Rugs in the Kitchen

When we stayed in Stockholm this summer, our Airbnb host had the coolest of everything, including a worn down in the most perfect way Persian rug in her kitchen. My mom was all about it and so was I. 

My cursory research showed such rugs were quite expensive, even at auction. I put a pin in it and kept my eyes open for ways to acheive looks like these:

Image via hemtrevligt.se

Image via honestlywtf.com

I'm lucky to have a mom who remembers little nuggets of information when it comes to things I like. Last week, she was at an estate sale in DC and came across a dusty old rug for only $30! She swooped it up for me because she's a pretty great mom. Check it out:

It certainly meets the "lived in" criteria, but the colors are on point and the size is just right.

I don't know much about rugs, but this one looks ok to me.

Now that we have the rug in place, we just have to build that dang kitchen. Baby steps.

Taking Stock

With our Ikea kitchen flat packed and hanging out in the living room and the contractors not quite ready to get started on their end of things, we're in a kitchen limbo. I'm using it as an opportunity to inventory and cleanse, following the KonMari method as much as my impatient heart will allow.

Kitchen drawers are a real wasteland for unused/unnecessary gadgets. If you have a cast iron skillet, a good chef's knife, and some solid mixing bowls, your kitchen is complete. The rest is gravy and that gravy needs a home. 

This is a picture of only 1/3 of our kitchen cabinet space emptied. Getting it all out so I can only put the good stuff back in (re: KonMari).

The dining room is about to become the kitchen for a few weeks while we tear some things apart and build something new. The less we have to deal with inventory-wise, the better life will be when we come out of this (hopefully) alive. I posted a few things I'm getting rid of over on Instagram if you're interested.

I know it to be true that prep work pays off, but I also know it to be true that I forget to finish my prep work 9/10.

Ikea Kitchens - Here We Go

After soliciting advice from the Internet and friends and strangers, we decided to get a quote from Ikea for the kitchen. The process can go a couple of different ways depending on your confidence levels. We opted to have Ikea's team come out and measure the space for us. We have a ton of bump outs and weird protrusions in the kitchen, so I feel confident that those have been accurately captured. Glad we went with the pros on that one.

The result was a 3-D model of the kitchen, which can then be modified in Ikea's online design platform. I played around with some thoughts before we went to an in-store appointment with an Ikea rep, who was supposed to help us design our space. He did give us some ideas, but only after we asked a lot of questions. He never asked what our budget was, what style we liked, etc., but rather looked at what I had done in the design tool and made a few tweaks. At this point, we're in $89, so it's not a total loss. Do I recommend the measure and design appointment? Meh. I feel confident in our measurements but less than confident in marching ahead with the big purchase.

Image via www.remodelista.com

Image via caitlinwilsondesign

The goal now is to finalize all of the fun design elements. The layout is pretty sound, but I'm still waiting for a vision to come to me on the overall look of the space. The more I go on Pinterest, the more paralyzed I become.

Things that are settled: black quartz counters, counter and shelf configuration.

Things that are not settled: fronts and fixtures. Has anyone had success with Semihandmade? They sell fronts to Ikea cabinets that are way more customizable, paintable, etc. The first image below is from their site. The second is an Ikea option for cabinet fronts.

Image via Semihandmade

Image via Ikea.com

We have an imposed deadline of a few weeks from now to make our final decision since our 15% discount from the Ikea kitchen event has a time limit. This is probably a good thing because I could mull over these options for eternity.

The Landing of a Lifetime: I've Made a Huge Mistake Edition

It took me less than 24 hours to come crawling back here to tell you that I've made a huge mistake. Maybe less of a huge mistake and more of a huge miscalculation.

Yesterday, I had straightforward plans to rip up the carpet from my staircase, sand down the wood, and stain it to restore it to its original state. Boy did I underestimate the painstaking steps the previous owner took to make sure nothing could be reversed with ease. I knew the wood had been painted, but I did not know mass amounts of hardware would be mounted on it.

Under the carpet, I found a rubber backing glued to every single step. This is in addition to the metal bar soundly nailed to each and every step from the very bottom to the tippy top.

Sanding and staining? That is the stuff of yesterday. The new goal is to get this goo and hardware off of the steps so we can take off our shoes before Thanksgiving.