Sometimes renovations end up a much longer process than you ever hope for, case in point, our kitchen.  I wrote bunch of posts last year as we were in the midst of all the gut renovations but we’ve found that finishing up the details with a munchkin, seemingly endless yard work, and finding the few last accent pieces has slowed us down. Needless to say, an update has been well overdue!

We really are ALMOST done!  This week’s project felt especially good to finish.  We finally have our custom built-in bench for our kitchen dining area.  It all started when we took down most of the wall from the dining room (see post on the demo here) but left the lower section as a back to a built-in bench.  For the seat, we actually used two lower cabinets that have drawers for extra storage space which comes in handy for seasonal stuff.  Then, my dad helped us out with building a lip around the top.

Meanwhile, once I found out how much high density foam cost (Seriously??) I was on the lookout for a deal.  I found one at this wacky shop on the Cape near the Sagamore Bridge that was closing out loveseat cushions!  We scooped them up, along with some salt water Taffy for my sis, a pair of swim trunks for Hubs and a giant blow up ring… I mentioned this place was wacky…

However, I couldn’t find a fabric I liked.  We have such a clean, cool palette for the kitchen there was almost too many options.  Also, we couldn’t decide on how to back the bench.  Should it be upholstered?  Bead board?  So after I cut the foam to size the sad bench sat wrapped in loose fabric I had on hand until we could find a solution.

And then it hit us this Spring… true love!

While visiting my lil bro for his graduation I found this gorgeous fabric with Hubs up in Burlington, VT at Rags and Riches. It’s not much to look at from the outside or the website but this place has fabulous remnants at really great prices.  I found this amazing print on a cotton canvas from Ralph Lauren at 20% of what it would have retailed for.  Not only was it dead on for the style we are going for, but the pattern was so engaging and also busy (think end-use and wee little hands!) that I couldn’t have designed it better myself!

I went home victorious, but the momentum faded as I had a hard time finding someone to sew the cushions for me at a reasonable price.  Finally, when the chimney disaster struck I had to call in reinforcements as our budget drained from finishing the kitchen.

In this case, my mom SAVED my butt.  She has done a lot of sewing and came over one morning to show me how to sew cushion covers.  She walked me through it as she did all the work!  I’d love to take credit, but I can’t.  However, she has taught me a skill for life.  I will never go coverless again!  The cushions are amazing, we positioned the pattern to be able to flip exactly in case of stains, zippers so they can be laundered, and I scotch guarded the hell out of them of course.

Now with the cushions finalized, we went with the wainscoting as it would be more durable and flexible with kids.  Getting a 4×8 foot piece of bead board in my car was an interesting errand, but I just drove slowly and tied down the gate!  Hubs spent Labor day cutting me the pieces I needed and we glued them to the wall. Did I mention we used a case of wine to weigh the boards down?  At 7:30 am on Tuesday I finished it off with 1/4″ round trim, primed and painted it all up… I couldn’t wait a minute longer!

Finally we were able to paint and put it all together.

Notice the table?  That was one of my Brimfield finds and refinishing projects. The chairs?  Those pieces were mentioned on my ombre post and I must say, I’m really happy with how it all works.  It’s kind of awesome to see three different projects pulled together at once, and I haven’t told you about the blinds yet!

Now that we can properly seat people we just may have to throw a party!  More to come!