It's Happenin'! Demolition - YEAH!

I started my kitchen cabinet project yesterday afternoon!!  I spent 90 minutes on it -- and made great progress.

Good news:  Nothing creepy skittered out.  I didn't break any ceramic tiles.  I haven't done any unintentional  damage.  I didn't sustain any personal injuries.

Sort of neat:  I found an old pencil embedded in paint behind the cabinet...

What I learned:  My kitchen used to be painted brown, turquoise, and that awful chalky yellow color that was previously uncovered in the laundry closet.  Demolition is sort of fun.  I feel like it was made easier by the fact that I understood how it was put together.  (Yay, Habitat for Humanity!) And, as expected, the wall behind the cabinets will need some work to make it uniform. A variety of backing was used.

What's next:  I need to get help disconnecting the light over the sink.  That whole big piece up there is just waiting for one good pull and it will all come down.  But there are some things I don't do, and electrical things are one of them!

I have too many progress photos to post, but here's a "before" photo and then the current status; if you want to see the slide show, email me and I will send it to you.  (A new blogger editor is making my photos a little wonky; not sure they will all publish...hmmmm)

I am already loving the wide open feeling and the new look!

Chillin'

I found 2 of these little guys on my zebra grass last night, just chillin' in the evenin breeze. So beautiful! If I had my butterfly book already, I would be able to identify what kind they are.

  I also literally have more Ruby Throat hummingbirds than I can count!  I need to try to get a photo of them -- they often land and just hang out as well -- something that I've never seen before.

Resin Panels

This is what happens when you watch the HGTV channel: Last night I learned that resin panels are available for residential use. You've seen them around -- probably thought, "hmmm that looks cool" and moved on. Here's a link to one website that sells them: http://www.lumicor.com/

Tons of uses... wall decor... room dividers... along staircases where spindles would be... the photos look marvelous! And they are made from recycled materials! (Well, some of them.)

Do I have any idea where I could use them in my house? No. Am I going to add this idea to the hopper for a problem solving solution? Ohhhhh yeah.

I watched an episode of Iron Chef last night. The competing chef was vegetarian, and she has a vegetable restaurant (she clarified that it is not a vegetarian restaurant -- I am not exactly clear on what that means because I don't see any meat on her menu...) and the name of it is Dirt Candy, because that's how she views vegetables. I may have to start using that term... Here's her definition:

"What is dirt candy? Vegetables, of course. When you eat a vegetable you're eating little more than dirt that's been transformed by plenty of sunshine and rain into something that's full of flavor: Dirt Candy. It's also the name of my restaurant, which opened in October, 2008."

To give credit where credit is due, here is the link to her restuarant:
http://www.dirtcandynyc.com/

It looks fab -- I'd love to go -- but NYC is not really on my wish list of destinations... If you watch Iron Chef, go to her website for a fun 3 part blog entry that details her experience on the show. Very fun to read! Amanda, I think you're great, even if you did lose to Morimoto! I'm sorry that you didn't get to cut off his ponytail! LOL

Labor Day Weekend -- will you be laboring?

The Labor Day long weekend is in a few days -- yeehaw! I plan to be laboring...

I hope to take out my upper kitchen cabinets on the sink side, and put up open shelving, and/or maybe paint my dining room.

I'm thinking the dining room will be some type of butter or gold color. Supposedly that is good for dining rooms -- looks good in candle light for dinners -- and my chandelier is gold-ish. I haven't even picked up paint sample cards though, so nothing definite!

I also want to go look at wallpaper. I know -- who does wallpaper anymore? But I saw this really cool grass cloth wallpaper that I would like to put up in my little hallway. I've heard it's spendy, but it shouldn't take very much to do that little area. Have you ever hung wallpaper? I have not... plus I heard that type is difficult to hang. Hmmmm. I need to speak with a professional! LOL And UGH, the thought of going to a wallpaper book place makes my toes curl...

Here is a photo of one type of grass wallpaper:



I think it would give a nice cozy feel and some character to that small space.

Kind of pretty, in an OCD sort of way...

I got my small kindling sticks tied into bundles last night. And yes, it was about 93 degrees outside, with mosquitos. But when winter comes, won't I be the girl scout of preparedness?

It was 2 five-gallon buckets' worth of sticks... and tying them went much faster than I expected -- despite Greta trying to help me! For storage, I stacked them on top of the top rack of my kindling rack. I'd like to figure out a better place for them, and save that space for larger sticks, but so far nothing has come to mind. They might be sort of pretty in a basket on the hearth, but they also might attract those little things with 8 legs! Yeah, um, really not into that.

American Beauty Berry

My American Beauty Berry plant has berries! Not edible... but isn't it beautiful?







At my last 2 houses (that were just blocks from each other) I had a neighbor who dog walked with me. We used to see a plant like this on our walks -- it was well over 6 feet tall and the branches would be just covered in the purple berries. We would always stop and marvel at it, and wonder what it was. I took a photo of it along the way and made a mental note that when I had a place of my own that I wanted to have a plant like that.

Look at me now! Makes me happy.