{renovate} it's all in the details

Friends, it occurred to me this weekend that I am terrible with updating you guys about small changes we make around the house. Somehow a new welcome mat just doesn't seem to warrant an entire post. BUT, we have made a couple small updates around the house that I thought you'd like to see. And I just have to apologize about the photos - for the last few days, even when it's daylight, it isn't actually light out. It's that pesky rain thing that comes with January in Oregon :).

Entry rugs.

In the midst of the kitchen remodel chaos we somehow lost both our back and front entry rugs. I have no idea. So the front door has a new lovely rug (that was on SUPER sale) at West Elm. I can't even remember what our last rug looked like (a true sign your remodel is taking too long), but I really love how BOLD this one is - especially when paired with our navy front door. 

The back door has a fun new graphic rug from Target. I do remember the last one here - it was very beige. I am really liking that this one is dark and moody. Sort of like the January we're having. Which makes me wonder if I'll still feel like that once the weather's nicer? :) 

Fruit bowl?

Possibly. I've talked before about Portland's Seek the Unique - we held our blogger event there last spring - and this lovely was the result of a quick stop this weekend.

Isn't it gorgeous? I don't know how long it will stay a fruit bowl (it's huge, if you can't tell by the amount of fruit in there), but I know that it will easily travel around the entire house and be amazing. That texture! Kills me!

Sheets.

I've wanted striped sheets since the minute we bought our duvet cover - 4 years ago! I finally bought these from West Elm, which I'd been eyeing for more than a year (!), when I stopped by there a couple weeks ago. I LOVE them. And this photo reminds me - where do you fall on the spectrum of bed making? I fall firmly on the "what's the point, you're just going to get back in it later" side. I only make my bed for you guys, really :)

I think what I love most about these updates is that each is big and bold in its own way. All are supporting characters in the grand scheme of things, but are still making a fun and unique statement. And I think because of that, they add so much to our home.

Friends, I love to know - what small changes have you made around your house lately?

{inspired} kitchen fabric options

So, as for the kitchen remodel, we're getting so close to the fun and pretty part - decorating! Adding some color, some fabric, etc. The stressful part, though, is that I freeze and quadruple guess myself when it comes to picking out fabric. I am the worst at picking fabric - it takes me forever. And in this case, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. Let me set the scene for you guys.

Because of the new couch, and yet to be shown new ottoman that will serve as a coffee table, we're mixing up the entire first floor a little. I'm looking for ottoman fabric (desperately needs recovering), kitchen window fabric and nook window fabric. Because everything is so open to each other, they need to coordinate on some level. I'm also trying to decide if the kitchen window fabric should match the nook window fabric to give in a cleaner look, but then I think it might be more fun to have a different fabric. See? Factors.

Our rug, which I love, is pretty traditional. The color palette in the rooms, as I talked about last spring, will be blues and greens. As a lot of you probably know, I'm really drawn to geographic patterns, which I think would balance out the traditional rug really well. Here's what I've been looking at so far:

(top: fabricut, calico corners, robert allen; second: duralee, serena and lily; third: calico corners,  duralee; bottom: calico corner, calico, schumacher) 

 

I love them all! Oh, but there isn't a lot of green here, so I'm still looking.

A part of me also really loves soft florals, though. And I think they play off graphic patterns beautifully - when done well. My fear with these, though, is they can quickly escalate to granny. Granny is NOT the look I'm going for, but these fabrics can be nice:

(top: calico corners, calico corners; middle: calico corners; bottom: lee jofa)

It's a start, right? I'm sure we'll be talking about this more :).

Friends, how do you narrow and choose fabrics?

{renovate} kitchen backsplash and counters

Well, if you follow me on Instagram (jennmccormick), you know that over the long weekend we tiled! Specifically, the kitchen backsplash! But along with tiling, we also got a few other major things done. On a very related note, we seriously have the most amazing friends. You know the friends that way-back-when helped us renovate our back entry and refinish our hardwoods? Those are the same friends that helped demo the kitchen and built our cabinets? Well they came over this weekend specifically to tile and do whatever else we still needed help with. I cannot even begin to tell you guys how grateful we are that they're in our lives -- and how much we'll owe them when they buy a house :).

Backsplash

We have a backsplash! And oh does it change the look of the space!

The tile is Ann Sacks Swiss Cross. I am so in love. Because it's such a small space, we wanted something that had personality, but was still neutral and classic. I think this fit the bill so well.
 

I didn't take a lot of photos of the process, because I was actually tiling! The girls tiled while the boys did other stuff. It was my first time tiling - and it was actually pretty easy. The hardest part was figuring out the pattern so we could begin.

Up next will be grout - hopefully this weekend.  But FIRST we need to decide on what color grout - white or gray. I am so torn! Any opinions, friends?

ps. You can also see that we installed window trim after the last post about trim :). Much better!

Counter

First, the counter top extension! We've been planning this since the beginning. We couldn't plan the island to be as long as we wanted - for clearance reasons - but, we really wanted it longer than the space logically allowed. Enter, the extension. It can go up when we need it, down when we have a lot of people over and need the space. We still need to install the piece that moves it up and down, so that's next.

While the girls were tiling, the boys were adding the extension and gluing down the copper.

Making sure it's a tight, solid fit :). Yep, there was a rolling pin involved.

The boys also did some ducting work, which I'll show you later. But really, it isn't all that exciting, but is really nice to be getting done!

And this guy? He was our supervisor for the day :).

All in all, a very productive weekend. It's going to take me quite awhile to finish up and paint all the trim, but I'm getting so excited to share final photos with you guys!