Kitchen Reno OR How Many Times Will We Be Spotted at the Legacy Diner in February?

We ordered our kitchen cabinets this weekend and in three short weeks, we'll begin the renovation. My mother reminds me that most people never get to tear out and rebuild their kitchen so I need to really let myself be Bobby Trendy luxurious about it. I guess. These are our cabinets, although two of our kitchens could probably fit into this one with elbow room.

The paint color is a bit more grey than it appears here. It's called hazel. It reminded me first of the focal wall at the Pop Shop and then really of my own dining room. What can I say....I know what I like.

My favorite part is the backsplash, which is this style, but a bit lighter than shown here. I had to put up my dukes for this one...it was so worth it.

Care to join us next month at the Legacy?

Love,
Jes

In Sheeps' Clothing

This photo reminded me of Pete. Pete also likes to spend a lot of time in our kitchen...his preference is no more than 3 inches from our feet. <3

Terrarium Saturday

I can't lie...I'm totally obsessed with the terrarium I made at Terrain on Saturday. It's delicious.

Reduce Reuse Refabulous...

We've started our recycled fashions project in fashion design class and for the second year in a row, I am left speechless by the quality of and creativity behind the things that my students are creating in our class. the necklace above is a project that we made in class using recycled magazines rolled into beads. The photo and tutorial are not from my class, but from the amazing cut out and keep blog. I'm actually working on a multi-media version of this necklace for myself. You know embroidery is involved.

Remember Dr. King: Have a peaceful weekend, do something harmonious and be thankful that we're all so different (it makes life so very interesting).

Love
Jes

The Art of Display

I was inspired by this photo of a simple vignette today featuring my favorite flower, the peony. I love creating new vignettes in my house, especially since things look so sad around here now that the tree and all of our homemade decorations are packed away for another year. I made a trip to Terrain and bought a few things including some Irish moss, Angel's Tears, fresh basil and thyme, a shitake mushroom log and walnut garland to fill in the spaces.


I'll be headed back to Terrain this weekend for their terrarium workshop from 2-4. You should totally come!

Love,
Jes
P.S. Dan and Colin are measuring our kitchen at this very moment in preparation for the kitchen of our DREAMS! ah!

Three Claps

Pulling yourself out of a slump requires a certain brand of fun with a particular combination of people.

Love,
Jes

Day 2: Casserole and Nostalgia

I wish I could say something here like "No time to blog, working on the peanut pillow!" but alas, the peanut pillow is across the room glaring at me, bourbon in hand, for all of the broken promises (did you just hear it say "we never spend time together anymore" with a bourbon-stained slur!?) I'll get to it...just after I finish these lesson plans.

I was thinking outside of my work addiction today when I saw this dollhouse post on zakka life during my lunch. (Note: This is the mother I had always intended on being one day and coincidentally, the very dollhouse I had always wanted to build.) It reminded me of the conversation that I'd had with a few of my friends at the SFA show on Friday who were going with the band to D.C. and stopping for a quick trip to the Smithsonian where they'd planned on visiting Kermit and Julia Child's kitchen. I insisted that they had to stop at my life's greatest inspiration---the Smithsonian dollhouse. I spent what felt like 3 hours in front of this dollhouse when I was a kid, absorbing eah inch of perfectly calculated scale.

I built my first dollhouse with my mom when I was 12, the year after my dad died. Looking back, we did a lot of things like that in 1994 and I realize now that my mom sortof always did what I do. The delicate art of escapism. Still, the dollhouse became a huge part of my childhood and I have to say, I played with that thing way longer than I care to admit. I took dollhouse furniture-making classes, sewed my own miniature curtains, hooked my own tiny bath mat and set elaborate tables with miniscule forks, tea cups and gravy boats. And Christmas...oh, Christmas...it involved hours of planning, crafting and decorating before I'd invite my family to a miniature tour of my miniature world. The perfect one with a really tall dad and three kids with rudimentary haircuts, not unlike my current dollhouse, slightly bigger, one lady, two dogs and one Dan with a rudimentary haircut.

We're high fiving the snow fall and hoping for a day off where we'll do anything but work. Well, maybe a little work (you don't expect me to do this cold turkey!). How romantic.

Love
Jes