Table Top Trot

Hello! We have been a little "shop" happy lately, and it all started with Joey suggesting we need new silverware. We had many discussions on the direction we were going, and he gave me the green light to get these guys...

At $29 a place setting from West Elm, there was really no excuse to not get them, but the silliest thing held me back. The knife. I know it's totally silly, and I am sure there is a reason the "blade" isn't gold - but I just couldn't bend. It's not like you can buy a flatware set and exclude the butter knife. Bummer. 

Then, we were shopping in Brooklyn and popped into out friends Tony's store, Abode. It's hands down our favorite shop for home goods in the 11211. It opened up just as we were moving to Westchester, but we go back often to dig through the well curated picks. As we were chatting, Joey came upon these.

We had kinda noticed it before, but we paid attention this time and realized - this flatware is sexy. That butter knife looks serious. We wanted it. We conically throw out silverware (no idea how), but these guys demand attention and to not be married with the trash. Pus they cost way more than $29 a set - so shame on us if we lose a single piece. The super modern sexy look works well with the rough and tumble vintage-brit thing we have going on. Welcome little shiny friends!

I think they mix well with our quirky kitchen collection. If you like these guys too, they run about $80 a set and you don't have to live in the BK to snag them. Abode has a website, and these happen to be available on there. 

Have you splurged somewhere unexpected recently? Score anything fun that you use everyday? Or do you throw away flatware too by mistake?

Kitchen Dreaming

Happy Monday! Our kitchen is almost done for the temporary 5 year fix we have agreed to do before a big 'ol reno. The first thing we did was lay down some Ikea floors.  We put them down about a year and a half ago and they have held up pretty great so far! We painted everything white, then painted again when we quickly learned a kitchen is no place for matte white paint. Joey redid all the cabinets after we got a $10K+ quote to refinish them. Joey has been working on that massive post, as we are excited to share.

We also used some $15 reclaimed wood to add some texture - it was a quick and easy process and we love it.

Additionally we replaced the countertops, faucet, and backsplash of one side of the kitchen. Our DIY kitchen mini renovation has been a really long process, but finally with the additional of some new appliances, it's starting to feel good.

Right now we have the new stove all set up and in working order, but the raw wall behind it is a temporary eyesore. We will be installing a microwave with a built in vent, and adding drywall realllllly soon. This grosses me out. We have written 14 posts about the kitchen so far, so if you are lost about how we did everything, that link will get you up to speed!

The big hole where the old dishwasher use to be, is finally filled with the shiny new one!

Across the kitchen is almost 100%. We Put up the backsplash and now we need to put covers on the outlets.

We know renovating a Kitchen can be one of the most expensive tasks you can take on while renovating a home. It's super stressful to have it not complete when you love to cook as much as I do. To completely renovate our kitchen would cost around $50,000, and we have been able to do what we have done under $2,000. We still need to:

• Add lighting
• Add backsplash to the stove/sink side of the kitchen
• Drywall behind the stove
• Buy and install a microwave vent

Pretty good! We got the "to-do's" lower than the "have-dones"! Have you been working on your own kitchen renovation on a budget? We would love to see what you have been up to! Also curious if anyone has any experience with a microwave vent. Is is as great as it seems?

I got 99 problems, and the kitch is still one...

The kitchen. If you remember we have had a long long journey with out kitch. We started here...

Well, this photo was taken before we even owned the house. So you can really see where we started. Sweet floors, eh? Gotta love Joey's face. We made some edits, starting with the floors...then we painted.

Then realized matte paint for a kitchen was a bad idea. Bad. So we painted again with semi-gloss. Better idea. Much better. We painted the mudroom door entrace red. We added some reclaimed wood detail, and redid the kitchen cabinets, which post has been on progress for months.

We also replaced the countertops, and redid one side of the kitchen's backspash. 

So what's the deal? We grouted the left side of the kitchen, but coulen't start on the right side, until one little deed was done.

Here is the deal. And it's kinda a big deal. The kitchen was loaded with 70's appliances. We had always planned on replacing the dishwasher - so we pulled out the old one when we replaced the countertops a few weeks back. 

So, we couldn't live with out any countertops, so we simply laid the 24" oak countertops from Ikea on top of the cabinets until we actually agreed on a dishwasher. We didn't want to lay the counters and then tile the backsplash before we installed the dishwasher because once those were laid - it would be a beast to get the dishwasher in. Good call Joey!

So we have been living with the counters floating like above, however we installed the sink of course. And finally, finallllllllllly, we have decided on a dishwasher. And STOVE! Hello shiny new appliances!

For the dishwasher we landed on the Whirlpool Gold® Series Dishwasher with Sensor Cycle – Monochromatic Stainless Steel. It usually retails for around $550, but our super generous aunt and uncle are part of Direct Buy and we got it for $337! The stove is a Frigidaire 30" Free Standing Gas Range - Stainless Steel. This is also via the Direct Buy route for $515! This usually retails over $600. Shipping for both was less that $100. Can you say score? So, in 2-4 weeks, our shiny new appliances will be here. We are scouting a microwave which houses an exhause vent for above the stove. We wanted to keep everything on the super cheap and then pound out walls and totally redo the kitchen in about five years. I am so excited we have been able to do this all super cheap, even though it's been massivly time consuming. The financial breakdown has gone something like this:

Kitchen Countertops: Ikea 96" $169  and 49" $89 + shipping 

Subway Tile and black grout: Home depot $30 box of tiles (we may beed two boxes), grout was $8 a bag (we think we will need 2 total)

Moen Faucet: Home Depot $135

Ikea Floors: Around $200

Paint: $30 gallon

Cabinet Refinishing: LOTS of time, and about $150

Cabinet fixtures: $80

Stove: $515

Dishwasher: $337

Shipping: $96

Reclaimed accent wood: $15

Red Oil Paint for Door: $18

Chalkboard Paint for fridge: $21

Total Spent so far = $1,931

While the kitchen has been a disaster zone for a while, it's been nice to peek out into the mood room and be remembered, IT WILL GET DONE! IT WILL BE GOOD!

Are you part of a discount club? Do you love it? Let us know! We are thinking it may be a good idea!