Thursday, January 21, 2016

Kitchen Remodel - Part 1

So we have decided to dive in and completely gut our kitchen.  Great timing, right?  New baby, check.  Needy dog, check.  Starting to get cold outstide?  Check.  Let’s demo the most used room in our house.  We are crazy people.

Before we could demo, I had to find some inspiration.  I have always loved a bright, white kitchen, so I knew we would be going with white cabinets, but the style has been a little bit of a struggle.  My husband is pretty conservative and traditional in his taste, and I would be happy with super high gloss modern cabs.  But since our house is more traditional in style, I think we are leaning with a good in-between, the Shaker.  We also knew from the beginning that we would probably be going with Ikea for the cabinets.  The price is incredible and the reviews are pretty awesome.  For where we are in our lives, they fit the bill.  The only issue is the design process – I’ve been playing on their online design program for weeks, and while it is frustrating, I think we’ve got it all figured out…hopefully.


Anways, time to get inspired and hopefully see this horrible 1965 original kitchen turn into something great.


Here is our current kitchen.  Notice the lack of knobs (and please ignore all the stuff, trying to clean out currently) - they are all plastic and fall off constantly, and if I don’t grab them quickly enough they usually are snatched by the dog.  Also, the drawers, or lack of.  I think we have 5 total with nails and bottoms falling off.  The oven is original and actually worked when we first moved in, but now heats up to whatever it feels like and so baking is pretty much impossible.   


Oh and did I mention how crazy dark it is??  And there's an off-center ceiling fan!  Ooooh Ahh.


And now for some less depressing more inspiring photos.  Shaker style cabinets with bright hardware, I think we will most likely go with a chrome finish.  And how wonderful is that bar bench??

photo from Caitlin Creer Interiors

I love the herringbone pattern made with the subway tiles….I wonder how hard that would be to install...

photo from Apartment Therapy

One thing I am definitely incorporating in the new kitchen is framed recipes.  I am lucky enough to have all of my Grandmother’s handwritten books and box of recipe cards and cannot wait to showcase them in my kitchen.

photo from Vintage Pretties

All that is left is to finish designing our new layout and we will be off!  Wish us luck :)

Monday, January 4, 2016

Happy New Year!

Whew!  We made it through the end of 2015 and I am so excited to get this new year started.  I thought I would round up my favorite items I customized for clients this holiday season.  Enjoy!

Christmas jumper!

LOVE the navy gingham and kelly green combo.  LOVE!

Classic white thread on the white hemstitched towel. 
How cool is this camo and orange monogram??  I need to use this font more often!  

Black on red, great contrast for this koozie.

Royal blue appliqué in the "Fretwork" monogram style

White embroidery on navy towels, so crisp and clean

Two color "Barbour" monogram in brown and royal blue

Metallic gold and black - so sparkly!

I adore blue for baby girls!  This appliqué is the hot pink on navy gingham.
My clients have the most creative minds out there!  I love making their unique items.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

New Stuff and a Shop Update

It's no secret that this blog as well as my Etsy shop have been vacationing for quite a while now, but no worries, I shall return, and with that return new products will arrive!  My new plan is to reopen the shop early this fall with a new streamlined look and more focused products.  While Etsy makes it a little difficult to customize your shop online, I've decided to dive deep into photographing my products and learn a little more about my camera and the process that makes good product photos really great.

I've also been shopping for new products and taking a hard look at the sales data from these past couple of years.  Studying your customers is a great way to improve business, and my customers love shopping for babies and their own weddings.  So needless to say, there will be many more items in both of those categories.  It's hard to set yourself apart from all the millions of shopping options out there, and price is a huge reason a customer may pick you (or not), and now more than ever it's hard to decide how much my time is worth.

I'm hopeful that beautiful products plus good great photography and fair pricing will put me back in the retail game I once had.  Here are a few things to come...

Soft cotton plaid baby blankets

Cotton flannel receiving blankets with soft oatmeal dots - one of my favs!

In love with these cotton herringbone blankets in soft hues.



New thread colors!  I'm really pumped for the neons.

New 2 initial monogram.  Ready to do this one with some bright colors!

I'm loving traditional letters with fun borders.  Hand towels, definitely embroidering this on hand towels.