Mynee's Musings

We've Got Valances

Finally!  Yes, I know that the kitchen has been finished for almost 7 months but it has taken me this long to decide on window treatments!  I had found a cool website called Fabric Workroom.  They have a lot of different styles of valances and over 2,000 fabrics.  I had ordered quite a few samples and I liked one fabric in particular so I then tried to decide on a valance style.  There were several that I liked but once I priced the valances along with matching placemats and napkins, it came to over $1,800.  I really didn't want to spend that much money for valances so I started looking online for non-custom valances.  I didn't find any that I liked so I began considering ordering from Fabric Workroom again.  Ugh, I went back and forth for over 6 months.  I didn't want to have to change the curtain rods so I specifically looked for valances with a 3" rod pocket and I finally found some online at Penny's.  Here they are...

 

 

 
 

The color is celadon which I would describe as a silver green.  They match some of the glass tiles in the backsplash and I'm really happy with my choice.  We did have to lower the two curtain rods over the windows next to the door but that only took a few minutes and now the windows look great!  I had to order 5 valances since the large window needed two, but they were only $30 each.  I found placemats at Kohls and they were only $30 for 6 so that's a total of $180.  I saved $1,620.  Yeah for me!  :) 

Back to Fabric Workroom...I'm now considering ordering a new valance for our TV room.  Since I only need one instead of four, it shouldn't be too expensive.  I might even order one for the master bath once we have it remodeled.  That probably won't be until next year at the earliest though.      

Now the only thing left to buy for the kitchen is a new fridge but we're going to wait until after vacation to do that.  I want a stainless, counter depth fridge with the freezer on the bottom and no ice or water in the door.  Hopefully there is one out there somewhere and it won't take us months to find it...hee hee hee.

 

 

Home Show & Baseball Tickets

We went to the Home & Garden Show on Saturday.  They have it every year at the Edward Jones Dome.  We haven't gone for probably the past 4 or 5 years so, but since we're planning to redo our bathroom, we figured we should go to get some ideas.  The company that did our kitchen, Callier & Thompson, was there.  They had a cool bathroom display although it wasn't really our style.  Our designer, Jenny, was there and we talked to her briefly.  She's currently working on drawing up some plans for our bathroom but I have a feeling that it's going to be more than we want to spend.  We're meeting with her on the 26th so she can show us what she has in mind.

Single game Cardinal tickets went on sale Friday and we bought tickets to games, both in the Casino Queen Party Porch area (which is now called the Left Field Porch); one in April on Stan Musial bobblehead day and one in August on Matt Holliday bobblehead day.  We have bought game packs for the past 5 seasons but this year, the dates just didn't work so we decided to buy single games instead.  We'll probably buy tickets for 3 or 4 additional games too.

We've Got a Kitchen

OK, so technically we've had a functional kitchen for about 6 weeks now.  The cardboard was still covering the floor until about 4 weeks ago when they removed it and sealed the grout.  The knobs were finally finished about 2 weeks ago along with a lot of little odds and ends.  As I mentioned in my last post, we still need to decide on new window treatments and we also need to buy a new fridge.  We're looking at stainless, counter-depth models.  That will be fairly easy but the window treatments are much more difficult.  We keep going back and forth on what we want.  Anyway, here are a few pictures of the kitchen as it is today...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Here is a picture of what is written on the frames of the cabinets...

 

I just cracked up when I saw this.  C&T stands for Callier and Thompson but I immediately thought Captain & Tennille. 

We got 8" of snow on Thursday and they were predicting another 1 to 2 inches on Friday night.  That never materialized, thank goodness.  They were then predicting another 2 to 4 inches today but we only got get another inch or so.  I am so sick of winter.  When our local Fox weather guy, Dave Murray, gave his extended forecast/prediction back in November, he specifically said that January would be very mild temperature-wise and that there would be little if any snow.  You can ready his entire forecast by clicking here.  Um, hello?  I haven't seen "mild" yet this month.  I have shoveled "little if any" snow 4 times so far and each time, it hasn't exactly been little.  If anything, I'd say his prediction was a "little" off.

I have a few cards to post in the upcoming week.  Be sure to check back.  Until then...      

We've Got Counters & Water

The counter tops were installed on Friday and oh my goodness, we love the granite.  It's so cool to know that we saw the granite when it was two full slabs and now it's our countertops.  Here are a few pictures...

 
 
The second picture is part of the granite on the island.  We had asked that they cut the island from a particular part of the slab because we loved the pattern in this area and they were able to accommodate our request. 

The plumber hooked up the water and installed the faucet and garbage disposal today.  He also fixed the gas line to the stove so that the stove can be pushed all the way back to the wall.  The electrician still needs to come back to finish the electric work so we can't use the garbage disposal, dishwasher or stove yet (it's gas but has an electric starter) but hey, we have water.  Here's the faucet...

 
The tile guy is coming back tomorrow.  He was here today but the pencil tile wasn't so he went to pick up some samples and then bring them back so that I could look at them and decide which one looked best.  Our designer is on maternity leave so I think this detail must have been overlooked.  Anyway, all is good and he'll be back tomorrow.  I'll be sure to post pictures soon.

I think we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.  We're hoping that the kitchen will be finished by the end of the week.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  :) 

We've Got Cabinets

Woohoo!  We have cabinets.  They installed them last Monday and Tuesday.  Here are some pictures...

 
 
 
The cabinet in the first picture is not the island, it's actually the cabinet that is perpendicular to the sink (the opening next to the dishwasher) in the bottom picture.  The wine rack used to be over this cabinet but we relocated it next to the refrigerator.  This used to be the desk but we never used it as a desk so we raised it to countertop height and it is now a dry bar.  All of the wine glasses, beer glasses, decanters, etc will be stored here. 

We've only encountered one "problem" so far and actually, I'm not even sure I can call it a problem.  They put the island in the wrong place.  We specifically wanted the island in the same place as the original one.  The new one is 6 inches longer but it's the same width.  Well, they installed it much too close to the sink but it has since been repositioned so all is well.  Of course now the electrician needs to move the outlets for the pendant lights so that they are centered over the island.  Um, I told him when he put in the new outlets last week that I didn't think they were in the right position and I guess I was right.  Anyway, he's going to do this tomorrow. 

I had intended to write this blog post yesterday but we were busy putting up Christmas decorations.  Yes, in the midst of all of the clutter and mess, there are now Christmas decorations.  There are still a few that I haven't put up yet because I'm waiting until I get the dining room back in order after the kitchen is finished.  As for the outside, here's what Bill did yesterday...

 

OK, until next time...

We've Got a Floor

Woohoo!  Yes, the tile is done and it looks great.  When we chose the tile, we only saw a sample.  Granted it was a full tile and the tiles are 20" tiles but still, it's hard to imagine the entire floor from just one tile.  Anyway, here's some of the prep work...

 
The put a cement board on the floor.  It is cemented to the floor and also nailed and then the seams are taped and cemented, kind of like drywall.  The messiest part was when they sanded the seams the next day.  Yes, there is now dust in my house...hee hee hee. 

 
This is a picture after just one day of laying tile.  The tile guy was able to get a lot of the tile layed with only a few rows and the laundry room remaining for the next day.  We couldn't walk on the tile but Greta could.  It was almost as if she knew this and she would sit in the middle of the floor and taunt us.  Yes, that is her laying on the workman's cart.  So cute.

 
Here is a picture of the finished floor and yes, those are Greta's eyes glowing in the distance.  We love the floor and, as Bill said, it's a shame that a portion of it will now be covered by the cabinets.  As for the color of the grout.  I honestly don't remember choosing a grout color but apparently we did because they delivered the grout with the tile.  The tile guy then brought some samples to make sure that this was the color we really wanted.  Well, it turns out it was so maybe we really did choose the grout color when we chose the tile.  Who knows.  There were so many decisions to make that our heads were spinning.  Anyway, the grout color is light so we'll make sure it is sealed to prevent it from getting dirty.

The electricians are here and are adding a few outlets and moving a few outlets.  The installer is here for the cabinets and will begin working on them when the electricians leave.  The cabinets were delivered on Friday and have been living in our garage since then.  Here's a sneak peak..

 
OK, I guess that's it for now.  Be sure to check back soon!

We've Got No Kitchen

OK, I know that is not grammatically correct and it actually pained me to type it but I wanted to continue with the "We've Got" series...hee hee hee.  The kitchen tear-out began on Thursday and it actually wasn't as messy as I had envisioned.  Here are a few pictures...

 
 
 
 
The last picture was taken standing in the kitchen looking into the family room.  These are the cabinets that we kept and are now being stored downstairs.  I'm going to use them in my Blue Heart Studio.  I've already got it all planned out and it's going to be so cool.

Here's a few pictures that I took last night after all of the trash had been removed.  We layed a few tiles on the floor to see how they look and we love them!

 
 
Of course, Greta had to check out the tiles too.  I think she approves.

 
I'm looking forward to a great weekend.  We're going to the Fox Theater today to see South Pacific and then tomorrow, my bff Jenny is coming over to make cards.  Enjoy your weekend.

  

Sanctuaria

We ate at a new (to us) restaurant on Friday called Sanctuaria.  There are pieces of art from churches around the world including prayers painted on metal over 450 years old in the main dining room.  The food is described as "wild tapas" with a Latin American twist.  It's located on the corner of Manchester and Boyle right in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

We started with the Cabrales cigars which was blue cheese and leek fondue wrapped in phyllo dough, fried, and topped with a raisin sherry sauce.  They were simply crunchy, creamy, fried goodness.  Since we both love cheese, we then decided to order the cheese plate which included a spanish blue cheese, a spanish parmesan and a wine-soaked goat cheese.  Our next small plate was the wicked good shrimp.  That was how it was listed on the menu and it definitely was wicked good.  We asked about the sauce and were told that it was butter (ok, a lot of butter), cajun spices, worcestershire and lemon.  Bill then had the vaca frita with chimichurri which was shredded pan seared angus beef atop potato puree.  I had the egglplant stuffed with pepperjack and we shared an order of the papas rellenas which were flash fried mashed potato balls with picadillo and spanish cheese.  Everything was great and after all of this, we were definitely too stuffed for dessert...hee hee hee.  

While Santuaria is known for its innovative cocktails, we opted to try a beer by a new local brewery (surprise, surprise).  The brewery is Cathedral Square and it is located on Lindell down the street from the St. Louis Cathedral, hence the name.  Plans are in the works to open a brew pub there but as of now, they only brew the beer at this location.  Their beers can be found at quite a few restaurants around the St. Louis area as well as in bottles at various local liquor and grocery stores.  We decided to try the Agave Ale and it was great.  They also brew a Belgian White Ale and a Belgian Abbey Ale.  I'm not a big fan of white or abbey ales but I'm definitely interested in their new, not yet available brew which is an IPA. 

OK, twelve hours from now, the workmen are schedule to arrive to begin tearing out cabinets and flooring.  All of the cabinets are packed, the things in the fridge have been moved to the fridge in the basement and the laundry is just about finished.  Until the next post, I thought I'd leave you with a cute picture of Greta.  She was "helping" me pack the other day and then decided to make herself at home in one of the empty cabinets...

 

Silly kitty!  :)

 

We've Got Slabs

Hee hee hee...this the third in the "We've Got" series following We've Got Knobs and We've Got a Date.  Saturday we went to Global Granite & Marble to pick out our granite slabs.  Well actually we approved them more than picked them out considering we need two slabs and they only had 2 slabs of our pattern.  They were both beautiful though and we learned that they came out of the ground one right after the other so they are as close to being the same as you can get.  Also, our particular pattern does not have a lot of variation so the slabs don't vary much.  Anyway, I previously posted a picture of a small piece of the granite but here's a larger view...

 

Here's a close-up...

 

It's so pretty.  Seeing the actual slabs of granite that will become our countertop was very cool.  Anyway, I'm continuing to pack up the kitchen and it has definitely reinforced my belief that we should never move.  We have way too much stuff...hee hee hee.

Bill and I did spend some time outside this weekend cleaning up the yard, dumping flower pots, cutting back bushes, etc.  It was such beautiful weather.  I was even able to wash and wax my car.  Anyway, while working in the yard, I decided to cut back the rose bushes and was surprised to find two roses blooming.  It's been so warm that they must think it's spring.  I cut them and put them in a vase...

 

OK, off to finish packing up the kitchen.  Check back tomorrow for a restaurant review.    

 

We've Got a Date

Jenny at Callier & Thompson called today.  Our cabinets are scheduled to arrive a week early than planned so the tear-out will begin on November 11.  Yikes, that's only 2 weeks from today!  I've been bringing home empty paper boxes from work for the past 3 weeks and will continue to do so for the next week.  I'm already planning the packing and yes, I'm starting to hyperventilate.