Come back to me, I'm begging you please

I want you to...come back...
These Janet lyrics are two fold. Please come back to reading my renovation diaries! I know I've been gone too long but I had a very, very good reason.

I got robbed.  Despite living in a fantastic neighborhood with a Sheriff across the street and little kids riding their big wheels down my Magnolia lined streets, someone broke in to my house.

It sucked. Mostly because I made a lot of mistakes. I hadn't gotten around to installing the outdoor lights, so it looked like this:

Pretty GD dark. Next, my contractor forgot to board up the outside of my french doors. This is not his fault. We boarded up the interior, so even if you came through the french doors, short of hatcheting through the door you wouldn't be able to get in to the main house. BUT it made me look like a target.

Next, I left my tiny 3 foot kitchen window open, that's nine feet off the ground. Thieves I have found are tenacious and in my case, very, very small.

3 strikes. OUT.

They tried the addition first then came in through a window and had about two minutes uninterrupted before they triggered the alarm. They got away with a lot of my things. My jewelry mostly. 30k of it. Plus a few expensive handbags and one pair of Christian Louboutins. Thieves also had great taste.

Now, before you say, wait you had 30k of jewelry just LAYING around your house while you have workers there, what are you an idiot??

I had no idea how much my jewelry was actually worth until I had to itemize it for a police report. The most expensive item, my diamond earrings. I actually wear every day but in a rude twist of fate the back broke the day prior so they were in my jewelry box waiting to be repaired.  I also have never been burglarized (besides my car), ever in my life. And I had a sort of genuine naiveté about it.

And I know what you're thinking.. 30k, new house, renovations, you must be loaded!! I'm actually not. Every piece of jewelry that I owned, I either saved copiously to buy, was inherited or given to me. Thats why it stings. A lot of it was irreplaceable. And because I just moved in, I didn't really do my due diligence on my insurance, so most of it sadly is gone.

I want you to come back...

So there are two way this could go down. It could, one, make me feel violated, unsafe and bitter. Or It could, two,  remind me of how lucky I am to never have to steal from another person, to not have been home when they did, to not have any vandalism, to live somewhere where the police arrived in 3 minutes and now have sent extra patrol cars every day since the break in ...to be a home owner to begin with. I pick two. World, you're just not going to convince me that you're only a dark and scary place. There is darkness and there is light. And I chose the light. Always.

Good news? My addition is swimming along. Dry wall is in...windows and doors are in. Inspector Approved. Hooray!

 That's the pocket door to my master bath.

 My hard fought for windows.

 Another view...well just to remind you to look on the bright side.

A peek at the french doors and the hallway leading to the rest of the house.

So instead of having a woe is me, why me?! moment. I will instead choose a giddy why me!!! moment. As in, how did I get so lucky to be able to have a home like this? Hiccups and all. Grateful is my choice.

In the words of Bob Marley, Light up the Darkness y'all.

xoxox,
Summer

Wise men say, Only fools rush in.

When I decided to blog about home remodeling I read a lot of blogs.

Some spoke of remodeling as if you are Oprah with and endless supply of means and assets. Others spoke of remodeling as if you are MacGyver and can DIY a bench with bubble gum and an recycled wooden Pallet. There is nothing wrong with either of these methods. Its just, well I'm no Oprah and DIY to me is a network I watch on television.

Then there is HGTV. I confess, I'm addicted.  They have amazing transformations and it only takes 5 weeks!! And your contractor has a keen design eye! Now, I had a career in television production, so deep down I know better. So when I decided to blog, I decided it would the truth of the matter. No sugar coating.

And today the truth is this:

My reno has slowed to a crawl. And I am over it. Now granted, part of it is my own fault (the window issue). But some of it is the nature of the beast. When you first start work with a contractor, you're the shiny new toy. And unless you are on HGTV or give the contractor a lot of work, as time progresses, he may get new shiny toys. And your project starts slowing down. 

There are ways to get around this. The most important one is when you hire your contractor, make him agree to a timeline. Make him stick to it by having penalties written in to the contract. The second one is to throughly plan out your renovations/additions. Work with a designer or get a project design app or software. Know as much as you can before you begin. Don't do it as you go and DON'T trust your contractor to make decisions on your behalf. 

I didn't do either of these things. I rushed fool hardly in because I was so excited to get started. I thought for sure we would be done by Summer. We started in March and he quoted me 3 months. We are in July and have a lot left to do. Not to mention the landscaping.

So today. I am the lady above. #BOO

KITCHEN REVEAL

I normally give my posts cute song title names...but I can't today. My kitchen is done!! (kind of)
This post will be all about the reveal, baby!!

So let's get started. First the before:

This was the "breakfast" nook as you first stepped in to the kitchen.

This was the view looking straight through the galley-style kitchen.

This is the old kitchen door.

This is the view from the back.

This is it dead on.

Enough with the old. Lets talk about the new baby!!!

NOW this is the view as you step in to the kitchen.

This is my beloved backsplash. So worth scraping out the other grout.

When we tore down the wall, we put in this glorious island.

Funny story, originally we put in a full size fridge. Um, the door wouldn't open. So we had to exchange it for counter depth. Our contractor told us we were crazy, nothing would fit inside. It turned out fine it just means I have to go to the market more often.

 There is just a ton of storage in this kitchen.

That's the new window. We replaced the old dinky one with this humongous beauty. I love the light it gives us.

 We have a wall mount oven and microwave, next door to our spice pantry.

 This is the view from the back door, where we have our new washer and dryer, to the front.

 I LOVE THIS SINK.

 Um, the kitchen door. 'Nuff said.

And another overview, well just because.

Now the coveted side by sides.

OOOH WEEE!!!!! Sadly, not done it here. We still need:

1. Window Coverings
2. Electrical outlets in the Island.
3. Rug for in front of the kitchen sink
4. Some kind of pretty decorative, plates, glasses, cake stands, for the center shelf in the glass cabinets.

Then we should be DONE. 

I love it.

xoxox,

Summer

Come Together, Right now, Over Me.

The addition is going soooo slow. We had an issue with the inspector... well that's not true. I hated the tiny windows in the bedroom so I made them larger and the inspector didn't like it. So we had to double brace the wall.

My contractor wants to bury me in my backyard beneath my big beautiful windows.

So while I avoid my untimely demise, I'm working on designing the front of the house.

I have to tell you a quick story. Ever since I've thought about buying a house, I've dreamed of filling it with Art not just paintings, but sculpture - a house filled with beautiful things. And I got one!!

This is my first little vignette...

Its a Douglas Downs original. He sculpts out of bronze and he is AMAZING.
LOVE. Now what to do around the this vignette. I don't want to block my gorgeous picture window:

Nor do I want to block the view from my kitchen in to the living area. But I want to have all of you over!! (Yes, even you.) And I want you all to be able to sit. So, this is what I've come up with

I'm going with an extra long couch - 90 inches, which will fit 4-5 adults comfortably (if they're family) and also give me plenty of room to stretch out while watching TV. (Except for Game of Thrones which often finds me on my feet yelling NO WAY!!!) 

In that big picture window I was considering two chairs and then I thought, if I'm going to do this, I'm gonna do it! So, an extra glamorous day bed, ideal because it has no back to block the view and in a party situation I can move it so people can sit on both sides for a total of 4 humans. 

If you're keeping count, we're up to 9. 

On the far wall, a console table for glass vases and other design elements, including lamps for low lighting.

Under both windows I'm going to put those gorgeous animal skin ottomans in my vignette picture. So seating for 2 more.  11 Humans. And depending on how full it feels at that point, I may also stick a chair over there next to the console table. 12 humans. LET'S PARTY!!!

Because my sculpture is bronze with a dark finish,  I've decided bold graphic black and white art is going to be the way to go in there. Just a few signature framed pieces sitting atop my console table leaning on the wall. 

I still am after beachy, modern, urban, glamour. I keep adding adjectives. I can't stop. I love it.

And that my friends, is what we call DONE.

I'm never leaving.