Goodbye Green

My kitchen has white cupboards (woot woot!) but it also has a white backsplash with FUGLY forest green accents and white laminate counters. They matched the green floral striped wallpaper we ripped out before moving in. New countertops and backsplash aren't in our budget right now so we are working with what we got. I was googling ways to paint tile when I came across these super slick aluminum tiles.

The come with a padded double sided tape but I also added some adhesive.

They only had one size and it wasn't 3" like my evergreen beauties so I changed the pattern. Just stuck them right over the existing tile.

BAM! They aren't bent that's just my mad foto skillz. They aren't 4" so they don't line up perfectly with the white tiles. But anything is better than green. Especially when that anything only costs $20

They are super easy to cut for places like outlets. I used my kids scissors cause I was to lazy to go upstairs and get mine.

BEFORE

AFTER

Next up hardware on the cabinets!

Disclaimer: I take all my pictures at night and they suck. 

Flooring

So you know how I said we were going to leave the carpets for a while. Yeah well we changed our plan. here's how it went down.


Ring ring

Me: How much to clean my carpet?

Carpet Man: How big and how dirty?

Me: 10 rooms, dirty and a million square feet. Don’t you want to see it to quote me?

Carpet Man: Nope. That’s $2.

Me: Okay Thanks! See you Tuesday.

Knock knock

G: Hello

Carpet Man: Now that I’m here I changed my mind. This is going to cost $100000

G: We only plan on keeping it for a year so just do a $2 clean! We don’t care about making it look brand new.

Carpet Man: YOU INSULT MY CRAFT. $100000 or nothing

G: Then Nothing!

Ring ring

Me: Hello

G: THE CARPET MAN TRIED TO RIP US OFF!!! WASTING MONEY! BLAH ERGH FREAKOUT! WE’RE GETTING THE SAME FLOORS WE PUT IN THE PLAYROOM
Me: Okay

Now the problem is the existing floor in the kitchen. It’s not going to match but I don’t want to replace it right now…I’m thinking I’m going to paint it!

Source

Design Sponge

Paisley Wallpaper

 

Colour

After living in beige/taupe/tan/cream apartments for ten years I imagined that when we brought a house I would paint it in a rainbow of colours. Apple greens, deep purples, crisp blues. But the house we bought has an open floor plan downstairs.

Or we could just leave it half painted and with gorgeous wallpaper

2000sqft of apple green? Barf. I'll do colour in the bedrooms/bathrooms. Plus after collecting tons of inspiration pics online I realized that what I really loved for the main living areas was grey. Grey is the new beige.

The three shades I picked are silver screen (for most of the walls)

Pewter Mug (for the kitchen)

Milestone which is more blueish/purpleish grey (for accent walls)

And here they are on the wall. Yeah its dark and there is a sun spot so not a true representation. But it looks fabu right?

Kitchen Pulls

Cullman & Kravis

I’m dreaming of cabinet hardware. We haven’t even finished peeling wallpaper so it’s not spending time yet but I like to fantasize. That's how kinky I am. Drawer pulls?  Light fixtures? New flooring? Oh baby.

I’m leaning towards cups on the drawers and knobs on the cabinets.

 

I’m also a fan of the european pulls. Especially the really long ones that go across the entire drawer front

.

Check out these crystal ball knobs. Our house is 75% estrogen do you think I could get away with these and pink walls? V did say she want to put glitter on the walls in the new house…

 

Pictures all via http://www.myknobs.com

Currently my kitchen has invisible hardware. The idea is that without pulls you would have to use your greasy fingers to pry open the cabinets/drawers leaving marks on the stark white cabinets. It’s what the designers call “patina”. Also I noticed there is a loner-cupboard. See him there by the fridge nook. No partner to balance him out. NO SYMMETRY. AGH WHERE IS THE SYMMETRY?

Excuse the mid demo mess

Wash and scrape

This post will be short on words and big on pictures. My nails are worn to nubs and it hurts to type. With the help of some AWESOME friends we got a lot done today. We removed miles of wallpaper, some carpet and power washed a lot. Here's the proof!

And for my Canadian peeps who don't have concrete subfloors check out how nasty it is to remove carpet. The carpet tacks are nailed INTO the concrete. So you pry those suckers up, pull all the concrete nails and then fill the holes.



We're slowly saying goodbye to 1998!

xoxo
Sarah