Spicing up the Kitchen

I know, I know...I jump around a lot. I guess I have HADD - house attention deficit disorder.

In any case, the topic of the day is the kitchen. Last we left off, it looked something like this

While I still love the space, it needed a little bit of spicing up. This occured to me about 6 months ago but it was always simmering in the back of my mind. I just wasn't sure what to do so I left it be. Then one day I saw this fabulous kitchen on decorpad:

If you can tear your eyes away from that fabulous chandelier for a minute, you'll see the beautiful blue of the chairs really pop against the space. So that got me thinking about using the accent color from the dining space in the stools. The stools in kitchen are gorgeous but too formal and too large for my space. So the idea got filed away for later use. And then I started to see these fabulous industrial stools used in kitchens all over. Check a few out here and here.

But the prices of some of these pieces were a bit beyond my comfort level so I went in search of something more reasonably priced. I found this stool but I wasn't sure of the scale from the photo so I was on the fence.

And then I stumbled upon the great Martha's kitchen and what should I see?


The very same stools! They looked just perfect except for the color so that sold me.

Once they arrived, they just needed a color change.

They look a bit blue in the photo here but they were more of a grey as you see in Martha's kitchen.

The brighter shade brings out some personality, don't you think?


Thats as far as I got this weekend but I'll be putting some finishing touches in the kitchen this weekend if all goes to plan.

My House on Houzz!

So excited to share that Adi of Houzz.com asked me to participate in their blogger house feature! As if being in the company of past interviewees like Desire to Inspire, This Young House and Ish&Chi were not enough, they are even doing a giveaway as part of the feature. I won't share what I picked but I just happen to think its a must have for every household.

So what are you waiting for? Get over there and enter yourself for some swag!

In case you're wondering, Houzz is a pretty fabulous resource for anyone renovating or decorating. They have done the work of scouring the web for great design photos. As you already know, I get weak in the knees for pretty photos so it going to be a regular stop on my blog route from now on.

Black thumb challenge

Generally, I'm pretty confident about my abilities in the 'crafty' (shudder - I hate that word! Can we come up with something better to mean the same thing??) or domestic domains. But when it comes to any sort of gardening, I fail miserably. I seem to be able to kill even the most hardy plants. But my track record isn't stopping me from trying to add a little life to my doorstop.

After looking at these sad, empty pots on my doorsteps all month, I had to do something.


So off I went to my home improvement mecca of the day and pick up a few random plants. I don't get direct sunlight so my choices are somewhat limited.

Of course I had to make a mess in the installation


And finally I had a little life growing. Thankfully we've had a crazy amount of rain this week so I can report they are not only alive and well but thriving (so far). Wish these planties luck, they have the odds stacked against them.



Any other black thumbs out there? What plants and strategies have kept your plants alive?

Target Slipper Chair Review

Guess what has a new home in my bedroom?

If you recall, I had a few front runners for the bedroom chair. Your comments convinced me going with a solid versus a print was the way to go. So that narrowed it down to three choices - the Ikea, the Target or the JcPenney.

When a sale came round, I took the plunge and got the Target slipper.

I'm sure you already know I'm a huge fan of Target. Design to the masses as a reasonable price. What could be better? I really do love that store and go into a semi trance when I enter its hallowed halls. Unfortunately, this was a web only item so I had to go on faith. I googled it before ordering but found almost no third party reviews so I took a gamble.

I don't often do detailed review posts here but since there were none out there I think it might be helpful for those looking for more info so here is my take on the chair.

Let's start with the good stuff.

It arrived very quickly. Much more quickly than promised by Target.com. Once it was out of the box and layers of wrapping, it was very easy to assemble. Stick part a into part b, a few nuts and bolts and twist ands turns later and it was done. Really like not like having spend hours putting something together. And overall, it looks pretty good. I think the photograph is a very fair representation of the item. The material is exactly what I expected it to be in terms of quality, etc. Its stylish without being too trendy - exactly what I wanted. And lastly, it doesn't scream "I'm from a discount chain!!".

And now onto the not so good stuff.

After I posted I had ordered it, Nikinikinine commented that the chair was really small. That made me worried but part of me thought to myself 'that might be good because I don't have a lot of room in there'. Well, she was 1000% correct in her description that its surprisingly wee. Like really short. The overall measurements are included in the description but the seat height is not so its somewhat misleading. If I had known just how low to the ground it was going to be, I would not have ordered it. Particularily with a high bed, it doesn't look quite right to me. Not completely crazy somehow off.

Another note on quality, the finishing is very raw. I didn't expect high quality work here but I also didn't expect there to be a tear in the fabric or staples showing. Its not terrible b/c the tear and the staples are only on the undersides and where the back and seat meet. Still, this is pretty poor workmanship. Affordable shouldn't mean cheaply made! And really, at $250, its not exactly free!

And lastly I'm a bit dissapointed in the pillow. I like the pattern - the problem is the colors. While the chair fabric is a stark white, the pillow fabric is black on off white. I know, its a minor thing but again, there is really no reason for it. Use a black on white pattern OR make the chair fabric slighly off white. Just because I'm cheap, doesn't mean I'm blind. Again, not a big deal, the pillow can be changed but its all these little things that add up to feeling its just not worth it.

With the exception of the height, I would have been pretty pleased with how it looks. So I don't think I'll return it for its short stature alone. It might not live in the bedroom for the long haul though, I'm still thinking that one over. Overall, I'm feeling a bit let down by the purchase so I can't whole heartedly recommend it. This might be the first time I've felt that way with a Target purchase. I guess the honeymoon is over.

In other news, I just ordered the canvas prints I planned to put over the chair. They should be ready in the next week or two. You can bet I'll be posting about those when they arrive.

Alaska Trip Ends

Before I finish up the Alaska recap I just want to thank everyone who responded to my question on Friday. Thanks for all the encouragement and I'll be responding to everything. If you have anything else to add, please keep them coming. In case you didn't know it already - I really love it when people take the time to comment.

Ok, back to the trip recap. Where was I? We left Sitka and had one more day at sea. Even though the boat didn't dock anywhere, it was another stunning view day as we cruised through College Fjord. Check it out


(see those little black dots on the ice chunk in the middle? Those are sea otters!)

On Tuesday night, we arrived in Whittier.


That day we scheduled a boat ride to see some more glaciers. To be honest, we scheduled it mostly because we had the entire day to kill. We figured it would just be more of the same. But the excursion was definitely better than we had expected. To start off we got to see this amazing rocky face waterfall with a million birds on it. The sound of all those birds flying around was pretty cool.


We saw some more wildlife including eagles, mountain goats and the adorable sea otter.


In some spots, the water was so still it was like glass. This photo is not doctored - it really did look just like this.


We arrived at the edge of the glacier and stopped the boat. Not too long after everyone collected themselves outside, we got a great show of the glacier calving.

Awesome!

With all but bear and moose sightings checked off the list, our Alaska experience was as complete as it was going to get.

Actually there is tons more to do here than we could have ever done in just a week...but I have to say I don't know if I could go back. We had such amazing weather on our trip, we've been completely spoiled. I don't know if I would have had half as much fun if we had encountered the notorious moody Alaska climate. Or maybe its always this nice and thats what the locals tell tourists to keep more of us from moving there!



Hope you liked taking a blog trip with me. If travel is your bag and you're new here, check out my past travel posts: London, Tokyo, Prague, Krakow and Budapest.

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