Oiling the Plank

This is what our counter has looked like for the past week. Not only because I managed to get myself an ear infection, (what the what?!), but because they don't sell any type of proper wood finishing oil in the state of California.

On Monday, I dragged my unbalanced self to the nearby Rockler to procure Liberon Finishing Oil, the perfect oil for finishing wood counter top that will be installed around a sink. And was informed that they no longer carry it. And the website won't ship it to California. The VOC level is too high. Which is annoying, because when dry, it's food safe!

So, I spent a day trying to find an alternative and then sort of lucked into getting it. Magically. From the universe. Unfortunately, it won't be here until Wednesday. And it's supposed to rain all weekend.

So we've had this kitchen for a week and a half.

No counters, messy kitchen, sink full of dishes. The towel is protecting the wall from water.

I'd been in bed all week ignoring the intense ear pain, until it got so bad I walked into a doctors' office next to the ghetto Rite Aid and said, "I have insurance can someone look at my ear?!"

She took a look and then made a pity face at me. And then hugged me. She gave me a prescription and I filled myself with advil. And I finally feel a little better. Oh,  I had an iced coffee this morning.

I'm still walking like I'm aboard a boat, but I actually feel like eating again. Baked potato, anyone?!

Speaking of boat, here's the counter top waiting to be oiled:

John did a great job cutting it. Especially considering that nothing in our kitchen is plumb, or square or level...

Redo and flu

My husband did all of this, I was in bed with the flu. He's pretty cool.

What have I been doing?

Before...

During:

And After:

Now the real work begins...

A tisket, a tasket...

I found this amazing basket today at a thrift store! Finally, my losing streak is over! It was $12.99, but luckily was wearing a 1/2 price orange tag. So, $6.50! (Is it just me or are LA thrift store more expensive than most?)

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it...can you guess?

Here's the before:

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my little chandelier, but it was looking a bit too girly in here! If you're working in the kitchen, there's enough industrial/modern Ikea stuff to not look like The Maxi Pad. But this pic with the coral and the magenta and all that is so,..."pretty."

And, I like pretty but I need a little something,...earthier...?

So, I installed the basket as a pendant shade!

Much better! And less twee...

It just needs to be moved over to the right a tiny bit and it will be perfect! Well, that and get rid of the swirly, twirly gumdrop florescent lightbulb.

Anyone try the LED bulbs yet? Is the light pretty? Less blue and more yellow is my favorite.

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

DIY Home Sweet Home The More the Merrier Monday

ModVintage Life Mod Mix Monday

The Southern Institute Creative Me Monday

Ask Anna Weekend Warrior

be colorful motivated monday

Skip to My Lou Made By You Monday

Making the World Cuter Monday 

Inspired By Felicity Get Inspired Monday 

I Should Be Mopping the Floors Mopping it Up Monday 

You're Talking Too Much Meet Me Monday 

Get Outta My Head Please Show it Off Monday

Flour Me With Love Mix it Up Monday

Crafty Confessions Tuesday Confessional

My Uncommon Slice of Surburbia Tuesday's Treasures

Home Stories A to Z 

Our Delightful Home Show Us Wat You Got Tuesday! 

Reasons to Skip the Housework Time Out Tuesday

Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party!

Someday Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday

Rae Gun Ramblings What We Wore and Made Wednesday

The Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday

Thrifty Decorating Thrifty Thursday

No Minimalist Here Open House Party Thursday

Fireflies and Jellybeans Show Off Your Stuff

The Shabby Nest

Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself Friday

Chic on a Shoestring Flaunt it Friday

Fridays on Remodelaholic 

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

Five Days Five Ways Friday 

TaterTots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party 

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special 

Sassafras Salvation Sunday Salvation Show

Under the Table and Dreaming The Sunday Showcase

My 1929 Charmer Sunday's Best

Country Chicken, City Chicken

This delightful chicken came to me via Cost Plus World Market. I didn't mean to buy it. But my sweet Hartwell brought it to me, before he knew how to read, and said, "Mom, this says, 'open' and 'closed.'" Well, yes it does! So in a fit of pride that my son was learning to read, I bought the silly chicken.

It hangs in front of my lovely pink cabinets and whenever I want to photograph my kitchen for the blog, I have to remember to remove it. Otherwise it's a bright red scourge on my otherwise pretty picture.

But how to fix it? Or do I even bother?

Then I saw this Alpine Cutie at Beaux R'eves!
Before:

And after:

She's a genius! She just painted color over the red parts with a new color! Brilliant!

So I busted out my tiny can of paint:

And the offending chicken:

And I painted it:

Much better! I used a black sharpie to write "Kitchen is," and I kind of wish I had a nice thin paint pen instead. But who wants to run out and buy something in the middle of a project? And it could use a little blending at the edges, but it's no longer the bright red country eyesore it once was.

Also? My kitchen has been closed for a while now. It's a very convenient sign...

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

DIY Home Sweet Home The More the Merrier Monday

ModVintage Life Mod Mix Monday

The Southern Institute Creative Me Monday

Ask Anna Weekend Warrior

be colorful motivated monday

Skip to My Lou Made By You Monday

Making the World Cuter Monday 

Inspired By Felicity Get Inspired Monday 

I Should Be Mopping the Floors Mopping it Up Monday 

You're Talking Too Much Meet Me Monday 

Get Outta My Head Please Show it Off Monday

Crafty Confessions Tuesday Confessional

My Uncommon Slice of Surburbia Tuesday's Treasures

Home Stories A to Z 

Our Delightful Home Show Us Wat You Got Tuesday! 

Reasons to Skip the Housework Time Out Tuesday

Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party!

Someday Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday

Rae Gun Ramblings What We Wore and Made Wednesday

The Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday

Thrifty Decorating Thrifty Thursday

No Minimalist Here Open House Party Thursday

Fireflies and Jellybeans Show Off Your Stuff

The Shabby Nest

Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself Friday

Chic on a Shoestring Flaunt it Friday

Fridays on Remodelaholic 

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

Five Days Five Ways Friday 

TaterTots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party 

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special 

Sassafras Salvation Sunday Salvation Show

Under the Table and Dreaming The Sunday Showcase

Some Chair Over the Rainbow!

I bought this chair at a thrift store for $15. I just walked in, saw it and bought it. Didn't think it over. Didn't have a place for it. I just liked it and I drive a minivan.

 I knew I had to recover it, although the green was sort of nice.

I removed the cushion:

And found this:

So I went to my stash and got this:

Because I like rainbows:

John thought it was, "very colorful."

I decided to run the stripes diagonally. For fun!

So I pulled and stapled and pulled:

Nice, right?

But wait, there's more!

Today, at the lumber store, I bought a sample pot of paint. I taped the legs off and painted.

I thought for sure it would bleed, but it didn't!

Here's the chair, after a spray coat of poly on the legs:

And the leg up close:

And an overhead view + a Beckett:

And a Beckett in a chair! He wanted to sit on my "fancy chair."

It only took about two hours from start to finish including fabric picking and running out of staples. And now I have a pretty chair that makes me happy whenever I see it!

Which really helps in a house full of dirty laundry, Legos and weird, tiny pieces of confetti-like paper that hide in all the nooks and crannies as though my hallways were on some magical fairy parade route.

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

DIY Home Sweet Home The More the Merrier Monday

ModVintage Life Mod Mix Monday

The Southern Institute Creative Me Monday

Ask Anna Weekend Warrior

be colorful motivated monday

Skip to My Lou Made By You Monday

Making the World Cuter Monday 

Inspired By Felicity Get Inspired Monday 

I Should Be Mopping the Floors Mopping it Up Monday 

You're Talking Too Much Meet Me Monday 

Get Outta My Head Please Show it Off Monday

Crafty Confessions Tuesday Confessional

My Uncommon Slice of Surburbia Tuesday's Treasures

Home Stories A to Z 

Our Delightful Home Show Us Wat You Got Tuesday! 

Reasons to Skip the Housework Time Out Tuesday

Thrifty Home Penny Pinching Party!

Someday Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday

Rae Gun Ramblings What We Wore and Made Wednesday

The Shabby Creek Cottage Transformation Thursday

Thrifty Decorating Thrifty Thursday

No Minimalist Here Open House Party Thursday

Fireflies and Jellybeans Show Off Your Stuff

The Shabby Nest

Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself Friday

Chic on a Shoestring Flaunt it Friday

Fridays on Remodelaholic 

My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday

Five Days Five Ways Friday 

TaterTots and Jello Weekend Wrap Up Party 

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special 

Sassafras Salvation Sunday Salvation Show

Under the Table and Dreaming The Sunday Showcase

He's got the moves like Beckett.

Trying to capture a photo of Bee on a cell phone is like trying to grab light from the sky! He moves so fast! And he's very busy!

I love my buddha spice shelf. So happy and colorful.

Backsplash to the Future II: Return to Never Bland

Okay, everyone, you're right! I need to keep it simple and clean and white. I'm saving those bright colors for another place, I guess. Don't be surprised if I tile my bedroom! ("Wow, Courtney, your bedroom is very...Moroccan bathhouse?!")

After reading your comments, your very correct comments, I started on my next step, which is installing the countertop. I was looking for a video of someone installing an apron sink with a wood countertop and all the precautions one needs to take. We're installing it ourselves and it seems tricky even for carpenters!

I learned that I will have to dry fit the countertop with the cut-outs and then paint six coats of varnish on the top and bottom of the countertop. And each coat must dry 24 hours before the next coat can be applied.

So I will be countertopless for about a week.

John and I talked through all the steps:

remove sink and counter
install new sink
dry fit and cut countertop
use plywood in place of counter while we:
varnish countertop

right before countertop install:
remove backsplash tiles and faucet
install counter top
install backsplash
weep into pillow

Have I mentioned that John works all the time? He works on a TV show and his hours are crazy! He may be getting a hiatus week coming up, but usually everything has to be done on a weekend.

See the sad original tile? I've bleached and bleached and it still looks like this. But look at the soap nook! And the awesome jalousie window you can kind of make out!

So, after all that, I decided on the simplest, easiest to install tile.  I need to be able to do it myself!

Mini porcelain subway tiles! Clean, white, vintage-ish, but also modern! And cheap!

You deserve something for reading all of that, so I thought I'd show you a sink of dirty dishes! In a web-world of perfect projects and lovely homes, I thought I'd tell the truth. Which is that I'm too lazy to clean out the sink before I take a picture.

Backsplash to the Future!

This last weekend, my mom came out for a visit and I was finally able to go shopping for my kitchen! I got the Ikea birch counter tops and a white apron front sink. They are resting in a corner waiting for John and I to have time to put them in.

Then my mom wanted to go tile shopping. Since I'm installing a new sink and new countertops, my mom thought I should look at backsplashes! But I think she really wanted to look at tile for her own kitchen...

I found the one above at a fancy tile shop. Around $24/sqft. Yikes!

I found this at Home Depot for $7/sqft:

There is a slight difference but not a $17 difference!

I also thought maybe white penny tiles would be cool:

These are from modwalls in marshmallow.

John wasn't a fan, but I like how it's both vintage and modern. 

He wanted something with color. 'Cause you know what my kitchen is lacking? Color.

 So, while looking for some color for the backsplash, I found this:

Chevron! Or Herringbone?

Chevbone?

To get a good chevron pattern, I'd need a tile that was more than twice as long as it was wide. So like a 2" x 6". Try finding those in more than one color. (I did find them, for $40/sqft!)

But! Don't give up hope! I found these!

 

Individually, they look like this:

 John thought they looked too "Grecian," but they also had yellow!

It may be too much color, but it's worth a shot. It would be so fresh and fun to have a sunny backsplash!

What do you think? Should I stick with white and add pattern? Or go with color?

John's been sick and refuses to talk tile, so I'd love any input you have!!