The counters are finished!!!

We've been dying to replace our ugly scratched-up formica counters since we moved in 3 years ago. Ideally, we had wanted to put in granite, but the budget didn't allow it. Plus, it seems silly to put nice granite counters on cheap cabinets and we were not about to shell out to replace all the cabinets. So in keeping with our general budget of cheaper than cheap, we found this butcher block counter at Ikea. We stained it dark to contrast with the floors and matched the stain on the oak backsplash. With new counters came a new sink and faucet too, as it was easier not to have to save the old as we pulled it out of the original counter. I love the new sink with its large drain board off to the side for drying dishes. It really comes in handy with wet things so we can protect the wood. The new faucet is turning out to be handier than I thought too. I originally was against the sprayer-in-faucet design, but was forced into it in order to get this sink (no room for an extra sprayer mount on the sink). But it turns out it's really easy to use, and maybe even an improvement from the old faucet.

Nursery-in-use

The nursery certainly has much more personality now that it is being lived in. The bookshelves are a favorite of the little guy's. He spends lots of time choosing books to bring to his chair for a reading and then stacks them on the ottoman (or floor) for future reference.


We found the artwork for the room long before there were any thoughts of a little one. We saw them at a gallery walk in Milwaukee's Third Ward a few years ago and had to have them. They are by Don Nedobeck and we love the colors and fun animal themes... a bird on a cat on a dog and a bird in rain boots... what could be better? And Jack likes to point out each animal and comment on the noises they might make. It's never-ending fun on the walls!

Setting up the nursery...

Our biggest project yet has been the addition of our son in 2006. Of course, that project meant we would be doing another house project as we worked on making his room ready. (We also finished off the upstairs painting in the guest room and hall bath while we were at it.) We decided to go with a happy yellow room and made two-tone stripes with painter's tape. Neil realized we could get a crisper line if we painted over the edge of the tape in the light color before we added the dark color on top. That way there was no bleeding though the tape and no squiggly lines.


Next came molding about 3/4's the way up the walls and matching baseboards. The rest of the house currently has stained boring contractor molding, so we plan to update all of that eventually to wider white trim.


We went with blue above the molding and on the ceiling. It gives the room a good glow at night and brightens it a bit. We weren't originally planning on this color crib, but it turned out better than what we thought we wanted and is a good contrast to the light walls.


The corner of the room has a nice little nook where it sticks out over the stairwell. It was a perfect place to add custom shelves built by Neil and create a little reading corner. The changing table was originally mine as a baby. It was white with blue drawers and after 30 years it was a tiny bit beat up. So we added trim to the drawer fronts and base sides and painted to match the yellow of the room. It's nice to have a little history in the little one's room.


These pictures were all taken before the baby arrived, so the room seems a little bare. It certainly has much more personality now as it is very lived in..... toys and books everywhere and a little guy crawling all over everything. I'll add some current photos soon.