Our Mountain Home Kitchen Remodel

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kitchen remodel Ilve Range

Welcome to the Mountain Home Kitchen Remodel! We recently updated our kitchen at our home in the Cascade Mountains and I really couldn’t be happier with the results. It’s modern, yet traditional, and honestly it was our most straightforward project to date! I think that had something to do with having more than one functioning sink and toilet while remodeling this time around, ha! I’m so grateful for those who helped along the way, my cousin for the demo, our tile layer; who did a truly fabulous job with this super spiffy gold trim, and my husband for being my sounding board as I hashed out the details in great length, and for him trusting me with the process. I am not an interior designer, but I am an artist, and very visual, so I could see it in my mind before we demoed a single thing. I designed the space after many pencil sketches (see below) on graph paper, and honestly I think this is a great way plan. I know there are lots of fancy computer programs out there, but there is nothing like a good old pencil, paper, an eraser and your trusty measuring tape! There is something about being able to sketch a place for every little thing, that makes my artist heart so happy. I am grateful for this being our second time designing a kitchen, as I learned and worked out kinks in our first remodel, the West Seattle house. I had an easier time making decisions (go with your gut!). I also ended up using several items that I loved and had on my mood board in our previous kitchen remodel, but didn’t quite fit the more modern look of that home. The funniest thing is how blue I went. I think a lot must have rubbed off on me as a kid, as my mom had this dusty blue color in every corner of our home. I mean every. last. corner. I remember at the time thinking, “Why SO much blue, mom?” But, now I get it and love it and am embracing blue as my power color throughout the house too. The apple does not fall far from the tree! We worked with our local cabinet maker, Alpine Woodworks which was one of my favorite parts. Having the luxury to go in person and work on the design and see the…

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Mountain Flower and Vegetable Garden

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mountain garden flowers

Since the snow melted in the Cascades this past April, I’ve been working on installing a veggie and flower garden in our backyard. For years, before we bought the home, this area of the property was a dirt patch that had been used as a parking area. The ground was severely compacted and had also been sprayed for weeds for sometime. I was determined to bring it back to life, and started with a huge dump truck load of garden soil and compost from Curb Appeal. I wanted both raised beds for veggies, as well as an in-ground pumpkin, squash and corn patch and flower garden. Bringing in lots of soil and compost was essential. Since the ground was so compacted I felt with raised beds I could at least count on getting some kind of crop this year. The squash and flower garden was going to be an experiment though for sure, since they were being planted in the existing ground, which was a very sad case indeed. I tilled up this area and added lots of wheelbarrow loads of compost, and while things are growing, it wasn’t as fruitful as I had hoped. I know each year will get better, and I’m trying to be patient as the soil improves. Here are some early photos from April when the snow melted, raised beds were in construction, and the compost was delivered. This is not a tutorial per say, just what I did at my home and what made sense for my space! I hope it helps as you plan or add to your own garden. Below is what came to life this summer: Four raised beds: I purchased 2x12x8 rough cedar boards from my local hardware store, and created four 4×8′ raised beds, for veggies. I used the 8′ pieces for two sides, then cut one in half to get 4′ long sections for the short sides. I screwed them together and used a 1″x4″ rough cedar board to make a trim piece along the top. I filled the bottom 6 or so inches with sticks, pine needles and leaves, following the hugelkulture method, and topped with 18″ or so of garden soil and compost. Below is a photo of the hugelkulture method, before I added the soil and compost. I layered cardboard, then twigs and sticks, leaves, and pine needles. Two corrugated and painted beds: These are…

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West Seattle Home Renovation

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West Seattle kitchen remodel

In the Summer of 2019 we started a major home renovation and addition on our tiny 1940’s fixer upper home in West Seattle. We bought the house a few years prior with plans to add on someday. After several different plans were drawn, we decided on a 300 square foot addition, that was mostly new kitchen (yay!) and a 2nd bathroom, mudroom and laundry. The old kitchen became the new 3rd bedroom. We were going from a 2 Bedroom/1 Bathroom to a 3 Bedroom / 2 Bathroom – a major upgrade by any West Seattle standards. We had previously remodeled the original bathroom which prepared us (kind of) for what was to come. Had I known we’d be living with no kitchen for a full year (not to mention during the lockdown at the beginning of the Pandemic and in my 2nd and 3rd trimesters of being pregnant with our second child, oh and did I mention we adopted a puppy too?!), I’m not sure I would have done it. I cooked on a hotplate for an entire year! Let’s just say I would make a great camping chef, now that I’ve been through all of that. The whole experience made me more resilient and realize that you CAN and DO get through things you don’t think you can. Things got real ugly before they got even close to looking good and I’m positive I have way more gray hair now than I did before. Not only did we add on to the existing house, but we replaced all the old windows, re-sided, added all new insulation, wiring, plumbing, a massive retaining wall, fencing, landscaping – the works! It has been gratifying to see our vision for this sweet home come to life and finally get to enjoy it. Anyways, I digress – following are some crazy before and afters. Enjoy! Kitchen Range – The old and original kitchen still had an oven from the 1960’s – and for the first two years we lived in this house, it did just a fine job! Amazing! As someone who loves to cook and bake, it was definitely time for an upgrade. I chose a Bertazzoni dual fuel range in a matte white finish that is a workhorse. The fifth burner in the middle is a real plus, and for a 30″ range this feature is much appreciated. The range hood was…

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Unfinished Projects

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sewing, handmade, quilt, embroidery, wedding, quilt square

After settling in Seattle I was dead-set on finishing some projects that have been a long time coming. For example, this August my husband and I will celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary and we had yet to get photos printed of our big day. Growing up, I loved looking at my parents wedding album (not too mention a gillion other family albums) and its just something I wanted to do. It’s been sitting, uncrossed off on my list. We have gorgeous photos thanks to our friends Kelly and Kyle (Hi guys!), who drove to Montana to shoot the epic event, so it was high time I made an album. THE PROBLEM WAS I COULDN’T CHOOSE – SO NOW I HAVE TWO, 300 PHOTO ALBUMS TO DOCUMENT EVERY LOVELY MOMENT WE HAD UNDER THE BIG SKY. Next, also wedding related, were the 4 dozen or so quilt squares we had guests sign at our wedding. The idea was that I would make a quilt with these squares and with the fabric left over from the 300 or so napkins I made for the big day in coordinating colors. Had I ever made a quilt before? No. Crazy? Yes, that’s me! I’ve sewn just about everything else though, so I was confident I could figure it out. THE GOOD NEWS IS, THE QUILT IS MORE THAN HALF COMPLETE. JUST A ROW A DAY, I SAY. Here are some images of the progress. Prior to the wedding I’d hand-stitched the middle piece and I have to say, it’s my favorite part, along with the sweet, funny and sentimental notes from friends and family. I get a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that our favorite people have touched and helped make this quilt the beauty that it is. I am looking forward to cuddling up and watching movies with this quilt and building forts with our kids someday. Also in the photos is my rock-solid Singer sewing machine from the 1940’s. I love this beast. It’s what I’ve used for pretty much everything – including the items for sale on this site! There is not a piece of plastic on it. It sews through anything. It’s simple. It’s beautiful. The silver-inlay detail, exposed belt, hum of the motor, and sporadic little power light make me grin. It was passed down to me from a friend of the family and along with the Singer my grandmother gave me…

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