Archive for the ‘kitchen’ Category

Roller Boogie

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

The kitchen has been begging for some window treatments. ENJE to the rescue!

I bought the dark gray version of the ENJE roller shade from Ikea and installed in the window above the kitchen sink. It gives some privacy, lets in light, and was super easy to install.


*Before & After

Above is the before and after. One issue I’m running into is the length of the metal chain. Its too long for the window and rests in a puddle on the counter top…getting in the way when I wash dishes.

And YES, the shade is a little boring. I’m just not ready to commit to a big graphic pattern or something to trendy, and I just am so bored dealing with this whole window treatment situation. Stupid naked windows.

I also bought another gray ENJE roller shade to go in the larger double window. This window is weirdly sized, so I bought the shade a little large and plan to cut it down to be a custom size. I experimented with cutting a small ENJE curtain and found that the best way to DIY is to use a chop saw with a fine metal blade – it cuts it really straight, but sparks like crazy. If you wet down the shade where your cut will go, it keeps the blade from burning or searing the edges of the curtain fabric.

I both hate and love Ikea.

FILED UNDER: after, before, kitchen, windows

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Kitchen table

Monday, May 26th, 2008

The kitchen got a new little table from Ikea.

I really like it. Its small, stable, and matches the chunkiness of the molding. A great little table overall – especially for two.

I really hate to break away from vintage with furniture and especially hate when someone goes “Oh that’s from IKEA!” Sometimes you got to admit that the big yellow and blue has well priced solutions for everyday living. If I find something better I’ll just use this table for the patio.

The kitchen also needs window coverings and I want to restore and recover my pair of Knoll executive armless chairs. The foam is falling apart and the original fabric is stained and worn out. What color though? I kind of dig the orange…

Should I do long curtains, roller blinds, or maybe a half curtain by the table and above the sink? Choices, choices. Window coverings have always given me LOTS of trouble.

We also started painting all the vents (this one is in the kitchen). They all looked pretty shabby after the new white paint so we used Rustoleum white high gloss spray paint. It makes a subtle but HUGE difference. The spaces feel cleaner and a lot more finished with that little touch.

FILED UNDER: kitchen

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Moulding

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

This past weekend we installed new moulding in the kitchen and bathroom to replace the cheap vinyl commercial-grade sticky moulding that the previous owners installed. We also painted everything bright white. Lot and lots of painting has been happening…

Before moulding:



And after:



We also started installing moulding in the pink bathroom, but haven’t quite finished. It needs to wrap around the built-ins and the walls need to be patched, sanded and then painted. More goddamn paint.

Before:

After:



The plug of doom got a mini makeover with electrical tape and an adapter and now we were able to bring in the fridge (finally) from the garage. It looks so weird! It also makes the kitchen feel tiny. I’m not sure what to do…we might need to get an older fridge to match the style of the cabinets and stove. Just as I thought we were getting somewhere with the kitchen, curses!

FILED UNDER: bathroom, DIY, kitchen

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