Sunday, November 25, 2012

i'm in love

i just stumbled across this picture on pinterest, and i think i'm in love



i think this is seriously my dream kitchen.

if i could make this our desktop background just so i could stare at it every day without confusing my husband, i would.

god i love it.

Friday, October 19, 2012

what Kate is...

it's back!

what Kate is...

watching:

 

sweet Viennese goodness for the eyes and ears


listening to:
 

dude's got a sweet voice


reading:

 
 

 free classics on kindle

the first was hilarious, total sarcastic commentary on the society of his day
the second was one of my childhood favorites, beautiful descriptive writing
 

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

apartment peeks


i always promise to show our new digs whenever we move, mtv cribs style, but as i don't have millions of dollars to make our rented apartments look just as i'd like, i always end up procrastinating, hesitating, and generally putting it off.

i straightened up and took pictures of our whole place the other day, and going through them now, i am embarrassed by many :(  while i always try to find a home with character like brick walls (shadyside apt), vaulted ceilings and a killer view (crown mountain, st. thomas), or awesome decks and a fireplace (here in boulder!), the inevitable result of renting means there will be cons for every pro.



this time around there are lots of pros:
- aforementioned working fireplace. grey-and-black pebble and rough stone!
- perfectly "us" pre-painted rooms in greyish-blues and white!
- two HUGE west-facing decks with lots of sun and views
- a guest room (that has already housed guests!)!
- TONS of storage and closet space!
- a bedroom! it's not a studio like the last two!
- unoffensive and mostly neutrally-stylish furniture included!
- equipped kitchen
- free wi-fi (shhh! don't tell the neighbors!)

but then there are the cons, cons that seem to glare out of every photo:
- baseboard heaters
- baseboard heaters that are falling apart!
- window/through-the-wall AC units
- window/through-the-wall AC units that are falling apart!
- kitchen cabinets that don't fully close
- popcorn ceiling and textured walls
- beige stained carpet. throughout.

overall, the pros totally outweigh the cons and we love the place!  if we could have a dog, life would be perfect here!  i can't wait to get some firewood and cozy up when the snow starts falling!


the bed is now up! bought a base so J could stop complaining about how "ghetto" it looked

 crazy art and empty shelves; a work in progress

my view every morning :)

Friday, September 14, 2012

meditation


i will never stop loving to color


next one : cool colors

_  _
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Thursday, September 6, 2012

dream couch



surprisingly, i don't really love much else in this photo, but i would sell a good chunk of my soul for that couch.

srsly.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

damn darkness!

i really want to take pictures of our apartment to show everyone, but i only seem to remember when it's dark out, and this place get's such great afternoon light i refuse to post a house tour of only artifcially lit rooms!

sorry!

asap, i promise!!

Friday, August 24, 2012

brighter bathroom, brighter life

let me just start by saying that of all the apartment's we have rented, i have been most pleased by this one's pre-existing color scheme.  for the most part.  the kitchen was all white with greyish tile - nice blank slate.  the living/dining room is a medium greyish blue that i love - very calm and goes wonderfully with the rough stone fireplace that we can't WAIT to make use of this winter(!!).  the master bigger bedroom is the same medium grey/blue, the hall is white and the smaller bedroom is... well, i can't tell for sure but it's either white or the lightest grey you've ever seen.  and i like it.

neutrals.

and not just boring brownish neutrals.  good, blank-canvas stuff overall.

but then you come to the bathroom.  it is not "neutral" ... it's orange.  kind of a rusty reddish orange, and, don't get me wrong, in the right situation i could totally be on-board with this color!  in a beautiful, old house in provence, with creamy linen curtains and yellow rays of light slanting in the windows to illuminate the 200year old tile floors, yes.  but in a tiny, windowless bathroom surrounded by white and blue/grey rooms in colorado?  ol' Rusty just does not fit in.

time to go, ol' Rusty.


the bathroom's at the top of a windowless flight of stairs with the only natural light coming from the two west-facing bedrooms to the left... not much filters far enough even in the middle of the afternoon to illuminate the hall, much less the bathroom.


at least the toothpaste matches...
 

the cabinet over the sink is actually great; whoever though to put a mirror inside the medicine cabinet door, i hope you've made a lot of money.  ingenious.

having just painted all around those lights, i'm a little worried about how close the cabinet is under them relative to how much heat those bulbs give off. let's just say the paint around them dried in approximately 2.46 seconds.

also:


i'm not sure if this was the brainchild of the landlord or the two guys who lived here last.  this is at head-height for me.  not convenient, nor helpful.  there's a towel rack built in to the glass shower door... removed and moved.

TIME to PRIME!


you might think edging first is better.  i disagree.  i hate edging.  "may i cut in?" has taken on a whole new meaning to me after painting this room, and my answer would be a resounding, echo-off-the-empty-bathroom-walls YES, PLEASE DO.

also, apparently this "little" gaping hole doesn't warrant a patch-up since it's out of sight just above the medicine cabinet.  oh well, que-sera, sera.


and just to show you what i'm working with in this entire apartment:
 

textured walls.  i'm not sure if this is original or added.  places have definitely been patched over, but, for the most part, this is everywhere.  in the closets, under the stairs, that wall i painted in the kitchen, everywhere.  not pictured: popcorn ceilings.  also everywhere.

yay.

but now for the BIG REVEAL!

TA-DA!!!


the color turned out to be much blue-er than i expected (Behr Burnished Metal) but we like it!  it really fits with the rest of the apartment.  and the tiny bathroom feels, if not huge necessarily, since it is still small, at least airier, lighter and not as claustrophobic.



just make sure you stock quality hand-drying equipment:


(is it?)

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

in the meantime...

i am halfway done with those projects i proposed a week ago... ok, almost two weeks ago.

BUT

we only just arrived, got jobs, and have been working marathon runs to get through training and start making money!  so "halfway done" is pretty good, i think!

the ombre desk:


































blending paints with rollers and foam "brushes" is haaaaaard!  and i still need to finish the drawer doors!

but i think the kitchen looks awesome, now that we've chalkboard-ized the far (ha.) wall!


































those first few rolls are scary when the color is so dark!


can't wait to chalk it up!!

...bathroom tomorrow?

Thursday, August 9, 2012

AND we're BACK!


a lot has happened since the last post, including a bunch of moves: 
pittsburgh>mercersburg>argentina/chile>baltimore>boulder, all within 7 months.

WHEW!

while it was all crazy and includes an interesting story or two, we'll save those for another time; this is a design blog, and it's time to get back to design!

we've finally arrived in Boulder, Colorado and plan to settled in for a while, which means: projects time!

here's a sneak peak of what I have in mind








we've moved into a great apartment with a small windowless kitchen, like in the photo above, and I'm thinking that the blank white end wall could use something... chalkboard paint!


Source: etsy.com via Kate on Pinterest



Source: zazzle.com via Kate on Pinterest




there's a desk that was left on the balcony, and it's nothing to look at right now... 4 paint samples from Behr are just begging to be painted ombre-style onto the ugly duckling.  I'm planning to leave the top natural, but do I paint the lower part in separated chevron style, try to blend it horizontally, separated horizontal stripes, blended chevron... what to do, what to doooo?


well one thing is for sure, besides the chalkboard kitchen wall: the burnt rusty orange-ish bathroom is becoming a serene light grey!


"burnished metal," again by Behr  :)