Have you ever noticed how when people gather together, everyone generally gravitates to the kitchen? It's the place where family and friends relax and enjoy good food and quality time together. I think it is a tradition that is universal.
Curtis and I love to entertain! We look for any excuse to throw a party. We enjoy celebrating all holidays, including what we and our best friends the Rammells call the B-Holidays. These B-Holidays are those less appreciated holidays like St. Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo, National Donut Day/Last Day of School, Winter Solstice, etc. This year we even added Chinese New Year to the list. For these celebrations we cook all the traditional foods, enjoy the music, and provide any other experiences that are essential to the holiday. To be honest, it's just another reason to create traditions that our family and friends can enjoy together.
The first time we saw this kitchen, we knew it would be perfect for all our celebrations!
Standing at the kitchen sink, I saw a forest of evergreens, fruit trees, and lilacs, a pond, a couple of charming outbuildings, acres of lawn and an amazing old red barn. My past three kitchen sink views were all very different from this, but each had it's advantages. My most recent kitchen sink view was of the street, which enabled me to be the Gladys Kravitz of the neighborhood. You Millennials will have to Google her! Previous to that, my kitchen sink view was of my driveway. I loved it because I could keep an eye on my little boys riding their scooters and playing basketball. My kitchen sink view before that gave me a view of a wall about 12" from the tip of my nose. The only advantage to this was that doing dishes was so boring, I did them quickly. I could only imagine how incredible a kitchen sink view like this would be!
Not only was the view fantastic, so were the amenities. The stainless steel appliances were all Thermador, including a large refrigerator, additional double drawer refrigerator, double ovens, warming drawer, large gas range with seven burners, large hood, and two dishwashers. Even with the amazing space and appliances, it required imagination to see the space for what it could be.
The lighting was a sampling of every type and era of fixtures: black trimmed recessed lights, contemporary and 1980's fans, pendants and chandeliers, as well yards of cable lighting strung to and fro.
The Wood Trim: To Paint or Not to Paint
One of the first decisions we made was to paint ALL the wood trim, windows, and doors in the house. We chose Sherwin Williams Pure White in Semi-gloss. There were lots of worn places that required patching, sanding, and priming.
This is probably a good time to emphasize the importance of getting multiple bids and recommendations from people you trust. We received three bids, two of them coming in very close to each other and with similar referrals. The third bid came from another local painter also with good references, but his bid was three times higher! NO THANKS! We had too many places to spend our money.
Because we were on a tight timeline, the painters we chose were willing to split the work and paint simultaneously. Jose Morales and his crew did the entire main floor, the great room and master bedroom and bath on the second floor. Spenser Hansen and crew painted the basement, including the family room, two bedrooms, and a playroom. Needless to say, since that first 8 week blitz, Curtis painted everything else, including all the kitchen cabinets, laundry room/bathroom, office, guest bathroom, and the three old farmhouse attic rooms and hallway. I'm happy to give out cell numbers for these fine gentlemen. . . all but Curtis's, he's BUSY!
Choosing the Wall Color
I find choosing paint colors SO STRESSFUL! However, this is how we did it, and it really helped us feel confident in our final decision. We knew we wanted to have a very neutral color palate throughout the house. Because of the continuous walls through adjoining rooms, we had to see how the natural and artificial light would affect the color both day and night. First, we narrowed down our choices to three colors. Second, we had samples of each color made. I think they were $7 a bottle, but well worth making the right choice! Third, we painted 6" square, wooden sample boards with each color. We would move these around the house at different times, under different light. Finally, when we had chosen the color, we painted about 8" square sections all around the rooms where the paint would go and watched it for a few more days to make sure we liked it in all lighting. We ultimately chose Sherwin Williams Reflection in eggshell finish.
Note: You can see one such sample spot on the left of the picture above.
Opening Another Doorway to the Old Farmhouse
Like I mentioned before, the original 1911 farmhouse had been closed off like a time capsule from the 2006 addition. We made the decision to open an additional doorway. This was one of the BEST decisions we've made in our quest to marry the two vastly different homes. Beefing up the beams in the ceiling in order to remove the awkward post in the right of the picture below was a close second for BEST decisions!
Below is the before view from the farmhouse dining room. We believe the bookcase to the right of the built-in hutch was added at some point to cover a doorway that led to a back porch. We removed the bookcase to create the new doorway.
We decided to frame in the space between the two doorways, which previously had just boxed in the old chimney. As much as we wanted to expose the old brick chimney, we wanted to achieve a sense of symmetry and provide a place to mount a TV.
Lighting
Thomas Edison said, "When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't." This is SO true of our experience remodeling! Lighting can make or break a design, both in utility and appearance. Our main goal when it came to the lighting was to replace the recessed lights with white LED trims. We took down the cable lighting, a large ceiling fan, a chandelier, and chrome pendants, both in the pantry and over the bar. We wanted the pendant lights over the bar to steal the show and the new recessed lights to be the quiet supporting cast.
The four Sherman Pendants were ordered on Birch Lane for $596, and I think, worth every penny. I love the two pantry pendants called Clarice Mini Pendants because they look like wire egg baskets. They too, were from Birch Lane $198.
All the recessed lights were ordered from Home Depot. We wanted a daylight white appearance and installed dimmers on most of the switches. I learned that LED means 50,000 hours of maintenance free use. WOW! At 8 hours a day, which is an excessive estimate, my lights will last for over 17 years without changing a lightbulb. Well worth it! They were the EnviroLite Standard Retrofit 4 in. White Recessed Trim Day LED Ceiling Light . Because we have needed so many, we ordered them by the case, sometimes in 30 count and other times in 18. Ordering by the case saved money, they were only $17.48 a piece. To date we have replaced or added 66 of these lights to Pheasant Run.
Holy Shiplap
If you have a Modern Farmhouse, don't you have to incorporate shiplap? It adds such a cool texture, so I say "YES!" I have to wonder though if in 40 years it will be looked at the same as wood paneling from the 70's is today? Hmmm?
We went with the MDF shiplap, which is very smooth, square and easy to work with. At least Kevin Hardy, owner of The Final Touch prefers to work with it over the more rustic and rough variety. Kevin is a perfectionist and his finish work is impeccable!
We added shiplap to the wall between the doors into the dining room, wrapped the two columns at the end of the buffet counter, and underneath both islands. Kevin also suggested the classic barn door "X" at the end of the bar, which I love!
Painting the Kitchen Cabinets
Speaking of perfectionists, I'm married to one...especially when it comes to painting. Initially, we had Jose paint the cabinets with latex and within a few days Curtis regretted it. About a year before we decided to move, Curtis had painted our hickory kitchen cabinets in our old house. He had researched the various options from high quality latex to oil base to lacquer, and had ultimately settled on lacquer for is hardness and durability. We were VERY pleased with the results. Below is a picture of those cabinets.
Thus began the ugly process of stripping, sanding and preparing the freshly painted cupboard doors for a fresh coat of lacquer. Curtis decided to make all new drawer faces rather than strip and sand the old. Once the cabinets were resprayed, we were both super happy with them.
Cabinet and Drawer Pulls
We bought our hardware at Johnson Brothers in Idaho Falls. I've always found them to be very friendly, knowledgeable and generally enjoyable to work with. 25 years ago when we first moved back to Idaho Falls and were restoring our 1920's bungalow, I would go with my father in law, DW, to Johnson Brothers. They would always call him by name and let us go back into the warehouse and hand pick our lumber. They still have that hometown feeling I love, and I prefer to shop locally whenever I can.
We chose an oil rubbed bronze finish, so as to stand out on the white cabinets.
Tile Backsplash
Choosing the tile for the stove backsplash was an easy choice for me. I have loved this hexagon Carrara tile for a long time and waited for the perfect place to use it. We wanted to stay in the neutral color pallet, but still wanted an additional element of texture. My second choice was the small herringbone Carrara tiles, but I had big herringbone plans for the pantry floor. Installation was tedious and one of many labors of love by the hubby. Special thanks to my sister Jill Jones for taking one for the team and being Curtis's assistant. Her stellar math skills definitely came in handy! This tile was ordered through Marshall's Tile right here in Idaho Falls. They have been great to work with for over 20 years.
The Butler's Pantry
How cool is a butler's pantry?! Although it was completely under utilized when we found it. It was lined with shallow pressboard shelving, a large, wall hung utility sink, washer and dryer hookups and absolutely NO countertop. The floor was a variety of different porcelain tiles. The lighting was a bar of three pendants that was oversized for the space and hung too low. Strangest thing of all, a laundry chute that came from the great room upstairs. BTW, we are leaving the laundry chute! It's a great shelf for my cookbooks but I'm mostly looking forward to our new little grandsons someday dropping stuff down and running to see where it comes out!
We basically gutted the pantry and started over. I wanted countertop space for my toaster, can opener, and two Kitchen Aid mixers. We had a basic, paint grade cabinet built to fit along the back wall with space for the utility sink. We had saved the metal and glass cabinet that was above the stove and rehung it in the pantry, high enough to mount the microwave below it. Then Curtis got to work laying a gray ceramic tile that we actually found at Lowe's on a steal of a deal. Only problem was that the tiles were 12"x 24" and each one had to first be cut in half lengthwise to 6" x 24" and then the sharp cut edge sanded with a honing stone. It was a tedious job (for Curtis) but I absolutely LOVE the results!
When he finally finished, I knew I better wait a few weeks before I let him know I also wanted it in my office and laundry room. "Herringbone" has become a bad word that I try and avoid.
Granite
The pantry granite is called Rockus and was purchased by Curtis from Rock Solid Granite and Tile long before he even knew where he was going to put it. It was cut from the bottom of a river and there was only one partial slab. Lucky for Curtis, it looks pretty cool in the pantry.
Granite, cont.
One of Curtis's favorite places is Rock Solid Granite and Tile. He loves to walk the warehouse looking at all the granite slabs. It took several visits before we finally settled on a granite for the kitchen. Their inventory is constantly changing, so it helps to frequent the warehouse. We chose a piece called Paridiso, both for the colors and for the large patterns of movement. Fortunately there was enough for the buffet counter, the island, and the countertop under the back windows. They were quick to get out to measure and send us the bid, and the installation crew worked together like a well oiled machine. When they were finished, we couldn't believe how beautiful it was!
We decided to go with the Metallic Gray, Undermount Granite Composite for all three sinks. They are much quieter than the stainless steel and easier to maintain that porcelain. All were purchased through Rock Solid.
Home renovations are similar to life's challenges; sometimes overwhelming, daunting, and not knowing the end from the beginning. Success comes when we take one step at a time, allowing the design to unfold. The process is exciting and it's most important to find joy in the Journey.
Thanks again to the lovely Leah Stallings for the beautiful images of our kitchen and for brightening up every space she enters!
P.S.
This picture captures the essence of Curtis. He is ALWAYS thinking.....creating, designing, planning, troubleshooting. It's one of his many qualities I love so much! #mythinkingman
