Iceberg!

Nope! You're not on the Titanic about to hit one; you're on my blog about to behold the new color of my kitchen...you guessed it...Iceberg:-)   

A little background on the color Iceberg.  We lived in our CS home for about 9 years with builder grade "Summertime Tan" on the walls in our open living area. (Actually, it was on all walls except those in the master suite which my dear husband had previously painted about 7 years into our time there.) Both of us have definite opinions when it comes to paint colors; thus, we had a difficult time agreeing on any. We did agree on the colors for the master suite, but it took about 7 years, and then we didn't like them. Sigh. 

In 2011, we finally found colors for the open living area with which we could both be happy. One was Iceberg from Sherwin Williams. The living area, dining room, and kitchen walls were painted this color.  

Living area in the CS house...

Breakfast nook in the CS house...

After having such a time choosing a paint color, we decided that color would carry over to our current house. We both still like the color, and as the old adage states, "If it ain't broke; don't fix it!"

When we moved in here, our kitchen was an off-white color.  Not a bad color in and of itself. However, it was very dingy, as it had been that color for many years through a couple of different occupants. The top of the walls were also lined with a fab*u*lous (NOT) wallpaper border featuring country cottages and stores.

That was the first project into which we dove. It was a bit more intense than I envisioned. One section came off with no problem, but the rest was really stuck on well and required significant elbow grease. It finally came off, and we were able to move on. 

Sans wallpaper border:-)

The next project was to paint the walls (the walls that are staying). We performed the necessary evil of taping off the trim and the cabinets so that they didn't end up painted Iceberg along with the walls. Their color is for another post:-)

Before I go any further, let me state that I hate to paint. HATE. Just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach and want to turn and run. Far. For a long time. Crazy, huh?! Especially since we have A LOT (yes, all you English teachers out there, I'm aware "a lot is a cemetery plot", not a word to describe the state of having several--but I'm a rebel) of painting to do and this is merely the beginning. I managed to get control of myself, adult-up, and get the kitchen painted. It did take awhile, but it got done...ya gotta do what ya gotta do. (and I gotta do that a whole lot more--I just keep reminding myself what a blessing it is to actually have a house to paint.) 

Here is the first wall I painted...

Before...

After...

The opposite wall...

As you can tell, the blue makes a significant difference in the look. After the cabinets and trim are painted and the door replaced, you will see an even bigger difference. Stay tuned:-)

Cheers!
LaDonna

Thanks, Clint!

Que the theme from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, starring Clint Eastwood...you know the one, it starts out with an eerie windpipe whistling and gets stuck in your head so you can't get it out. Yeah. That's the one. Now that it's rolling in your head, let's talk about my kitchen.

The kitchen is the one place in which I don't quite know what I want yet. My game plan from the beginning has been to put some lipstick on it and call it a day for awhile.  I only want to do the kitchen in a major way ONCE. That's it. ONCE. I don't want to remodel the kitchen every 5 years because I hate it. I don't have the time or the energy for that. Thus, I want to do it right (as right as possible) the first time. That may seem like a tall order, but I'm fairly confident I can get it done in a way that will serve me well for the rest of my life. That's not to say I won't ever change the paint color or something like that, but I don't want to put in new cabinets 5 times before I die always searching for the "perfect" layout. I'd rather spend my time making jewelry or bags, traveling or reading.

So I'd call the kitchen a mixed bag when we moved in. It certainly had a variety of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Let's take a look...

the GOOD:

Well, there were cabinets, a stove, a pantry and room to put a table for an "eat-in" kitchen, which I love.

the BAD:

The pantry is small, the cabinet shelves are slanted, and the plug for the stove quit working. On the other hand, there's nothing bad that can be said for room to put a table!

     and

the UGLY:

Where to start? That's partially apparent in the photos above...namely, the wonderfully cream and brown colored linoleum. Sigh. Oh, and don't forget the splits in the doors to the outside and the door to the bedroom (an easy fix, though, with a trip to Gonzales and the architectural salvage store there). We also had a small rodent problem that fortunately rectified itself (whew!) However,  the best part is probably this...

A little redneck ingenuity...

Yep! That's duct (Duck) tape...on the floor...in the kitchen doorway. It's covering the cardboard that is covering the holes created by those pesky termites a few years ago (thankfully, no active ones currently). Not to give anything away, but there are several more of these lovely patches in other rooms in the house. Brilliant solution, huh?! We want to do all the flooring at once and are nowhere near ready for that task; so...duct tape:-)
 
Stay tuned for our lipstick journey the next few weeks. Oh, and thanks, Clint for starring in a movie whose title I could use to take a tour through my kitchen!

Cheers!
LaDonna

In the Beginning...

Okay. So maybe this isn't really the beginning of time or anything quite so dramatic; however, it is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. Those who know us know that we were dealt a turn of events in January of this year. It came in the form of my dear husband losing his job. Thankfully, we were in a position in which we had options. After weighing the different paths we could take, the road we chose was to sell our house that we loved in The Brazos Valley and move South to where I grew up. The house here needs some work (to say the least). It was built in 1947 and incorporated into it were parts of the original homestead that was built in the late 1800s. It hasn't had a regular occupant in a couple of years. Prior to that, it had been a decade or so since someone regularly lived here.

I have fond memories of time spent as a child/adolescent visiting the wonderful lady that lived here. She made the BEST homemade bread and served us strawberries, dewberries, or blackberries from her garden (accompanied by a bowl of SUGAR) or popcorn that she made on the stove top after greeting us at her door and subsequently shuffling through the house to her kitchen. (I mention the shuffling because I was recently talking to a cousin who had visited her several times with us and he asked if I was going to shuffle to the kitchen and make popcorn for all my visitors:-)

Several friends and acquaintances mentioned they would love to stay abreast of our journey; therefore, this site will chronicle our journey to reclaim our house from the termite damage and the wood rot and make it into a wonderful home. My wonderful friend Wendy suggested I use the name The Gatlins go Green...so I am!

Just to clarify, every step we take will not necessarily be "green". Nonetheless, I feel safe using the term green because of the fact that we are remodeling an existing structure and hope to retain some of its original charm.

To set the stage for forthcoming posts on The Gatlins go Green, I'll share some pictures of the house before any work was done...

Front of the house...

                        

 

The living/dining area with door leading to kitchen...

View 2...

Kitchen view 1
(with half a niece:-)...

 

Kitchen view 2
with door to 2nd bedroom...

Kitchen view 3
with door to living area on right
 and an outside door...

Bathroom view 1...

Bathroom view 2
(view 3 is MIA)...

Master bedroom...

Hallway
from the master bedroom
to the 2nd bedroom
(bathroom in between)...

So there you have it, folks, the ground level...the starting point...the new beginning. I hope you'll visit each week to see the changes.

Cheers!
LaDonna