Marble Countertops

I've always been drawn to pictures of kitchens like this and after a while I started to realize what was the underlying connection between them all. Marble countertops. I love this kitchen. From the glass cabinets, farmouse barstools, white subway tile and stainless appliances, it suits my style perfectly...but, not my budget. :)

We are trying to achieve all that plus an island that our friend in Raleigh is making for us. We plan to put a butcher block countertop on that piece of furniture and paint it it's own color. I have no idea what color yet though...This picture above is just a picture that popped up when I googled marble and butcherblock countertops. I would like a darker wood, but this gives you a general idea of what it would look like. Kind of meets the criteria I've set for the house with the whole "old meets new" vibe.

I've always liked the marble, but never expected to be able to afford it. I saw on Craigslist and in the paper last weekend a "we quit sale" and highly discounted prices on marble and granite. Imagine my surprise when I showed up early Saturday morning to find this price below.
$250.00!! Of course, I loved the price, but this pure white was not really what I wanted. The guy helping me had two matching pieces of carrera marble with veins which is exactly what I was looking for.

Here it is! I had to get 2 slabs for a total of $500.00 even though I only needed 1.5 slabs, but we plan to just use the other half in our master bath reno down the road.

Going Green

One man's junk...

is another man's treasure!

Recognize any similarities in the two pictures? Who would've thought we could've repurposed our putting green from our front porch? Adam's cousin John helped us on the house one Saturday and was able to put some of our trash to good use! He coaches a baseball team down in Alabama and asked if we willing to part with our beloved greenery to use in his batting cage. Um, sure. Thanks so much for your help John!

A Great Tip!

I have always thought that this idea would be so great and apparently my dream has come true! I was over at this blog, http://www.bungalow23.com/, today and he writes:

A Craigslist Tip
Did you know that you can subscribe to your favorite Craigslist searches in your blog feed reader? That’s how I found my buffet.
Just enter your search criteria in Craigslist, then scroll down to the bottom of the results page. In the lower right corner you will find an RSS link. Right-click the link and then select “copy link address” from the pop-up menu. Then open your feed reader (I use Google Reader) and paste that link address as a new subscription.
Now, whenever new items matching your search are added to your local Craigslist site, you’ll get notified in your feed reader.
I find that this technique saves me time by showing me only the content I want to see, and it helps me respond quickly after items are listed.
Happy hunting!

Yay! I'm off to plug mine in!

My list will be:
-stainless range hood
-new water heater
-playground set
-front loaders (we need a stackable set of a washer and dryer. I told myself after our last one in the townhome that I would never do that again, but alas our new laundry room is 2 inches too narrow. If I can find a cheap set of quality front loaders, then I can get laundry cycles that actually wash AND (gasp) dry!! It was too much for my last unit to handle my army sized loads and if I can get my hands on some front loaders that can be stacked then I'll be good to go on my dreaded Monday laundry days.)

I also look for anything with these key words: Pottery Barn, Land of Nod, Crate (&) Barrel, Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, etc., but I won't plug those in. I have a feeling my feeder would be going a little crazy...

Updated Picture Tour

It's been a while. We're busy with two babies and a house renovation. I'm sure you can understand. :) I forget what you've seen and what you haven't so let me just pull some pics out to show you what's been going on.
The new paint color, "vintage yellow" by Glidden, that will go in the pink guest room upstairs.

The "Filtered Shade" gray color by Valspar that will go in the kids room upstairs.

Proud of my priming skills upstairs now that both rooms are done. Just primed...not painted.

The fireplace cleaned and ready to be sealed. Remember, the stove is going to hide that patch of new brick. I know, it still looks dirty, but that is the best it's going to get. We call it "rustic." :)

Updated staircase with the wall gone and new pine stair treads. We're trying to come up with a cool idea for a custom banister now...staircase post to come...

Vaulted ceiling in dining room with sheetrock and brand new windows that Adam replaced!

Old doorway leading from former living room to former dining room. Now that it's a master bedroom, we needed to wall it up.

House on an early Saturday morning waiting for work to be done.

Through those beams is my new laundry room that Adam and his dad framed up. Doorway entrance is from the hall. We're looking at it from the dining room.

And the sheetrock work that still needs to be done in the sitting room over the boards and on both sides of the doors.

Bummer

Remember this pretty beadboard ceiling in the kitchen? I liked it so much I wanted to keep it natural, but as we kept pulling back sheetrock, we noticed termite damage in the living room.

Which looks like this.

Bummer. So, we'll sand it, paint it white and pretend we never saw how pretty it could've been. It'll open the room up that much more anyway, right?

Sitting Room Chairs

These are the chairs I found at Habitat for Humanity for less than $50.00 a piece. The one on the left has the tiniest little tear in the upholstery, but other than that, they are in tip top shape and HEAVY!

They're upstairs for now, away from sheetrock dust and just awaiting their placement in the sitting room one of these days!