Living in Chaos and Mayhem...

OK so for those of you that have followed along with us on the kitchen remodel we are now at a point of living in chaos and mayhem! The painters have been here for that last two weeks and needless to say life has been a bit difficult.
I think if I had to say, this has been by far the most difficult part of this remodel process. We have a kitchen that's completely unusable, not to mention stinky from the oil based paint!
So for now, just to keep you all up to date here's where we are in the process...

In the meantime we are pretty much sequestered in an upstairs office until this process is done, and you can bet, that can't happen soon enough for us!!! As I write this we are a bit cranky and overwhelmed, but I just keep thinking this will be done...SOON and this will be the most beautiful kitchen EVER on the planet...at least in my mind!!!

Rejuvenation Field trip

Hello everybody,

Yes its been a while since I've posted but things have been a bit crazy around here and I still do not have a functioning kitchen and we're still "camping" from the living and dining room! Much to my dismay, our kitchen isn't done yet, but almost...I think...

Little did we know that when deciding on tile for the back splash from Pratt and Larson it would take six weeks to be ordered, made and delivered but it did. Happily as of Friday the tile came in and is our hot little hands ready for install next week. 

In the meantime, my BFF and I took a little field trip to Rejuvenation lighting shop in beautiful downtown Portland for the lighting above the island that the hubs custom built. 

(click any picture to enlarge)

This place is amazing for any kind of lighting you can imagine! Really anything you can picture you can custom build to your exact specifications. Any finish, any fitter size, any shade or shape, any color, any length at any price, they can do it.

The place is just a treasure trove of ideas and styles, from period traditional, to Mid-century modern and anything in between. Whatever your style, they either have it or can make it for you. Whatever you can imagine or dream, they can do it. The down side...yep there's a down side...the most challenging thing is deciding on just exactly WHAT you want and let me tell you first hand that is THE most difficult part! 
I went in with an idea in mind and by the time we walked out, I had a fourteen-eleven gazillion other ideas in my head! I was ready to remodel another room just to do lighting...OK well not really but its so easy to get carried away!

They also sell antiques and furniture including period pieces and glassware as well as reproductions pieces, but all beautifully made as you can see on the vintage picnic table above and below. Oh and by the way, that picnic table is authentic and is for sale...$5,000.00...a drop in the bucket :O)

These beautiful bottle trees below are adorable but I think I'd need to have those big windows to park them in front of...oh and that Galvanized island to set them on...

The show room is wonderful and very historic. Here's an excerpt from the company website; 
"The Southeast Portland retail store occupies 38,000 sq. feet on the first and second floors of the historic Neustadter Building, which the company renovated in 1992. Located at SE Grand and Taylor near downtown, the store is unlike any other in the nation, combining our period-authentic reproduction lighting with period furniture, hardware, plumbing, decorative accessories, mill work, and architectural salvage"

(source)

This beautiful light below is one I have in my nook and the finish I chose is "Oil Rubbed Bronze" with a scalloped shade whereas the one just below it is pretty much the same light only in a different finish; "Bronze with a very expensive hand-blown shade on it.

Its a beautiful light but wasn't quite right for our application...yea that's it..."wasn't quite right for our application"...translation; it was too expensive for this little area and my pocket book!

Loved this view toward downtown Portland from the second floor which was being remodeled when I was there. Those windows are huge and have that wonderful rippled/rolled glass in them. I actually thought this space would be so wonderful as a loft to have for the weekend city getaways...OK so I'm day dreaming again but it was the only thing free that day!

There were beautiful leaded glass windows for sale...

and amazing mirrors and of course, more lighting but at the end of the day, I walked away with only two light fixtures and two shades for above the island and that my friends will be a post for another day! 

In the meantime happy to have had this time for our little field trip and so glad you could come along for the ride!

A year from now...

This might all be funny when I look back at all the work that has gone into this DIY project but right now, I'm just sighing a lot!


For those of you that have been following along with this "little face lift", you know that at different times this space has been a mess! OK so I'm not complaining because the Hubs has worked tirelessly to bring our vision to life and believe it or not, its getting there as you can see in the pic below. 

...compared to this picture below with no sheet rock and ugly, fuzzy insulation hanging around exposed pipes, beat-up old stained oak and ugly tile counter tops! Need I say more about how I really felt about that old kitchen?

However, at times it feels like its just dragging on but at least now we have a wonderful new single bowl under mount sink and running water! 

I surprised myself with this one because I had my heart set on a Farm style sink but it wouldn't work with the cupboard configuration. Then I thought I'd go with a double bowl sink in white because that's all I've ever known. 

But when I saw this single bowl by Blanco in "Cafe brown" it really made my heart sing and made sense to not have two separate little sinks. I mean think about it, Thanksgiving turkey pan, big bowls, you name it, it'll fit in this bad boy! Heck I could even give a baby a bath in this sink...well that's if I had a baby to bathe and I don't so I won't...anyway, I digress, back to the story ;0)

The sink works especially well for washing cookie sheets...not that I've been making any cookies lately with a torn up kitchen. However, the one thing still hooked up at this stage and in working order is the old oven. So I'm still able to roast vegetables and bake casseroles which I do use my cookie sheets for...

Oh yes and I have a beautiful new Grohe Oil Rubbed Bronze faucet, a separate hand-held sprayer and (insert the hallelujah chorus here) a flush mount soap dispenser! Yes you read that right...I am so stinking excited about that little luxury...no messy soap bottle sitting on my counter and no ugly bottle with a ticky-tacky paper label on it to detract from my counters!

called "Brazillian Ouro" and based on the information we received on it, its sort of old...500-550 million years old to be exact. 
Yes I said "million years"...that's what the paper say's about it and that it was quarried in Brasilia

and that's all I'm going to show you for now since I want to save the pretty stuff for when everything is done or maybe inbetween...whenever that may be...there I go again sighing...

No need to look any further...

Hello and happy Sunday to everyone! 

Today has been such a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest that I just wanted to share a little of where I live. A very dear friend sent these two films to me yesterday and I was just in awe watching them! The photography is breath taking and the scenery is some of the most beautiful on the planet!

The movies you are about to watch is why I love living in one of the most amazing places on earth...turn up the speakers and enjoy the shows...

"Finding Oregon"

This second brief film 

"Finding Portland" 

is the city in which I work and live just south of

the "City of Roses", 

Portland Oregon...

Hope you enjoyed the show and I'd welcome visitors in person anytime as the porch light is always on at my house!

No man is an island...

But I know a man that can build one!

As you all know, Mr.La Bella Vie and I have been in the midst of a major
kitchen remodel which feels like its been going on F-O-R-E-V-E-R !!! 
We actually started the process in January so it hasn't been that long, it just feels like it when you don't have the use of a full functioning kitchen.
We've made a lot of progress and Mr.La Bella Vie has worked like a dog to get it done (and out of his hair!) and we're almost there so I thought I'd post a little of the progress thus far...
The island has been one of the most challenging as far as custom "furniture" work. We took the old existing island that was open on one end with a glass shelf for display, which you can't see in this picture because we had already ripped that baby out and the empty hole was being used to hold supplies.

Closed it in all the way around...

took off the old doors and installed the new ones...

removed the old marble and tile top.

And closed in the opposite side where the old bar stools used to sit...right in front of the refrigerator which was a huge problem. 

Whenever anyone was sitting on one of the bar stools, I couldn't open the fridge door because it would crash into whom ever happened to be sitting there!

 So to make better use of what would have been wasted space, we added a built-in book shelf for my cookbook collection and relocated the sitting area on the end of the island facing into the kitchen.

 Then we added bead-board to the back of the book case and custom corbels that the hubs made 

wrapped bead-board all the way around the outside...

 then added a granite topper and installed an outlet for under cabinet lighting and a shelf across the middle. I didn't get pictures of that yet but will when this bad boy is done and painted...which by the way will be 

"Oil Rubbed Bronze"

to perfectly blend and tie in with this little sweetheart...

stay tuned for more of the pretty stuff in the coming weeks...


Joining Susan's party today at Between Naps On The Porch
for another Metamorphosis Monday 

I Had Planned to Entertain for Easter

I even started to set the table.  I put out dishes to match the chair covers and found a green tablecloth that resembled grass:

I added an Easter egg centerpiece and planned to put colored eggs down the center of the table with a number of blue/green/yellow candles.

I even brought out the cabbage salt and pepper shakers:

Then we were invited an Easter potluck, so I jumped at the chance to make one dish and not have to spend all day cooking.  I never finished the table.    I had good intentions, though.  Maybe next year.

Easter Blessings...

Though we're apart

You're in my heart

This Easter,

and always...