Schoolhouse Style Light Fixtures

Ever since I fell in love with Schoolhouse Electric's lights, I've been convinced that I MUST put a schoolhouse style semi flush mount fixture in the kitchen. And I'm still convinced. I found quite a few cute and more affordable knockoffs on the internet. Wayfair has this guy for a little over $80. Apparently Wayfair HAD a schoolhouse fixture, but it appears to be gone. Sooo never mind that. 

Many sites have options that are closer to Schoolhouse's prices - $120 to $200.

Restoration Hardware $199

Rejuvenation $124

I also found this one from Home Depot for a bit over $50:

Home Depot $52.20

I figured that would be my best choice. Although it's not as cute as the Wayfair option (which I couldn't show you because it's GONE!), it's a bit bigger which may fit better in the space, it's $30 cheaper, and it's sold by Home Depot which has a brick and mortar presence in my area - that means easy returns if it doesn't work out. I don't want to have to return ship something that is breakable.

Since I have been storing the enamel paint (that I'm planning to use to mimic the stripes on the fixture below) in my closet for awhile, I decided to order the Home Depot fixture and get started on this project.

Schoolhouse Electric $185

It's taken me months to make a decision on this. Ha. I've been considering attempting to copy the globe with the gray stripes below instead of the multi-colored stripes.

Schoolhouse Electric Gray Stripes

Another thought is that I could paint light green stripes in the same style as the gray globe (thicker stripes). What do you think? Here's a photoshop mock up of what I'm thinking:

Photoshopped by Me

But now that I see the green, I don't really like it. So maybe blue will work:

Photoshopped by Me

I like the blue better. Here are some photos of the current kitchen light so you can see what I'm replacing:

Current Kitchen Light

Current Kitchen Light Fixture

Here's a terrrrible photoshop job of what it might sort of look like (ha ha!):

Poorly Photoshopped Kitchen Light

After seeing that I'm thinking it's going to be very smart indeed to buy a light fixture that I could return to Home Depot. Because I have no clue how this is going to turn out!

A Little Sink Update

Last week I finally caulked around the sink in the kitchen. I just never got around to it before. I used GE Silicone Caulk in Clear.

I used scissors to cut off the tip. 

Here's the cut off bit of the tip to give you an idea as to how much I cut off. You can cut off more or less depending on how big you want the bead of caulk to be.

Here's the sink pre-caulking.

I did one edge at a time, squeezing the caulk out in a line and then smoothing it in with my finger. Then I wiped up the excess from the countertop and the sink edge with a paper towel. It's really sticky stuff. 

Here's the sink after I was finished. You can see the faint line of caulk. 

I still haven't caulked around the faucet. I wonder if I'm supposed to do that too...hmm.

Stick 'Em Up!

Another title for this article could very well be, "How Grouting Actually Can Help a Bad Tile Job." 

I actually finished grouting one of the kitchen backsplash walls! (I haven't even started on the other wall. But let's not concentrate on that!) Here's the wall with all of the tiles finally in place. 

It took me a loooong time to get all of the tiles cut. That was partially my fault for measuring incorrectly (or at least writing down my measurements improperly) and partially the fault of a poor tile cutter at Lowe's. I ended up taking the tiles back to the guy in my boyfriend's city who knows how to cut tile. 

This project has been dragging on since the beginning of December. I am not exactly speedy at this home renovations stuff. That's right - almost five months. Ha ha!

Here's the grout on the float ready to go. I figured out that the reason this part took me so long (besides having to go back and forth from Lowe's over the course of months to get the tiles cut) was because I was really nervous to do this part. I didn't realize it until I was about to start. 

Eventually I started to get the hang of it. I would smoosh the grout into the tile with the grout float, then I would drag it around at a 40 degree angle, and then I would scrape it off at a 90 degree angle. Not too bad. I wasn't very good at getting the majority of the grout scraped off. This is where my less than perfect tile job came into play. It is difficult to scrape off the grout at a 90 degree angle and not remove grout from uneven tiles. That's probably why you hear people say there's no cure to a bad tile job. But! I wouldn't buy it. I am just scrappy like that. So I did my best and the rest I buffed off with a sponge and paper towels. 

TEC Invision 6.5 Lbs. White Sanded Premixed Grout

I used white grout to match the white tiles. I debated using a dark grout, but I decided that white on white would hide my mistakes better. I was right. I used a premixed grout for convenience since I live in a condo building and it's such a small space. I don't exactly keep a bucket on hand for mixing up grout. It was more expensive, but I think it was worth it. Plus, I didn't have much space to tile, so I only had to buy one bucket. The grout I used actually gets terrible reviews online. But heck, what do I know? It seems fine to me. The grout looks almost gray but it dries pretty white.

In the picture below you can see where I actually missed a few spots around the outlet. I went back and filled those in (whoops). Yea, I'm just a professional through and through.

Here's the whole wall for a better look.

Here's another spot where the tile wasn't cut perfectly.

See how the gap underneath the outlet between the two tiles is wider than in other places? That's because I probably didn't measure accurately, or the tile wasn't cut perfectly (it's difficult to cut tile perfectly, so I've seen). The grout really seemed to clean up spots like this. They just weren't as noticeable as they were pre-grouting. Also, the overall unevenness of my relatively cruddy tile job wasn't as noticeable once the grout was in place. Win for team lazy tile! Next I have to finish buffing the tiles and then seal them. And of course do the other wall. But here's a quick "before" and "during" shot just for fun (even though I'm not completely "after" yet!).

Before:

During:

After:

Hold your horses!

Dinner Bell!

Some of my most magical childhood memories are from visiting my grandparents' cabin. They have a great place in Alaska complete with rowboat, swings, fire pit, trails, and more. Although all of those items involve fun activities, there are many little details that make it special as well like my grammie's flowers, little paths made of rocks, and a feature I've always especially liked - a dinner bell. In case you don't know what a dinner bell is, it's a bell that you ring so that everyone scattered around the area knows it's time for dinner! My grammie is a very good cook, so you better come running when you hear that bell.

In honor of the cabin, I knew I wanted my own dinner bell. It doesn't have much practical use in 650 square feet of space, but I like it anyway.

And if you've read this blog before, you know I love to share where I buy things so that you can buy the same items for your home. But this guy was from an antique store, so I don't have the foggiest as to where to find one like it. You might try etsy.com or ebay.com or maybe your own local antique store. The one I went to was the kind with many different vendors setup. The bell cost about $25, but I purchased it with the Shop Local American Express campaign for $20 so I got it for $5 + tax. Not a bad deal for a bell in good shape that still feels nice and old. Eventually I'd like to paint the screw head black to match the hardware finish. 

I also added another little kitchen detail, this teacup hook from Urban Outfitters. Unfortunately I bought it awhile ago on clearance for just a few dollars, so it isn't available anymore.

Urban Outfitters Teacup Hook

Notice that the tiling is complete! All that's left is grouting. Stay tuned for that post soon.

The good news is that my apron is still available at Anthropologie.

Tea-and-Crumpets Apron in Gold

Kitchen Lighting! Fun Fun Fun

That was fun, right?? About one billion posts later, I'm all done telling you about the renovations I did at my dad's house. Whew. I know I'm exhausted. What a vacation! Last year I went up there just to install a point of sale system for his business. I guess it's becoming something of a tradition. I wonder what next year will bring?

Click here if you don't know what I'm talking about.

So, now we return to our regular 650 square feet programming. Until I have a new project, that is. Any takers?

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Ever since I bought the condo, I've been considering what to do with the light in the kitchen. It's so boring and ugly, but I was at a loss. I thought of Ikea track lighting, but then I started doubting myself after my friend Patrick mentioned that track lighting might be of the 'wrong era' for the condo. And he's obviously right. Plus track lighting seems to date itself quickly (I am so not dissing on YOUR beautiful track lighting, whoever you are, reader. It looks great in YOUR house, I swear.)

I didn't know what to do. Then I met Schoolhouse Electric. By accident. Beautiful, wonderful, expensive accident. I was looking for "galley kitchen lighting" on google when I found Layla's post on one of her reader's kitchens. Thanks, Layla. Thank you, and darn you. The lights at Schoolhouse are amazing, but quite pricey.

Northwestern 4"

This guy is $154 including the shade. WHEWIE!

Newbury 4"

And this little number is $158 including the glass shade. Aieeieeiee!!

But needless to say I am smitten. I wonder if I can DIY this to avoid the costly price? The wheels are spinning...I don't have any concrete ideas, yet, but I'll let you know if I come up with anything. I guess the first step would be to find an actual fixture (the silver part) with the correct shape. Then I'm thinking find a plain glass shade and...paint it? Put tiny strips of colored tape around it? 

Help me, readers!

The Return of the Cup Pulls

I just can't get enough of the satin nickel hardware! As you read previously here, I changed out the hardware in the kitchen on the drawers from knobs to satin nickel cup pulls. Now I've done the same thing on the other side of the kitchen. 

There are two 'fake drawers' in front of the sink. I thought they looked a little bare:

(Notice that one of the pictures above is before the renovations, and the other was taken during the renovations. The renovations that are still going on, by the way.)

So I decided to add cup pulls on that side of the kitchen as well to make it look a little more finished. I discovered partway through the process, read: after I had already drilled a hole in the wood, that I couldn't get the long screws up behind the board to go into the cup pull because the sink was in the way. Whoops. So I ended up just gluing them on with liquid nails. Normally I wouldn't ever consider such a cop-out solution, but since these handles are just for show and they won't ever actually be used, I figured it would work OK. And, so far so good! Here they are:

And here's a picture to show you how I can keep it real:

Ewww messy kitchen during renovations!! I think the fake drawers look much better now!

Mark 'Em & Cut 'Em

As you can probably imagine, everything does not always go as planned in the world of DIY. For example, I did not plan on washing my tile marking pencil with a load of laundry and effectively destroying said laundry in the process.

But, what can you do? Just scrub the gooey black marks off of your dryer and try again.

So that lesson brings me to better news, which is that I've slowly but surely been having all of the difficult tiles cut by various Lowe's employees. I've been having them cut in batches because quite honestly, I get tired of standing in my kitchen and measuring. I want RESULTS! So I measure a little and have a little cut. Take home. Install. Repeat. Repeat again. But I'm finally on my final batch, which I intend to take to Lowe's tonight after work.

Oh and also, actually acquiring more tile of the same kind has been a bit of a struggle. Since I bought every piece from the Lowe's closest to my house, they haven't bothered to restock. So I've been getting more tiles when I stay with my boyfriend in his city.

After this last batch is cut and installed, then it is time to move on to the grouting! Here are my tiles, ready to be cut:

By the way, if you want to DIY anything, I am always all for it. However, in my experience, the self tile cutters do notttttt work. This is the one I tried out:

I purchased it for $20 at Lowe's. Yeah. I took it back shortly after breaking approximately 10 tiles. So that just goes to show, sometimes it's better to leave things to the professionals!

Picky Picky Painter

Spoiler: I finally bought a gallon of paint for the kitchen. I color matched Eddie Bauer's Almond Oil to Olympic One at Lowe's. Olympic One is great because it's paint and primer in one, so theoretically you only have to apply one coat (we'll see). 

Here's a picture of the kitchen wall with my ultra artistic painting skills:

The really yellow color dominating the walls is the original color. The lighter yellow is the first color I tried. The sort-of-in-the-middle tan color is Almond Oil.

The color family I'm using reminds me of the walls in my last kitchen:

That is a picture of the kitchen by the way - the washer/dryer unit was in the kitchen. I loved that color but definitely wanted something a little different. However, I think Almond Oil was definitely inspired by having a yellowish/tanish kitchen prior to the current kitchen.

I'll let you know how it turns out!