Displaying posts labeled "Kim’s House"

This blog chronicles my entire kitchen renovation from start to finish. Greentea Design has provided me with their solid wood kitchen cabinets, and I’m taking care of the rest.

If you’d like to be brought up to date, check out my kitchen remodel blog for an archive of previous posts. I posted recently about the backsplash, dining table and yet more decorating. Now I thought I’d dedicate a post to the hatch door created for access to the basement – a GENIUS idea.

I cannot express the magnitude of how genius of an idea it was to take out part of the wall that sectioned off the basement stairs, and have a hatch door created. I have talked about this in previous posts, but OMG it turned out so swimmingly that I had to dedicate a post to it. This is such a great idea for folks out there who have really limited space, as I do. This house is 12′ 2″ wide – so that is the width of the kitchen, and the section where the wall to the basement was made that about 9.5′ wide. Let me show you some before photos. Now, this decision was made partway through the demolition phase so I did not specifically take before photos of the area. Below are some I happened to have already (and one I snuck during demo when I was deciding what to do).

Leaving that wall meant the pantry unit would have had to have been placed closer to the door to my office and with the fridge there, that would have made the doorway very tight. Then with the dining table down the middle of the space, you would have had to shimmy sideways to get by the table, or I would have had to use a small 4 person table instead. Here are a couple photos I took during the reno.

Below, my completed hatch. Genius I tell you – GENIUS!! Worth every penny. And I love that my house, that was previously lacking any architectural feature WHATSOEVER, now has something slightly quirky, and isn’t just a straight boring wall.

For more photos, a video I made to show the hatch in action, and my new artwork, click HERE.
***UPDATE: Details of the construction and parts can be found in this post

It’s been a busy weekend so far here at casa di Kim. I should be studying for a big test coming up at work, but who wants to study when it’s beautiful outside and there’s tons of thrifting and decorating to be done? I thought I’d share with you all what I managed to get done around here and some of the things I picked up yesterday.

I FINALLY got around to painting my rattan patio set. Luckily I bought 4 cans of spray paint (Key Lime), because that’s how much it took – and it really could use a final coat. But by the end of the fourth can, my fingers were killing me. And next is to stencil the mammoth fence behind it for some added oomph.

About a week ago I went to Zone, one of my favourite home decor shops, in search of some deer heads to put on the wall above my yellow chair in the living room. It was looking a little bare with only my cuckoo clock. I couldn’t find any that would work, so instead I bought a box of magnetic plastic flowers by Umbra. Not sure that I like them, but I stuck them up anyway and I hope they grow on me, because I’ll have 25 holes to fill otherwise.

A parcel arrived from Jo last week that I was SO EXCITED about. She sent me 4 Balinese flags for my backyard, a bunch of pillow covers made from some awesome fabric she found on eBay (I’ll use them in my bedroom if I ever get around to decorating it…the pillow in 2 photos above is one of them), a bust vase and a West German pot. The box showed up totally smashed in on one corner, so I’m amazed everything made it in one piece.

Yesterday I went to pick up a framed Tretchikoff print I won on eBay the other day. Now if I could just find more of these in thrift shops around here. I haven’t figured out where she’ll be hung yet.

I also went to a thrift shop near me and found a few goodies. (I almost ended up with 2 more peacock chairs but luckily they were too big to take home). The magazine rack is in the living room (see second photo above). The glasses are so pretty, with etchings in the glass you can’t really see.

On a walk downtown last night (the rain finally let up), I found a little Asian dress shop that was open and acquired a few more trinkets.

That’s it so far….it’s still early in the day….

Because I was stuck at work well into the evening yesterday, I didn’t have time to get a post ready for this afternoon. And since I just got back from the upholsterer, I figured maybe I could get away with just posting my chairs with their new cushions I picked up. It was a bit costly, but OMG soooo worth it. She did an amazing job. Now if I can just keep the damn cats off them…

Like Jo, I have been so busy the last week or so trying to get some work done in my house. There are some exciting things coming up that involve my place and Jo’s that we’ll tell you about when we can. But in the meantime instead of doing a regular post (since I am lacking in time) I thought I’d post what I’ve been working on, and purchasing, lately.

For starters, I spent a few hours yesterday (with some help…thanks Jeff!!) putting up a forest mural in my living room. It was painstaking, and worrisome because we ended up with alot of bubbling, but this morning when I went downstairs, I was relieved to find out they pretty much all flattened out once it dried. PHEW. I love the result. It’s kind of wacky, and that’s my style. The cat on the couch is a pillow I bought on Etsy. Nah, just kidding, that’s Jo’s favourite cat Lucky.

Now for the office. Last weekend I painted the office floor-to-ceiling white. I finally said buh bye to pale blue walls, and ugly light oak hardwood. The room is SO MUCH BRIGHTER now. It gets alot of sunlight throughout the day, and with everything white, it’s just such a nice room to spend time in, as I do…ALOT. My desk was super long, so I cut it down and covered it in some eBay fabric I’ve had for a while. Jo suggested I paint the door leading to the back deck yellow, and it looks awesome. I have a ton more work to do in there but it’s a good start.

I’ve gone a little nuts lately on eBay and Etsy (and local shops) looking for trinkets and furniture to finish off some rooms with. Today I received 3 parcels, and am waiting for a bunch more. They included the pincushion chair, the resin grapes and the metal tray. The lamp I bought yesterday at a mid-century modern store here, and the table I bought last week at Value Village. It really needs a coat of paint, and I’m not sure what to do with it. I also have 2 chair cushions at an upholsterer so more photos to come hopefully later in the week.

I just got back from the flea market, which is REALLY crappy and the only one we have here. But I managed to score, big time. I think Jo and I are starting a peacock chair collection – not that either of us have room for several of these chairs in our small spaces, but when you spot a really decent quality one for TWELVE dollars, you’ve just got to scoop it up. Which is exactly what I did. I also picked up 2 terracotta buddha heads for my backyard for $10 each, a brass peacock for $5, a brass vase for $7, a West German vase for $15, and a painting for $6. All in a morning’s work.