Ready to take know EXACTLY what you were created to do? Click here!

life{in}grace

live with more presence, passion, & purpose

rebuilding

Living with Open Shelving, the pros and cons

by 84 Comments

I’ve been singing the praises of open shelving for years.  When I remodeled my first kitchen and painted my lower cabinets turquoise, I took off upper doors to give my kitchen the look of open shelving, without having to start from scratch.

Then, I remodeled the original lake kitchen and added a plethora of open shelves.

But with our rebuild after the fire, I took open shelving to all new level.  There are open shelves everywhere.

They allow a lot of your personality to come through, or so I was told by a few folks from the Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot.

Two of my favorite inspiration kitchens for open shelving were Lauren’s kitchen, from Pure Style Home, who wrote a great post about open shelving,

and Sara’s kitchen, from August Fields, who took her inspiration from Sally Wheat’s kitchen.

Sara’s kitchen

 Sally’s kitchen

Inspiration from a Martha Stewart kitchen even led me to incorporating a two-sided open island into our kitchen.  And while I LOVE having easy access to everything while I cook and work in the kitchen, these lower shelves are ALWAYS dusty.  And the dust is easy to see.  It’s not bothersome enough to me to make me enclose it (at least not yet) but it’s pretty dusty, especially in spring with a layer of pollen covering the entire free world.  I keep saying that if someone drops off a baby in a Moses basket on my front doorstep, I’ll have to enclose these cabinets. (Are there some people that NEVER get over babies?)

When I got home from girl’s weekend, I was inspired to rearrange/redecorate my cupboards.  In other words, they needed to be cleaned.  But merely cleaning them doesn’t inspire me, so I need to turn the project into an all-day dust fest—kinda like switching out your winter clothes for summer ones, only with dishes, instead of clothes.  I wanted to move all the white dishes from the green hutch into the island and vice versa.  Because clearly, white is spring-like.  And as much as I love every pattern of color of dishes ever made (almost), I adore white dishes the most.

It took a long time but I got the shelves clean and it gave me a chance to think about what I would do different.

Turns out, I’m not sure an open island is that practical.  But I love not having to open and close cabinet doors 8,000 times a day.

I LOVE my green hutch with its leaded glass doors.  (The one I copied the design from Polly’s house.)   It’s the perfect blend of open-ish but closed cabinets. Since we moved in eighteen months ago, I’ve had all my white dishes in this cabinet, while the blue and white dishes were in the black island.  So, it was a fun change to switch them all out and clean as I went along.

 In a nutshell, here are my thoughts:

Pro’s for open shelving

1.  In general, more open shelving makes the room look and feel bigger.  This is especially true if your cabinets are dark.

2.  Open upper shelves has a very European/industrial feel to it and adds an element of design that is both functional and interesting.

3.  I LOVE being able to see what I have and easily get to it without the constant opening and closing of doors.  It’s probably the ADD in me but fewer steps is better in my world.

4.  I will always have some open shelves.  I LOVE them.  Truly, I do.  And most of the dishes on my open shelves don’t get dusty because we’re home 24/7 and use them all the time.

Cons for open shelving

1.  Open lower shelving should be used sparingly, in my humble opinion.  All the dust floating in the air will land on the lower open shelves and threaten to drive you to the brink of insanity. For some of us, it’s a short ride.

2.  Some people don’t like the visual clutter that open shelving can create.  What you might call clutter, I call art.  So, know thyself.  If stacks of bowls and pretty dishes are not your idea of art on display, then you might not want open shelves.

As for me, I’m pretty happy with the all the open shelves.

And it’s a good thing, because I’ve got lots of them!!

What about you?  Do you hate them/love them?  Would you incorporate them into your next kitchen?

Would this many of them drive you crazy?

******************

Follow lifeingrace on Facebook! or Twitter!

My Paint Colors

by 22 Comments

Because this well could be the most asked question in recent times, I thought it was high time I put all the paint colors in one post.  Here’s the only glitch.  I can’t remember the paint color of the girls’ vanity and I keep forgetting to call and ask my cabinet maker.  I’ll do it, I promise.   Also, for your viewing pleasure, I’ll include pictures of the rooms, along with the colors listed.  It’s all because I love you and I’m so exhausted from my run with Caiti today  that I’ve decided the rest of the day today must be dedicated to things I can do while lying face down on the floor sitting down.

All colors are Benjamin Moore except Sea Salt, which is Sherwin Williams.

The Living Room:: Wall Color–1:1 mix of hazy skies and abingdon putty,  Built-ins—Abingdon Putty

Full living room post here!

 

The Kitchen:: Walls–1:1 mix of hazy skies and abingdon putty, cabinets—fieldstone and great barrington green, ceiling–sea salt

Full kitchen post with sources, here.

The Workroom:: Walls—Conch Shell Pink, Built-ins—Fieldstone

Full Workroom post here!

The Girls’ Room:: Wall–Sea Salt
Full Girls’ Room post here!

The Sultry Master::Walls–graphite
Full master bedroom post here!

There’s now a link to this post in the sidebar so it’ll be easy to access.
Hope your weekend is full and happy!
xoxo,
edie

Around the House, summer edition

by 68 Comments

Did I mention I love summer? I’m working on a post to tell you all about what we’re doing this summer but in case I never finish it, you should know that I love summer with all my southern soul. In fact, this house is really at its peak in summer. It’s a summer house extraordinaire. I love it in spring and fall and even in winter but this house has summer written all over it.
I thought I’d share some of its summer glory with you.
We had company this weekend and my outdoor table has the most gorgeous piece of driftwood for a centerpiece, that came right out of our own lake.

If you come over to eat, be careful not to impale yourself on it–but other than that, it’s pretty cool.

And how could I withhold this image from you? Stevie meets me here every night for a little wine and some chitty chat. When the sun sets over the lake, the back side of our house is toasty. But this side? All kinds of heavenly. And we talk about gardens and flowers and chickens and kids and how in the world we ever got this lucky.

And this is what we see if we look to our left.

The screen porch is so pretty and peaceful this time of night too. The girls and I sat out here for our reading time last night.
And in the full light of day….


On the inside, I’ve been working like mad trying to finish all the details of the house. My house has been lacking the final touches that only fabric can give so I’m finally getting there. Fabric is so hard for me. I’ve been hamstrung trying to decide how many different colors and patterns one person is allowed in their house.  And then do more than that.  🙂
Here’s a peek at the window treatments in the master bedroom. You’ll have to excuse the fact that the headboard and side tables aren’t here yet.

I did simple pinch pleat white linen, which I love against the charcoal walls.

I’ve been getting a few things framed and setting up my summer cocktail bar!

Here it is from farther back……

The living room panels and blinds were installed this week too.
And I’ve had a few things reupholstered.

This cute little stool in a fabric I bought on OKL about a year ago.

Then there’s this chair……

And this ottoman in the lovely Schumacher dragon fabric….


I’m still waiting for a chair to be delivered in here and a few pillows to be added.

After such a long, stressful year, it’s so good to see it all come together.

And kept in its proper perspective, it’s beautiful to enjoy the good gifts from God, whether they be a delicious meal, a gorgeous fabric, or a night on the screen porch reading The Odyssey with the girls.

This brick and mortar is temporary but what we do behind these walls is eternal.

May He grant us the wisdom to live well.

To not  take it for granted—but instead to relish it, drink it in deep and then share the overflow of that joy with others.

*****************************

I love Pearl Jam and Stevie’s been taking me out on the boat for short night rides while he plays my favorite PJ tunes.

This one is our summer song.

It’s a good reminder when life gets hard—and it always gets hard.

Just Breathe.

 

Welcome, summer.  I hope you stay a good long while.

 

Christmas in Dixie

by 31 Comments

To all our beloved friends and family who have seen us through this year of tragedy and rebuilding—-we are so thankful for you. Your thoughts and prayers and words and meals and gifts have meant more to us than you will ever know. We celebrate with you God incarnate, come in the flesh, to bear our sins and suffering. He is our light and life. May you be blessed with His everlasting love and peace, this Christmas, and always.
Merry Christmas from our house to yours!  Love to all!
xoxo

After the Storm:::One Year Later

by 32 Comments

And after the storm,
I run and run as the rains come
And I look up, I look up,
on my knees and out of luck,
I look up.

Night has always pushed up day
You must know life to see decay
But I won’t rot, I won’t rot
Not this mind and not this heart,
I won’t rot.

And I took you by the hand
And we stood tall,
And remembered our own land,
What we live for.

And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

And now I cling to what I knew
I saw exactly what was true
But oh no more.
That’s why I hold,
That’s why I hold with all I have.
That’s why I hold.

I will die alone and be left there.
Well I guess I’ll just go home,
Oh God knows where.
Because death is just so full and man so small.
Well I’m scared of what’s behind and what’s before.

And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair