Dining Room – Project Palermo

Kitchen Makeover Details Roundup 2 of 2

And we’re back, for the final roundup of kitchen details. You can check out my kitchen makeover here and the first roundup here.

Exhaust Fan

The fan installed in the ceiling over the range was a bathroom exhaust fan. The sticker on it literally said “Not for use in cooking area.” In terms of air movement, it did exactly nothing, so I removed it. It was unexpectedly difficult – it took some jaws-of-life style prying and cutting. Here’s an extremely flattering photo of me holding the extricated fan like a trophy bass.

I mounted some wood scraps to the studs inside the hole so that I had something to affix a drywall patch to.

Home Depot sells small drywall “project panels,” which saves you from having to buy a full sheet – I cut one to fit.

Then I patched and painted the ceiling, and now it’s like it was never there.

This means we don’t have an exhaust fan in the kitchen, of course, but I’ve never lived anywhere that had a functional one, so it’s not something I feel a strong need for.

Space Above the Fridge

How do you fill a gap between your fridge and cabinets? Short answer: baskets.

Long answer: Plan to build an open shelf. Mock it up with scrap wood. Decide it accentuates the gap to the right of the fridge. Pass.

Consider a flush-mounted filler piece. See something very similar on a Menard’s demo kitchen. Decide it looks terrible and feel grateful Menard’s made that mistake so you don’t have to. Pass.

Short answer: baskets! These Sedona Honey Low Open Totes from Crate & Barrel fit perfectly and coordinate with the color of the wood elements elsewhere in the room.

Frame Grid

Here’s one mistake I made in decorating the kitchen: the frame grid was originally one size smaller. I bought and hung the 5×7 size because I thought the larger size would overwhelm the wall. The smaller size looked okay – I lived with it for a while but it never felt right.

I finally pulled the trigger and ordered six of the larger size, hung them, stepped back, and said “Duh.” It was obviously the correct way to go. These are the 8×10 Brass Frames from Target (the outer dimension is 14.4″ x 18.4″).

Getting these six frames perfectly aligned took some effort, so I wanted them to stay that way. The bottom row is particularly in danger of getting bumped by someone walking on that side of the island. The frame edge was too narrow to use 3M Command Strips, so I came up with a solution: I cut pieces of scrap wood to the perfect depth and hot glued them to the bottom of the frame backing. The frames hang on nails, with added support/stability from the Command strip.

Kitchen Light Fixture

Here’s another mistake I made in the kitchen – four mistakes, in fact: I bought, installed, and returned four light fixtures over the island before I found The One. But I wouldn’t say they were real errors. Sometimes I can visualize what I want and get it right in one shot, but other projects require me to see the options in place before I can choose my choice. I didn’t document all of the rejects, but here are two examples:

This Minka Lavery Harbour Point Semi-Flushmount Ceiling Light seemed like a contender online.

Installed, however, it looked like a brass spaceship… and even more like a UFO when I turned on the light. Pass.

I really liked the look of this West Elm Stem + Sphere Semi-Flushmount, but I decided not to keep it because it looked too new – with all the other newness in the room, I wanted something that looked more classic.

Also: the brass finish isn’t as nice as the brass on the West Elm fixture in our entryway, and one of the globes had a glass inconsistency that created a dark spot like a moon crater. Pass.

In the end, a classic schoolhouse light from Rejuvenation made the most sense here. It’s the Eastmoreland 8″ Semi-Flush Mount with 16″ Opal Shade. It’s big enough to hold its own, pretty enough to not be boring, and simple enough that I can install something more interesting over the dining table without it looking like a carnival in here.

Outlets and Plate Covers

I replaced the beige outlets in our island with new white ones, and I swapped out the beige plate covers with nice metal ones.

I like these pressed metal plates from House of Antique Hardware. Stacy over at Blake Hill House gave me the idea to use a USB outlet. We always have this multiple adapter plugged in here, so we are prepared for any charging emergency. You show up at our house with your iPod Classic at 4%? We got your back.

Seriously: even if you can’t update the outlets themselves, replacing the plates is such an easy, inexpensive upgrade. I always did this as a renter with plates that had been covered in years of paint (see this old post: It’s Electric).

Phone and Ethernet Jacks

Speaking of plate covers: virtually every room in our house has an ethernet jack. There’s a professional-grade routing hub in our basement – I have no idea why. There was also a phone jack on the wall.

I removed both jacks and covered the holes with blank plates that I painted to match our walls. A small change that feels so much better. I could eventually patch these holes, but since I’m not finished renovating the house yet it seemed smart to keep them open in case it’s helpful to have an access point or something.

Dimmer Switches

I also installed dimmer switches for all of the kitchen and dining room lights. I like these Leviton Decora Rocker Slide Universal Dimmers from Home Depot.

I did all of the aforementioned electrical work myself (light fixtures, outlets, jack removal, dimmers) except for one switch. It was my first time installing a dimmer on a three-way pole – meaning a single fixture controlled by switches on opposite sides of the room. I installed the dimmer, turned the power back on, and the fuse tripped. I figured I had done something wrong with the circuit loop and decided to play it safe and call an electrician.

Emilio got me squared away quickly, and even took the time (unprompted!) to thoughtfully explain what I had done wrong and to draw a diagram for future reference – all without a whiff of condescension. Emilio is my guy. If you need an electrician, I’d be happy to refer him.

Arbor Vitae Trees

Last year, I had three arbor vitae trees planted. Our dining room window is huge, which is great for natural light, but not so great for the view.

The bottom of this window is 7 feet above ground level, so most arbor vitae available from big box stores were too short to provide the privacy and greenery I wanted here. Knowing how slowly they grow, I splurged on more mature trees – I didn’t want to wait years and years for them to reach this window’s height. I never mind sharing numbers, so I’ll tell you that they were $800 total, including installation, which required some major digging.

Here’s Jarrod for scale – he’s 6’2″ (I just asked him – he said he’s shrinking in height but getting wider to make up for it). Seeing greenery instead of our neighbor’s vinyl siding was such a huge improvement for our view.

I made this GIF when they were being planted, thinking it would be a triumphant reveal… but they were planted crooked. The landscapers had to return, dig them up, and redo them.

The trees should fill out and up in the coming years, providing increased privacy. I say should because arbor vitae are pretty finicky – they grow slowly and seem prone to dying. It was the only evergreen option for this narrow side lot, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

What’s Left

The kitchen and dining room are now 95% finished, which feels great. It joins the ranks of our half-bathroom and master bedroom (I owe you an update on this one) – rooms that are ~done~. The remaining tasks are:

Move the electrical box to be centered over the table
Install a permanent light fixture – I’m circling around this Conical Drum Pendant from Rejuvenation
Replace the window – this will happen along with all the other windows in 2019 or, more likely, 2020
Replace the window trim to match the rest of the room, after the window is replaced

But, next up: I’m moving on to a different room, which I’ll show you next week!

Kitchen and Dining Room Before and After

My make-it-work kitchen makeover is finished! I have a slew of before and after photos for you. Some of the befores are from when I started this recent decorating wave and some are from when we first bought the house, to show how far this space has come. I try to capture the same angle whenever possible. Let’s dive in…

So much better than where we started…

The kitchen cabinets were professionally painted Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White. They turned out exactly as I hoped. There’s plenty of color and pattern elsewhere throughout the first floor, so I’m happy to have this space simply feel clean, bright, and cohesive. An added bonus is that paint, wood filler, and caulk conceal the previous owner’s DIY installation flaws.

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After:

Now that the cabinets are white, I considered replacing the counter stools with something wood and/or woven (like these gorgeous leather ones from CB2), but we really like these metal ones. They’re indestructible: our cat can’t claw them, I use them as stepstools all the time, and the handle cutout on top is really nice for moving them around. They’re from Overstock; all of the sources are linked at the bottom of this post.

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Sorry, it looks washed out here – it was a sunny day and I’m not a great photographer. I trust you come here for realness and not professional-grade photography!

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Speaking of photography: do you know what’s impossible to photograph? A freaking window. But I love the way this area turned out. It feels so much more intentional now that there’s a bit of decoration and proper moulding (for details, see Kitchen Progress: Faucet, Hardware, and Window Trim).

Before:

After:

This is a north-facing window, which I covered in frosted film (the view isn’t great) – it’s relatively low-light, but it’s enough for a potted pothos and an assortment of plant cuttings that I’m rooting in water.

Speaking of plant cuttings: my mother always has plant starts on her kitchen window sill as well. She’s been reusing an old Eggling shell my brother gave her 20 years ago. So, in honor of my mom, I asked my friend Jenni to include a few eggshells when I commissioned these plant drawings from her.

I know you’re supposed to remove the glass for better photographs, but it took a thousand hours to get this grid perfectly aligned and there was no way in hell I was going to take them down to do that.

Moving along, I bought a new dishwasher, refrigerator, and slide-in gas range from Abt. We love having the fridge on top, and we have an ice maker for the very first time! What luxury.

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You may remember that I debated getting a white vs. black vs. stainless range (see Kitchen Decision Making). Obviously, I landed on white, and I’m happy with it. The grate helps it blend in with the existing countertop. The control console looks a little like it belongs in a hospital surgical suite, but it’s fine. I do like that the knobs are on top, and I really like the way it looks from the front.

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You already saw this coffee + toaster nook in a previous post: Kitchen Progress: Butcher Block Shelf.

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And this door makeover was documented here: Kitchen Progress: New Door, Trim, and Threshold Tile.

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Moving on to the dining area, which is adjacent to the kitchen. I’m using the same rug, chairs, and table from our last place (seen in our Apartment Therapy tour). The light fixture is the same as the apartment as well – that’s one thing still on my to do list. I need to have the junction box relocated above the table before I buy and install a permanent fixture.

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I found the landscape lithograph prints for $5 each at an antique store in my hometown (Jefferson City, Missouri). The moulding around the dining room was installed by a previous owner.

The big splurge in this room is the Danish corner cabinet, purchased from SharkGravy.

That ZZ plant is turning into a beast – it’s almost overgrown this space. To the right, you can see a wall-mounted bottle opener and cap collector, which I installed at our last place as well (see Wall-Mounted Bottle Opener).

A couple more shots of the cabinet, because I love it so much.

We keep bottles on top – shout out to my sister-in-law Kateri for this vintage Kentucky Tavern decanter. No one needs to know there’s Fireball in there.

One parting shot. I’ll do a follow-up post to share some details and decisions I want to call out. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to address them in that post!

Sources:

Cabinet painters: Giant Painters
Kitchen runner: Rejuvenation Balter Flatweave Rug
Hanging planter: Umbra Pleated Planter (purchased at Alapash in Chicago) + Mkono Macrame Plant Hanger
Woven bowl on window sill: CB2 Rini Round Bread Basket
Clock: Schoolhouse Kennedy Clock
Cutting board: 1761 Wood Large Rectangle General Chopping Board
Stools: Overstock Tabouret 24-inch Charcoal Grey Metal Counter Stools
Kitchen light: Rejuvenation Eastmoreland 8″ Semi-Flush Aged Brass Mount with 16″ Opal Shade #B5138
Plant drawings: Art by Jenni Wu + Target Project 62 Brass Frames
Faucet: Delta Trinsic Single-Handle Pull-Down Sprayer Kitchen Faucet with MagnaTite Docking in Arctic Stainless
Cabinet hardware: Amerock Blackrock 1-1/3 in. Black Bronze Round Cabinet Knob and Blackrock 160 mm Black Bronze Pull
Fridge: Whirlpool Bottom-Freezer Refrigerator – WRB329DMBW
Oven: Whirlpool White Slide-In Gas Range – WEG515S0FW
Dishwasher: Bosch 24″ 300 Series Scoop Handle White Built-In Dishwasher – SHS863WD2N
Door threshold tile: EliteTile Retro Glazed Porcelain Hex Mosaic in Matte White
Dining room light: IKEA (no longer available)
Dining room rug: Pottery Barn (no longer available)
Dining table and chairs: vintage
Bar cabinet: vintage Danish teak corner cabinet from SharkGravy
Wall-mounted planter: Umbra Trigg Hanging Planter

For more information about this project, check out these related posts:

Kitchen Progress and Plans

I can’t believe it’s already been half a year since we moved into our house. Sorry I didn’t do a great job of keeping you all up to date on changes as they happened over the past six months! So, I thought I would do a shot-for-shot juxtaposition of the first floor tour I posted in August, filling you in on what has happened in the interim.

We’ll start in the kitchen. These photos haven’t been staged (not that I’m good at that if I had even tried): I just want to show you what I’ve done and tell you what I plan to do.

Before:

Now:

What’s been done:

The entire house was painted using the same color of just-barely-not-white that I used at our last apartment: Irish Mist by Behr. I may eventually paint rooms different colors, but I wanted a clean canvas for move-in and this was an easy choice.
The oak floors were in decent shape and I love the mid-tone brown color, so a full refinishing job wasn’t necessary. We had them buffed and recoated (also called “screened and recoated”): it’s a light sanding followed by a new coat of satin poly.
Replaced all of the kitchen lights with recessed LED lights.
Installed a pet door so that the cats can go on the enclosed back porch, where the litter box is located.
Hung temporary pleated shades (SCHOTTIS from IKEA).

Before:

Now:

Our move-in goal was for everything to be clean, safe, and functional. With that achieved, I now plan to take my time decorating.

Before:

Now:

The kitchen lights looked like chaotic eyeballs. The new flush recessed lights are much less crazy. I also scrubbed and spray painted the fan vent so that it blends in better. Yes, they installed a bathroom exhaust fan in the kitchen. SMH.

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I have no idea why the previous owner installed Brazilian cherry in the kitchen. It seems as though they layered it over the original oak. But that’s not weirdest thing about the kitchen. See how the ceiling dips down in the corners? That’s not an optical illusion. That’s not a structural flaw. That’s a design choice. The ceiling is a full several inches higher in the center of the room, and bows down evenly toward the north and south walls. My friend Carolyn joked “Well, the Concave Movement started in the early 1800s. It was an aesthetic designed to confuse and delight.”

Confuse and delight!

So weird! But less noticeable now that the walls are white. We’ll probably live with it forever, unless it impedes future kitchen renovation plans.

What I plan to do, short term (within a year or so):

Buy a new rug, table, and possibly chairs. The table is shot, and I’d prefer black chairs that are sturdier. The existing chairs still look good but are rickety for everyday use.
Buy a credenza or cabinet of some sort
Install window shades
Install a new light fixture
Hang art and add plants
Paint the wainscoting around the dining room (it’s currently the same color as the walls). I’ll probably do pure white – black or some other color would be interesting, but I’m afraid it would look too chopped up by the window and door.
Replace the back door with a glass door, so that we get more light and can see into our backyard.

What I plan to do, long term (five years from now, maybe?):

Full kitchen remodel: the existing kitchen is totally fine, so there’s no hurry to renovate, but we’ll eventually replace all of the cabinets and appliances.
Add a window to the east wall (so that we get more light and can see into our backyard, as with the glass door)
Replace the large window next to the dining table: the existing windows are vinyl and the style isn’t appropriate for the house. We’ll do Craftsman casement windows (something like these). The trim around the window will also be replaced with Craftsman style trim.

That’s enough for now!

New House Tour: Main Floor

Thanks for dining at Palermo’s Pizzeria! Jarrod’s your waiter and he’ll be taking care of you this evening while we tour the first floor of our new house.

Let’s start in the kitchen. It’s the best room of the house right out of the box, which isn’t to say it’s perfect, but it’s functional and is the closest to being pretty decent!

In case it’s not obvious, that’s not our table nor our curtains. The house had been vacant since October 2014 and was mostly empty except for a lot of junk in the garage and basement. I think this table was an attempt at staging, to make the place seem homier. It disappeared the day before we closed; the junk unfortunately stayed put. (The house was sold as-is, so they didn’t have to clean it.)

We’re not going to talk about that enclosed back porch right now: please pretend that moldy mess doesn’t exist. That’s what we do every day.

The kitchen cabinets are kinda nice: the drawers are full-extension and everything’s sturdy, but they were also put together poorly and some weird choices were made. That upper cabinet to the right of the sink, for example, is a base cabinet: it’s way too deep to be up top and Jarrod is definitely going to ram his head into it while loading the dishwasher.

That island is gigantic. I’m excited to have so much counter space on either side of the stove and four matching stools lined up at the bar.

Another “Good ’nuff!” paint job from the previous occupant. That door on the right leads to the basement.

Past the kitchen is the staircase I love, terrible beast of a project that it is. Looks like someone started stripping that sixth baluster and then said “Fuck this!” A few months from now, I’ll probably do the same. My only saving grace is that I don’t want to strip to the point of re-staining (that would kill me and/or I’d set my house on fire), just to the point that it can be a clean paint job. I want the risers and balusters to be white, with the handrail and stair treads stained brown.

There’s a half-bath next to the stairs. The toilet flushes and the sink drains water, and that’s about all it has going for it currently.

I’ll make it as nice as possible with a minimal amount of money, and then do a full renovation down the road. This bathroom renovation will take priority over the upstairs one because more people will use it and it currently feels crummier.

Moving on to the living room. I love this view.

Blogging is weird: it’s hard to know what balance to strike between “We’re excited about this house we bought!” and “Look at this messed up thing! Here’s another bad choice! And why in the hell would someone do this?” Just know that while I point out all the flaws, I’m excited about the overall promise of the house and still think (85% of the time) that we got a good place! Like George Harrison said in that weird music video that creeped you out as a child: It’s gonna take time, a whole of precious time, it’s going to take patience and time, to do it right and undo all the things some idiot did before you.

This decorative fireplace will be nice eventually. I’ll paint the brick (it’s already painted – that’s red paint with hand-drawn gray “mortar” lines) and rebuild the shelves. Art — not a TV — will go over the mantle. Nothing against TVs, I just don’t like them up high.

I’m a little overwhelmed by how to arrange furniture in the living room. There’s a lot of room to work with, but the space is divided visually by the entryways. Neither half is big enough to contain an entire seating area, so whatever couch + chair arrangement we come up with will have spill into the middle of the room. My friend’s mom (hi, Mrs. Priebe!) is an interior decorator and I’m roping her in for advice.

The front sunroom used to be an exterior porch. It was enclosed a few decades ago, with cheap linoleum on the floor and cheap acoustic tiles on the ceiling. All of it will get changed in time. It’s a sunny bonus room and I look forward to having some comfortable chairs out there for reading and coffee. And lots of plants!

The brick on the original exterior wall is real. The “brick” on the interior side is not.

Those are plastic bricks, glued to a thin layer of concrete, which was applied to a piece of wall panelling, which was stuck to the plaster wall. Yeesh. This was one of things we were able to tackle prior to moving in, so it looks quite different now. Pics to come!

The next post will tour the basement and outside, where we’ve already done a lot of work, so there will be before & after photos of some unglamorous but very necessary changes.

Lighted Leaning Bookcases

My wariness of decorative items — as mentioned in my last post — extends to books, which might be an unusual stance for someone with a master’s degree in Library & Information Science. But, having worked in three libraries, an illuminated manuscripts gallery and a rare books shop, I agree with the first law of library science (though I’m not sure it’s enforceable in any jurisdiction): Books are for use. Sure, they’re pretty, but without use, there is little inherit value. I got all preachy about this before our last move and streamlined our collection, trying to keep only the books that we love, would want to read or reference again, or would want to be able to loan to someone else. Maybe I’ll hoard books in the future when we’re homeowners, but as frequently-moving renters, a smaller library makes sense. Books are heavy, man.

Here’s what the bookcases looked like the last time you saw them:

And here’s what the bookcases look like these days:

I swapped out some houseplants, got a new stereo and moved the booze to a bar stand. I tried to style it up a bit, which isn’t my strong suit, but I’m really happy with the current look.

Sloane Leaning Bookcase – Crate & Barrel
HEKTAR – IKEA
Big Jambox – Jawbone
Rugby Stripe Bin – The Container Store
It seems like the EcoLogic Pots may no longer be manufactured, which is too bad because they’re awesome looking. I have them scattered throughout our apartment. Chicagoans can find them at Gethsemane; they’re pretty expensive on Amazon.

We’ve had these bookshelves for five years and they’ve held up really well. They’re available only in brown now; some similar white options are:

Linea Leaning Bookcase – The Container Store
Studio Wall Shelf – Pottery Barn
White Five-tier Leaning Ladder Shelf – Overstock

The striped bin is perfect for hiding ugly board games and whatever else we want to toss in there, and the HEKTAR spotlights cast a really nice light in the evenings.

The Big Jambox was a splurge and well worth it. It’s plenty loud for our apartment and it connects wirelessly via Bluetooth with my iPhone and iMac and Jarrod’s iPad mini. It has a super long battery life, so we can move it to the kitchen or backyard for hours without a power cord.

See that electrical outlet on the floor to the right of the bookcase? That is some crazy stupid luck. I don’t know why it was placed there originally, but the location couldn’t be more ideal for this arrangement. All of the cords are hidden neatly behind the bookshelf.

Read any good books lately? Or read Emily Henderson’s blog and been driven crazy by the fact she doesn’t spell “cord” correctly?