So thank you IkeaFans board for the feedback on the new kitchen! A great suggestion was to add a sink next to the Chambers to eliminate having to shlep filled pasta pots, etc. across the kitchen. Great Idea! So after talking to my contractor husband — I am adding a single bowl Domsjo sink and this awesome deck mount pot filler faucet. I LOVE this!

Faucet:

Also, I have the range hood figured out! In our log house, Mark fabricated one out of black sheet metal. This time he is going to do one in Zinc. Kinda like this one:

Lastly, I need some advice. I would REALLY like to put a pulley light over the sink. But Mark got me nervous thinking about wet hands on a pulley light. But my kitchen book has a couple of kitchens with a pulley light over the sink. What do you think? Too risky? I would be interested in feedback on this.

These are the pics from my book:

I would be VERY interested in feedback on this. (sorry for the crummy book pics. I took them with my phone)

We all know how I LOVE putting together a new kitchen. Bonus is that I live only 2 hours from a BRAND NEW IKEA! ** SCORE**!!!!

So far, here are the design elements of the kitchen.

This is the kitchen layout.

Here is the layout so you can see where everything goes.  There is a bay window over the sink.

Here is the main kitchen layout done with the Ikea Kitchen Planner:

Here are the other two kitchen walls. The white cupboards go against the East wall where it says 96″

The dark cupboards go on the South Wall where it says 60″ For some reason the microwave isn’t showing up in the rendering.

This is the door cupboards, countertop and sink that I will use.  Domsjo double bowl farmhouse sink, beech countertops and Ramsjo white doors. (yes I know I am missing the little umlaut thing over the “o” in Domsjo and Ramsjo . ..

I am keeping my yellow Chambers oven and adding a new buttercup yellow Big Chill fridge! This fridge is so cool! Bonus is I got one off the “scratch and dent” showroom floor! Yay me!

Next is this most awesomest cool seed counter I found in an antique shop and will use for an island. This thing is HUGE but fits just perfectly. It is out of the old Rocky Mountain Seed Company.

Next is lighting! Two of the schoolhouse pendants will go over the island and the pulley lights will go over the peninsula. The rest of the kitchen will have recessed lights.

Then — how cool is this — I found some antique French ceramic tiles in an antique store in Denver. I have enough to backsplash behind the Chambers wall. Let’s just pretend the tiles are Swedish and not French — k?  I am also still debating drawer pulls and knobs.

I am debating on what to make the rest of the backsplash. Stay tuned for updates on that.

The wall on the backside of the coat closet will hold a wall oven and microwave. I also am going to put wood colored Ikea cabinets in that part to make it look more like a built-in, I am waffling between the Adel brown and the new Ramsjo brown-red. That wall will be all cabinets around the oven and two pull-out pantry doors.

Lastly, the floor througout the house will be beetle-kill pine. We had this in the log house and LOVED it so are using it again.

Also keep in mind that there will be crown molding over the cabinets on the North and East wall, and also Mark will custom make corbels and a plate rack to go under the North wall cupboards, just like we did in the log house.

Yes, yes, I know you have a ton of questions like — where are we now? Why did we move? blah blah blah — lots to tell, just no time to tell it! Ha!

Life changes put us in situations we do not anticipate  . . . our little family is going to be making some BIG changes soon. Our house is on the market and we will be moving to Wyoming. This is a good thing.

As a result, our garden this year was pretty much ignored, but still gave us what it could — the last of the garden this year resulted in these little sugar pumpkins — a whole box-full. I’ll be putting them up this week and making goodies like pumpkin butter and pumpkin bread.

Easiest way I know to cook pumpkin. Doesn’t require peeling:

• Cut the pumpkin in half and discard the stem section and stringy pulp. Save the seeds to dry and roast
• In a shallow baking dish, place the two halves face down and cover with foil
• Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) oven for about 1½ hours for a medium-sized sugar pumpkin, or until tender
• Once the baked pumpkin has cooled, scoop out the flesh and puree or mash it
• For silky smooth custards or soups, press the pumpkin puree through a sieve

If you are at interested in living in the Black Hills — I offer our home for sale! It is listed at $329,900 but I will give a $20K discount to anyone who says they saw it for sale here!

http://www.blackhillshome.com

Who laid what?

Called “Turkey Ball”
Click Here for Turkey Ball

My grandmother, direct from Stockholm, Sweden moved to the US when she was in her 40’s I think — just about my age.  She brought over, on the boat, her antique furniture — which I remember being in her rather large apartment. Particularly a couch and two chairs in an elegant claw-foot style with caning on the sides. I remember it being upholstered in a green silk, so that on the rare occasions I was allowed to sit on it, I would slide off. That was great fun, until I got caught

When my grandmother moved in with us, when I was 9 years old, her furniture came with her. At some point, she recovered it in a hideous maroon velvet. Gack! It was horrible, and that was the condition of the couch when I inherited it last year. You might want to shield your eyes before looking at this picture!

Eeeek!

My eyes! My eyes!!!

I’ve had it in my living room that way for about a year. No the dog isn’t dead, he decided that was “his” bed and I didn’t have the heart to kick him off when he was a puppy. But now, he has learned to stay off, because after two weeks of sewing and cussing and sewing some more, the couch looks like this!

Yay me!

In the shortest days of winter, the kids are up before I am. They have a mission — to get their schoolwork started and finished so they can enjoy the daylight in the afternoons. When I started this homeschooling journey I did not know what expect. I had plenty of doubts about my ability to make this work. I should have had doubts about my ability — I am notorious for starting lofty projects and burning out quickly –  but about my kids’ ability? There is where my doubts should have stopped. They have embraced this challenge whole-heartedly. I commend them for that.

The first turnout after the blizzard:

Run, Fancy, Run!

We’re outta here!

I peeked at my daughter’s blog this afternoon. She had a big day yesterday:

Today I got a new hair cut called a pixie cut. You have to be very brave to get one.

I LOVE my new hair cut!!

Plus I got toe shoes for ballet! I am finally going on pointe!

I still have to sew the ribbons on.