I had a very productive weekend, I primed some cabinets for a bathroom makeover in progress. I prepped a wall for a new backsplash and did some gardening too. I propagated some succulents from the rear yard and placed them in new pots, then gave the front porch a quick refresh.
I ordered a playful spotted rug for the porch this year, one that’s in the same blue tones as the door. (The color is Knoxville Gray if you’re curious.). I was torn between the blue and green version but chose blue to play off the hue on the front door.
I prefer to use larger scale outdoor rugs on my porch instead of welcome mats. They’re easier to sweep or shake and because of their material, I can hose off debris. I bought the cape town in teal for less than $50 for a 4×6’ size, it comes in several colors.
With the arrival of spring, perhaps you’re looking for a budget friendly patterned rug for your porch or patio. Many of these rugs are available in multiple colors, so if you like the pattern but not the color, be sure to follow the link and you may find the color that coordinates with your decor.
I attended a funeral yesterday. They are always a reminder of the impact people have on each others lives, how quickly life moves and how fleeting it is. The takeaway for me each time I go to a funeral or memorial is to appreciate the moments we have while we still have them, and to do something everyday that makes you come alive.
I doing some of my favorite things this weekend. I’m starting on a bathroom remodel by demoing an existing backsplash and priming cabinets for fresh paint. My new front porch rug arrived, so I’m sprucing up that spot as well. The weather is perfect so I’ve got my windows open to welcome the fresh air and I’ll be spending extra time outdoors. 🙂
I made a version of this last year for myself. I’ve expanded on it since then, making it possible to choose the colors of your cabinets, counters, hardware, accessories, and appliances. (You know I only make mods to make my games prettier. Can’t stop decorating, even virtually!)
Set different combinations for your farmhouse, the upgraded cabins, and the island house. Go get yourself a Lovely Kitchen!
There are 12 cabinet colors: gray, pink, birch, white, mint, green, walnut, cream, sky, blue, oak, and black.
Appliances come in pink, sky, mint, white, cream, stainless steel, and copper.
The counters are available in light, medium, and dark versions. Add a stand mixer and book in blue, green, neutral, pink, or red. Hardware (cabinet knobs, appliance knobs, and the sink faucet) comes in red, blue, silver, nickel, bronze, black, gold, or brass.
Lots of ways to mix and match to customize your kitchen as you like!
I’m partial to the options with pink (of course), but I tried to make it versatile enough to work with lots of styles and preferences.
The examples above show Lovely Kitchen as the only mod. Below is my personal house with a bunch of cobbled-together assets from other creators in addition to my own work.
I added a coffee maker replacement as un update to my Lovely Kitchen mod, but it’s also available as a standalone if you have a different kitchen you already like. At some point I’d like to make a mini fridge replacement that turns them into a modular pantry (at least visually). No idea on release dates moving forward since it’s just something I do after the kids are in bed and I feel like making some pixel art or coding. The challenge of making something recognizable that’s 16 pixels wide and fits the game aesthetic is just too much fun.
I truly don’t expect any paying patrons, but there I am as Lulu Lovely on Patreon. It’s a dedicated place to host the various builds and mods I sometimes make for video games like Stardew Valley and The Sims. You can follow for free.
Moving forward, I’ll share as Lulu Lovely when new things are ready!
I’m remodeling three bathrooms and a kitchen this month and next, just like the saying goes, when it rains it pours. I’m rounding up all the materials for these spaces and in all three, they require new tile in the showers. In at least one I’m installing tile in a modern stack bond pattern.
There are two kinds: straight stack and horizontal offset stack, both elongate a space, and because it draws the eye up, this pattern fits just right inside a shower. Below are a dozen examples of this contemporary tile installation in a variety of hues.
It feels good for spring to officially arrive, doesn’t it? The mustard flowers are blooming in the vineyards of Sonoma and Napa valleys this month, it’s such a pretty sight. I’ll try to get out to Sonoma to take some pictures this week and share them in my Insta stories.
I triple checked the measurements on the remodel kitchen yesterday so I can place the order for the cabinets on Monday. I’m using more wood tones in this project since the home has an abundance of natural light. The mid tone stain mixed with olive green cabinets paired with white quartz countertops and white walls will make a truly beautiful space. Cabinets don’t arrive for eight weeks so I won’t have pictures to share until June but I’m really excited for that reveal.
Last month I hit the twelve year mark with this blog. I started this blog in February 2009 just for fun and to document a house remodel, and after two years I started making money with my content, so it became my career. I’ve been a DIY and design blogger longer than I ever practiced law. Over the years I’ve written editorial content for magazines, partnered with dozens of brands, remodeled a few houses, and written about all my design related favorite things. My blog anniversary went right by and I forgot all about it so happy 12 year anniversary to me!
I love getting creative with fabric, both designing it, and making things with it. Like all content creators, I often feel pressure to come up with new ideas, that’s the job, but I forget that the archives hold a lot of inspiration too. So today I’m looking back and featuring fabric projects from the past, some of them are almost ten years old! Looking back, many of these projects make me smile. I’d choose more modern fabrics if I was recreating them, but they are still great ideas.
Some of these require a sewing machine, but my theory has always been if you can sew a straight line you can sew these projects too.
There are three new prints available in my Spoonflower shop! They include a playful and whimsical floral, a pebbles print inspired by river rock tile, and a painted abstract in tone-on-tone hues.
This small scale Pebbles pattern was inspired by the river rock floor tiles I’ve noticed in hotel resorts and residential bathrooms. I create the shapes on my iPad with a watercolor brush, then made a seamless repeat with the shapes, and painted it in two pastel color palettes.
Next is Petals available in three colorways. This pattern was inspired by the retro fabrics of the 1960s. I sketched the petals by hand, created the seamless repeat, then colorized the pattern in three different palettes.
Finally, this sophisticated abstract print called Adrift because of its floating swashes of color. I love this pattern as wallpaper and as bed linens too.
I spent the weekend up in the mountains in Lake Tahoe, it was a spontaneous trip but oh what fun! The skies were blue and the snow was fresh and I finally got to ski after too many years away from the slopes on a perfect spring day.
I was wiped out from the socializing and skiing and long drive back so I took it easy yesterday, snoozed on the couch and watched the Grammys, so the weekend links are late but here they are!
Loving the simple medley of wood and white throughout this home (the powder room wallpaper!)
I’m not a fan of the senseless niches that were part of the design of so many subdivision homes built in the 1980s and 1990s. I prefer to close them off like I did in this remodel. It’s my opinion that a niche really has to serve a purpose, it can’t be random.
However, if a niche adds architectural interest, then I’m completely on board. I’ve noticed many arched niches with built in shelves popping up in kitchen, bathroom, and living spaces, and I really love this look. They require planning with a new build, but can also be created within existing walls by restructuring the framing and creating an inset in sheetrock or plaster.
Walls and ceilings are mostly angular and straight lines, so it’s nice when rounded shapes appear in spaces. These twelve examples showcase this trending architectural feature.
I went into this project thinking that this wouldn’t be too difficult. New wallpaper, a fresh coat of paint, a new window shade, and a change of lighting. That’s it! It has taken some time though, as these things often do when you’re doing all of the work yourself and fitting it in around other work and life in general.
The bathroom on the first floor had a lot going for it that I liked. It’s small by modern standards, but perfectly sized to me. The beadboard is charming, the wood floor keeps continuity with the rest of the house, and the leaded glass window offers privacy. The antique console sink is adorable! The separate hot and cold taps are not ideal, but we’re used to them (we had separate taps at our old house too). I also like the antique toilet and its wooden tank. The photos below are from the bathroom as it was when we first moved in.
Hello, inspiration. And wallpaper.
I swapped the wooden toilet seat for a black one years ago and I think that for a toilet, it’s really good looking. Other than that, we hadn’t done anything in the bathroom because while it wasn’t anything I had chosen, I thought it all looked rather nice. But it was time for a change! I found this snakes wallpaper and felt inspired. I know it’s not for everyone, but I’m excited and it’s going to be so good in the bathroom.
This pandemic year has been weirdly great for my creativity, and then completely zonking my energy level and sense of time passing. But hey, who came up with a plan to affordably refresh a good portion of the first floor so that it all feels fresh and works together and looks amazing? This lady.
Kitchen plans on the blog to come! I’m always more up to date in sharing on Instagram these days, especially in Stories, so I’d love to have you follow along there if you’re not already.
Lighting
OK, we’ve got the main jumping off point, the snakes wallpaper. The tiled shower is not changing, and the fixtures are staying. What can go though are those old Guillermo del Toro sconces.
These Sculptural Glass Ribbed Pendant and matching Sculptural Glass Ribbed Sconce are from West Elm. I like the look of them on their own, but also appreciate that they reference the ribbed Victorian glass shades that were in the room before, with a definite Noguchi Akari influence. And they are damp-rated, which is something to pay attention to when selecting fixtures for a bathroom.
The lights have been here for a while but I held one of the sconces over a light bulb the other day and it was beautiful when lit up!
There’s a junction box in the ceiling and what seems to be a corresponding light switch. I’ve already taken the cover plate off and the wires inside look to be newer than some of the horrors I’ve uncovered in this house. Will it work when I hook up a light? Let’s hope! Otherwise, that’s a job for an electrician. I am doing all of this work myself and I can swap out light fixtures, but I don’t feel confident in DIY troubleshooting of electrical issues.
Fabric
I liked the roman shade that was here with its etching-style illustrations of birds and tassel fringe, but it doesn’t go with the new design. My first thought for a new fabric was to go with stripes, but between the fabric, ribbed glass shades, and beadboard, it would have been too much. If I were going to choose a solid color, I’d match the ivory linen of our shower curtain. Nice and easy. But we never ever do nothing nice and easy.
It’s between these two Sister Parish fabrics (Burma in red and Cecil Stripe in dark brown). There was a flash sale and I got such a good price that I ordered both.
Paint
So easy. Our dining room is pink with a red ceiling. The kitchen and it’s little hallway/storage area will be, essentially, Caca Dauphin. (Did you know that story!?) The bathroom is between these two saturated, colorful spaces.
I am not painting the quarter sawn oak on the first floor, but everything else was fir or pine, and I am completely fine with painting that. The doors on the second and third floor are all black, and now the bathroom door is as well. The door trim, window trim, and medicine cabinet have all been sanded and primed, and I’ve given them and the beadboard all a matching coat of satin paint in Benjamin Moore’s Bare Essence. It’s a warm neutral, and a match for Farrow & Ball’s Joa’s White. It’s also a near match for the existing shower tile and looks great with the new wallpaper.
The painting is just about done — I need to do one more coat on the window and medicine cabinet. Then it’s a coat of wallpaper primer on the walls (Shieldz) before I can hang wallpaper and finally install the sconces. Roman shades are not the easiest to make, but I’ve gotten a little experience with them now and feel good about my window treatment skills. Slithering along.
Christy Jesse - Blog 