Allegan Antiques

 Here's a messy before and a messy after pic of a fireplace for a ranch remodel that I've been a part of since this past winter. I have loved working with the homeowners, Missy and Jim (in fact, they reminded me a lot of the cool couple, Pam and Mark that I just wrote about on the previous blog). Super fun, open to new ideas, very thorough with attention to detail- all with great taste! The perfect recipe for a great collaboration on an extensive project (which both were). Missy just texted me an update last week on how things were coming along over there and I hope to be able to take post project pics sometime soon! 

 Years ago, they had painted the dark brick surrounding the fireplace white. We liked it but we wanted to take it the next step and update even further. 
Joanna Gaines and I could be the "ship lap" sisters...I LOVE using ship lap and found several applications to use it in Missy's house alone.

 We lightened up the walls with a beige/taupe color and had all new painted trim installed to replace the oak. 

 Here's a quick peek at where we introduced more ship lap..from floor to ceiling in the back entry/mudroom. (The striped wallpaper was how it was before). Doors are replaced now to white. 

 You'll also notice that the doorway has been cut into. The back entry used to be arched there, and I begged Jim to let us take the arch out and raise it up as tall as we could (in my opinion the arch was too low and made both the kitchen and mudroom feel smaller). He let me and I think he would agree it was the right thing to do. :)

Here are their oak kitchens before:

Here they are mid-project!

 I can't wait to show you the completed space! You'll notice we raised the cabinet height and added crown molding. We kept the kitchen's original layout but had new cabinet doors built and painted. 

I'm also halfway through an amazing farmhouse remodel. Emily and I are becoming great friends with our weekly, sometimes twice weekly meetings and coffee dates discussing selections. Below is a wall that we are so proud of and that is just a hint of all the incredible salvage pieces we found out at their farm and are using for architectural interest in many (almost all of the rooms). 

We found these boards in one of their barns and we had Cal (her husband) power spray them slightly to clean them up but not to lose the character. Jon Vander Mass  (a very credible builder who has done lots of downtown Zeeland historical home remodels) is building this house and he and his trimmer are amazing!!! 

This is the wall of the sunken living room/playroom and a large flat screen t.v. will be mounted onto the wood. The bottom cubbies will have sliding barn doors on them will hold the components for the t.v. 

I told you I would post some pics from last month's Allegan Antique Market and here are a few. Ken and I didn't make it down there this past week as we were enjoying some fun and sun up at a friend's cottage overnight. 

We talked Cherie and Robert (my sister and brother in law) to come with us to Allegan that day and the weather was perfect! They were on the hunt for a desk for their son and future daughter in law's apartment and we spotted one right away! Score! 

All I came home with is a rustic trough/wood centerpiece for my dining table. I'll have to show you a pic of that soon. 

One of my fave booths there:

 

 ha ha ha ha ha!!! :)

(Ken's holding the wooden trough in his arm-he buys and carries for me. What a guy)!

'Til next time Champs!

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Pam's Pride :)

Happy Wednesday! It seems like I have so much to report! A few upcoming blog topics:

*Attending Allegan Antique show last month

*Surprising Ken by showing up at the Design /trade show NeoCon last week in Chicago-so fun!

*The transformation of my best friend, DC's kitchen and master bath

*Getting better 'after' pics of this project below

Here is a sneak peek of my client Pam's ranch style home in Imperial Estates. Before I go on, can I just say again that the reason I love doing what I do, is because of clients like Pam. She and her husband Mark are AWESOME!! 

They were so easy going and up for anything!! And we did anything and everything to this place!

We picked new wall color, flooring, trim, baseboards, cabinet doors, interior and exterior doors, lighting, and furniture. 

It feels like a brand new house!

I'm so sorry these pics don't do justice to the before/after process. I was mostly snapping before pics for my own reference to refresh my memory on room set ups and such. 

This was taken on the day of our first consult. Very clean but traditional choices. She is way too much

 fun to stay that traditional, so in moving forward, we leaned toward a fresher, more modern look.

BEFORE

AFTER

Of course, we aren't nearly finished. We met again this week to discuss artwork, coffee table, lamps and end tables. The rug we chose from a special order carpet book from Carpet Bonanza and measured out the exact size we wanted and had it bound. It is a soft cream with taupe/tan threads through it and soooo soft and comfy!

Below is her oak kitchen before we replaced the cabinet doors and had everything painted white. 
She had replaced her countertops with a beautiful neutral quartz not too long ago, so we used that as for inspiration when picking out new wall colors and furniture.  
BEFORE

 AFTER
Same counters, new appliances, cabinet doors, hardware and backsplash. We love the dimensional stone backsplash which adds so much flair in a smaller space like this. We chose stone that complimented the existing counters.
Hallway lighting BEFORE

Hallway lighting from Lowe's AFTER

 

 We did not want to attempt to paint the fireplace. Mark, she and I didn't think the brown was offensive or outdated. We added can lights throughout the kitchen and living room and took out the lights facing the fireplace and replaced them with more subtle "eyeball" lights.
BEFORE

AFTER

 
We had Jason, the painter stain the oak mantle a dark espresso color to tie in with the overhead beams, which we left as they were. We debated whether we wanted to wrap them with pine and make them look more rustic or paint them white, and we are all happy with the choice we made to leave them dark as they were. We chose the new flooring to tie that all together. 

This dining hutch below looked far too formal and wasn't being utilized as a storage piece for kitchen accessories. We wanted to make it look more casual and not so hutch like. 
We had new doors and shelves built and painted. This is BEFORE

AFTER

 
Glass knobs from "The Basement Store" in Grand Rapids. Travis, the trimmer, and Jason the painter did an amazing job on this built in. We are looking forward to doing some shopping in the next few weeks to fill and stage these empty areas.
Another angle of BEFORE:

AFTER

  We love how much bigger and more open the whole house feels with the lighter trim, wall color and new flooring throughout. We chose a luxury vinyl product that mimics wood which we even ran into the bathroom/laundry area. 
Below is a fun piece we found at Talsma. We are hoping to incorporate more weathered pieces to mix with the urban looking larger furniture. We're on the hunt for drapes and lots of accessories to make these areas look inviting and interesting. Stay tuned.

 I actually had some time on Tuesday of this week to work on rearranging my booth at Not So Shabby for the first time in ages! It felt good to move some things that were in the back, to the front and add lots of pillows and artwork that I picked up at a clean estate sale.

A couple custom sign orders I finished just yesterday. 

Great words that will hang in separate mudroom areas(two different clients) as reminders to the kids before they walk out the door. 

Thanks for the orders, Kelsey and Michelle. 

Enjoy the rest of your week and  I'll see you back here soon. 

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Graduation Open House

Guys, I can finally breathe again! We are behind on sign orders and I have lots of email follow through with clients that I can't seem to catch up on, but most of Kennedy's graduation actitivies are  behind us now and while I can't say I completely enjoyed the preparation and house maintenance projects that we haphazardly completed leading up to her open house, I am so glad that we chose to host it early and that now we can enjoy the open houses of her friends without concern for hers. 

Taking the advice of a more seasoned parent and client of mine, I chose to have her open house on the Thursday night before graduation. We had a beautiful evening weather-wise in spite of a quite dismal forcast earlier in the week and a great turn out of people!

Her only request for the entire event was that we served her favorite food-donuts! I called around and the most reasonably priced place for 15 dozen was "Good Time Donuts" in Holland. 

I ordered chocolate and vanilla frosted cake donuts with yellow sprinkles as her fave color is yellow. 

I stuck to the yellow/white/navy theme throughout because it was easy to pull together and seemed cheery for the occasion. 

I found this metal stand at a garage sale two weeks prior to the night and Ken cut me the barn wood to fit so I could stencil this:

 My friend DC, and my sis Cherie, were excellent caterers that evening and refilled the food trays when they were looking empty. 
We kept it simple and ordered six 6 foot party subs from Walmart in Grand Haven. We usually order them from there because they precut them into platters. Guests were going off about how tasty they were. I was so glad that worked out and it was super simple. We had one entire six foot sub left over, but that meant we ate 5 six footers that night!

When our friends and family entered our garage, some commented that they had never seen the walls and floor before! It is always a complete and utter disaster!! They thought we had installed all new cupboards! Nope...just cleaned it up! Truth be told, a few hours before the party, we were hauling all our junk over to our neighbors garage to stash out of sight! :)

 I got my friend Sony's donut hole (french puff) recipe and made the dough ahead. I froze the dough and rolled them out that morning. I scattered them around the tables and used them as centerpieces on the outdoor tables. 

 The sign was Kennedy's senior quote she chose for her yearbook picture. 

 I used an old door to display her more current photos of family/friends tacking them up with push pins and vintage flash cards.

 Here, I copied a client of mine who had Ken make a rustic frame for an old bed spring she ordered online. I think she saw the idea in Pottery Barn, but we did the same thing using a vintage crib bedspring. Ken framed it and I stained it classic grey and hung pics with clothespins. It's for sale in the booth now.

 We rented a 20x20 tent from Taylor Rental along with four large tables and chairs. This worked out well as people did sit there throughout the evening in order to stay out of the sun/heat.

 Kennedy had asked my sister, Cherie to make her special tissue paper flowers that we could use in various places for a pop of color. Cherie spent ALL DAY doing that for her. What a gift. We hung them in the corners of the tent and used them as centerpieces on the tables. 

Just for fun and to add some more yellow and white, I ordered ten striped beach balls online to float in the pool. Who would've known they were a hit with the little kids who came and became something for them to play with while their parents visited?

 I tried setting up drinks and more pics in the backyard so people wouldn't stay stuck in the garage. I wanted the food set up inside but wanted things outside to draw people into the yard.

 This garden bench I spraypainted navy for the occasion and will be listed in the booth soon. :)

 This drink stand is currently for sale in the booth. My sister gave this to me last year. It was used as a potting bench in the garage of one of her cottage rentals. we took the top off of it and Ken made a tray to hold drinks for the party. We lined it with pop cans and dumped ice over the whole thing. The ice melted quickly and we knew it would, so we intentionally put it in the grass area. 

 I wanted to show you some pics of my friend Alison's work on her sister's brunch open house the Saturday following ours. 
I thought it was so classy and tasteful with the pink and white theme.

 Here we are at the Baccalaureate service. It was a great night celebrating God's faithfulness in Kennedy's life. 
I have surprised myself these past few weeks. I've held it together better than I did for both of my older nephews. 
I think it's been such a whirlwind, I haven't had time to process that in less than two months, she will be leaving for Azusa Pacific California to attend college out there. Ken and I are still working out the details on how we will get her there and what exactly the 'good bye' will look like, and I may lose it then, but I am so excited for the person she has become, the choices she has made and Lord willing, the bright future ahead. Thanks for letting me share a bit of this life season with you. Stay tuned for the tears. :)

 I dropped off loads of party favors and treasure last week after the event. Cleaning house and attic over here again. Head into Not So Shabby soon to see what's left!

 Brecken hugging Kennedy

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