Tag Archives: building a small home

A Few Kitchen Pics

I finally got around to taking some pictures of my kitchen. It’s a tiny little kitchen, but it’s definitely my favorite room in the house. The farmer, our cabinet guy, and I put a lot of time into designing it to be pleasing to my eye and as efficient as possible. Storage and countertop space were my biggest issues. Take a look. (Just don’t judge me for having unfinished electrical work.)

I wanted painted cabinets in an off-white, creamier color. Eugene from Whetstone Woodworks took the picture I gave him of what I was wanting and created his own color because my picture showed cabinets that were just a little bit more gray than any of the paint samples he had. He said the closest thing to it was called Biscuit. So, that’s what color I call them. Biscuit. (Why are all the paint colors in my house food names? Biscuit. Bagel. My carb-loading sub-conscious is apparently always hungry.)

The countertops are laminate, but I went with a custom edge to fancy ‘em up a little bit. More of a solid surface look without the fancy expense. It’s also very textured, which I didn’t know if I would like for cleaning purposes, but so far it’s been no problem at all. (My camera’s interpretation of the wall color is a little bit off. They’re beige, I promise. Not the ombre look of beige to orange.)

My vision for the kitchen was cabinets all the way to the ceiling and glass, paned doors. The farmer wanted them staggered. I acquiesced and we went with staggered. I’m no cabinet expert, but we went with staggered for a reason. I have no idea what it was because I stopped listening and pouted when I couldn’t have them all all the way to the ceiling. But ya know what? I’m glad the farmer reined me in because I had a spot to put a nifty little Bistro sign. The other space is going to be home to a big, wooden dairy cow I found at Hobby Lobby. I’m pretty excited about it.

There are so many things I’m glad I went with in this kitchen, but the best thing I did was put glass in the cabinet doors. Not only is it gorgeous, but it gives the illusion of space and openness. Next Saturday, all the electrical things will be finished up. There’s undermount lighting on the cabinets that’s not ready yet. I can’t wait to see it.

I also have two middle and lower big, deep drawers between the oven and fridge. Didn’t know how I would feel about using those for pots and pans rather than cabinets, but I absolutely love them. I also made sure my oven had a cookie sheet drawer underneath. (There was a lot of planning that went into this. I have a lot of stuff.) The cabinet doors on the back of the bar are all fake but one. It opens up to a hidden cabinet, per se, where I also have some space for various cookery.

Is that a word? I don’t know, but I like it!

Finally, a picture of the tile. The farmer did this. He’s really good and I’m not just bragging. He has mastered tiling. But, I have kind of a funny story. He thought laying it like this would be ugly. I said, “Just trust me. I saw it done. It’s not ugly.” One of our neighbors walked in when he was about half-way done with it and said, “Oh, I really like how that looks! I wish our tile guy had laid ours like that!”

“HA HA!!!” I said. I love it when that happens.

The Dairymaid

Finishing Work Takes Forever

The last pictures you all have seen of the house were taken before we even had sheet rock. A lot has happened since then (aka I kinda slacked off in my picture-taking.)

So, today, I have a few new ones for you.

We’ve got the sheet rock up, the ceiling textured, many of the doors up, flooring almost done, the front door stained, and we still hold on to some semblance of our sanity. I can hardly carry on a conversation at this point in time due to my mind being preoccupied with so many other things. Not more important things, just a jumbled-up mess of details and deadlines. Let me tell ya; it’s utter chaos in there. I want to get away from myself.

The farmer and I have yet to file for divorce. However, we are both a little testy from time to time with each other. We were told that if your marriage can survive through building a house together, you’re solid after that. And in all actuality, building this house together has been fun.

For me, anyway.

He’s more of the work horse. For every 3 nails he drives, I can drive one.

And it’s usually crooked.

But, I do try. I actually kind of enjoy putting all the nails in the cement board for the tile we lay. It doesn’t matter that it takes me forever because he’s usually working on something else, anyway. (If you say that fast enough, does it rhyme?)

That picture up there is him using that thingamajig to staple our hardwood. He’s had to hold some of the boards in place and ask me to man it. You have to hit the big black button on top with that hammer. It’s like a construction version of Whack-A-Mole.

I can’t raise up the hammer very high without totally missing the button on the way down.(I’m dying laughing right now out of sheer embarrassment. It’s really very sad.) So, since I don’t raise it up real high, I can’t get enough momentum to hit the button hard enough to drive the staple all the way to where it needs to be. Therefore, I am of absolutely no help to the farmer because he always has to pull the staple and somehow hold the board, hold the gun, and whack it with much more strength than I possess. All I can do (while he gives me one of his “You are unbelievable” grins and shakes his head) is shrug, put one of those teeth-bared cringing faces on, and say “Soooorrrryyyyy” in a really high, really apologetic voice and hope that he finds me somewhat irresistible.

The good thing about all this is that he’s done with the hardwood as of last night.

Here’s a picture of the color. It shows dirt like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There will be absolutely no shoes in the house. Take a look.

It’s called Tuscan Brown and I love it. I’ll love it so much more when the house isn’t under construction anymore and the only thing touching it is sock feet. And no, the interior side of the door is not going to remain mauve. I’m painting it a glossy white. That’s what all the trim in the house is going to be, too.

The color I went with on the walls is called Bagel. It called out to me and said, “You love Panera and my name is Bagel. We should be together.” I agreed. It looks yellow here because this room is very well lit with sunshine. But, it’s more of a warm khaki. Like when you pull them out of the dryer, but not after they cool off. You know…

And then that picture is just lovely because my flash went off and gave the color a very orange tone. I assure you my walls are not orange. Nor are they yellow. However, you can see the interior doors I went with. I really like ’em.

We don’t have any of the trim up yet. I started to paint on the white with a brush and hated how it looked, so we’re just going to spray it on. Brush strokes bring out the OCD in me. The carpet is being laid next Thursday, so I’m really excited about that, but we’ve got to wait a little longer on the cabinets.

I may just move in anyway. Who needs a kitchen?

Almost done but growing increasingly impatient,

The Dairymaid

Copyright. Breauna Krider. 04/19/2012

We’re Gettin’ There

Here are the latest pictures of the house.  I changed the siding color at the last minute because I’ve always been a little iffy about the clay color I was originally going to go with. I’ve found, in my decorating experience, that if I’m hesitating about something, I’m usually going to regret going ahead and doing it anyway. I’m not sorry I went with Savannah Wicker instead. It turned out gorgeous with the white trim. It’s starting to really look like the cute little cottage I had envisioned in my head. I have to do a quick little plug for RCK Construction. They’ve done such fast, exceptional work. Together with the farmer, they’ve made something tangible from my little idea and it’s everything I was thinking of. I believe I heard Ryan (our contractor) say one more week and he’s done with everything we hired him to do. After that, it’s just me and the farmer. If we don’t have any hang-ups, it’s projected that I will finally get to live with my husband again by around April 15th.

This is the front door I ordered. It was one of the more expensive things the farmer let me get away with. (I try him on every hand. Every chance I get. I get told “no” and “that’s not possible” a lot. Then I pout. ) I wanted a Craftsman-style door. I love Craftsman style houses. Tapered pillars. Rock work. Big wooden doors with glass. This door also has a little shelf that attaches right under the window. It’s darling. There’s a lot about the Craftsman style that’s very masculine. And being female, there’s something so cozy about that. Coming home to a house that wraps you up and protects you in it’s big, safe shell. Makes me think of my barrel-chested farmer and his big, strong arms.  Not to mention that the farmer and I both like this style of architecture because it seems to be the perfect blend of both our styles. He wouldn’t like that I wrote this, but the man has some decorating sense. I believe it to be so. He agrees with me 100% when I pick out things…98% of the time. And if he doesn’t like it, I tell him he has awful taste and walk away from it. Our home is filled with things we both very much like.

Back to the door,  don’t you just love the color? That beautifully awful mauve?

Don’t worry. That’s the primer color. Pink doors aren’t really my thing, but chocolate-brown ones are. It’s got a wood-grain texture, too, so it’s going to look really good once I get it painted.

Ryan threw this in for free just because he wanted to try something. He stamped our front porch and glazed? (I don’t know if that’s the correct terminology) it a really pretty brown color. It’s kinda’ dusty and dirty in this picture, but it looks really good and adds a lot more character than a plain ol’ gray cement porch could ever do. Seeing this made me want faux rock steps up to it and I think I’m gonna’ get ’em. Tee hee.

This is walking into the house through the front door. The living room starts as you walk in and that little square area with the sliding glass door is the kitchen. As you can see, it’s quite tiny. Building on is definitely in the cards for us.

Peanut’s future room.

The guest bedroom.

The bathroom.

The master bedroom. I couldnt get a full shot from the door but it goes to the left a little ways, too. It’s not as miniscule as the picture makes it look. It’s got a little alcove in the corner of wall behind the door where I’ll have a built-in bookcase.

This is the back of the house. The deck is the farmer’s favorite part of the house because he has a nice view of the pasture (read: where the deer reside.) I like this view, too, albeit for different reasons. We’re surrounded by towering pines and clear, grassy pastures that Ozark Mountains seem to just jut out of. The rugged beauty never gets old.

That’s the grand tour currently! It takes all of about 20 seconds to see the whole house.

What it’s lacking in size, though, is what it will not be lacking in cuteness.

I just can’t wait,

The Dairymaid