drop it like it’s hot

Danaabout us, bakery, cake, engagement, industrial, kitchen, planning, wedding invitations 9 Comments

It’s official! We’re getting married!

Yeah it’s been official for awhile but it’s really, really offic now because we dropped 100 wedding invitations in the mail. They are on their way to mailboxes all over the country.

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And even one to Japan! (As if I have to prove it.)

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This is happening!

It’s go-time now with just a few months left of planning. The engagement period sure has flown by. Although we’ve been engaged since April, we didn’t start planning until September so I guess that’s why.

But you know what has been our hands down favorite part of wedding planning?

Cake tasting. Duh.

carrot cake

Over the holidays, we visited a local bakery and sampled flavor after flavor of divine cake. We ultimately settled on the rich and buttery pound cake but it was a tough choice!

pound cake

swan pastries

canolli

We took home lots of samples. Trust me when I say none of this went to waste. What wedding dress?

let them eat cake

Ryan and I had a fun time touring the bakery’s kitchen.

Ryan

whisks

Of course I saw these industrial sized whisks and imagined them repurposed into pendant lights. But that’s just me.

industrial whisks

Has this post made you hungry now too?

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May 29, 2012home

lighting up

Danagalvanized, kitchen, lighting, trash to treasure 9 Comments

Hello there! I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend and got some R&R. We took a little time off from our never-ending to-do list. Opening up a store, no matter the size, certainly can occupy your time. Believe me. There are friends I haven’t spoken to in weeks since I signed the lease. (Sorry guys.) And all of our fun house projects have gone to the wayside.

Until last week.

We squeaked in one lighting project that has been on my wish list for the last year since we moved in. I have shared very few pictures of our kitchen on the blog. (Not to be confused with the beach house kitchen and the nearly famous pallet backsplash that is one of the most read posts here.) Our full-time home is a 1949 Cape Cod with the original kitchen in place for the most part. I love that no one gutted it in the last 60 years. It has all of the charm of the original kitchen with some modernizations in paint and appliances. Over the sink was a nondescript fluorescent light. Eww. I never liked it and visualized cute pendant lights since the day we moved in.

Back in December, I picked up a few perfectly old galvanized funnels. I knew these would make fabulous light fixtures for the kitchen. They did some moonlighting as a junky Christmas tree first and then sat in a box for a few months.

Now they hang proudly and illuminate the sink and counter.

Ryan flexed his electrical skills by wiring the 3 lights into the power source. I may or may not have stood in the sink holding up the entire fixture while he hooked it up. Now that you have a visual, don’t try that at home, ok?

Prior to the electrical stuff, Ryan constructed the base of the light fixture out of a pine board and mapped out where each pendant would hang. I should probably just change the name of this blog to Circa R, huh? I guess that would actually be Circa Are.

Anyway, once the light fixture was properly wired in we had really cool industrial lighting!

I love the subtle, faded graphics on the funnels.

And here’s how they look when not illuminated. Yes, you’re looking into the sunroom and backyard.

Swoon.

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Linking to Met Monday, Get Outta My Head, Restore Interiors

February 3, 2012home

backsplash follow up part 2: pallet wood

Danabeach house, diy, kitchen, reclaimed, salvage, trash to treasure 8 Comments

Let’s discuss the controversial pallet wood backsplash, shall we?

I’m totally in love with it as are many of you based on the sweet comments I’ve received. But I also got a ton of questions about how practical it is. Let’s see if I can overcome your objections!

Several were concerned with its cleanability after a deep fry. How will grease be removed? Fortunately (for the backsplash and our health), we don’t fry much so I’m over that issue. If you decide to replicate this look in your house, you can easily treat and seal the wood with varathane. We like the look of raw weathered wood in this particular kitchen. And you can take a soapy rag to it if necessary.

Let me take a minute to remind you that this is not our primary kitchen. This makeover was completed in a beach house where the kitchen gets little use in comparison to our everyday kitchen. We tend to use the grill more. We certainly do prep work on the counters but overall wear and tear to the galley is minimal. While I love the transformation, I’m not sure that I would do it in our primary kitchen that gets a ton of use.

And for the most controversial topic that was commented on…I’ve read quite a bit of hubub on the internet about the safety of pallet wood. Or lack there of. The concern being whether pallet wood is heat-treated or chemical treated as a shipping pallet. Chemical treated being most dangerous. Pallets are supposed to be stamped with this information. Fortunately, we do know a little bit of back story on the pallets we used and where they came from. I am not going to pretend we know its entire life story as if the wood could speak. “I was born on a cold winter morning in a manufacturing facility in Newark.” No.

I soaked the wood in an ammonia based cleanser and scrubbed prior to use for my own piece of mind. Research that I’ve done on the potential hazards of wood pallets seems to be published by plastic manufacturers as in plastic pallet manufacturers so I have to question the source and how much of a sales tactic it is. At any rate, I am quite comfortable with the pallet wood on the wall. I do not plan to eat off of it and there are no small children in the house. Plus the counter goes up the wall about 6 inches so if food were to lean against the backsplash it would most likely touch the counter. Anyway, this is our choice and it may not be kosher with others but that’s life! We are comfortable with this decision as I am sure there are many other potential hazards we encounter everyday in and around our home.

This reminds me…our headboard in the same house is made of an old reclaimed door. Yes, as in lead paint. We’re ok with that. We took necessary pre-cautions.

If you really like the look of the backsplash but are not comfortable using pallet wood, you can certainly buy new wood. We desired the aged and weathered look of the pallets. Plus we like recycling. I will also suggest using slate as your backsplash. Many readers thought the wood was actually slate at first glance so you could achieve the same rustic look that way…and maybe fool people into thinking it is pallet wood! It will obviously cost you more than FREE though.

And another reader was worried about the wood having room to expand. I’m on top of that Rose. There are little spaces between the wood. See?

We take risks everyday. That’s life. What you bring into your home is your choice. You have to find comfort in the materials you use to decorate and introduce to your family. The vintage chair you picked up on consignment last week, you don’t know where that came from. We choose to recycle and repurpose instead of constantly buying new. It keeps things out of those pesky landfills. And we like the eclectic style that recycling allows. Bottom line: Trust your gut when reclaiming materials for your home.

Did you miss the follow up on the laminate cabinets in the kitchen?

February 1, 2012home

backsplash follow up part 1: cabinets

Danabeach house, diy, kitchen, painting 10 Comments

I’ve been putting this post off for a couple of weeks now. Today seemed as good a day as any to address your questions, comments & concerns about the now-famous pallet wood backsplash & cabinet update. Ok maybe it is only famous in my small little world but humor me, will ya? It has certainly gotten a run around the diy blogs and pinterest. Without further procrastination, the details…

Let’s start with the cabinet makeover…

Yes, those are laminate veneer cabinet doors that we painted.

How? So many of you asked. First, we primed them. The best option for painting laminate is to start with an oil based primer. Kate at Centsational Girl posted details about how to successfully do this. We may or may not have used oil based primer. Ok, we didn’t and so far so good. The biggest complaint you’ve all had about using latex based primer or paint on laminate is that it rolls or peels off. I suppose that could happen to our cabinets but they cured for about a month with no use which helps. That brings me to my next point…

The hanging cabinets are actually wood. Only the hideous cabinet doors are wood veneer. Therefore, the doors could always be removed and upgraded without hanging new cabinets. I’d like to think we’ll get a good couple of years out of the current paint job. We also only painted the front and sides of the doors so the painted laminate is not “sticking” to another painted surface which would occur if the back sides of the doors were painted, if that makes sense.

In my last house, I had almost the exact same cabinets and I also painted the laminate cabinet fronts. I used a Behr metallic paint and it held up for years. I dug up an old pic to give you an idea of how it looked. (I added Anthropologie hardware for a whimsical look.) I never had an issue with the paint peeling. Perhaps because of the metallic consistency but I believe it is because the painted laminate surface didn’t come in contact with another painted surface. But if you want to avoid the guessing when painting laminate, use oil based primer.

That reminds me. We could always remove the doors completely and go with the whole open shelf look. More than a couple of readers suggested that after seeing the in progress photo. I am a fan of the open shelf look but in moderation. Like 2 open shelves, not a dozen so I doubt we’ll do that but I will keep it in mind.

People also asked about the painting technique…spraying vs. rolling vs. brushing. I don’t own a paint sprayer. I am actually kind of intimidated by them. I can only imagine the paint all spraying back in my face or something. I like to have more control over the application so the first coat was applied with a brush and the second coat was rolled on which left a nice texture that I think is also helping with adhesion.

The color for the cabinets is Benjamin Moore Woodmont Cream.

And finally, yes, I am considering cabinet hardware but I’m not committed to it.

I hope that answers everyone’s questions about painting laminate veneer cabinets. Bottom line: use oil based primer. Next installment will be about the pallet wood. Stay tuned!

January 3, 2012home

paint n pallet

Danabeach house, before and after, coastal, diy, kitchen, trash to treasure, Wilson 51 Comments

Hi friends! Are you all back in full swing after the holidays? I am just about there. Not quite but just about. Last week while many of you were relaxing in your pj’s and drinking egg nog, I was getting a ton of work done…my day job, my night job - the blog, house projects and more. Therefore I spent yesterday in sweats putting away Christmas decorations which was surprisingly less depressing than usual; snuggling my snoring puppy; catching up on blogs; and watching a Sex and the City marathon which made me feel old since I watched these episodes all throughout college. I tend to still think of college as just a couple of years ago but I guess a decade is longer than just a couple of years ago! Hmmph. Anywho, it was a perfectly uneventful day off after non-stop busyness.

There’s Wilson snuggling his Christmas present from his girlfriend. She’s a bulldog and he’s been exhausted ever since their romp on the beach a few days ago. Oh, puppy love.

Moving right along…today I have a before and after reveal for you that I am super excited about! Here’s a glimpse at the after…

Last week we spent some time focusing on the dated galley kitchen in Cape May. The cabinets, appliances, countertop and backsplash were all very late 80′s style but in excellent condition from little use over the years. It is like no one ever used the kitchen in this old beach house ’til we got here. With that said, we just couldn’t justify a full reno nor was it in the budget. Here’s the awful before…

We found a couple of ways to transform this galley to become the rustic coastal kitchen that the beach house (and us) deserves.

Starting with the backsplash…the original was a sheet of plastic. So 1988. In the photo above it looks like drywall but it is actually waterproof. This turned out to be a great base for the new reclaimed wood backsplash. Would you believe it if I told you that reclaimed wood is an old shipping pallet? For more details on the pallet wood, click here.

True story and I love it! Ryan took a weathered oak pallet board apart and cut them into 18 inch segments. He laid them out to play with the configurations and I scrubbed them clean. I actually bathed them in the bathtub. Weird but totally worth it.

The bf adhered the wood backsplash to the plastic walls with liquid nails. He mixed up the light and dark colors and stained and plain in the layout to give lots of texture to the wall.

Then it was time to give the cabinets a makeover. We removed all of the doors and primed the wood veneer. I couldn’t wait to kiss the 1980′s builder grade cabinets goodbye! Isn’t it crazy how much of a disaster zone a little project can become?

We chose Benjamin Moore’s Woodmont Cream for the cabinets to brighten up the space.

It worked. Two coats and they’re like new and so. much. brighter. For more details on how we painted the laminate cabinets, click here.

And I’ll tell you what, with this new look in the kitchen I like the old school appliances. I might even call them vintage, with love.

I couldn’t be happier with the end result.

Would you believe this transformation only cost about $60? The cost of paint, primer and liquid nails plus our time planning and labor.

Did I mention the pallets were free? Trash to treasure baby!

Linking to:

December 20, 2011home

my Christmas home tour

DanaChristmas, collection, dining room, friends, house tour, kitchen, living room, mantel, sunroom, Wilson 3 Comments

Christmas…just 5 days away.

If you read other home design and vintage blogs, you may have noticed that everyone has been posting their own version of their Christmas home tour. In my attempt to keep up with the Joneses of the blog world, I had planned to post my holiday decor house tour 10 days before Christmas. You would think that wouldn’t be too difficult considering the place has been decorated for Christmas since about Thanksgiving. Well, that self-inflicted deadline came and went. Over the weekend, I tidied the place up with the intent to photograph each room and get the aforementioned post up on Monday. Yesterday. That didn’t happen either.

A co-worker once told me “life happens while you’re making plans”. So true.

Without further adieu, photos of life happening in our home decorated for Christmas. No staging. Or bright natural light that I was holding out for…

Most of our friends come in the back door and enter the sunroom. They’re greeted by a table top tree made of bells and some white pine from the yard.

The sunroom leads to the kitchen. No matter the house, everyone always seems to gather in the kitchen. Am I right?

And this time there is a sing along in progress with our friends children.

A little girl sings along in her party dress.

Overnight guests hang out in matching PJs.

Let’s leave the jam session and check out the dining room where snacks and a game of Apples to Apples were just abandoned. There is our Fraser fir tree centered in front of the window.