Our Rancher: Before & After - The Kitchen.

Sorry for the mini-break I took to reveal my DIY jewelry organizer...but it's back to the before and afters! (Insert round of applause here.)

This series has been a blast to put together!  I hope you guys are enjoying it too.  If you've missed the intro, part one, part two or part three, make sure you catch up!

Delta Faucet and Brizo Blogger Event

Blown away.

That is pretty much how I would describe myself after making a trip to Indianapolis to visit the Delta Faucet Company at their headquarters.  The entire experience, from beginning to end, was absolutely amazing.

A few weeks ago I received an email from someone at Deltaasking if I would like to attend their all-expense-paid annual blogger event in Indy.  My first reaction was that they had to have emailed the wrong person.  Then, once I re-read everything and saw it was, in fact, addressed to me, I began plotting how I could take off work and make this once-in-a-lifetime event a reality for me.

Fast-forward to my arrival at the event...not only was I going to get up close and personal with a fantastic company and their products, I also got to meet a few of my blog friends in real life!!  And bonus...I even made a few new friends. ;)

Delta graciously hosted a fantastic reception the day we arrived and I had a blast chatting, eating and drinking the night away with some very lovely ladies.

L to R - Carrie, Julia, Jennifer, Me and Kristin

The next morning we started at headquarters bright and early...and with a standing ovation!  How’s that for a grand entrance into the building?!  I’m pretty sure I’ll never get one of those again in my lifetime. ;)

After that warm welcome, we took part in a full day of all-things-Brizo-and-Delta.  We had the pleasure of learning all about the company as a whole and then we received in-depth looks into each brand itself.

{For those of you not familiar, Brizo is a fashionable, luxury line that is oh, so gorgeous!!  They even sponsor the crazy talented fashion designer, Jason Wu.  You should see the stunning bath collection he created....wowza!  I was lusting over their entire line for most of the event.}

I’m not going to lie...when I first laid eyes on the agenda, I was excited, but also wondering how entertained we’d be by faucet and showerhead talk for an extended period of time.  Well those thoughts were put to rest the minute the programs began.  The employees were full of passion and information.  I now see why Delta and Brizo are so successful...because there is so much thought and development that goes into each and every one of their products.  Their people see it all as a labor of love.  

One thing that truly stuck with me was Delta’s desire to fulfill “unmet needs” of customers.  Sure, as a consumer we can say we want this, that and the other thing out of a product, but Delta takes a look at how people actually usethese products, day-in and day-out.  Seeing people interact with products in their real life setting reveals needs consumers never even knew existed!

Case and point...while conducting this type of ethnographic research {how do you like that for a fancy term...clearly, someone was taking notes during the event!!}, they saw many people in their kitchens cooking dinner, etc., who were going to extreme lengths to turn on their faucets {I’m talking even using their feet} without putting their soiled hands on the handle {think drippy, nasty chicken juice...yuck}.

Now, if this consumer was asked “what do you want from your facuet”, they were not answering to have it turn on and off from just a touch of the back of their hand, but during this special type of research, Delta realized this was a need of the consumer...an unmet one.  And bam, there was the birth of the idea to create Touch2O Technology.

Touch2O Technology is just one of the meaningful innovations that Delta produced.  They strive to make a difference in consumers’ lives with their products, and after watching them in action, I know they do.  They put a tremendous amount of effort into finding out what the consumer wants, what the government will allow them to do and then what they can actually do to make a product work.

Another amazing thing?!  All of this is done in-house.  Yup, from the design conception to the actual engineering...the genius is all done there.  And since Delta has so many patents on their incredible technology, their competitors can’t come close.  For real, if you were ever allowed to demo Delta or Brizo products in a store next to it’s competitors, I’d bet my bank account you wouldn't be leaving with a competitor product.

Now, I’m sure you are sick of hearing me gush about how amazing these brands are, and you're probably convinced I “drank the Koolaid”, and I’m here to tell you...I did.  And you would too if you went to the event.  

There is seriously so much more I could talk about...I haven’t even touched on the Diamond Seal Technology they created {which we SO need in our master bath...I’d even consider ripping out our tile to install it if money weren't an issue...because turning on our shower every morning could be considered an Olympic event}, the H2OKinetic Shower Technology (see the video above), the MagnaTite Docking or the fact that they are creating products that are super easy to install...hello, EZ Anchor system. 

And when I say easy, I mean E-Z.  Kristinand I installed a faucet and toilet in less time than it takes to catch up on one of your favorite prime-time dramas.

Obviously I could go on and on about Delta and Brizo, but I'm sure you've had enough of my wordy post...so here are a few more behind-the-scenes pictures from the event.

L to R - Diane, Carrie, Me, Jennifer

L to R - Julia, Kristin, Carrie, Jennifer, Lindsay, Reichel, Linda and Me

L to R - Julia, Diane, Me, Carrie, Jennifer, Judd and Kristin

If you want to know more, click over to Delta's Smart Solutions page to see all of the amazing innovations they've created.  

And thanks again to everyone at Delta and Brizo!!!  I could not have asked for a more amazing and informative trip.  It was an absolute pleasure getting to know such a wonderful company and group of people!

Check out the other Delta Faucet Bloggers:

Carrie - Dream Green DIY

Kristin - Bliss at Home

Jennifer - The Chronicles of Home

Diane - In My Own Style

Stephanie - Somewhat Simple

Amy - The Idea Room

Jennifer - Tatertos and Jello

Kim - Todays Creative Blog

Courtney - French Country Cottage

Linda - It All Started With Paint

Reichel - Copy Cat Chic

Monika - The Doctor's Closet

Erica - Moth Design

Lynne - Lynne Knowlton

Lindsay - Little House Blog

Julia - Cuckoo4Design

**Just a friendly reminder that although this post and the all-expense-paid trip was in collaboration with Delta Faucet Company, the thoughts and opinions expressed here are 100% mine.  I'll always keep it real and honest with you guys!!**

Kitchen Dreaming. With a Little Help from Cabinets Direct USA...

Our kitchen has come a LONG way.  When we purchased our home, it was a cramped, dark hole.  I knew it wouldn't take much to improve the space because, well, anything was better than what it was!!

It would have been fantastic to rip the entire kitchen out and start fresh, but we were working on a major budget. The entire main floor of our fixer upper, and then some, had to be renovated...so a total kitchen overhaul was way out of reach.  I needed to come up with a short-term, smaller scale reno and leave our kitchen dreams for down the road.

We kept the original cabinetry and general footprint of the kitchen the same to save a ton of money.  Then it was time to remove walls and the weird restaurant booth seating.

After that is was time to to lighten things up!  The cabinets were painted white and zhushed up with some new hardware.  I nixed the old linoleum floor and carried the hardwoods into the kitchen to keep the flow of our open concept home going.  Then we added some much needed new lighting, countertops, backsplash and appliances.

For an "in-the-meantime" renovation, we sure did a lot of work, but it was all done on a tight budget.  We spent the least we could and still ended up with a great looking kitchen.

Of course that great looking kitchen still has bones from the 1950's, when our house was built.  The doors may be solid wood, but the hardware is showing it's age.  And no amount of prep or priming could keep the heavily varnished, knotty pine cabinets from bleeding through a couple years later.  Don't get me wrong...our current kitchen gets the job done!!  But the design lover in me can't stop myself from dreaming of a kitchen that is both beautiful AND efficient.

Looking back, I'm thankful we couldn't afford a complete gut job of our kitchen when we bought our home. Living in the space for a few years has taught me how I want the space to look and, more importantly, function.

And even though we can't afford it now, I know we'll be replacing our charming kitchen one day.  So there is no better time than the present to start planning and prepping for our space.  I mean, how else will I know how much this whole shebang is going to cost us?!?

Not too long ago I found myself {along with hubby and my parents who were visiting} pulling up to a Cabinets Direct USA showroom.  Walking into that place, I was like a kid in a candy store!!!  They have the most stunning displays and super helpful sales people.  I was able to send my own sketch-up from floorplanner.com to their sales person who then translated my elementary work into the awesome images below.

During our reno we would flip-flop our current door and window placement.  This move would allow me to create a floor to ceiling pantry in the kitchen that we currently do not have.  I'm not going to lie...I love that I have two spacious linen closets in our hallway, but I've been missing that type of storage space in our kitchen.  This rearrange would solve that issue.

Then I took things a step further and even extended the island to the wall {since the door is no longer there}, giving us even more countertop and cabinet space.

{Pretend the bar height counter is extending all the way to the wall in the rendering below....just like the ones above.}

So what do you guys think of our "future" kitchen?  I'm kinda in love.  And now I'll just count the days months years until we can afford it. ;)

Anyone else dreaming of far-off renovations?!?!  I can't be the only one...

Late to the Succulent Planting Party...

Yes, I know.  I'm totally late to this party, but I finally got myself some super cute succulent plants to live on the window ledge in our kitchen.

It all started when I found these adorable little planters at Target.  {Yup, the same trip I purchased my door mat for the front porch}.  Technically, I think they are votives, but to me, they look like mini-planters.

Now I just needed some plants...and for that, I thought I'd have to go to Home Depot.  NOPE.  I walked into my local CVS to pick up a prescription after work {shout out to Michelle and all the other pharmacists out there}, and saw they had a bunch of succulents for sale near the entrance.  I thought it was meant to be.  I picked up four of them, and brought them home.

Of course, several days passed before I actually did anything about planting them.  All it took was stealing some rocks from a bamboo plant we had in our bathroom to line the bottom of the votives mini-planters...

Then I put the plant and some extra soil in...

Boom, done! Plants in the window. 

The Start of a House Tour.

I’m a very bad blogger.  I’m awful at posting regularly and I feel terrible about it.  I even managed to let my very first blogiversary pass by without positing!!  Boooooo me.  So since I’m almost a month late on that major milestone, I decided I’d try and make it up to all of you by finally starting a proper house tour of our casa.  I’ve shown some rooms here and there, and you’ve probably seen all the spaces while I was posting about projects and what not {because let's be serious...our house isn't that big}, but I just won’t be satisfied until I can add a “House Tour” tab to my blog. ;)

Plus, I really like taking a step back and seeing how far our little ranch has come in a year.  Sometimes you can get caught up in how much more you want to do, and easily forget how far you’ve already come.

Here’s a quick refresher on how things went down for us.  We closed on our home in August 2011, the day before Hurricane Irene hit.  We took out a rehab loan to purchase our house so we could buy and renovate the main floor.  We started working on painting and cleaning up the exterior in August and the interior demo began the last couple days of September 2011.  That is also when I started this lil' blog.  Our renovations took a couple months {although it felt like years}, and we were finally able to move into our home on Christmas Eve 2011.

I figure I’ll start our home's tour in the “great” room of our house.  This space used to have a defined entry/hallway, living/dining room combo and kitchen.  We quickly changed that closed-off space to make it more "us".  So without further delay, here are entirely too many pictures of one area in our home.

View from the front door...

View into the living room...

View from the corner of the living room...

View into the living room towards the front of the house...

View from the fireplace towards the front door...

View from the living room toward the basement stairs... 

View towards the front door...

View twoards the bedrooms and bathrooms...

View into the dining room...

View from the old kitchen entrance...

View from dining room corner toward the front door...

View from fireplace towards kitchen entrance...

View into kitchen from hallway entrance...

View from kitchen, towards the dining room...

View from dining room entrance to hall entrance...

View from hallway towards the kitchen/dining/living rooms...

So what do you say...do my bagillion pictures of the same-space-from-every-angle-possible make up for my sporadic posting schedule?!?!  I'm praying the answer to that is yes, and in return I will give you a totally non-creepy Internet hug and hopefully post more house tour pictures before Thanksgiving rolls around. ;)  Kidding!!  {Sort of.}