BREAD & BUTTER

Good afternoon everyone!  I put together as close as I could the style board for our kitchen. As you may already know,  we are doing an all white kitchen with white appliances.  We were aiming for the classic style that the old house calls for.  We're doing just a regular white subway tile from Home Depot with the charcoal grout.   All the walls will be tiled midway up the wall, and then the range wall will be tiled from the countertop to ceiling.  We'll have carrara marble countertops, and a farmhouse apron front sink.  With it being all white and a LOT of tile, I know it might sound cold.  So I'm thinking we'll warm it up a bunch with warm woods, brass and aged silver trophies, oriental rugs, and other warming accents.

The kitchen is almost done.  Just waiting on the custom made brass etageres, some finishing paint touch ups, and extra tile work.  Our metal worker's boss recently had two unthinkable tragedies hit...his house was burned to the ground and within a few weeks, his daughter {a mom to four young children}, was killed in a car accident.  SO sad.  Unthinkable really.  Prayers for that family.  It's also been extra hard on our metal worker's work load too, who's wife is newly expecting and their young son has a disability.

I'm extremely grateful for the craftsmen and have come to love each one of them like family.  It's been a real pleasure. They have aimed hard to please and have worked with us on costs as well, in an effort to help us make our home a nice one that we can share with our readers and future clients.

I will tell you that our kitchen is nowhere close to the costs some might expect.  We sourced everything and every craftsman to the best of our researching abilities and hopefully it will pay off.  We didn't choose the local cabinet making company that carries a widely known name and a high dollar price tag.  And surprisingly, the marble we went with, is a marble that is comparable in price to any granite we could have gone with.   Oh, and the brass bucket you see pictured here is one I found at a local flea market for $19.  I found it retailing on OKL today for $450!  All this to say, yes, it might look and sound expensive or lavish, but in reality, we didn't break the budget like one might think.   We took the time to try to give it a thoughtful and reasonable renovation.

I hope to share pics soon.

Thanks so much for stopping in today!

xx
sharon

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

Design Obsession and Crushes: Black and White + Girl Designers

It's no secret that I'm a fan of black and white.  

When I first saw Jenna Lyon's apartment seven years ago in Domino Mag, I was totally awe struck.  By her.  By her style.  Everything about her.  Especially by her daring black rooms and trim color.

This bathroom got a bajillion repins on my pinterest page.  I can see why.  The old school subway tile meets noir black trim.  Totally digging it.  Not sure who the designer is.  Let me know if you know:)  Plus the David Hicks pendant that is all over the web right now, is one that I'm really coveting for our kitchen, butler's pantry, and nook.

 And my new design crush:  really falling hard for designer Bailey McCarthy.  I just discovered her this week, and I must have been living under a rock to not know who she is as a designer.  I love that she's from Chicago too.  {Midwest designer!} But all I can say about her is she's rocking it with her latest.  What about this bathroom above?!  Classic, COOL, black-to-brass bath that I am just utterly dying over!

Here's my shop exterior with nothing but...black and white of course.   That's my little guy running off in the foreground.  One of these days I hope to do a post about the before and after of this building renovation and reface.  You wouldn't recognize the before as the same building.  

Here's the kitchen progress this week.  We decided to paint all the trim black in this room to break up the all white cabinetry and appliances.  Our walls will be all subway tile with grey grout.   Our honed marble countertops and drawers, brass hardware are all going to be installed today!  By next week, our kitchen should be complete, minus the banquette, and refinished ebony floors.  Boy, this has been fun!

Happy Friday!  What are you all doing this weekend?

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

xx
sharon