Mapping my Drawers

That post title could go in a few different directions, but let’s head down the G-rated path, shall we?  Remember this from a few weeks ago:

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Well, what I didn’t tell you then was that not only did I refinish the outside of the desk, but I also added a little special touch to the inside . . .

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I added personalized drawer liners using some spray adhesive and Mod Podge.  Fun, eh?  It only took me maybe a couple hours of Mini B’s naptime, and it was nice to finally use the maps I had been hanging onto from our honeymoon in Spain.  How did I do it?  Easily.

I first made some templates with plain copy paper of the exact drawer dimensions.  Then I laid those out on the maps (which I lightly, and I do mean LIGHTLY, ironed to get out the wrinkles), and used a ruler and exacto knife to cut the maps down to size . . .

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I tried to make sure the maps were aligned so as to include areas Mr. Bunches and I visited in our travels.  Once they were all cut, I then just used some spray adhesive (sprayed onto the backs of the maps–NOT sprayed directly on the drawers) and smoothed the maps in place on the bottom of each drawer.  I used a bone folder to make sure there weren’t any wrinkles and that everything was all smoothness.

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Because the maps were made of such thin paper, there were spots, particularly in the water sections of the maps, where you could kind of see the glue.  But it was minimal.  I let the glue dry for a few hours (with heavy books laying on top) just to make sure it was all good and set.  Then I used a foam brush to apply a light coat of Matte Mod Podge on the tops of the maps (just so they would be extra durable).  As I had been warned by YHL commenters on this post, I was prepared for the inevitable bubbling that the Mod Podge would (and did) cause:

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What had been smooth was now a wrinkly mess.  But no fear, I knew that once the Mod Podge dried, all would be smooth in my drawers again (still keeping it G-rated folks) . . .

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And there you have it.  Just a few hours of drying time (overnight actually), and voila!

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And since it’s been almost a month since initiating our new entry way solution, I’m happy to report that it’s been a success!  We got our cart in, and it’s been working out great.

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Fingers crossed that it continues working out well and wrangling in our mess.  And just because, here’s a shot of Mini Bunches on her recent trip to the beach in Florida (more on that soon I hope) . . .

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Mini B is Famous!

That’s right–she’s a star!  Er, well, if you define fame as being featured on a pretty popular blog.  What–did you think I was going to say she was in a movie or something?  Puh-leeze.  That’s for next year ;) .

Mini B’s nursery was featured in the Before & After section on Apartment Therapy Friday!  Check it out here.  I was so excited that I actually took a picture of the site on my phone (I know–I’m a full on geek) . . .

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I have no idea how it happened–I didn’t submit it or anything.  Total happy surprise to me.  :)  So thank you Apartment Therapy for stumbling across Mini B’s humble little nursery–she is really quite touched by the praise.

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Oh, and if you want to see the actual post about Mini B’s nursery, just click here.  If you want to see an even amazinger nursery (yep, just making words up today), check out her cousin’s digs here.

Cher is on the Sea

Huh?  Just look . . .

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Clear?  Okay, okay, I don’t actually know where Cher is (probably Vegas?), but it was either that or “Her son is on the sea” and that didn’t sound as catchy.  Still confused?  Well, don’t be–it’s just that I finally finished a home project that I’ve been wanting to do since we were in the midst of our kitchen renovation.  Of course, I didn’t get to finish it then because, well, I had a baby.  I know–weak excuse.  So through the magic of the Internet, let’s go back to the beginning . . .

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I know it’s hard to focus on just one atrocious part of the above pic, but let’s try–focus on the pantry doors in the hallway.  They become even more off-putting once the rest of the kitchen gets a face lift.

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See what I mean?  They were just awful.  The first step?  Painting the trim white and priming the doors as dark as possible.

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Already so much better, right?  Mr. Bunches was all, ‘Oh, we’re going to paint them grey?  That’s awesome–they look great.’  And then I had to be all, ‘No–that’s just the primer.  Puh-leeze.’  But, it did make me think that maybe we should paint the rest of the doors in our house–possibly in some darker shade of grey?  Just sayin’.

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The next step?  Chalkboard Paint!  We used Valspar Chalkboard Paint from Lowe’s.

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They look pretty slick, right?  Of course, they need new handles, but I was under a bit of a time crunch (this all took place prior to the holidays), so I figured the new handles could wait.

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And while you may think that they were ready to be all chalked up with some fun holiday greeting, well, you would be wrong.  See, first they had to be “conditioned” which basically means you have to cover the entire surface with chalk and then erase it.

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And in case you were wondering, yes, this process is messy and DUSTY with a capital D-U-S-T-Y.

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Once the conditioning was done (and the dust vacuumed), then it was time get my artsy on.

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Once I finished chalking the doors up with season’s greetings, I thought they still could use a little more cheer.  So I decided to move my Instagram pics out of Instagram and onto my doors:

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I left the bottom blank since we were expecting some wee visitors at the time and I figured they might like to get their own artsy on (they did).  All in all, I’m in love with the result and I can’t wait for Mini B to make masterpieces on those doors as she gets older.  But for now, we’re just cherishing the season :) .

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2013 Goals

That’s right–I’m putting my home goals for 2013 in writing.  Will this make them happen?  I sure hope so.  Because apparently me sitting on the couch thinking about them hasn’t done much to put them into action, so let’s try something different, shall we?  Yes.  We shall.

  • Paint the fireplace.  I hate the fireplace.  I know some of you like it in all its stone, wood, and brass glory.  But I hate it.  Everyday.  I’m literally staring at it right now as I type this and it makes me cringe.
  • Hang new lights in the kitchen.  They’ve already been purchased (months ago) and I’m pretty sure it would take less than 15 minutes to hang them, but I just need to get on it already.
  • Create better organization in our entryway.  Not sure yet what to do here, but something must be done.  Hooks?  Cubbies?  Storage bench?  Hmm . . . 
  • Hang artwork/pictures.  With the exception of Mini B’s nursery, there is not a single piece of artwork hung in our house.  And for the most part, it’s all still in bubble wrap in our basement.  Need to get that stuff out of the basement and up on the walls.
  • Get a vintage sideboard for the dining room.
  • Get new dining room chairs.
  • Style the family room built-ins.  They currently look awful.  I’d post a picture, but I’m too embarrassed.
  • Paint the master bathroom.
  • Get window treatments for the master bath, guest bath, guest room, and Mr. B’s office.  That’s a lot of window treatments.  Yikes.
  • Finish painting all the trim in the house.  The holidays got me close on this goal, but I’m still not quite done.  For one thing, I still need to caulk all the trim before doing the final coat of paint.  Sigh.
  • Unpack our remaining boxes in the basement.  We’ve been here a year and a half and yes–we still have a LOT of unpacked boxes in the basement.  Mr. B would argue that means we can just get rid of everything in the basement, but I’m not sure I totally agree.  I do agree that a lot of it can probably go, though, so maybe 2013 will be the year of me selling our stuff on eBay and making donations of the rest.  Regardless, my goal is to unpack one box a week.  That seems doable, right?
  • Paint our master bedroom.
  • Paint the upstairs hallway.
  • Paint the guest room.
  • Paint Mr. B’s office. 
  • Paint the guest bath.  Seriously?!  So much painting–maybe some of these will have to get done in 2014 . . . 
  • Take more pictures.  Especially ones with a little twist.  And get them edited/posted in a somewhat timely basis.  Good luck, right?

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Of course, everything on the to-do list is secondary to our number one goal in 2013: enjoy every dang minute of Mini Bunches!  But maybe while she’s napping . . .

Sophistikat-ed Kids

Don’t worry–I know how to spell sophisticated.  I mean, c’mon.  I practically invented the word (har-har).  But seriously, we’re talking a different type of sophisticated today.  In this case, we’re talking Flor Sophistikat carpet tiles.  Yes, I know you’re shocked–I’m talking about carpet tiles again.  But before I get to the afters, let’s talk inspiration:

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I love that dining room by Emily Henderson.  So much so that those chairs may soon replace our dining room chairs.  But more on that another day.

So now back to the carpet tiles.  Here they are originally from Flor’s site:

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I say originally because they’re no longer available from Flor.  However, a certain someone I know, ahem-Mr. Bunches-ahem, was able to get a LOT of these discontinued tiles . . . so if you want any, let us know :) .

Anyways, you can put the tiles into a variety of patterns.  And luckily (well, for Mr. Bunches at least), I found this site that showed 3 ways to lay out the tiles here:

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And yes–the tiles are supposed to not match up exactly.  It’s part of their charm.  So, after much thought, I decided to go with . . . STRIPES!  Huzzah.  And that’s when Mr. B got to work . . .

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It took a while.  Especially considering we had to move out the big brown couch and then lay out the tiles first before attaching them together with the Flor dots (to make sure that the pattern wasn’t too far off).

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Thank goodness he’s so patient.  And after a couple hours, we were left with this (oh, and I have to apologize for the sort-of not-so-great after picture, but with a wee one, it’s kind of hard to get everything just so; so no–that white chair is not staying there.  Because that would be weird.):

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Pretty fun, right?  I looked long and hard for a rug that I liked (and that wasn’t outrageously out of our budget), but in the end I’m glad I waited.  The carpet tiles are completely customizable to our space and we ended up laying out a lot since Mini B may just decide to start crawling any day now, and now she has some room to move . . .

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What do you think?  Hate it?  Love it?  I must say–Mr. B and I are smitten.  Happy Wednesday!

Stool Problems

Don’t worry–this post is not about Mini B’s dirty diapers (although it does seem that my life is currently full of little else).  Nope, this post is a call for help: design help.

See, we need stools in our kitchen.  Specifically, we need them here:

That counter overhang is a little over seven feet long, so I think three stools would be just about perfect.

Sorry for the wonky coloring in these pics–my white balance must have been way off.

Back to my stool problem (wait–that just sounds way wrong).  Anyways, I think it would be fun to add some color since most of the kitchen is white and gray, except for my new pop of yellow via the microwave cart (see more on that here) . . .

But part of me wonders if I should just stick to something neutral?  Anyways, I don’t want to spend a fortune (what else is new, right), so I think I’ve narrowed down my choices.  Why these?  Well, I definitely want something with a back and I want something sturdy (so four legs is a must–versus those stools that are just perched on a pedestal) and easy to keep clean.  Here are the options:

The limeade metal counter stools from Overstock for $179.99 for a set of two (online reviews say the actual color of these is chartreuse):

The red metal counter stools from Overstock for $163.99 for a set of two (online reviews say these are sort of an orangey-red in real life):

Those exact same stools also come in white for $195.99, black for $166.59, and silver (I can’t find the silver ones at the moment, but I know I’ve seen them).

There’s also this option, which seems to be the same color as above, but a different style (obviously).  These red leather stools are also on Overstock and cost $167.99 for two:

And as if that wasn’t enough, there are these blue beauties from CB2 for $139 each:

And of course now that I’m googling for counter stools, there are even more fun options coming up, like these Valencia leather stools for $248 each (probably a bit too high, but I don’t know–they are pretty rad):

Now do you see why no decision has been made?  I’m just too overwhelmed by the options.  And there’s yet another option–buy some cheap-o stools from craigslist and just spray paint them whatever color I want . . .

So clearly I’m incapable of making a decision, which is why, yes I’m going to say it again–I have stool problems.  And this is where you all come in–help me decide.  Leave me a comment with your opinion (and I’m talking to you my most faithful commenters and fellow design lovers: Doodles, Punks, Erin, Carrie, Nancy, Deenie; so don’t be shy.  Because I need stools!  Now.).

Oh, and not to complicate matters any more, but I’m also thinking of replacing all my dining room chairs–ever since I fell out of one when I was pregnant (arguably NOT my best moment) and since watching some kids try to climb in and out of them, I’ve decided they aren’t the safest.  Sooooo, think on that too.  Maybe something like this . . .

I kind of love how those chairs look with a rustic table . . .  

Photos are from the DIY Blog Cabin.

But I’m not sure how they’d go with our steel and glass beauty . . .

So think about that too.  Okay, have I given you enough to do?  Somehow I feel so much better now that I’ve put these decisions on to someone else.  Sigh.  Now back to my real stool problems (you fellow parents know which stools I’m talking about, don’t you?) . . .

Cart-astic!

Even though our lives have been pretty much consumed with diapers, burp cloths, and baby talk, that doesn’t mean that we’ve given up tweaking our house.  Nope–in between feedings and nap times, I’ve managed to make a few changes.  I figure now’s my chance seeing as how I’m home all day and pretty soon I’ll have to go back to work :( So what’s been the most recent change?  In case you can’t figure it out from the post title (in which case I’m seriously concerned about your skills of deduction), it’s related to a cart.

That’s right, I finally pulled the trigger and got a microwave cart for our kitchen.  See, in our kitchen reveal post, I didn’t reveal much about this side of the kitchen because, well, it looks like this:

I still have plans to redo the pantry doors on the right, and we still plan to replace the old intercom system with a new one (that’s the super old boxy-looking thing on the right wall), but for a while now I’ve wanted to change out the microwave stand.  That dresser there is from my childhood bedroom, and while I do have a special fondness for it, I just wasn’t crazy about it being in the kitchen.  Instead, I wanted something with some color and shelves so that I could display all my cookbooks (and, quite frankly, so they would be more readily accessible than tucked away in the pantry).  So out with the old . . .

and in with the new!

What do you think?  Colorful enough for ya’?  It’s actually one of those school computer carts (I bought it here for $115), so it’s super sturdy and strong.

And it even has the old school built-in power strip.

It came in a whole range of colors, but lately I’ve been full on digging yellow, and since we already have some yellow accents on the other side of the room, I thought it would be perfect . . .

It also ties in nicely with the curtains I made for the dining room and living room . . . (I was going to write a post about these, but let’s face it–some things are just never going to happen.)

I also love that it holds all my cookbooks and fits the microwave perfectly.  I couldn’t be happier with it . . . plus, I was able to put it together and load it up all during one of Mini B’s extra long naps.  Bonus!

So there it is, one quick change in our home that makes me smile every time I walk by.

What did Mini B think of the change?  She was absolutely thrilled!  I had her take a break from her daily yoga to tell you all about it . . .

Nursery Reveal

It’s finally here.  Only ~two months after Mini Bunches arrived.  Her early arrival kind of hampered the completion of the nursery, and it’s not entirely done yet, but I’ve just got to get this post done and out of my brain . . . 

First, where we started (see all of our house before pictures here):

And where it is today:

Big difference, eh?  This was actually the first room that I started painting when we bought the home–I knew all along it would be the nursery and I had baby on the brain, so I wanted to get it done.  It was also my first ever experience painting a ceiling . . .

The color?  Benjamin Moore’s Ocean Air:

I love this color–it’s blue in some light, teal in others, and all-in-all just awesome.  Our guest room in our old Boston condo was painted this color and it was my favorite room in the house.  Of course, when it’s painted on the ceiling, it reads as much, much lighter than when it’s on the walls.  See how you can barely tell the difference between the new Ocean Air color and the old white ceiling paint?

Oh well.  I wasn’t going to paint it again.  Let’s just say painting a ceiling–not so fun.  Your arms and neck get mighty tired.  I actually did it before we ripped up the carpet (more on that here), so I didn’t need to worry about drips getting on the floor, but if you’re not getting rid of your flooring, then definitely tarps are a MUST.  Oh, and the walls and trim are Benjamin Moore’s Decorator’s White–ya’ know, the color that’s on basically every wall in our house except the kitchen.

What paint did we use?  Well, we used Sherwin Williams’ HGTV Home Interior Paint in a Flat finish, color-matched to BM’s Decorator’s White:

Why this paint?  Well, my sister has converted me to a SW fan, and this paint was new, No-VOC, and cheaper than SW’s other No-VOC paints.  Plus, I love HGTV and figured that it would be good quality paint.  Boy, was I WRONG.  This is the WORST PAINT EVER!!!  And trust me–I’ve done my fair share of painting.  It smelled HORRIFIC and the odor didn’t go away for months!  Good thing we (and by that I mean Mr. Bunches since I was too preggers at the time we decided to finally get on finishing the nursery) painted the room a few months before Mini B arrived.  We had the windows open in there through most of the winter and spring, and I still felt like I could smell paint sometimes when I went in there.  Plus, the coverage of this paint was AWFUL.  It was really thin and covered horribly.  The room isn’t that big, we had already done a coat of paint using some BM leftovers we had, and so we shouldn’t have had to use even half a gallon.  But nope–it took the whole gallon just to do one coat on the walls.  In sum: NEVER BUY THIS PAINT.  IT’S CRAP.

Okay, sorry for the tangent.  Back to the nursery:

Remember that dresser?  It’s the one I refinished (see all the steps here and here), and now it’s Mini B’s changing table.

It’s also her favorite spot to be in the room.  Why?  Because these guys are her new best friends . . .

Yep, those are vintage Disney wall hangings that we took from Mr. Bunches’ childhood room.  Isn’t it too cute that what hung on his nursery wall is now hanging in Mini B’s nursery?  I just love that.  And just to see what the changing table looked like before we got our snazzy rug . . .

But now the floor’s all covered up in chevron stripes that Mini B can barely take her eyes off of . . .

As for the crib?  Well, she’s not such a fan yet, but I have faith.  She has spent a couple naps/nights there, but hopefully more soon . . .

And she’s not into this bucket o’fun yet, but I’m sure she will be soon.  It’s basically where all her friends hang out . . .

And above the crib is a little concoction I put together from various paper lanterns and pom flowers . . .

I love that it’s sunny and bright–I’m hoping someday Mini B will wake up to this view and it will help her start her days off on the right foot . . .

And I’ve finally hung up some artwork in the room.  Two items from Etsy, two cards we received that I thought were just too cute and needed to be framed, and a mirror for Mini B to someday gaze into (again–that elusive day when she sleeps in the crib) . . .

The top left print is from Almost Sunday Designs, the top right from Andrea Zuill’s Badbird shop, both on Etsy.

And here are the two cards I framed.  One is from our baby shower, and the other is a congrats on getting preggers we received way back when.

All of the frames are courtesy of Ikea.  We also hung an Ikea shelf to display Mini B’s ever-growing book collection . . .

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t show you the closet (it is, after all, a little girl’s room).  I couldn’t stand the closet doors (they’re that ugly wood color that everything in our house was), so I had Mr. B take them down and we replaced them with curtains . . .

Mini B also loves looking at those . . . she and I have had many conversations about those little birdies.  The curtains are from Ikea.  And here’s a little shot of what Mini B’s got hiding in that closet of hers . . .

Not the best organization yet, but that project’s on my some-day-I’ll-have-enough-sleep-to-tackle project list.

And last, but certainly not least, this little guy stands guard at Mini B’s door (at least temporarily until we find a more suitable home for him on a shelf somewhere):

So there you have it–Mini B’s Nursery Reveal!

What do you think?  As you can tell, Mini B is dying to know . . .

Our New Kitchen!

It’s reveal time!  Hooray.  Hurrah.  Kazam.  Schlamiel.  Schlamozal.  Yep, just making up words as I go.   But let’s get to some photos, shall we?!

First, a reminder of where we started on move-in day:

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And where we are today:

That last view is a big change from where it used to be, huh?

And I’m in love with our open shelving.  It’s so easy to grab things now, and with the removal of all those extra cabinets, the kitchen looks twice as big!

Can you believe this was where it started?  Ugh–and that soffit making the ceiling feel even lower that it already was (our ceilings are only 7-1/2 ft high, so every inch we can gain is HUGE).

But now it’s gone!!

Obviously we still need to change out the odd leafy light fixture, and down the road I plan on doing something with all the doors (maybe staining them dark?  Who knows . . . ), and a later project might be putting some built-ins on that far wall for coat and shoe storage, but at least things are open and airy now, right?

The only soffits left are above the upper cabinets that we decided to keep.

And did you SEE my new sink?!?!

Let me take you even closer, because–yes–it is that good.

It’s so glorious–wide and deep, and the faucet is awesome!  It has a great range of motion and a super powerful spray.

We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out (and the fact that it is finally finished, er, well, if you don’t count the fact that we need to put up new light fixtures to replace the weird leafy ones, buy bar stools, maybe put an area rug in front of the sink, hang some art work, and do one last coat of paint on some of the door trim, but let’s just pretend that’s all taken care of, shall we?).

And just for kicks, here’s what I hid from the shot on the other side of the room (didn’t want all that stuff cluttering up my after shots, now did I) . . . ha!

So there you have it, our kitchen renovation!

Next week I’ll do a quick run-down of where we got everything, paint colors, etc., but for now, I’m just enjoying the view . . .

Kitchen Decision #4: Hardware

Alright, so the post title makes it sound like there were only 4 decisions during the renovation of our kitchen (check out decisions #1, 2, and 3 here, here, and here), but obviously that wasn’t the case.  If it were, well then, it would likely have been the most boring “renovation” ever.  But nope–there were probably 736 decisions in total, but since I can’t photograph or document everything that goes on in my mind (because let’s be honest, how not awesome would that be for everyone reading this?), I’m limiting myself to 4.

And #4 is hardware–the reason that the final reveal photos have taken so long to come out.  And in the interest of brevity, let’s begin with option #1:

Some super contemporary handles and then standard knobs.  See, I had originally planned to use all handles, but I quickly decided against that (good thing we spent all that time filling the knob holes and sanding them down, huh?).  So the stainless knobs were at least an easy decision, but the handles are another story.

The knobs, btw, are the same ones we used in the half bath renovation:

So the original handles I picked out just seemed too Miami Vice to me.  Hard to explain, I guess, but with unadorned cabinet doors, and all white, those handles just screamed 80s (and not in a good, Goonies-meets-

Okay, quick sidenote–I just asked Mr. Bunches to name something cool from the 80s that I could pair with the Goonies and these were his first few answers:

  1. Full House
  2. The Olsen Twins
  3. John Stamos

Seriously?!  This is who I married?!  I love it.

Like I was saying, these handles were too 80s, and not in a good Goonies-meets-Full-House way :) .

So then I decided that I liked the look of the half bath combo of cup pulls with the knobs . . .

But I thought those same cup pulls were too deep to work in the kitchen, so I ordered these from online.  And from afar, they looked okay.

Um yeah, that is until you got up close.

Seriously?! Why would they design them to not be flush with the front of the drawer?!  And no–this was not a case of installer error; this was how these bad boys were designed.  UGH.  (That’s the polite version of how I actually expressed my frustration once I installed these.)

In the end, I bought the same ones from the bathroom (they’re the Liberty 2-1/2 or 3″ dual mount cup pulls in satin nickel from Home Depot).  Why didn’t I just do that from the beginning?  Well, that’s a good question probably best answered by the pregnancy gods.  But at least now I’m happy with the final decision, and just for making it through this post, here’s a sneak peak of how they look in our completed kitchen:

So there you have it–from the 80s to today.  All in one post.  Phew.

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