FRESH NEW COLOR

It's so rewarding and fun to refresh a home! I think it's my favorite part of home ownership. A couple years ago we tackled the kitchen renovation in our vacation house.

RESTORING OUR MARBLE FLOOR

Our Princeton, NJ home turned out to be the largest renovation project we have ever undertaken. There was something about this beautiful Georgian Colonial that just screamed to us...."make me loved again!" 

DIY PANTRY SHELVING EXTENSIONS

Lately I've been running out of storage in one of my pantries. We have two in the kitchen one small pantry that I use for food items and a large pantry I use for storage of everything from entertaining pieces to items that take up to much space in my kitchen cabinets.

When I mentioned to my husband that I could use some extra storage space he took a look at the pantry. He determined that the two bottom shelves could easily be expanded and still allow me to reach the top two shelves without a problem. I would also have space underneath where boxes of items and other items could be stored.

He ran to Home Depot and bought 2 pieces of 5/8" pine shelving. This was an exact match with what the previous carpenter had used when the shelves were first built. It's very sturdy and can withhold the weight of all of the dishes and other things without a problem. 

After taking his measurements, cutting and installing took about 45 minutes. This is what the pantry looked like with the raw shelving installed. I had an additional 15 inches per shelf x2 plus the tiled floor underneath.

Next step was painting the shelves. My husband used left over trim paint from the kitchen. Benjamin Moore Semi-Gloss Super White. It turned out great! 



 After drying I cut shelf liner and covered the new shelves so that the dishes would have a bit of a cushion and the shelf was protected.


Below is a side view giving you a better idea of how much extra shelving I gained by this simple task. The shelf literally doubled in width. 

The top two shelves remain at a 15 inch depth.The bottom two are now 30 inches deep. Giving me the additional storage space I needed.

Now when I open the pantry doors I can see exactly what I have on each shelf! 

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed our pantry project. Do you have a similar pantry situation? Share with us what your solution was to gain more space.

Have a wonderful day!

Kathleen

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My Style---Our Master Bedroom

We loved the floor plan of our Houston home. With just two of us it was such an easy house to live in. Downstairs included a 2-story family room, an over-sized kitchen, laundry room, butlers pantry, formal dining room, study, powder room, and of course our Master suite. This included an attached Master bath also. Upstairs were 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a media room. It was great when the kids came home, because they had their own personal space, and when they weren't there, cleaning the downstairs was a breeze!

After living in that house for 3 years we transferred to the Northeast. Because we loved the convenience of the first floor Master, we set out our sights on finding just that once again. Our poor realtor, Ginger, had her work cut-out for her. After narrowing down our search to a specific area, much to our delight, Ginger found us just the right house with of course, our first floor Master.

Since every stitch of our house was renovated in some way, the master was no exception. But good bones and architecture prevailed. I honestly have spent most of my decorating dollars on the rooms that are most visible, family room, kitchen, etc. When it comes to the bedrooms I stayed pretty simple.

The Master is no exception. I first started using our bedroom wall color--Benjamin Moore, AC-2-Berkshire Beige, when we built our Central Valley, NY house in 2002. Since then the same color has graced the walls of our Longwood, FL home, our Houston, TX home, and now our Princeton, NJ home. I guess you could say I LOVE this color. It is one of those colors that are unique to lighting. In our Northern homes it appears a bit more green-gray, and in our Southern homes more gray. Heaven forbid if they ever discontinue it!  I know when I say gray you are thinking a cool color, but it is exactly the opposite.......the room is calming, warm and very inviting, just as we like our "Master Retreat" to be.
 
This is a photo of the bedroom BEFORE we purchased the house.

Here are a few photos of a portion of our Master Bedroom AFTER.

We had new windows installed, contracted the painting of the ceiling, trim and walls to be done. And found a local company to restore the wood floors back to their original state. Lastly the ceiling light was replaced with a Minka Aire, oh so quiet fan......something Ron and I can't live without anymore!  Must be a Southern thing!!

I just found this pillow in Target and LOVE it on the chair!

I am not a person that likes clutter.....but especially in the bedroom. I believe our bedroom should be our sanctuary. A place to relax and escape our hectic lifestyle..........one thing we do miss in this bedroom, is the fireplace that we had in the Houston house. Now that was amazing! Great job finding that house for us Phoebe!!

I hope you have enjoyed taking a peek into our tranquil Master Bedroom.

                                                                 Sweet Dreams!

                                                                     Kathleen