Shirley's World

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Reveal, Before & After

I'm listing this post with The Shabby Chic Cottage for her "Transformation Thursday" also.

http://www.theshabbychiccottage.net/

I am happy to join Susan for this post of my before and after kitchen. Please visit her wonderfully inspiring blog at "Between Naps On The Porch". You can click on her site here: http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Go visit for her Metamorphosis Monday party and see all the other transformations!

The Before

In case any of you forgot what my old kitchen looked like, the first five pictures are to remind you!!

The After

The Big Reveal!!!!!!!

This post is quite photo intensive. But I couldn't stop taking pictures!!

For any of you that haven't been here before, The whole entire redo is on my earlier posts.

Looking from dining room.

That's a reproduction noodle board sitting on top of my stove. It has that primitive look I like and gives you more counter space when you're not using your burners.

I positively love my window seat. I will eventually make a cushion for on there. Right now it's just a folded up quilt. My cats love it here too as you can imagine!!

This is the cupboard I got on Craig's List for $150.00!!!!!!!!!

The first little nail was hard to put in the pristine wall but after that, no problem : ))

The little copper sink in the island is really nice. I found it on eBay at "Copper Depot" and at a good price! The faucet too.

All ready for my Eggos!

Love, love, love this soapstone!!!!!

Thank you God.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed my big adventure. It wasn't near as stressful as I thought it would be. It took about a month. Being without plumbing in the kitchen and having to wash dishes in the bathtub was probably the worse part. And oh yeah, a "little" dust : ))

Next my builder is going to put new walls and ceiling in my dining room.

OK, now I've got to start cooking again!!

Shirley

Friday, March 12, 2010

Delivering Baby

Delivery of My Soapstone!!!

Finally!

Soapstone is much denser than granite so it is much, much heavier.

This is Atilla (light shirt) and his partner carrying the corner piece. Let me tell you, they were the quietest guys I've ever heard. They almost whispered back and forth to each other when they did say something. Men of few words. They are Romanian and I must say pretty darn good looking : ))

Here is the big island piece.

Atilla is putting the coat of mineral oil on the stone. That's all the care it requires. Plain mineral oil from the drug store! ($1.50!!) You put it on and then wipe most of it off. It brings out the black color and the beautiful veining.

The natural stone is gray like this. The mineral oil doesn't penetrate the stone but just helps with the aging. It would turn dark eventually from use but not as even or as fast.

After wiping off the oil, it has a beautiful understated sheen. That's what I wanted!!!

It's gorgeous and I love it!!!

Soapstone cannot be stained by anything!! You can set burning hot pots on it without scortching. That's why they use it in chemistry labs. The only thing you can't do is cut on it because it will scratch. So a cutting board is in order. Any scratches can just be rubbed or lightly sanded away!

I've learned quite a bit about soapstone in the last few months, so if you have any questions, just ask : ))

It is definitely the old look I wanted in this house.

Since I had to get two slabs to do the job, these are what I have left over! There's enough there for vanities in both my bathrooms!!! But then that's another day : ))

Shirley (smiling)

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Soapstone

These are pictures of my two slabs of soapstone that were sent from Illinois. "Euro Marble and Granite" is a distributor of Dorado Soapstone. You can read about soapstone and see their sight here: http://www.doradosoapstone.com/

and

http://www.doradosoapstone.com/_Countertops/Picking_Countertop.htm

The reason I wanted soapstone is that it is more in keeping with the age of the house. No kitchens had granite back in that era.

Soapstone is impervious to everything! It is what the stone countertops in chemistry labs are.

The first 2 photos are the slabs in the natural. It is a gray color. After it is installed it will be oiled simply with mineral oil and that is what gives it the beautiful black color.

(Sorry about the photo quality)

In these last 2 photos they have just wet the slabs with water to show me the black color and the veining. The oil will make it blacker than the water.

They have been delivered to the fabricator/installer here and are due to be installed in my kitchen TOMORROW, if everything goes right!!! I won't even tell you how much shipping was to get these slabs here! It was hard to come by but after a while it was a challenge and I wouldn't settle for granite! I'm a little stubborn that way! It takes me forever to make up my mind about something but when I do . . . that's it!

I promise to take pictures of the installation!

My stone guy here is named Atilla!!!!

Shirley

Bumpy Ride

Preacher

I spent the day at the barn today. I haven't been riding much this winter but since it's starting to get warmer now, I decided I'd better start riding these guys. Starting with Preacher because he's my 18 year old dependable gelding. Well today it wasn't a real pleasant ride because it seems anything I wanted to do, Preacher wanted to do the opposite. I wanted to walk, he wanted to canter, I wanted to canter, he wanted to trot, I wanted to jog, he wanted to trot fast. Just one of those days. Looks like I need to do some ground work and get back some respect!!!

Also that darn hay wagon is still in the arena and is really distracting to a chow hound like Preacher!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Second Hand Treasure!

I'm posting my finds on Diane's blog party called "2nd Time Around Tuesday". Hope you will visit her site (A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Words) for the list of participants. http://diane1876.blogspot.com/

I went into my favorite little antique/thrift shop the other day and found some good things. I never leave there empty handed. This beautiful fan back windsor chair is my favorite. I have four that I got last summer. I wish there had been two of these but I will still be on the hunt for one more to have six. Now all I have to do is find that country plank table I want for my dining room.

I love the detailing here.

I also found these two rooster bookends and some nice old stackable books.

This is a an old square tablecloth. I love red and white.

Tomorrow I'm planning on going to Goodwill and another little thrift shop I know about!

Wish me luck!

Shirley

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Dogs I've Loved

I'm posting one of my favorite subjects this week in my mosaic for Mary's blog at "Little Red House". I love dogs and that's all there is to it. Please visit Mary's site at: http://dearlittleredhouse.blogspot.com/

This mosaic made me go back into some really old photo files. Also found a lot of good memories there too.

That's me on the swing with my first dog. Smokey. The other cocker on the porch swing was named Becky. The little boy on the little chair is my 45 year old son!!!, with Rippy.

The other dogs are Trouble I and Trouble II, (black labs). Bear has the leash in his mouth; the Weimaraner is my son's dog now, (Gretchen) and the pointer is of course my dog now, Rocky.

Love them all here and in heaven.

Shirley

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Getting Close! Kitchen

I'm linking to Cindy's blog at My Romantic Home for "Show and Tell Fridays" Visit her and see all the neat ideas. http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Crown Molding, Light and Flooring

The crown molding went up on Monday. It makes it look a lot more finished now.

The molding that my contractor got for the walls and the cabinet molding were just different enough that they couldn't fit together, so Ray my contractor, (being he used to be a cabinet maker), made these wonderful corner pieces to join the moldings to. Aren't they the cutest things!