Ornate Splendor: November 2016

Ready for a kitchen remodel? Ha ha, no one likes the process, but we all love it when it's done!

After

Before

See that arch over the remodeled window? It looked so pretty in my head, but I could not convince my husband or the carpenter that it would look this pretty. The carpenter thought that "it would look terrible"...... So.....I drew it out/cut it out/ on a life-size sheet of tissue paper and taped it up between the old cabinets. Then my husband got the idea, and gave a few size/shape opinions. I re-drew it and we taped it up again. Then he actually liked the idea. See the decorative appliques and corbels? Since I had a life-size piece of paper taped up to the wall, I printed the decorative pieces from an online shop, architectural depot, and taped them on to the tissue paper and lived with them for a few days. Next time the carpenter came, he could see my idea. He still tried to convince me not to leave the open area behind the arch. He wanted to close it in with wood. But I wanted to hang a chandelier there. Finally he shrugged his shoulders and said he'd build it the way I wanted it. He actually took the life-size drawing on the tissue paper to his carpentry shop to help with cutting out the shape!

I knew I wanted red curtains, but that no one would have what I had in mind. So, I knew I would have to make them myself. I found the red embroidered fabric and the glass bead trim at Fabric Factory in Dallas. I made Roman blinds - I had made them for the kitchen about 15 years before in a green color, so I used the shape/size of the old curtains to make the new ones.

See the corbels and the decorative appliques on the island? I asked the carpenter for size info, and then set to work finding the right size online. Ordered them, and gave them to the carpenter to install.

The most agonizing decision was the tile backsplash! So many choices - my head was spinning! The tile guy suggested installing the granite window sill instead of keeping the wooden window sill. I took his suggestion, and think it looks quite nice!

Oh those chandeliers! Hubby did not want them! He was convinced they would hang too low (9 foot ceilings) and not provide enough light. So again, I made a basic chandelier shape in poster paper and hung two of them from the ceiling. A 20 inch wide and a 15 inch wide. Then played with how low to hang them. I showed him that we could walk under them and not hit our heads!! Really!! He finally gave in. I ordered the chandeliers online and hubby installed them and added the can lights since he was worried the chandeliers would not provide quite enough light. (You can see here I have only put the crystals on one chandelier so far.)

Loving that gothic arch!! : )

I primed and painted the walls after taking down all of the wall paper. (We borrowed a steamer, which worked fairly well.) Hubby put joint compound on all the spots where the wallpaper removal had ripped off part of the sheetrock. Then he sanded and sanded and sanded...