Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Want Another Peek?

Last week I mentioned that along with actually buying the new house, we will be essentially doing a gut job of the current kitchen and today I'll be giving you a clue as to why:


 This is the kitchen as it is at the moment, and by that I mean that this is the entire kitchen space. And while you may be saying "Hey, those don't look too bad!", be assured in knowing that looks, in this case, are decieving. See that drawer on the upper right side (and the one on the upper left side for that matter?), I tried to pull it out only to realize that there is no longer a track for it to roll on.


 The rest of the room (with that adorable, if poorly adorned bay window) was made as an eat in area, but we would prefer kitchen counter and cabinet space (with some integrated seating perhaps?) over space for a big kitchen table. So, along with some design help, we'll be adding in a lot!


Image Source
And this is our new darling. We were hoping to put in a pro-style stove since I've been very spoiled in my lifetime both from my parents' pro-style and many years of commercial kitchen work. But with the hefty price-tags and similar heat outputs to some slightly upgraded home ranges (e.g. this stove), we figured we wouldn't be able to justify a pro-style.

We hit the jackpot though -- so to speak -- last weekend when we walked into a small, family-owned designer appliance store and came across this baby (minus the backsplash, which I prefer not to have anyway) that was being sold as a floor model for 2/3 the original price. 

On Monday I went back to the store to put down a deposit and they will be holding on to it until we have a nice kitchen space all ready for it to be delivered into and installed. 

Dream (relatively speaking, in a starter home) kitchen, here we come!


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Be Still My Heart

 It's been a good week for talking to some of my favorite (non-Saint Louis) girls in the world. Really, the only one I've missed is Meg (Meg, if you're reading this, we need to g-chat) but that's beside the point.

The point is that a great e-mail chain regarding very pretty clothes/shoes was started this morning by one lovely sister-in-law (Laura) and Kathia (another lovely sister-in-law) and I have kept it going. 


By the way, this is a terrible photo of me, but the only one I could find. We need a better pic of the 3 of us ASAP!

 There's been lots of discussion of vintage style, wedge shoes and my current obsession, these new boots:




And the discussion reminded me that I've not shown them off on the blog. They're Frye Jane 14 Stitch boots and they're divine. And yes, the first place I noticed them was over at the Pioneer Woman blog but at the time, I never thought I would want them due to an irrational fear of wearing heeled shoes for long periods of time. Of course, I fear has been abated because these shoes (after the first "stretching-out" day) are crazy comfortable!

They're not cheap by any means, and it took lots of soul-searching and prodding by friends much more fashionable than I, but I finally bit the bullet and bought them. They are absolutely going to last me for the next 20 years.

I love them.

If only we were experiencing a normal spring and not this unseasonably warm one (have I complained enough about the weather yet?), I may not have taken these off until May. Alas, boots and hot, sweaty feet do not mix, at least not in my book.

On a side note, you can see the extreme difference in quality between our old camera and my new favorite toy (the Nikon D7000) in this post. Whoa! Huge difference!

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sneak Peek!

As I've alluded to in the recent past, we decided this spring to jump into the real estate market. 

I won't lie, it's been an extremely trying and very, very stressful time in our young lives. Almost immediately, we found an amazing house in a truly perfect location and quickly put in offer in. Unfortunately, that house (actually a foreclosure) wasn't meant to be. (And P.S. to the people who offered 20k over the asking price: Woah!)

After that blow to to our confidence, we jumped back out with our agent (who was amazing! STL friends, I'd be happy to give out her info!) and after knocking a few others off of the list, we managed to find another house that we loved. 

And...

And...

It has an adorable 1/2 bath with a hand-washing sink.

(If you follow me on Pinterest, you know how obsessed I am with little hand-washing sinks.)

(Please ignore the awkward staging. And I'm sorry to report that it didn't stop with the bathroom.)

The other great thing about this little half bath is that it is mostly in amazing original condition and aside from a new medicine cabinet and lighting, will be kept intact. It may be one of the least demanding rooms in the house; which will meant lots and lots of doing-it-ourselves posts including an almost immediate total kitchen re-do. 

We close on the house on April 25th (we can hardly wait!) and will start moving/demo soon after.

Get pumped, people!

*And a side note*: I'm looking for a new blog title to replace "Metzing Around". No worries, the archived posts will remain at this site, but it's time store away the french sections of our lives in order to start this new and very exciting time in our lives. Unfortunately, I am coming up blank in the names category (Metzing Around was such a no-brainer!) so if any of you have a fabulous blog name idea, I promise to give you full credit. (Just leave a comment.)

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

A Somewhat Bearable Summer


Thanks to a 20% off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon, we enjoyed some delicious, homemade frozen yogurt as soon as Michael returned home from work after yesterday's record-breaking 89° day. 

And as much as I hate to complain this early in the "summer" season, I remember being appalled last May when we hit 85°.

In May...MAY
And this is only...APRIL?

And what followed that 85° May day but the "Hottest Summer of U.S. History". I'm thinking this early heat wave has some terrible implications for the summer to come. 

Prove me wrong, Mother Nature. Please?

Now, I'm off to run day-3 of week-7 of the Couch-to-5-K running program far too late in the morning since I've spent all of the cool time editing photos and writing blog posts. 

Not smart, Lauren. Not smart.

Monday, April 2, 2012

A Caketastic Week

 Boy oh boy have I been a busy baker lately. At least, in my tiny kitchen I've felt like a busy baker. 

 Cake #1 was a girly baby shower cake for my dear friend Carolyn's book club buddies. 


 And cake #2 was a donation to my favorite new non-profit, Perennial. I was introduced to Jenny at Perennial through my first Saint Louis friend Claire after my love of re-finishing furniture (and that link is just one of many examples) came to light. The match was perfect since the sole goal at the Perennial workshop is to empower and teach people how to take another person's trash (usually in the form of furniture) and transform it (both economically and in an eco-friendly way) into a treasure for their home.


 After being based out of Jenny's apartment basement for many months (even years, I'm not sure on the timeline), Perennial finally found a large, open space in South City Saint Louis out of which to base their operations. I've been doing my little bit to help lately by going in on Wednesday afternoons to work on building out the space, including but not limited to helping to hang that awesome ladder wall. 


 And this past Saturday, Perennial finally had it's celebration to open the space to the public. 


 The German bell ceiling in the retail space (which will be selling already transformed furniture along with supplies so you can DIY) is by far my favorite part of the Work+Shop.


After much anticipation, the main Perennial masterminds (that's Jenny on the left along with her interns Brie and Anna) cut the cake.