Nest Decorating & Designs by Tamar

OUR NEW KITCHEN

Yep,it's finally all done, thank you for being so patient I've been writing about this for ages and it's all over,done,finished,beautiful!!! We love it!!
So, for those who do not know what I am taking about I will just briefly say that we bought the house with a horrible "European style" kitchen that was about 25 years old and due to a very tight budget we decided to buy an Ikea kitchen and install it ourselves (actually it's  my husband who installed it himself...) he also re-did the floors that were in very bad shape.
It turned out so fantastic, everything works beautifully, the big drawers are dreamy, the butcher counter tops are practical and the whole experience was great, I HIGHLY recommend it ,not to mention the amazing price!

Here are a few pictures, the before photos are actually the second stage, there were wall cabinets  all around and we took those out when we moved in, I don't have any real before photos, but I can tell you the kitchen was painted a weird darkish pinkish peachy color,very frightening so I didn't even bother taking pictures then...

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTERS

The back tiles are dark blue and we are still thinking about changing those somehow,maybe painting them? we are not sure.

let me know if you have any Ikea kitchen questions:) hope you like it!
xoxo

An amazing book

Yesterday I came home and I found a package waiting by the door,inside was a gift for me from my aunt Susan Meller ,it was her new book Russian Textiles.
This book my friends is sincerely one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen.
Every page is filled with the most beautiful photos taken by Don Tuttle of the rich and luscious Russian textiles that were made for the bazaars in central Asia and were combined with local fabrics and made into the most magnificent robes,bags and incorporated into their household items,the book has over 250 reproductions that are a joy to the eye.

Here are a few images from the book.

A few traditional robes some of them where photographed inside out to show the fantastic Russian textiles:

these are a few examples of textiles found in the book:

and here is an example of a bag:

A DVD containing all the textile images from the book is available.  It comes with a license granting free usage of the designs.  It can be purchased exclusively from The Design Library and if you mention my blog you will get a free book with it....:)

I hope you will love this book as much as I do.

xoxo

A pocket or two

No we are not finished with the kitchen yet, life has gotten a little easier though, the cabinets and counter tops are all in place and we actually have running water in the sink, yeay!!! thank you my genius husband and you to Chris his genius friend! we are now working on the floors, turns out to be quite a job, especially around the edges ughhh!!!!
I did however manage to squeeze in some studio time between the kitchen, a giant pile wholesale orders and two new interior decorating clients.
I was staring at my ugly folder shelf, I keep a folder for each client with all the relevant information and suddenly eureka! why don't I make a pretty fabric pocket to keep all these plastic folders in? turned out to be very cute and functional and looks so much prettier on the shelf! I made some for sale too and they are available  on etsy.




I also found some fantastic flower printed fine corduroy so hopefully this weekend will be able to sew up some new bags...
have a great day!

Back soon...

Yes, I am still here,trying desperately to post something new but completely overworked and have been living in a horrific MESS for the last week since we bought our new kitchen...will be back soon with new pictures, and tips for anyone who is handy and would like to save LOTS of money and install an IKEA kitchen themselves.
Also lot of new sewing projects are being cooked in the studio....
Two more days and I'm back!!!

sweeeeeeet husband installing counter tops (can you tell he has a back ache...:()

my MESS...help.....we've been living on pasta and pizza for a week....

tomorrow we start installing the new floor and THEN : new photos of everything!
looking at the photo above really makes me wish we had one of those counter deep refrigerators...oh well...
hugs to all.

A little Interior Decorating....

I have recently worked with a few clients on two kitchen renovations which I thought I would share with you, they came out so nicely!!! My own kitchen renovation is not happening yet, it seems we have to travel 4!! hours in every direction to the closest Ikea just to place the  order (they do not except phone orders unless they ship it...:(... and then we have to go again and pick it up...that's a 16 hours in the car ...sometimes these places are so frustrating...we tried to think of a million combinations to save a trip but since we are on a super tight budget we will have to drive down twice,ugh....

Here is my first renovation story using the existing cabinets which were in perfect condition, this massive kitchen was brown, with a green trim in a dated "country" style,very popular in Vermont... the room looked very dark and gloomy and the lights were on constantly, the island was to close to the fridge, the counter tops were a shabby and dated Formica and an old piece of butcher which we salvaged and will be reused somewhere else in the future.

BEFORE

My clients wanted a bright and cheery kitchen with a classic farmhouse feel, so we had the cabinet doors replaced and the inner frames painted to match the new door color,some doors were removed for open shelving.The island was moved back and bead boarded, new Vermont soapstone counter tops were put in,new sink and faucet,new hardware and a beautiful butcher block in a darker shade replaced the old one. This renovation cost a fraction of what it would have cost to replaced the cabinets completely... Voila!

AFTER

My second renovation story was similar in idea but on a tighter budget.
This kitchen was in the house when my clients bought it...

BEFORE

Again we wanted to create a bright and cheery space, this time with an added touch of color.
The existing cabinets were painted, Vermont soapstone counter tops were put in (can you tell I love those?...) this time a very black matte stone that needs to be oiled once in a while. The island was painted a beautiful red. We added recessed lights and a beautiful pot rack above the island for a gourmet kitchen touch...Voila!

AFTER

next thing to go are the stools, we already found much nicer black and rattan ones.

xxx
Tamar