Laundry Room Ladder Project

Hey there!!!!!

TGIF 

I must admit to having a serious case of writers/bloggers block...and it's not for the lack of trying

I counted at least 8 drafts that I started writing and never finished posting 

in the last two weeks...hey what is up with that?

So on to my projects...

I counted at least 20 projects that I started working on and have not finished in the last two weeks...

OK is it something I ate?

But I did manage to finish one little project for the laundry/mud room area

It's a laundry ladder

Now I won't even begin to take credit for this great idea

 because I have seen this done on some other blogs and on Pinterest 

and I loved the idea

Most of the others who used this ladder idea 

suspended it from either chain or some sort of rope/pulley system 

which all looked good and worked out well.

But on my weekly trip to the hardware store 

I spotted these:

this is a turn buckle

I love these things!

and who was the genius that invented it....?

how wonderful she must be!

you may remember that I used a wire and turn buckle system to support my grape vines

if you're interested you can read more about that project here

but on to the laundry/mud room

I have a big open area which we recently renovated

 plumbing, electrical, windows, flooring doors etc etc...it started out small and grew into a monster

but I digress....lets talk about the ladder!

 Initially, I thought I would leave it the natural wood 

but then I got it up

and it looked a little to rustic and unfinished....

so it got a nice couple of coats of bright white paint

 the ceiling in this room is the original ceiling 

from a breezeway between the garage and the back door

 the walls on either side of the room are the original exterior walls of the house

so as you can imagine

 that was a huge part of the renovation too 

scraping, sanding, removing paint and glue and 

getting all of the board and batten siding into shape again 

because this is now an enclosed interior room

 once the ladder was up it needed some nice S hooks for baskets and hanging things

I purchased these from a blacksmith on Etsy

and they are really nice and beautifully made

 the turn buckle system is really solid and sturdy 

and I think it fits nicely with the vintage and somewhat modern style of this room

the lights are from Barn Light Electric 

&

the windows are Anderson

 I have a nice collection of these old English baskets 

which make great laundry baskets because they are big and really sturdy

 another of my favorite laundry "must haves" are these rolling canvas laundry carts...

they can be stacked, 

are interesting looking 

and are virtually indestructible...

and did I mention that small children like to get into these and get pushed around?

 the little laundry ladder 

will work for herb and flower drying in the summer too...so much better than the front porch

the total cost for the laundry ladder 

was around $100 dollars... 

which includes the ladder, hardware and S hooks

but you could probably do this for less if you shopped around a bit more

hope you have a beautiful and busy weekend!

( I will be in the garden )

I will share more projects and ideas soon!

cheers

Kelley

Deck Details: Before and After

 Sometimes it's hard for me to remember what this place looked like when we purchased it three years ago 

because so much has changed...

but we wanted the house to remain a simple ranch house
 and not something contrived and silly;
that is also the case with the landscaping

 The latest project involving the evolution of the landscape design is the addition of this really large deck which runs the entire length of the back of the house 

 It gives us an additional 1800 square feet of outdoor living space

 which we so needed.
The weather here is really mild for much of the year and being outside is part of the experience of living in the country

The deck has a simple railing 

which mimics the ranch fencing 

which surrounds many of the planters

 and the gravel driveway and entries 

 This is the rear of the house "before" with an enclosed porch...
when we first started thinking about what we wanted for this property in terms of surfaces we never thought about decking.... but now those two large oak trees are nestled in the center of the big redwood deck!

 This area is now the English rose 

Parterre garden area

Designing and constructing landscaping on a property this large 

with this many large protected trees is difficult...and I really believe that it takes years for a yard to mature and grow into a great landscape

There is a wonderful article in this months Veranda about Molly Chappellet and her amazing garden in the Napa Valley

If you have the magazine, read it!

I embrace her philosophy about listening to the land
 and not having some grand design that needs to be followed to the letter 

 Living on a property with 20 plus, 300 year old oak trees is really amazing...you really feel like the custodian of something wonderful and spiritual, but it's also a lot of work

 We have an arborist here about twice each year to inspect the trees,

 to trim and lace out the dead stuff

We take great care to water correctly too
because the oaks can die very quickly with water at the bases

 The two trees in the photo above were barely visible when we first saw this house.
It was a mess of over grown shrubs and ivy...
Now the oaks are healthy and clean
with the veggie beds, lavender garden and lawn surrounding them

another "before" with the dry patchy grass and weird patios, 

but it sure seemed like  it had potential to us....

a decking project this size is pretty time consuming 

and takes a good layout 

especially trying to include two huge trees into the plan

 it also takes a ton of lumber!

and finally

 here is how we delt with the trees coming through the decking...I was thinking of just a simple cut out of some sort buy my contractor came up with this
clean hexagon trim idea 

 the railing floats on the inside of the deck,

 so there are no visible bolts or screws

 I added a nice over sized landing on an angle for pots and flowers and it really helps to invite you to come on up and sit under the trees...

 the west corner of the lot has yet to be worked on but

 we have some ideas for this nice sunny spot and there is a gorgeous huge oak in that corner...actually one of my favorites on the property

this weekend we plan to work in the garden

and hopefully we will take some time

to listen to the land

happy gardening

The Kitchen Considered, Chapter 3: Going Grey

 The kitchen is moving right along...in fact it is finished!!!!
but I haven't had much time to share the details
so here we go:

Once the cabinets are installed, the majority of the
construction issues and design decisions

 have been worked out

 One of the hardest decisions I needed to make on this project is what color to paint the cabinets...do I stick with the tried and true white
or try something different?

after all it's only paint right?!

We mocked up about 6 different color ideas 

ranging from a dusty chalky white
to a really dark grey

I looked at colors from Benjamin Moore,
Restoration Hardware, Martha Stewart,
Dunn Edwards and Farrow and Ball... etc etc

who knew there are so many beautiful greys to choose from

It was interesting how the Restoration Hardware greys
almost looked purple
 next to some of the other paint companies we looked at

 In the end I chose this really nice true medium grey
 from Farrow and Ball

 called Lamp Room Grey

My 2nd choice was another Farrow and Ball color
Pavilion Grey

The walls will be painted Benjamin Moore
White Dove

There will be two types of stone used,

 Soapstone which is almost black once it's oiled 

and Carrera marble

The slabs of Carrera used for this project
are more grey, than white, which was what I was looking for

 I think the grey cabinets will be very interesting

 with the stone choices

The color on the right is Farrow and Ball
Cornforth White
which looks amazing with Carrera marble too

I will definitely use this color for another project

 Once the cabinets were installed,
 I realized that there was an opportunity to add another
large cabinet for additional pantry storage and cook books...

so we re-worked the large cabinet to the right

 I think sometimes people are hesitant to change things as the work progresses but in the end always insist on what you really want, even if it causes a delay,
because doing

 a kitchen is a huge important  project....
and you might really regret not having that little extra "thing"
you really wanted
in the end

We have really taken time with planning electrical options as well,
because I will have lamps on the floating shelves
and in the servers for ambient light....

can you guess which lamps?

 Soapstone is quarried at 3 centimeters
which is thicker than granite and marble but it is  very soft
 and can crack along the lighter grey variations in the slabs

 Often fabricators will add mesh or metal
to the back for more stability

Soapstone typically gets a simple eased edge
but can be fabricated with different ogee edges
if you like that look

 On the opposite end of the kitchen, where the table will be,
 I designed two servers and a storage bench,
which will have cushions and pillows

 The servers are topped with Carrera and have ample storage above and below for linens, party platters, candles and all of the other spill over items
that any kitchen usually has

The marble got a fancier edge detail too

I designed a center island on wheels
which will have a Carrera top as well

 Here we are with the stone installed
and the Lamproom grey color
going on the cabinets

 The big stainless farm sink is really great and
definitely
 a contemporary statement,
 but this is a modern country kitchen

I know what your thinking right now...

"why did she do stainless and not a big
Shaw's porcelain sink?"

Because it's been done over and over and over again!

I did price out doing the sink in soap stone
but there are always
 issues with drainage and leaking
 so I picked the stainless


And I love the idea of metal with this black stone

 There will be pendants above the sink
with the rest of the ceiling lighting being
semi flush with prismatic shades

a total of 11 fixtures

 A large slab of Carrera will go
behind the stove between the shelves
and the range hood is brushed stainless like the sink

When I took these photos we were on about week 5 or 6
and let me tell you
I have about had enough of microwaved casseroles for a life time...not to mention washing my dishes in the garage was starting to become sort of "normal",
how scary is that?



Hope you liked the tour!



I will share some more kitchen details on upcoming posts


happy remodeling

 kelley