Small Project ~ Big Bang!!

    I love the front door on our house - but, the color? Not so much. It's a sort of brick red. Very muted, almost brown, not very welcoming. I wanted to paint that door before we even bought the house and now that we've started a few outdoor projects I REALLY want to paint the door!

    Something about the color makes the house look very neutral, very one tone. I think that the color of the front door is pretty important. It's the first thing people see as they drive up or walk by. This is a really nice door. It has some uncommon features - the window (which is also on the remake list!), the ledge - they need some attention!

    We built the bench from a kit we purchased at Costo. I love the planters. I'll be able to change them seasonally but the entry still needed that wow factor. So, for under $50 and about and hours worth of work I got this:

    

The dark teal is so perfect against the stone. It really makes the blue colors in the stone stand out. The whole house cooled off and now feels like a calm, welcoming place. The brushed brass kickplate at the bottom adds a little style while being a practical solution for protecting my new amazing door!

I'm all about these little projects... so satisfying!

 New Lights - Small Project - Big Impact!

    We love our new house. Plenty of room, lots of windows, big kitchen etc... What we don't love are a lot of the design choices.

     For example, the gigantic gothic looking hanging light fixture in our foyer! I shudder every time I look at it! Definitely on the hunt for something more our style. Also, not a fan of the ugly pendant lights over the kitchen island.

Ew! Really? Who thought this tiny light was going to work in this huge kitchen? Their solution? Put the brightest bulb you can find in it - no, no this didn't help.

We have big plans for updating the kitchen including changing the counter and backsplash, painting the island and getting new knobs. None of this is happening soon, there are lots of projects ahead of this - but - I happened to get a really great deal on two pendants that were on clearance. Couldn't pass them up!

Nice, right? So much better than the dinky ones and the light is really lovely - soft and diffused but plenty bright enough to work under. Sometimes a little change can have a really huge impact!

 Good Lord, We've Done it Again!!

    I didn't even finish posting all the changes at the house we were renovating in Solomons, MD and we've already moved again!

    Sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you just have to be ready to deal with it. We were having fun living on the bay - we bought a boat (funny story!), we were renovating a house, we were busy. We were also pretty homesick for our kids and the valley we left almost four hours away. The more we talked about it the more we realized we wanted to find a place in the Shenandoah Valley. 

Once the decision was made, we started getting things organized - got the house on the market in MD - found a house in VA - got ourselves moved in June of 2020. Covid made things a little complicated but we worked it out. 

This is the house we bought:

    

It's about a year old. A lovely custom built modern craftsman with an open floorplan. It's 3600sq ft, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. Probably bigger than what 2 little old people need - but it's one of those homes that's meant for gathering and after the last year of Covid - we're ready to gather!

    Even though the house is new, there are lots of projects we want to get done. Since we were on lockdown with plenty of time on our hands, the first thing we decided to tackle was getting a large freezer and having our walk-in pantry re-done. We wanted to be able to buy in bulk and have plenty of storage for everything. Eventually there will be a garden and greenhouse as well so organized food storage was critical.

    This is what we started with:

    We wanted to be able to make better use of the space. It's not a huge pantry but it does have 10ft ceilings. So step one was getting all the shelves out and repairing the holes. I hate wire shelves!

    I painted it a dark, charcoal grey. Most of it got covered by the cabinets and shelving but I love the color! It makes the wood and white cabinets stand out.

    

The next step was to get the shelving and cabinets built. I wanted to have space for a drink fridge and our wine cooler, storage for cookbooks and small appliances as well as plenty of food storage. A bonus is that there are two outlets in there! The taller spaced shelving by the door is where the wine cooler, cookbooks, blender and charging station will be.

Drawers and cabinets are great for storing large boxes, bulk goods and smaller odds-n-ends.

There are two outlets in the pantry, one near the floor and one closer to the ceiling. This worked out perfect. We were able to put the drink fridge and the wine cooler in the pantry as well as having room to plug in a charging station for phones and tablets. There's plenty of shelf space for food storage and the top shelf gives me room to store items that I don't need very often as well as small appliances.

    It's not huge but it's mighty! Now - on to the master bedroom, I'm ready to tackle wallpaper!