One Room Challenge {Guest}: Carriage House Kitchen - Week 2

Week 2 already!  For those of you new to HGL, I'm participating in the One Room Challenge and recreating the kitchen of my historic carriage house in Newport, Rhode Island. If you've been following HGL on Instagram (@seasaltinterieurs) you'll know we're making progress!

Here's the plan:

• Remove upper cabinets
• Eliminate bulky beam, bad boxing, and moulding along back wall - replace with steel supporting brackets, low-profile box, and add new moulding around top of french door
• Swap multi-colored granite countertops for classic, honed carrara
  
• Run glossy white subway tile / white grout backsplash from counter to ceiling
  
• Add open shelving with wood brackets + under-mount LED lighting
  
• Remove beadboard from lower cabinets, add new shaker fronts + porcelain knobs
• Recycle fat, deep fridge - replace with new 24" bottom freezer model (ice maker!)
• Build 2 new pantry cabinets on either side of fridge
  
• Source 1 comfortable new bar stool
• Keep dual-fuel range, install new black door fronts
• Add sleek new microwave drawer to island, eliminate island bar at front to improve flow
• Pull farmhouse sink a bit forward, adjust plumbing, add new bridge faucet + ultra-quiet disposal
• Add new space for cocktail & coffee creation with open shelving, new wine fridge + storage
• Ditch 3 ugly pendants over island in favor of a single industrial fixture
• Paint everything white
• Hardwoods & hood remain as-is

Quick reminder of how everything looked when I purchased the carriage house in August,

and progress to date:

initial demo of kitchen, including built-ins/soffit to left, wrought iron railing/beadboard above

demo of back wall, weird beam revealed under ugly boxing

fussy beadboard fronts gone, beam replaced with steel brackets, new plywood base ready for tile

borrowed existing, too-skinny cabinet for new cocktail zone; building wider cabinet to replace

new twin pantries will surround new counter-depth fridge

new wider cabinet installed just right of the range, electrical work for under-mount lighting complete

new brackets installed and, together with cabinets, ready for matte lacquer (6-layer process!)

Fingers crossed marble and tile will be installed next week.  Big question remaining - will the new lacquered cabinet fronts be completed as well?

Stay tuned.

Going Dutch

Everyone loves a dutch door.  Everyone.

But they do complicate matters, especially in cold climes like New England.  There's hardware confusion, heat loss, style decisions, installation issues - the list goes on.  But despite everything, their charm is undeniable.

My house came with 2 dutch doors - at the front and (somewhat inexplicably) off a bedroom - both saddled with horribly ugly storms.  Unfortunately, the front door had been badly installed and poorly made.  It was a mess of mismatched hardware and hot glue (?), draped with an unremarkable textile and requiring asap replacement.  But where to go from here?

These - a bit like mine with lights - appear to be very popular (notice all the lovely hardware - not at all like mine)

 

And no lights, lovely too...

 

Decisions, decisions.

Are You Ready for the Derby?

{images via Garden & Gun}

Grenson Brogues

Grenson Shoes are quintessentially British -- the company was founded in Northamptonshire in the 1800's by William Green (originally "Green & Son"), and the Grenson factory remains there to this day. Mr. Green's was the first factory in the world to use the Goodyear welt construction method for manufacturing gentlemen‘s shoes. These supremely traditional shoemakers are as well known for their classic brogues as they are for their bespoke shoemaking services. Their painstaking process underscores over a century of amazing craftsmanship. A single pair, made from the finest leathers known to shoe making, can take up to 6 weeks to complete.

Recently, Grenson developed a women’s collection -- in large part based upon its traditional designs for men (we love the Rose, Martha & Grace.)  Although I found their stock situation in London wanting, most styles are readily available (if significantly more expensive) via Grenson's U.S. website.

Sailor Rose

Mom has a friend who creates magical scarves and sells them at the Brooklyn Women's Exchange, and it was there we discovered Sailor Rose - amazing blouses crafted in America from Liberty of London's iconic Tana Lawn fabrics.

As they describe it themselves... This collection (is) inspired by the tradition of improvising and by clothes that might have started as something else; dresses made of feed sacks, a parent’s shirt, pillowcases or bedspreads. Jumpers with rickrack and threadbare cotton shifts. Jeans with fabric added on the hem, and skirts made of pants. Clothes that are just as beautiful when worn by the third child as by the first. Beautiful dresses meant to be played in – that look as good freshly ironed as rumpled. My hope is that our grandchildren might come across these clothes in an attic or thrift store one day and be inspired to use them again, or turn them into something new.

They clean up beautifully in a front loader's hand wash cycle and to maintain the perfect bit of rumple, just hang dry & wear.  Take it from me, once you wear one you'll want to possess these sweet peasant blouses in every print available.

Oxford v. Cambridge {race #157}

This shouldn't be about a cocktail and it isn't, not entirely. But after entering the Thames towpath from Hammersmith tube, the first thing we came across was a group of Cambridge University Boat Club supporters selling silver tray-fulls of the most fabulous looking drink I'd ever seen hawked riverside in a plastic tumbler. Pimm's Cup is a magical potion crafted of the eponymous liquor + lemonade with mint, cucumber, oranges, lemons & strawberries floating within. For Spring in a glass, 6 quid seemed a small price to pay.

Armed with our amazing libations, we headed on to the main event. The Boat Race is a magnificent promenading party extending the length of the Thames from Putney to Chiswick, ostensibly gathered to watch crew. The idea for the match between Oxford & Cambridge originated with two friends, Charles Merivale (at Cambridge) and his Harrow schoolmate Charles Wordsworth - poet William's nephew - (at Oxford). Back in 1829, Cambridge sent a challenge to Oxford and the tradition was born. The first race took place at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and the next year at Westminster. By 1845, however, Westminster had become too crowded. The Race moved six miles upstream to the village of Putney where it remains to this day, with the loser of the previous year’s race challenging the victor to a re-match.

Yesterday, Oxford won the toss and elected Surrey 'station' (South side of the river). At 5:00, under cloudy skies and cool breezes, the race began. Within minutes, Oxford took a commanding lead. Although the most one can see at any single outpost is about a minute of the race, huge screens @ Hammersmith & Putney provided views of the remainder. Within 18 minutes it was all over -- the race, that is. After the winning cox got tossed in the Thames, I'm told parties continued throughout the region well into the evening.

To Wallpaper or Not to Wallpaper?

My dining room needs oomph.  And while I love white, both the kitchen and living room, which this room bridges, are also white. I need more in this space.

I've been looking @ these 3 from Farrow & Ball. 

Thoughts?