Laundry Closet

When we bought the house our washer was in the kitchen and the dryer was in the garage.  Since the homeowners took their machines, we have been using my parents' laundry room for a year now!  We remodeled the kitchen and bath before we fully moved in and elongated a stretch of counter space over where the washing machine used to be and added recycling underneath.  Click here to see!  

Before we laid the new floors we had to saw-cut the concrete slab and dig a trench to the future laundry area for plumbing.  This was a crazy process and Matt got very dirty & sweaty!  The plumber had to dig atleast 3 ft down to find the plumbing that was going to the sink area!  Then I filled the trench with concrete...

OK, before I show you our new laundry adventure, I have to show you this picture (below) of Matt in his toolbelt with the urge to make chocolate chip cookies during a night of construction!  Too cute.

The next few photos are of us working on the laundry closet from inside the garage 

(the back of the wall in our breakfast area)

Us framing the floor, walls, and trying to look tough!  

 From inside the kitchen:

We did everything except for the electrical and plumbing.  Here, we already installed the drywall and I mudded/sanded the seams

Painted, baseboard in, and seamless linoleum on the floor 

With trim around the opening, threshold stained and down, and our NEW WASHER & DRYER!!!!

(Maytag front-loads from Nebraska Furniture Mart)

[I still plan on adding a cabinet, hanging rod, and countertop in the future]

With our bi-fold doors on and the house cleaned up!

Finished!  ...almost! 

Computer Perspectives

Front Porch & Driveway

This is the way our house looked when we bought it; with hedges on either side of the door, a cracked driveway, and old sidewalk to the door.

Then... we had a water main break under our driveway!  Luckily, it was the city pipes to other neighbors and the bottom half of the drive was paid for.  But we decided to go ahead and re-pave the entire driveway and sidewalk.

That became tearing out the hedges under the window and making a large front porch to our door!

(please excuse the pink house, it will be painted someday soon!)

The front porch with my new 4-piece steal-of-a-set patio furniture from World Market for $199 (there's another chair not shown), a rug from Grandinroad, pillows from Pier 1 Imports

We lined the front of the patio with fountain grass and grey river rock

My new metal cb2 planters with orange Hibiscus, purple/pink Petunias, Blue Flossflower/Ageratum, lime-green Creeping Jenny, and I'm not sure what the spiky/soft purple flower in front is called.

 My tall planter with fiber optic grass, and purple "spikes" (what my mom and I call them)

Kobenhavn

This is a 12 x 24" canvas I did for dear friends resembling Copenhagen, Denmark.  It was my friend, Britt's, gift to his wife, Carly, for their anniversary; they studied abroad there.  It is acrylic paint with heavy gloss.

Metallic Shine

The aim of this project was to create an organic design using neutral colors infused with metallic accents

Before

 After

The sketch I presented the client along with tile samples before the project began:

 This fireplace surround consists of slate, glass mosaic, stained glass, glazed ceramic, metal accent pieces, and multiple types of liners in between sections.  

Bronze, gold, silver, iron, cream, cinnamon, browns, and copper colors were used

Tile from: International Materials of Design, Sunderland Tile, Bearden's Stained Glass, Home Depot, & Lowe's

Stripping Stone

This was a Fireplace that had a strange greenish/yellow glossy glaze over all of the stone...why?!!

I stripped the glaze from the stone (NOT an easy process!) and Cleaned it up with a matte sealer.

We also mosaiced between the wood trim around on the hearth and mantle with 1x1" glass.

 Can you see the green shine that the stone cast before in the picture below?

(In person, it made the stone look fake since it was so shiny)

One last look at before and after:

(of course, much more drastic in person)  

Does anyone notice the other change?... the brass was sprayed black with high heat paint on the screen!

Loft Space

Furnished loft space in downtown Kansas city for West Elm

 (Items from 2009 collection)

Tile Maniac!

 These are some of my past mosaic projects I've done

A bar with a cushion-wrapped front edge and built-in stirrer stick cups and coasters

This fireplace was art of a home makeover

see the before and after photos HERE

tile around an outdoor fireplace