Day 2 Ponte Vedra Move-in

To start at the beginning click here.

What a refreshing sight to see that clean beautiful white slate for us to fill with happiness.

Good riddance gold!

I can’t wait to see what’s under that paper but, alas, that will have to wait until Friday.

new hardwood floors in the great room

No more brocade

Much progress on the new kitchen. Good thing since we are moving in today. 🙂

Music Room

Guest Room

I love the new chandelier. Much better scale.

Dining Room

Black instead of oak.. check

Master Bedroom

I love the new blue ceiling.

Looks like it’s time for me to get to work.

But first things first..

What is that sweet man doing now?!?!

We decided at the 4 hour house visit ( read from the first post for this story) to re-use the existing drapery hardware.

The house was filled with what appeared to be lovely custom made drapery even inner-lined with European bump. No problem… right?

I had an epiphany a week before move-in.

We never actually COUNTED the rings.

Well, well, well things are not always as they seem. The draperies were fake. They would open and close but apparently they were not actually pleated.

Meaning? Meaning that we were almost 300 rings short for the house and I was in a world of hurt.

I spent 2 hours the next day in Birmingham contacting every single wholesale supplier of hardware in the country but no one had that many rings in the correct size and color.

We finally worked our way back to the manufacturer of the raw rings and they agreed to ship what looked like a boat load of rings directly to the house where

“that sweet man” – you guessed it- painted them all.

Good grief.

Meanwhile this was happening inside.

The granite men are preparing to cut the hole for the faucet.

The painters are painting the backs of the bookshelves ( and a million other things).

Then these guys arrived to off load the trucks.

This was the place to be apparently.

Let’s get this show on the road.

Why, you ask, are we moving furniture into a house that is obviously not ready?

Well, the lease on the corporate apartment runs out this Sunday,  school starts on Monday and the family has been separated for 12 weeks.

They were ready to move in and it was up to us to make it happen.

Tomorrow, Day 2.

If you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.

And Then There Was July!

 

I have been honored and amazed by the number of people who are asking, “When are you going to do another post? We want to know what is going on!”

You guys are awesome.

Well, May brought the end of the Watercolor  jobs and June was demolition month. We did a complete demo of the kitchen in Union Springs and the kitchen in Wetumpka and started rapidly moving on the renovation of the house in Jacksonville, Florida. In addition to that we started new projects in west Alabama and Enterprise, Alabama and hosted the first annual “Gigi Camp” for the grands.

I will share with you some of the demo pictures and then give sneak peeks into what is to come very shortly.

First, a quick trip to Union Springs, Alabama…

“hmmm… whatever do you suppose is behind this very strange soffitt?”

Only one way to find out!

 

 “Wait! Who is that crazy man knocking holes all over my kitchen???”

tee hee, That would be the awesome, wonderfullness of Mark Reese, owner of Grace Fabrications and creator of some of the most fab kitchens in the southeast.

Pay close attention to that little cook-top and dinky range you won’t believe how that is going to look in a few weeks!

He is having more fun than the law allows. This is like your Mama giving you permission to write on anything in the house. You can’t read it but he is writing

“REMOVE!”

on all of the cabinets so that there is no doubt in the demo-man’s mind as to what is supposed to happen here.

I think he understood, because 24 hours later:

Yuk, believe it or not that is concrete. We all had to touch it because it looked like some weird carpet.

It is the backside of the lovely plaster corner cabinets on

the other side of the wall.

Bye, bye cabinets and ugly green soffitt!

This will soon be a beautiful farmhouse sink and amazing range and hood!

In goes the new insulation;

New Plumbing and wiring are in;

So here we are with a clean slate to write on.

I know you are wondering:  so think oak floors, white carrera marble backsplash, white quartz counters and deep gray lanterns for starters.

See you on the flip side!

And if you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at:
http://www.cindybarganier.com

The Great Adventure Unfolds

I feel as though I should begin this post,

” Dear Diary, I have missed you.  Please don’t be upset with me for my neglect of you.” haha

The middle of this week I did, indeed, feel like that steam engine I left you with last post ran over me but I am feeling like my old self again and ready to begin the process of catching you up on the great adventure called the month of May.

Two of the small kitchen renovations have been completed except for accessorization.

This was kitchen number one showing several before and afters:

Cloverdale kitchen before

Cloverdale kitchen after

The above wall is awaiting a series of framed architectural prints ceiling to floor.

And one final over-all view..

While this was taking place in week 1 kitchen #2 was undergoing its minor renovations which I haven’t even seen yet so pictures of that will come later this week.  Kitchen number 3 is all picked out and about to begin major demolition.

Watercolor house #2’s furniture began to arrive on the heels of this.

Here is a look at how that project is coming along.

These pictures are actually pretty far behind. They are moving in this week. It’s looking great!

Tomorrow’s post gives me chills….. my own fabric line is actually happening.

Details tomorrow! Stay tuned.

National Kitchen Renovation Month

I jokingly asked The Writer yesterday if someone had declared this National Kitchen Renovation Month since I got 3 kitchen calls in one week. LOL

They are each drastically different so I thought it might be fun to share the “befores” with you.

The first one is a planned major over-haul in an old southern Colonial.

I think you will be amazed by the after. ( I hope. haha)

 

 

 

The second one is the funniest. It involved a call from someone who had been highest bidder on an in-home consultation I donated to the Shakespear Festival for their fund-raiser and her re-do is due to a sewer line problem.

 

 

 

I have often had people say to me-  heck, I have said it myself  –

 “I don’t cook”.

 But we don’t really mean WE DON’T COOK.

We just mean…. not a lot.

Well…………………..

She means it. I started opening kitchen cabinets and guess what I found?

Hard Cover Books.

In every single cabinet.

Not one sack of flour, box of cereal, can of peas. Nada.

The girl DOESN’T COOK. LOL

That cracked me up. (She gave me permission to post this by the way. She thinks it’s funny, too.

 

 I can’t believe this picture turned out so fuzzy. It’s a classic.

 

The last one is just an update, nothing very dramatic. Granite to replace Formica,

 new backsplash,

 new granite composite sink ( have you seen those? Pretty cool)

some window treatments.

This is a perfect opportunity though to discuss undertones of color. I will do a more extensive post on this at some point but this picture is a great teaching opportunity.

All paint color starts out as a tinted base. This is refered to as its “undertone”. Undertones MUST be in the same family or you end up with a real challenge. In this case the wallpaper has a cream background but when you compare it to white you realize it is very yellow. The paper also has a lot of pink and blue.

The trim is stark white.

The tile floor is a neutral but with gray and pink veins in it. So now we have a gray undertone competing with a yellow undertone.

Throw in the cabinets…. orange.

The lighting is fluorescent which makes the orange even more pronounced against the blue.

This is where I am often called in to “fix it”.

 Once you have gone that far down the trail there is no easy fix. You can only try to make it better. In this case I am trying to take as much color away as I possibly can on the countertops and back splash since they want to keep the paper.

Get the undertones right from the git-go and save much heartache.

So what’s your kitchen like? Old World? Classic Colonial, Shabby?

Share.

And remember,  

Kitchens are once or twice in a lifetime projects, typically. We want to pay attention to new ideas, absolutely, but seek longevity in design and materials as well.

Choose wisely.

If you don’t have you name in for the Donnie Sasser painting giveaway go here.

And if you would like to say, “That was fun!” at the end of your project contact me at

www.cindybarganier.com.