Some of the most asked questions I’ve received recently are for the dimensions of our kitchen peninsula and the distance between the refrigerator and peninsula.  While I love reading and responding to emails, I wanted to make it easier for everyone to quickly access this information. 

It sounds like a lot of you have similarly sized spaces, and are looking for dimensions to see if a peninsula can work for you.  I’m going to give as much detail as I can, and also be completely honest about our space in the hopes that this helps!

To start, our completed kitchen is 11’ x 12’ 9”, this is measured from wall-to-wall and wall-to-edge-of-countertop-overhang.  

(I rotated it so that we’re looking at the same angle as above)

This was the way that I designed it in the Ikea software because I wanted to have the set dimensions, even though there isn’t a wall between the kitchen and dining room as shown at the bottom of the plan above.

Here are the dimensions of the refrigerator and peninsula:

There is a 34.5” space between the fridge and the edge of the peninsula counter. The counter has a 1” overhang, so the fridge is actually 35.5” from the cabinet edge.

The refrigerator cabinet is 24” and the refrigerator sticks out 4”.  We bought a counter depth refrigerator model to gain as much space as we could.  The handles stick out another 2” if this dimension is important to anyone. 

I mentioned during the planning that we briefly discussed switching the oven and refrigerator so the oven and flanking cabinets would sit in front of the peninsula.  We decided against this obviously, but technically it would have worked, but I didn’t like the idea of blocking the entire opening with an open hot oven. 

I convinced Mike to pose for a photo in front of the refrigerator to give a reference to the amount of space there is when the door is open.

Besides moving the shoes behind the cabinets and wiping off the counters I didn’t stage this –case in point the towel hanging on the handle in the back.  I do that more often than not to keep it dry.

As you can see there’s more than enough room to stand comfortably in front with the doors completely open, as well as room to pass by.  One advantage to this set up is placing all the groceries on the peninsula counter (it makes the most sense anyways because it has the most room) and easily spinning around to put everything in the fridge.

I think this works because of the french door model refrigerator, as well as being counter depth.  I can’t comment on whether a regular size top or bottom freezer would be this spacious.  I’m pretty sure a side-by-side would be pretty much the same as what we have though.  We went from a small top freezer before renovating so our new fridge has been a huge improvement, but we’re also only 2 people, who generally have more take-out than fresh food (except for the Blue Apron meals every week) so we don’t notice a lack of fridge space having a counter depth model.

While I’m talking about our fridge, we’ve owned the Frigidaire Gallery (22.6-cu ft Counter-Depth French Door Refrigerator with Single Ice Maker) for 2 years now and while we generally love it, we’re actually in the middle of waiting for a new ice maker since our broke a few weeks ago.  We bought the extended 3-year warranty from Lowe’s and really glad we did since we’ve had to call on a few minor issues.  I’m not sure we would buy the same model again, but I will only buy models with the Smudge-Proof™ stainless steel option.  I honestly never worry about fingerprints and only give the fridge a wipe down if I’m deep cleaning for a party or guests coming to stay.  We have the same finish on the oven and microwave and it is amazing!

I’ve had a couple questions relating to the peninsula overhang and wanted to share those dimensions as well.

While I kind of guessed on the base cabinet depth, I do know for a fact the counter overhang is 10”.  This is the largest we could do without adding extra supports (we have solid surface counters, so for something like most granite you’re limited to only 8”).  The counter is supported underneath with plywood, but we knew we wanted to fit as many stools as possible without supports like corbels in the way.  We also were limited by the dining room window bump out (seen in this older post).  While 3 adults sitting at the island is a little snug, it’s worth it to have the extra seating.

I hope I’ve helped anyone that’s been curious about specific dimensions, or for anyone in the middle of kitchen planning hoping to get the most efficient design out of their space.  If you have any other questions, please let me know and I’ll do my best to give you specific details!

I have a confession: I hate spray paint.

What’s more is I’m not very good at it. This doesn’t mean I don’t use it; there are projects that just require spraying, rather than brushing. But I’m impatient: I spray too close, too much, and don’t wait between coats.

The last thing I spray painted was a larger frame for my ‘All the Cool Kids’ print above the fauxdenza.

From afar, it’s a little more copper’y than gold, and close up, there are definitely some drip spots even though I showed restraint and did several light coats.

When it came time to paint the frames Mike made me for some quick brush stroke art for our bedroom, I wasn’t excited to get the gold spray paint out again. That, and winter has finally showed up in the Northeast and it was snowing all weekend.

I searched Pinterest and found this pin with an oil-based product from Rust Oleum. I sent it to Mike while he was running errands, and while at Ace he found their brand equivalent: Ace Artistic Finishes Metallic Finish ($8 for a 1/2 Pint). I didn’t want to make him run around more, so I figured I’d give it a try.

I wasn’t going to do post on these frames exactly, but while I was painting the frames, I realized how awesome this stuff was so I took some iPhone photos.

The paint looks like liquid gold leaf and is very opaque even after only 1 coat.

I actually ended up doing 2 coats mostly to even out the frames (I may have gotten a little lazy when I was sanding these because it was so cold out in the garage) and 1 coat of shellac to protect after it dried overnight. 

I love the gold sheen and will definitely use this paint on smaller paint projects.  I even like it better than the Martha Stewart Gold Metallic Paint that I used to makeover my mouse pad because of the coverage and in my opinion it’s got a better sheen.  Hope this helps those spray paint incompetent, gold-lovers like me!

Happy 2016!  Mike and I have been a little bored with the lack of major house projects (in the best way possible #hellonetflixqueue), so I've started addressing some of the smaller projects around the house that I’ve wanted to create/improve.

One of those projects is our bedroom closet. As with most houses built in the 1920’s we don’t have an abundance of closet space, so every once in a while I like to assess the things in each closet to determine if they’re working efficiently. This means more than just donating clothes that we don’t wear, I’ve been known to rearrange the organizational system to better suit our needs.

Lately, I’ve been side-eyeing this jewelry display system I made 6-7 years ago.

I used a picture frame and offset some screening with small pieces of wood and used long screws for necklaces to hang from. Obviously, it wasn’t working.

I actually don’t wear jewelry all that much anymore, and one of the reasons is probably because I have no idea what I own, and never wanted to untangle anything! I saw this system from Etsy and thought it was clean and stylish.

Via

The price was a little steep for what I was willing to pay, and I knew I had all the materials, but the hooks, already in the garage. I bought a package of brass hooks at Home Depot and made my own.

I’m not going to give exact directions, but I think it’s pretty easy to interpret how it’s made. On the other hand, I did use some power tools and definitely see that there is a market out there for those that don’t feel like making it yourselves!

Now I can see all my necklaces and dangly earrings (my stud earrings sit in an ceramic egg crate in the guest room) and my necklaces aren’t at risk of becoming a tangled knot!

I liked that I was pretty much able to divide my necklaces between delecate and statement so that the delecate chains weren’t at risk of breakage. 

I used Command Velcro strips and the top two are perfect, while the weight of my statement necklaces on the bottom pulled it towards the wall. Nothing major, and it stayed on the wall, just something worth noting.

When I mentioned this project to my mom she loved the idea so much she made herself a couple as well!  You can check out her's here, as well as unique storage idea for her stud earrings.

I also cleaned out the closet by purging and relocating things like heavy coats to the appropriate closet downstairs. We only keep my dresses and Mike’s more formal wear, or things like his lederhosen, so this closet doesn’t get that much use, but it is nice to know behind the door is more organized!  Before my quick overhaul:

Now, the hangers actually have space to move so I can see what I own, and Mike got rid of some truly bad jackets that he hasn’t worn since his first round of interviews straight out of college!  A win all around!

This is a tiny closet, and the lighting is the worst, so Mike suggested we add some stick on lights that were motion activated.  We bought these from Amazon, and they’ve become my favorite “never knew I needed in my life” item in here.  They don’t stay on for more than 15 seconds if you aren’t moving, which can be annoying if you’re like me and sometimes get outfit paralisis and need to look at every dress you own before making a decision, but it’s pefect for for sticking your arm in and seeing the right dress you’re looking for.

The funny thing is, when I was taking these photos yesterday, the light wasn’t going off so I thought I’d pop it off the wall to see if I needed to replace the batteries. There was a magnectic strip taped to the wall and the light easily popped off, I thought Mike had added that and thought he was a genious.  But, when he came home he was seriously confused when he thought I had ripped the light+adhesive off. Turns out, he had no idea that there was a magnetic strip as well!

It means that if we need a flashlight to look inside the bins (we have one in our office closet as well) we can pop the light off and use it handheld. We’ve owned these for about 4 months and never knew this!

Who knew adding a new jewelry system, a light, and a quick cleanout could make me so happy?  There’s something about opening a closet and seeing an organized system that makes me feel like a real accomplished adult (because most of the time I definetly don’t feel that way!).  And, all for less than $20! I should probably take this triumphant feeling and start on another closet soon!