good to me anymore. I just want to cook! Please be done soon kitchen:)

<3,

Adri

Kitchen Makeover: The 'Plans'

I'm such a tease. I know it. These past two weeks i've been showing little bits and pieces here and there, without ever showing the whole sha-bang. I figured since its Friday, I should be nice and stop with the teasing, and just be real. So without further ado, here are the 'plans'.

Before:

After:

Thanks to Lowes we were able to draw up a pretty good image of what we were going for. They let you do one main room for free. Remember, we really like free:) We of course did the kitchen so we could envision what we were wanting. In this photo above is shows a pretty good picture of what were having done. Some changes are that the table in the kitchen will most likely be round instead of rectangle, and we definitely would never have hideous green seat cushions {or whatever those look like in the photo-yikes!} We also are repainting the kitchen, so the color of wall will no longer be a light yellow, but instead something different. And here i'm totally not trying to be a tease again, we just cant freaking decide. I want something, he wants something different. I think I should win because -HELLO who uses the kitchen more often?! Also, on the wall with brick, it shows a yellow strip of paint that wont be painted. That whole wall is brick, the arch way and all. Another change is that we of course are doing crown and base boards all over. Lets be honest here, there isn't one room {NO exaggeration here} in our house that doesn't have crown and baseboards. Moulding obsessed much? Nah. And finally, two other things will change as well. We aren't going to have cabinets on the side of the island where stools will be. That will simply be an overhang over granite, so people can comfortably put their legs under the island. After all, to us- a kitchen is where people should feel comfortable to linger, to hang out, to have memorable conversations, so the more comfortable we can make it-the better.

This is the old layout of our house (we made it at floorplanner.com which is a great site to create the layout of your house). The grey-brown color shows where there is wood. The yellow shows the old tile we had. You know, the tile they used in all bathrooms, kitchen, and wait for it..the kitchen countertops! PTL we will no longer have big tiled, large grouted, counters! Woohoo!!!!

This is now the new layout (also from floorplanner.com)! I cannot wait for the kitchen and living room to flow together. To be able to be standing at the island {the island we never had before!!!ekk!} and be able to look out into the living room and interact. Before, I totally felt like I was cut off from any and all communication going on outside the kitchen. Now when we have dinner parties I will actually be able to talk with the guests! Yay! This might not be good though..me multitasking while cooking doesn't equal good food. Yikes.

I also am so over the moon about moving the laundry room. The old laundry room used to be a part of the new kitchen. Now it is moved into the old 'kitchen/breakfast nook' which wasn't an area we used all that often. I cannot believe how big the laundry room is going to be. I am not going to know what to do with myself having room to move around in! I also can't wait to decorate that room. I'm thinking, fun chandelier, awesome open shelving, a drying rack, etc. More plans to come on that at another time though!

We also are gaining a huge pantry area out of the makeover. We now will have an abundance of cabinets {which i've been told once you have kids, you can never have enough cabinets}. We also are gaining another oven! Hooray for being able to hopefully host future Thanksgivings or Christmases.

Overall, we are so excited to finally be able to share these plans with y'all. I totally felt like a girl cheating on her boyfriend with y'all these past couple of weeks. Cheating you out of the full picture, out of our full excitement! Well, there it all is! We hope you like the vision were taking as much as we do...

Let me know what you think..good or bad. Just don't be a rude jerk though, ok?! Because I can be sensitive:) Love you all.

<3,

Adri

Kitchen Makeover: White Subway Tile Backsplash

So I just realized as I am writing all these posts on the kitchen inspiration, that I just might as well move to NYC. I mean, I am in love with subway tile, exposed brick, character, etc...doesn't NYC offer all of these?! Oh wait- I just remembered that we would be able to afford an apartment the size of an freaking shoe box. Bummer. Big, big bummer. Moving on.

For the backsplash we are for sure doing white subway tile. I am so stoked about it! The clean lines, the shiny look of it, the way it makes walls look taller, the fact that its uber easy to clean, and most of all- its cheap! Woohoo- we love deals:)

Above images Cococozy

The subway in these has the most perfect color of grout in my opinion. Not too white, but also dark enough to where you can tell its a shade of gray. Hopefully ours will turn out similar:)

Elle Decor

Hi beautiful, can I steal your open shelving and beam in the ceiling? I can?! Oh thank you!

Above images House Beautiful

In the first one I obviously am in love with the freaking marble countertops {UHG- they get me every-time! But no, they are not practical for someone who actually cooks a lot, I get it- I get it!} And those glass cabinets, swoon worthy! Bottom photo: Everything: hardware, glass cabinet, vintage style stove..obsessed with it all!

Anyway loved ones, thats what were doing. We can't wait to have that crisp clean look for a backsplash-ESPECIALLY since we didn't have any backsplash before the makeover!!

This is how our backsplash turned out:

To see how our full rundown of how we remodeled our kitchen, go here! Thanks for stopping by and checking us out, have a great day!

<3,

Adri

Kitchen Makeover: Brick Wall=Love?

So today I am going to introduce yet another inspiration for our kitchen......the exposed brick wall.  I know some of you are thinking "Girl you crazy, you cant just make a brick wall, you gots to be born with an exposed brick wall in your home {imagine that in my best gansta voice....ps why is Ice T on Law & Order...just saying}.  We too once believed that only the lucky loft owners in New York City, or ancient castle people could have these eye catching walls.  oh contraire me amor {non-gansta voice}, we stumbled onto a little thing called veneer.  They are these "thin" bricks that look like "fat" bricks, but have a better personality.  They are made from clay and have many different styles.  Here are some of the images that I have added to my DreamBook, and since have added to our design plans for our kitchen.

Design Hole

I love the ruggedness of the picture above.  It makes me think of a swanky NYC loft.  I love the openness of how the kitchen flows room one room to the other, yet the brick makes the room feel warm and cozy.

Design*Sponge

I love this brick so much, so much that I can picture it in my bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, Rav4 {you know, I like to class it up}, and even my hallways.

Blah Blah Blah

I love the big letter in this photo and the metal lawyers bookcase.  We have a thing for lawyer's bookcases {see our office here}.  J loves how the white looks against the brick.

BH&G

This picture brings a lot of the same design elements that we are using in our kitchen; white cabinets, brick walls, crown molding, and chandeliers.  Although many of the elements in the above picture are the same as our design plans, ours will look much different.

This wall will be the focal point of our new kitchen.  We hope the other elements {tune in tomorrow for our backsplash inspiration}will play nicely off of the exposed wall.

Oh and .....we got the brick in the other day and cant wait to get it up! 

<3,

Adri

Kitchen Makeover: Countertop Confusion

We have had some serious confusion, debate, disagreement, etc. over here. We cannot for the life of us decide on what countertop to choose. We need to make the decision, oh you know-yesterday!!! Here are the options for y'all, and any and all opinions, advice, whatever is welcome! Also, please keep in mind that it also costs around $30 sq.ft. for the fabrication of each slab. So add that number to the granite price and that is the true price of each one..sucky!

Remember when I said ugly photos of me..here you go:)

At first we found a remnant piece of Kashmire White for only $6 sq.ft. Since it was a remnant, it wasn't nearly the size of a full slab, but also- totally big enough for what we need! We weren't in love BUT we knew it was a steal, so we went ahead and looked in to ordering it.

It sold.

Two hours before.

Moving on..

We then found two other pieces that we like, one being Bianca {honestly were not positive on the name of this one, since it was also a remnant, no tag on it!}

Of course its impossible to have to 'true' color show up on camera, so these photos make it look a little more tan than it actually is. BUT this beauty is only $8 sq.ft, and like I said, a remnant- which means not having to buy a full slab! Its really pretty with some white, some grey, some tan, and even some specks of red {which you'll see later why that is great for us}.

The other option is White Ice.

White Ice is gorgeous. really really gorgeous. But its also really really $18.50 sq.ft. and its brand spanking new to everyone, which means definitely no remnants, so that means buying a full slab. They actually don't even have it in stores until the end of the month! The reason why I like this one a little more is because i always freaking choose the most expensive option without realizing it because there is much more true white in this piece. In the other piece there is a lot of white, but in this one the main color throughout is white. And yall know how much I love white kitchens:):)


I wanted this slab to be an option, but J said NO MARBLE:EVER!

Oh, just because I like you guys..i'll share my true favorite: SEAFOAM GREEN!!!!

Seriously.

This sells.

No offense to anyone that might actually like this slab, but I don't think I could ever bring myself to buy something titled 'Seafoam Green'.

So there it is. Do we go with the much cheaper option, when we honestly really do still like it, or do we go with the much more expensive option, but it is just oh so perfect? Advice, opinions, comments..leave em!


<3,
Adri