Kitchen and Bath Updates and a Black and White Fixation

This summer we did some upgrading of our countertops in 

both the kitchen and the master bath.

I realize I never blogged about them.   Why?

 I guess I never thought the kitchen or the bathroom

looked neat enough to take a bunch of photos.  

But since Fifi was coming out for the photo shoot 

I did take a photo of the kitchen right before she arrived.  

The lights were on, as it was a dark and dreary day and so the pic looks yellowish. 

Ugh.

When a few images sneaked onto the blog a few weeks ago,

a sharp eyed reader and pal demanded to know all about them!! So Nita, here you go!

With the new counters we got a new sink!  

Out went the old washboard porcelain vintage sink.  Which I did love.  

Green canisters from an Etsy source and an old tole chandelier 

and then some green toile curtains I made are the other new additions to the kitchen.

One version of my old kitchen (for about a year), 

was this one with the bright green paint on the  beadboard back splash.  

I did get tired of it, and then repainted it white...but it does look pretty here.

Anyway, I love my new counters with the undermount sink

 as it gives me more countertop space to the left and the right of the sink, 

which I really needed.

 Overall the "new" kitchen is still very cottage and cute.

Another new (minor) change was I decided to paint the 

laundry room/ bathroom cabinetry black.  

After I painted my new French Doors black, I thought they looked incredible...

and so I got the idea to do these cabinets. 

I love the look, and even though we didn't change anything else, 

the room feels very different. In a good way! 

 Black is becoming a slight obsession with me, 

and I realized this after doing several projects using black, or black and white. 

 Always a classic, black just has a classy look about it.

This was where the black fixation thing started...

with the exterior paint on the french doors.

WOW! They looked so fantastic!

So then I painted the little french door for the shed black...

And that looked really cool...so then I made a new umbrella cover 

in black and white copying the pattern from the old covering. 

 Its all so chic, in black and white.  

And then the black and white buffalo check curtains (Country Curtains)
in the TV room with the black and white rug (from Overstock)
But I digress...

The other countertop upgrade was in our master bathroom.  

This was a major improvement!

Going from formica to stone is just a huge change!!

We both love the difference it made in how light and airy and rich the bathroom feels.

The countertop is quartz and its in white with grey and bits of aqua and celery green. 

 Really very pretty stone, and so the cabinetry was painted in a pale aqua blue 

to enhance the coloring in the stone.

So that led to me adding a few french crystals in aqua to the gold chandeliers,

 as well as painting the closets in the same shade as the vanity.  

The walls are Simply White and its all very bright and happy in this space.  

This was the former space. Theatrical French Lady Style.

All done in pink and cocoa with gilded accents.  

Pretty, but I think we were all ready for a change.  

(Note the old formica countertops that were a dark grey color.)

When Fifi styled it for the magazine, she put back the pink hooked rugs. 

 It looked really pretty that way too, because my towels have pink in them.

Fifi wanted to know why I didn't paint the door aqua too?

Hmmm, I just thought this time, it should be white. 

But maybe she is right.

I think she probably is right. 

(Speaking of the Fifi Photo Shoot, she sent me a few images I can share...
so here is this one from the bathroom of course!)

Anyway, those are the new changes that missed being called out in the blog, 

so here they are!  Its been a fun and busy summer and maybe the courtyard

and our new fence overshadowed some of these other home improvements. 

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My Photo Shoot with Fifi O'Neill and Mark Lohman

 I had the pleasure and the honor of being selected to have my house featured in 

Fifi O'Neill's Romantic Country magazine.  For months it's been in the making, and 

the last few days were killer, getting everything looking polished and shiny.

Living with a pesky puppy in particular means white slipcovers need to be washed

and I didn't dare put them back on until the morning of the shoot.  As soon as I 

did, Colby came over and wiped his breakfasty mouth on one of the cushions.

Grrrrrr!!! I decided to have him spend the day with my son Brandon to get him out

of the house and away from what was about to take place.  While I waited for 

Fifi to arrive with photographer Mark Lohman and his assistant, son Taylor, I took a 

few shots of my "before" status.  I was very interested to see what Fifi would do to

style the rooms in the house.  As soon as they arrived, I gave them a tour of the 

house and they rooms they wanted to shoot.  They spoke their own language it seemed

as they made decisions rapidly about what angles would be shot, and what things 

needed to get changed up for a good looking photo.  They have shot over 50 homes 

together and they work efficiently and playfully to capture the best these private homes

have to offer.  So for me it was a pleasure to observe and sometimes chime in on 

the different stages of how the photos were coming together.

Although we started in the bedroom, these iPhone pics show them in action.

Little adjustments are made between each shot, and then accessed in the monitor.

Notice how dark the room is...after having sunshine for the last three months, it decided

to be the darkest day ever the morning of my shoot.  But I was told not to worry.

And boy was that the truth, as I soon would find out.

 They set the monitor on the piano top and focused for this shot, only the sofa

and coffee table.  Fifi set up a cup of tea (actually diet coke with water) and some 

other items she rummaged from my kitchen.  She asked if I had a few cookies...errrr...

no I did not. But luckily I had my mother in law (who lives next doors) to rely on.

I proudly told Fifi and Mark that she was a Swedish gal who loved baking cookies and I 

would run and get a few for this shot.  But when I went over to get them, she looked 

flummoxed and said all she had were some Keebler elves cookies in the freezer.  

Hahah!! OMG, the cookies were little elves....with writing on them. Not so Romantic.

Then Fifi asked me if I had any mint, and when I gave her some sprigs from the garden,

she arranged the cookies on the plate with the mint and it all looked quite nice.

This was the resulting shot.  Most beautiful!  

She added big fluffy pink hydrangeas to my Costco bunch of roses

 and the floral arrangement went from standard to luxurious.

Fifi plucked elements of my pink lusterware collection for the "tea" service.

A snap of the camera would result in micro adjustments of a pillow or a throw,

and those little adjustments often made the difference between average and glorious.

The shoot actually started on the top floor of the house with my bedroom and bath.

The equipment was all brought up by Taylor and set up to include lighting

and the camera and the monitor.  Here Fifi checks the shots from the bedroom.

After checking, she would go make adjustments. When it came to my bedding,

she opted to switch out some of the pillow cases and added toss pillows and a pink

chenille bedspread to give it a more layered Romantic look. Colby hates that pink spread

and when I did have it on the end of the bed once, he made sure to get it off in short order.

After the main shot of the room was taken, Mark zeroed in on some detail shots.

The small swedish chair came out of the bathroom, as did my pashmina.

It ended up being a very pretty shot, and I loved it.

Seriously, how good is this?!

The master bath was the second room to shoot, and they worked on an area

that centered on the sink.  White rugs were replaced with a vintage hooked rug

I had and Fifi set up my vanity bench in the center.  It looked pretty before

they even snapped a shot!  She switched things around and used some of my costume

jewelry and my big bottle of Chanel No 5 to make the shot more glamorous.

Other rooms were the kitchen, my tiny dark kitchen.

But they made it look bright and beautiful.

And the dining room, which centered on my transferware collection and the Swedish bench I got

from Matthew Mead and then they did an overall shot showing the whole room.  So pretty!

After six hours, my day of watching styling and shooting had come to an end.  

Things were returned to their rightful spot and we said our goodbyes.  

It was such a fun experience for me, as I covet home decor magazines, 

and have examined lovely rooms over the years in their pages. 

 To have my house come out in Romantic Country will be such a thrill!

Due to be out in December, it will officially be the spring issue. 

 Other homes around New England will also be featured.  

If you have instagram check us out!

Fificoconut and Amymaisondecor are our account names.

Since we both hate having our pics taken we decided to just

look at each other, hahah!

At the end of the day, the wires were all corralled and the dog was let back

into the house.  Life begins again, regular style.

But I will always love the idea of how it could be... with a small village to help!

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