Jen Caputo

More kitchen lighting options...

ok bloggy friends, it appears you and I are not in agreement on the lighting scheme for my kitchen.  Nobody liked my favorite light....

But, I do see some of your points.

For instance, a few of you pointed out that I may not want a pendant light over my sink because:

1. It will block our view out the window
2. It will glare at night

Of those of you who liked the pendant, most of you liked the first one the best of which I've started to totally hate... so I went back to the drawing board.

My current plan for over the sink... 

Something like him (or maybe even him)... what I like is that it takes up all of that horizontal dead space above the window, provides TONS of light , but also doesn't block my window... To scale (as far as my math skills allow), what he would look like in the kitchen:

We'd probably move some of those recessed lights over at this point.

So what do we think? Do we like this idea better?

Oh and while we're here - do you think the tile should go all the way up on this wall or stop where it is?  Here's a preview if it went all the way up

It does make this wall more of a focus doesn't it....

I'm also not totally convinced I want lights over the bar/peninsula anymore... it's not really that big so we don't have room for more than 2.. in fact, perhaps 1 is more appropriate... but if I do put one there, I found this one that coordinates with the over the sink fixture perfectly!

If I just did one, he would look something like this:

 

Ok, new opinions please?  ;)

Pendant Light Shopping

We're about 5 weeks away from when they start on our kitchen and the one thing I just can't decide on is the lighting.

I must've spent at least 6 hours at this point browsing on-line stores looking for the perfect pendant light for the kitchen (or three... )  I'll definitely want one over the sink and then maybe 2 over the peninsula/bar.

I was kind of thinking of something industrial/contemporary/old-fashioned... easy mix huh?

This was the first one I considered... it got me headed down the stainless steel path.

but it was a little too art-deco/80ish for me and I realized I needed something a bit more 'craftsman'

Then I found these from Martha Stewart. I like how they are two different lights but that they coordinate.

 

But they're the priciest options I considered and I just don't love them, a tad too plain....

I finally stumbled upon this guy

Brushed stainless steel to coordinate with my appliances, seeded glass to add the perfect amount of sparkle, and that industrial/craftsman look I was going for that will coordinate with the rest of my house.

So I decided to try it on

I do think I like it....

Adam doesn't though (but he also said "just get whatever you want").

So what do you guys think?  Anybody have a pendant light they've been lusting after to show me?  Or do we like this one?

 

_________________________

Edited to add:

Naughty Kelly just directed my attention to a new-to-me site where I instantly found this:

And they're on sale!! Oh my I love this one!  I actually did start out looking for a green glass pendant but I couldn't find one I liked... This color green is even in my backsplash tile... and you guys know how much I love green right? LOOOVE the seeded glass!

Two Cute & Simple Cards

I don't have a lot of crafty time these days so I wanted to make some cute & simple cards.

This one was inspired by FTL 51 (I rotated the sketch).

And this one started out as being inspired by FTL 49 but I got a little side tracked.

All stamps are from My Cute Stamps. I combined quite a few sets like Jelly Beans (for the birdies and the speech bubble in the bee card), Little Forest Friends (for the bee), and Matryoshka Dolls (for the 'hello' greeting).

Here's a close up of the bee card - I stitched the ribbon onto the card but it barely shows up :(

Meet My New Kitchen

My current kitchen sucks.  For instance, this is the view of the kitchen from the living room:

I'd like to point out a couple of awesome things about my current kitchen:

• Those cabinet handles. And their placement.  Seriously?  These people were ready to screw on their cabinet handles and the best possible place they could come up with was dead center?
• Those lovely cabinets. They look wood... they're not.  I couldn't even paint them as originally planned.
• That flooring.  It's on top of about 2 other layers of flooring. The floor in the kitchen has a good 3/4" on the living room floor.
• You can literally see all but 2 cabinets in the kitchen in this picture and you see 100% of my counter space.  Yup, that little area on top of the dishwasher is my only counter space.
• The only drawer in the kitchen is hidden between the dishwasher and the fridge and it's only about 8" wide.  No silverware trey fits in there!
• The light... or lack thereof... there's a ceiling fan in the middle of the room.  That's the only light. It's sooooo dark!
• The clutter.  I HAVE NO CABINET SPACE!  So this room is so full of clutter, I hate it.

So you can obviously see why I'm desperate for a new kitchen. 

Feast your eyes on this!  This is the new view from the living room (colors are not correct in this drawing)

Look at all that new counter space! All my drawers, all my cabinets, the correct placement of the handles, all those recessed lights, the under cabinet lights, etc.

I took some liberties in photoshop with my designers drawings and added in pictures of my appliances, pictures of my backsplash, and pictures of the sink and faucets I already picked up and added in the color I think I'll paint.

Look how pretty!  (Pretty sweet photoshop skills huh? )

 

• Yes, I put two faucets on the sink, one is an instant hot water heater. 
• The sink is a stainless steel farmhouse apron front sink
• The main faucet is a pull down spiral faucet
• There are 7 drawers (as opposed to my current 1)!!!!
• And counter space?  I currently have about 5 sq. feet of counter space.  The new layout more than quadruples it!
• The cabinets are cherry
• The countertops are Quartz (Silestone)
• Not pictured: My custom designed spice shelf (couldn't figure out how to photoshop that one in)

So now that you've met my new kitchen, what do you think??  Hopefully by October I'll be able to show you the completed photos but in the meantime, expect plenty of 'during' shots!

A much bigger clue

Does this give it away? This is what I bought last night.

... and I got an incredible deal.  Sears was having a "Friends and Family" event last night open to the public.  All Kenmore appliances were marked down at least 20% and then from 6-9pm you got to take an additional 10% off with 1 year financing.  Thanks to that sale, our appliances came in over $1000 under budget!!!

(The fridge alone I snagged for $1800, down from the ticket price of $2800!)

Yup, that contract I posted yesterday was for our kitchen remodel.  It's the one thing I've been dying to do since we moved in and in a few short months, it will be done! 

And yes, for those of you with sharp eyes - both myself and my contractor managed to mis-date the papers by 1 year ;)

Succulent Love Affair (and OMG, what did I just do?)

 

Oh my God, what did I just do?  Besides sign away a small fortune... Any guesses?  There is a hint in the background of this picture (the colors aren't coming through in the picture very well).

Moving on.

I am totally obsessed with Succulents. They are so cool looking and so easy to take care of. Plus, dirt cheap!

I went to HomeDepot this weekend and picked up a bunch (only $2.98 a piece!), some cactus soil ($4), some river rocks ($4) and a couple of pots($5 for the glass ones, $12 for the big white one).

For about $30 I got 3 arrangements and have plenty of cactus soil left over (I'm out of rocks though)

Each $2.98 succulent had at least 3 separate plants in it which allowed me to divide them and use them in different arrangements.

Look at everyone in their happy new homes:

 

My favorite, he lives in my bedroom now:

You can see him a little better when he was still outside:

I got this guy a few weekends ago - he's my other favorite succulent - a Burro's Tail:

Michigan Sunsets

Gotta love a good Michigan sunset to start out a wonderful weekend with friends and family.  Bummed I had to come back to Illinois so soon.