Time for change, Kitchen edition

It's been a loooong time since I've been on here doing what I actually love, and in that period you could say that allot has changed. To sum it up for you I'm pregnant! With twins!!! I am close to 7 months along so with one daughter graduating, one daughter starting high school next year and two more girls baking in the oven things have been a little cray cray at The Casa Perez.

With that said, things tend to get a little wacky when you're pregnant. I'm not quite sure why I thought it was a good idea to build a pool, remove the entire back wall of my house and install a wall of doors, AND completely remodel our kitchen but that's exactly what I did! These decisions practically sent me to the looney bin and divorce court, but in the words of Gloria Gaynor I will survive!

I will share more of my mom-ster moments with you down the road I'm sure, but for now let's talk kitchen instead.

If you are on any kind of social media these days it would be impossible not to fall for some of the major design trends that you are seeing in kitchens. I'm talking about the stunning white cabinets, white quartz and grey marbles and all of the mixed metals specifically brass, gold and rose gold that are storming the pages of both print and Pinterest.

After doing these kitchens for clients and loving every single inch of them I decided that I wanted and needed to have one of my very own......and now I have one!

 

 

Not completely finished, but isn't she a beauty?

Now you'll have to note that on the "To Do" list are a new counter depth fridge (we are open to suggestions on brands???), replacing our old faithful ugly little coffee maker, the missing cabinet panel for the dishwasher and under cabinet lighting. We are also in consideration for a possible waterfall edge on the island, so before you think "WTF" those changes will be coming one day:)

This image demonstrates how the fridge stands out from the hallway, the counter depth will eliminate that. You can also see how having a cabinet panel on the dishwasher will blend it in. These little details go a long way and should not be overlooked in kitchen design.

They are also cost considerations so take mental note.

Let's take a peek as what we started with in our "kitchen before" shown below.

The main issues we had with our kitchen were that it was outdated, did not have ample storage, had a terrible and inefficient layout and in no way went with the rest of our house. It was a complete bust.

When I demanded convinced my husband that we were replacing our kitchen, I knew we needed to make choices that were functional and could stand the test of time.

Kitchens are expensive, and messy and are the hub of the house so if you do it then make sure you do it right! Even if that means waiting until the budget allows and taking longer I suggest that you really do your research and make sure you cover your own personal needs bases. In the long run this will save you money and aggravation and gives your designer and kitchen designer what you specifically want.

Our top priorities were function, layout and style.

In the new design and layout we moved our fridge over and changed the pantry to an unused closet. This enabled us to move our stove and sink over and to create an island which is my dream come true!

We also maximized storage by taking the cabinets all the way to the ceiling and capped them with a clean edge molding. This is an absolute "do" and is something you will most always see in designer kitchens. It also makes your house feel instantly larger.

As per the color and finishes, I knew I wanted white and bright.

I have a small home and my old outdated kitchen did not help with this. I chose shaker style cabinets because they are timeless and chose marble as the backsplash which is a splurge but one that I wouldn't need to replace down the road.

For the counters we gambled and went with white quartz. I love it, but will do a post one day on what we have learned about quartz and it's maintenance.

I suggest when designing your layout to also work with a couple of kitchen designers. These are the pros who know and think of what you may not, so be open minded and you might find that you are pleasantly surprised. We were able to get our garbage in our island as well as a large spice rack for my husband and all our interiors are a nice light wood with soft close brackets. Little details, but ones that you will live with daily in your kitchen so make sure you don't overlook them.



As far as cabinet pulls, faucets and lighting I knew I wanted brass/gold/mixed metals. I also knew that I wanted a clean and modern space, but not too modern. Brass and my traditional pendant lighting warmed the space up and kept it from being too contemporary.

It is good to know when shopping that not all "gold" is created equal, so make sure you know what you are getting yourself in to. I rushed and ordered and returned many a kitchen pull until I got it right. Oops! I wanted a more "champagne bronze" look for our kitchen which is a nice way of saying a softer gold.

For the faucet I chose the Delta Trinsic collection in "champagne bronze" with the touch technology and have been extremely happy with it.

For the water dispenser this line did not carry one so with my anguish and shopping I found that Newport Bronze has a water dispenser in "antique bronze" that actually looks exactly the same. I got lucky here because they have a ton of finishes available and I guessed hoping for the best.

For the handles I went with Altas Hardware's Successi Series in the "champagne" finish. I found these to be affordable, and are a beautiful soft gold color. They were also readily available which was a challenge in these gold obsessed times.

As per my sink I found an extra large 32" industrial sink from Miseno which is stainless steel and fit in my standard 36" cabinet base. I love it! It is deep and can hide and fit anything including deep large pots. It also answers the question "can you put a stainless steel sink with a gold faucet?". Yes, yes you can!

The rest of the kitchen I will update once completed, and I will include a buyers guide for you as well. For now I am staging and finishing things and really just enjoying the heck out of our new space!

 

Would love to hear what you think and am happy to answer any questions about our kitchen and kitchens in general.

Teen Room Makeover, The Results For This Amazing Grey Bedroom Design

Happy Hump Day! I finally had the chance today to try to get you some quality pics of a room I just completed. 

I'm talking about Amanda's room that is finally complete hopefully for the last time, I swear it!

Amanda's Room Reveal:

 I recently posted a mood board that I created for this room with the inspiration that came from a head board I purchased from Joss and Main. If you missed it you can read about all the crazy that is me here.

Here it is again in case you missed it.

Well, the room turned out better than I had even hoped. Take a look again at the before and the new after pictures of Amanda's room.

Teen Room Before: 

**(Crap I Phone pic. Ugh! This is probably why Robert tells me to NOT show rooms with poor camera skills and lighting)

 Teen Room After:

 

It's amazing and completely unplanned how the silver quatrefoil mirrors that I recycled go with the graphic design on the bed spread that I happened to find in a Home Goods store. I love it when that happens!

 Above is the view from the bed. I used the good old Ikea Expedit unit for her room. I know I've said it a million times, but this sucker is so wonderful for storing "stuff", and ALL kids come with "stuff".  I say if you can't beat em, join em. Put it out there, in pretty boxes and on shelves. If you give kids a place to keep their things it makes life so much more organized and therefor makes the room so much nicer and clutter free.

 Above is a close up of that corner. I staged the expedit with a pretty vanity mirror to display her perfume, candles and nail polish on which I think is a pretty touch for any girl regardless of if they are big or small. Notice the black deer head with the little pink bow on it? Well that is the lone survivor of all the fake animal heads from our HGTV makeover. I can guarantee he's sticking around our house for years to come. I use it to hang all of her soccer medals. Cute and functional. 

  Look at the drapes in this room! I use this banding approach often in my designs though in this case I added much more of the fuchsia color than I normally would. I wanted it to make a statement behind the beautiful mirrored night stands and didn't want them to get lost. Need I say goal accomplished, and I'm in love!  Oh and if you look closely, you can see the little tiny disco ball hanging from the rod. No reason or point other than it simply makes me smile:-)

  Above is a close up of her dresser, I re-framed her art, cleaned up the accessories and added some silver and mirrored accents to glam up the natural wood of the dresser.

 The above picture shows a close up of the many textures, colors and prints that I used. I love that there is so much visual interest, but with the muted color on the walls and the anchor of white from the bed it all just works without competing and being too busy.

 I have one word for you, ruuuuuuuuugggg! Isn't it just amazing? I actually fell in love with this rug when I put it in another little girl's room for a client. It's quite the rug, no? Well I admit that it was a bit of a risk in the sense that I've got a whole lot going on in this room with all the prints, but when I put it in the original mood board I knew it would just work, and work it did. It's the right size at 8' round, and adds just the right amount of zebra, and with the rather large print it isn't as busy as one would think.

 Above you can see the lovely Besta Burs desk from Ikea that I posted about here. I still love it, and it's still going strong. It was such a great purchase and if you've thought about getting your own, do! On the desk I have a pretty silver tray with a lamp, and above it are 3 different colored cork boards which I scored on clearance for $5 bucks each! Baaam. And that chair, remember when I posted about it here? Well I found it a new home in this room, and I love how it dresses things up a bit and again adds an unexpected touch.

I hope my poor photography skills didn't kill this room because it's even more stunning in person believe me. For now  I LOVE it, and think it was about time to give Amanda a truly finished designer space. She deserves it. No more hand me down hodge podge room going on here. It's now a modern, clean sophisticated space that still screams fun for a teenager girl. I'm definitely done changing it around which is probably why I should have just done it right in the first place!

What do you think? Are you digging the mixture of color and print or do you prefer something a bit more matchy?

A New Season, A New Hue

Hello, and welcome back to me! I know that there was a lack of posting or being around in general last week. I'm sorry, and am back on track. There was a large undertaking here at the Perez house which included getting MANY projects done, but on the flip side burned me out. This is a new week.

Today I want to share with you some changes that happened in our master bedroom. You may remember my recent post about the Gossip Girl inspired room here ? Well, I went ahead and made many of those changes happen and loved most of them. The part that I didn't love however was the stenciled wall. It wasn't that the wall turned out bad, in fact it was beautiful and for the right space would be the main feature. It's more that I enjoy a very muted palette and would rather introduce color in my own home through accessories and prints and textures, and not necessarily through the color on my walls. It's a personal thing, and a lesson learned which by the way concluded in Mr. R. painting over the stenciled wall the very next morning! Hey, s&*t happens, and after the 7 hour lesson of I still don't like color on my own walls, I took a bit of a break on the ol house:)

The up side here, however is that I am loving the new changes in our room. A good friend of mine said that it's very "rock star", and that's a compliment I'll take.

Take a look at the new room with it's many colors, prints, textures and may I say fall-ish hue.

What I love most about the room is that it is a completely me project. In the details of this room I am able to squeeze in all the little treasures that I covet such as the Arteriors horn on my tv console and the amethyst candle votive. These are the little things at the end of the day that make me happy.

Some of the notable happenings in this room are:
- Ikea mirrored 3 drawer chests . They are amazing in person and are a very affordable alternative to the mirrored night stands that I wanted. I may customize mine with some chrome pulls one day, but for now the clean modern lines work well enough. If you've considered them I highly recommend them.
-Paint. Though you have to look hard, you will notice the wall behind our bed is in fact painted! It is a bit of a LOL moment that it is actually a grey similar to the white on the other walls and may in fact be a shade of white, but it actually warms up the wall just enough;)
-Art. I really went for it with the art that I chose. I have to thank MadeByGirl and her reference to the "Cougar Friends" print by Jessica Craig-Martin that you can find here. This really hit the spot for me because I tend to like photography as art, and I definitely like things that are a bit "off the beaten path" i.e. a little bit edgy and out there. I also like that the art here has a bit of a vintage feel to it, which paired well with our Vegas wedding picture. It all works and ties the room and colors together.
-Color and pattern. I definitely didn't color inside the lines. I went with what I liked and made it work. I still have my neutral palette going on, but it's amazing how adding a few pillows here and a throw blanket there along with some added texture can transform a room.
-Balance. The tv console area is actually one of my favorite parts to our room. The size of the tv was an accident by Mr. R. and was also on sale and NOT returnable. My solution here was to balance the wall and console with a bit of a gallery wall vignette. The result made an unfortunate mistake work. Sometimes you have to work around the eye sore in a room. My motto here is "if you can't beat em, join em" and that's exactly what I did.

It's possible that the art or the fuchsia pink thrown on the chaise are not for everyone (or every husband LOL), but that's the beauty in design. Certain rules are meant to be broken, and I think there is something said to thinking outside the box and instead of being concerned with trends or majority, instead be concerned with what makes you happy and you can't go wrong.

What do you think of my Gossip Girl inspired, jewel toned, possibly rock star-esque bedroom make over? Have you tried something out of the box in your own room just to find that it did or didn't work for you?