How to do a display cabinet with pink!

Well here we are, another Saturday...the best day of the week! You know, have you ever thought about this, there are only a limited number of Saturday's in one's lifetime which must mean they are meant for ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO, right?

This Saturday the hubs is doing what he loves best: Cycle Oregon!

and today I'm doing what I love doing best...organizing and decorating, but not necessarily in that order! I thought I'd show you the wine and beverage bar from our DIY kitchen project that you'll find HERE. 
But today I'm changing it up a bit and we're going pink! Yep folks...pink in THIS room I actually do have a touch of pink, something I don't have a lot of throughout the rest of the house . 

Years ago I was in a Depression glass phase and collected many different patterns of "Elegant Glassware" most of it pink and clear along with aqua German Majolica in a pattern called "Lily of the Valley" pictured below. 

However when we did the kitchen remodel I was afraid pink and aqua just wouldn't work in here anymore, perhaps because of the very neutral color palette of white, grey/green, taupe and oil rubbed bronze. Also I didn't really want a lot of color in here to take away from the classic vintage look I was going for. I wanted it to look very monochromatic as you can see in the picture below which was taken just as we were finishing the remodel.

But as I started unpacking after living out of the dining room and laundry room I knew I'd have a hard time not displaying my beloved pieces so I got wild a crazy and tried them in the new beverage bar and this is how it looks today...

It seems pink and aqua work pretty well here. I like how the subtle colors really do enhance the display cabinet and bring in just a pop of color where it might otherwise be a bit bland and stark looking.

Something I was a little worried about was that I didn't have another piece of my German Majolica to balance out the left side of the cabinet and thought it might look odd. However I tried my Crystolite "celery dish" and loved how it looked, eclectic, balanced and not matchy-matchy. 

So there you have it, a fun way to decorate with the color pink 

while still keeping it sophisticated, classic and timeless...

 Remember what I said in the beginning of this post? There are only a limited number of Saturday's in one's lifetime and they are for 

ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO

So what's on tap for your Saturday...the best day of the week?

Linking up with with Beverly for 
Pink Saturday 

Happy Weekend!!!

Hello all and happy weekend! Thought since I couldn't post any kitchen pics until the end of August, I'd just post one of our favorite appetizers that we've enjoyed in the new kitchen!  

Bruschetta with Tomato Basil recipe

This is a wonderful way to capture the flavors of ripe summer tomatoes, fresh garden basil, and garlic and the hubs and I just love it with a crisp bottle of Chardonnay! 

In the new kitchen of course!

Enjoy!!

We did!

"The Destroyers" episode #3

Well last weeks episode #2 we had the hole in the ceiling which quickly turned from this...

simple little hole...

to this big fat mess...

 and I fear it can only get worse...

Oh heaven help me...it can definitely get worse...

 yep it's a lot worse and I know it will only get harder as more of my kitchen gets ripped out...

as the saying goes; be careful what you wish for...

Oh dear oh me oh my...this is NOT what I envisioned!!!

The Destroyers...

What else do you do on a sunny Sunday...rip apart a perfectly good twenty year old kitchen of course!

  the nook that the hubs built...it gets to stay but the two side windows will be replaced!

But as you can see the rest of the kitchen...not so perfect after all, actually its down right ugly, tired and outdated! 

And needs a major face lift and demo of that disgusting, ugly tile that was "oh so popular" twenty years ago when we built our house...

the grout is beyond nasty and the edge of the counters are just awful...let me repeat myself...AWFUL AND DID I SAY UGLY!!!!!!

and that old Jenn-Air downdraft cook top which was again "oh so popular" twenty years ago has seen its day and has got to go. Now the thing is so old, you can't really even get replacement parts for it, but who'd want to anyway!

So in comes..."THE DESTROYERS"...that's us all cleaned up after a bath and when we're not "DESTROYING" things...

anyway back to the topic at hand...an ugly kitchen and a face lift...

Get out some of our favorite demo tools...I still can't find that sledge hammer I used for THIS home renovation project! I think the hubs buried it on our property somewhere!

Get out the packing material and boxes to pack up all the crap antique Depression glass I've hoarded collected through the years...I swear I could be on one of those episodes of "Hoarders"...scary but true!

so that we can start this major kitchen remodel...

stay tuned for the next upcoming, exciting episodes of...

"THE DESTROYERS"

Saturday night at the movies...

Favorite night of the week...

Oops...I forgot the best part...after donning our favorite jammies and stoaking up the fire, we watched "The Doctor" with William Hurt...great movie!

Oh those glorious summer days...

OK so today we're partying with Kim over at Savvy Southern Style for her turn at "Blog Party" week. Her theme today "Summer Decks and Porches" one of my favorite topics! 
Honestly I could have done a weeks worth of posts' just on that topic but this is all about having fun and not loosing your audience to boredom! 

This is our wrap around porch that Mr.LBV built a couple years ago and its one of our favorite places to sit and have coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening.

This is our wrap around porch that Mr.LBV built a couple years ago and its is one of my favorite places. You can see a sweet little black and white photo of it on my sidebar as it was being constructed...

 Any time we spend on the east "veranda" as I love to call it is a good day...

You can read more about this adorable little table HERE...

The little he details; all photos taken at the home of La Bella Vie by me

Pillows; Pottery Barn, last summer

Adirondack's built by Mr. La Bella Vie, painted my Mrs.

Cocktail table; garage sale find $1.00!

Thank you Kim for hosting this wonderful party!

Does anyone know where the TV is?

OK so not doing too much today 'cept wandering around Blog land and came across this post in my blog roll from Rene at Cottage and Vine. She and I were corresponding yesterday about this very topic via email and I thought it would a great Linky party to join. Please hop on over to Cottage and Vine to take a look at all the wonderful posts' about this, its amazing to see all the great ideas out there!

Mr. LBV re purposed this antique Armoire for our family room a few years ago to house our TV and entertainment equipment. I've never been crazy about the looks of a TV just sitting out in the open and love anything antique and recycled so this was a good solution for us.

Below is the other side of the room and actually this pic was taken to show a friend how "up/down? shades work but gives a good visual reference of the room, glad I saved it:) Mr. LBV and I made the cornice board valences and upholstered them with a 1940 vintage Bark cloth.

Hope you had fun on this little mini tour, now go on over and say hi to Rene and see the wonderful ideas out there of TV storage!

Thank you Rene for hosting a fun party!



From Blah to Spa...

Hello everyone, well its been a while since I've posted simply because I've been busy trying to recoup after hip replacement surgery on January 10th. 
Thank you all for all the well wishes, sweet cards and nice emails, its been very much appreciated!



I'm participating this week in another "Metamorphosis Monday" with Susan at Between Naps On The Porch along Traci's "Bathroom-Organization" at "Beneath My Heart"  for our master bathroom renovation.

This ensuite bath renovation is not "brand new" but every time I walk into this room it feels, timeless and fresh to me compared to what it used to look like.

We built our house in 1991 and at the time everything was "builder grade special" and the color of the day in the early 90's was peach, peach and more peach. The more peach one had, the better we thought it looked...wrong, wrong, wrong!

Now, nothing in my house is peach except if it comes from the produce department and is edible.
Anyway, back to what it used to look like; giant plastic garden tub with peach tulip tile surround, two sinks with peach tulip tile counter tops and everything had matchy-matchy shiny brass faucets that matched the shiny brass tulip lights. There was a stand-up shower stall and "potty box" combo and oh ewwwww...of all things, peach carpeting! What on earth was I thinking!!!

Here's what it used to look like:

This was the only picture I could find (I'm sure any others ended up in a landfill somewhere!) and as you can see it was builder generic. In the bottom right corner, you can see the giant plastic tub and big brass faucet.

So with the windows and plumbing in place that made the lay out easy...kind of, we ended up having to re-plumb for the tub faucet so it could be centered on the big window. Also (GASP!) we ripped out the walk-in closet to locate the new tile shower in its place. Oh yes, we also had to install all new plumbing for the new shower location...how odd the walk-in closet didn't have it already:) I wear scrubs to work everyday and I've never really been a clothes hound therefore a "normal size" closet works well for us.

So...come on in...

 my husband built all this you see...

here's what its looks like today taken from about the same spot as the "peachy original"...

New, lighting, bead board and beveled mirrors in custom built frames...all built, installed and hand painted by my hero, Mr. La Bella Vie...Porcelain pedestal sinks with a re-purposed vintage sheet music stand for storage

(inside we installed plastic pull out drawers for essentials). New hardwood floors replaced that disgusting peach carpet and a new double hung window replaced the fixed window at the end of the tub...



A view of where the double sinks and tub were located. That mark on the ceiling (to the right of the skylight) is the old walk-in closet and is now the walk-in double shower shown below.

Here's what it looks like today. A walk-in double shower and the new closet in the right of the picture.

Subway tile, polished nickle fixtures, rain head shower and hand-held shower head...

and the unexpected...salvaged vintage glass door knob for a shower door handle.

Gone is the "tub in a box" and in its place a white Porcelain cast iron

pedestal tub...one of my favorite places on earth:) 

"Telephone" shower/bath handle...

The details...

collected vintage door knobs and escutcheons' for the closet doors and linen closet...

custom linen closet and door knob...

Through the looking glass...

this picture is taken from the reflection in the linen closet door:) I love the sunshine against the hardwood...

no neighbors to obstruct a lovely view....

I hope you've enjoyed your (long) day at the spa, I know I do every time I walk in here thanks to Mr. La Bella Vie:) He took my initial rough sketch and idea then drew the actual design to scale on "Visio", a technical drafting  program. Below you'll see the sink and floor plan elevations he sketched to bring my vision to fruition...I'm convinced the man must have "Super powers" to be able to do this:)

He's used Visio many times over for other home projects including this room I posted on another Metamorphosis Monday.

Believe me when I say this project was truly a labor of love and the ultimate test of patience on my part because this lovely space turned into a very complicated DIY project but at the end of the day...it was so worth the time and effort!

Thank you again Susan for hosting another "Metamorphosis Monday" and Traci for the great "Bathroom Organization party", this was a fun post to do and I thank you both!