The Kitchen is Finished… Finally!

OMG! It’s finally done! Really! It’s more than a year later than we wanted, but I am grateful to say that I have finally finished our kitchen and it is spectacular! It has been sitting at the 98% completion mark since this past spring, but we finally managed to get the last of it done and, for the moment, we can relax.

Continue Reading…

Awesome Kitchen Storage Features

The kitchen is turning out to be absolutely beautiful. I cannot begin to express how much we love our *Barker Cabinets! But the kitchen isn’t done. Okay, it’s 98% done, but it isn’t done, done. But it is still awesome! There remains some trim to paint, closet doors to install, and a few little things…. Blah, blah, blah…

Long story short, we have had a multitude of things going on in our lives, sucking up every moment of time we have, and I have been stretching myself to get as much done as I can.

Continue Reading…

Cold Hard (Beautiful) Reality — Progress Report #11

Oh Yeah! This is our new reality and it is Cold, Hard, and Beautiful! It’s Marble Countertop Reveal Time!

Our kitchen may still be unfinished, but ten days after the second marble install was finished, I find myself in awe every time I walk into our kitchen. I also find myself freaking out about spilling wine, or tomato sauce, or lemon juice, or any other threat known to honed marble… But rest assured, it will be fine.

Continue Reading…

Dreamy Floor Reveal — Progress Report #4

[Photo: My self portrait for today]

OMG! OMG! OMG! WOW!

The floor that we have been planning for this past year… The floor that went through dozens of changes and iterations…. The floor that we finally decided was the right floor, regardless of cost…. The floor that makes our hearts sing… Has been installed and it is AMAZING.

Continue Reading…

Video Tour, Recap, and Update

In August of last year, within two hours after leaving our closing on our apartment with keys in hand, I created a walk-through video tour of our apartment [view last years video here]. I wanted to document our apartment before we made a single change as a way to look back and remember where we started.

Continue Reading…

The Big Reveal Contest – Apartment Therapy

A few weeks back, I entered our Entry Gallery into the Apartment Therapy Before and After – Big Reveal contest and yesterday they POSTED MY ENTRY! Woo Hoo!

Please visit our contest entry and consider voting for our entry by favoriting the post. (Registration as a commenter is required.) Feel free to comment as well! If we are fortunate enough to be in top four most favorited, we will be put up to a vote for biggest before and after change.

Continue Reading…

Our Entry Gallery is Divine (Part I) – Transformation Begins

One of the very first things that drew me to even look at the apartment on that day in May last year was the floor plan indicated a very long entry hall. And when we went to the open house, we were not disappointed. The front door opened to a lovely 22′ long and generous 4′ 5″  wide hallway with beautiful quarter-sawn oak floor bordered in mahogany. Immediately, I was dreaming about how we could use it as gallery space to display photography and art.

Continue Reading…