Articles by Jenia

The Real Deal

After two years of thinking and planning for the new kitchen, it finally feels for reals. you know how? well it happens when you go from this:

to this:

and many many of these:

Pretty cool eh’

We have been working with our architect friends who were kind enough to help us way back when we were just preparing to prepare (i.e. putting together our kitchen registry for the wedding).

We have spent probably a total of 40 hours in the last month just on our own (and over several sessions) with IKEA kitchen book getting the cabinet layout just right.… Read the rest

Éminence Grise

The other day, I was sitting around, looking at this:

and it just really looked awful. and I thought, to hell with waiting to demolish the kitchen, even though that is exactly what i would like to do right now. unfortunately (or fortunately) we have to wait a few more months before we can begin in order to line up all of our financial sources to begin. we are thinking mid march, but that’s a subject for another post.… Read the rest

Addition to the Family

A bit unexpected, but hey so is life. Otto, the orange kitty, came to live with us this weekend. For reals. He is a year old kitten that came to us via Syracuse University, hence the name.

in other happenings this weekend, we participated in the DC tweed ride. Great fun, particularly if you normally refuse to get on a bike in the city, because city bike riding scares you (ahem).… Read the rest

wedding colors

as with any decor projects – creating a wedding is really very much a decor project – color is key. We went with red, given our theme of Russian wedding – how the Russian theme came about you can see here.

One of my favorite bits about the planning process was creating a mood board. It was actually the first time that I created one, a skill which afterwards I applied to make my kitchen mood board.… Read the rest

Exciting News: Ruff and Ready Open for Business

I have blogged about my favorite store in the district multiple times, here, here and then unfortunately here. not sure how we could have ever replaced them, they even have deliver service! well exciting news, Ruff and Read is opening shop again:

 

Not as convenient as being in logan circle/ u st area, though the shop is still on the busy 14th st corridor, up in Brightwood. The address is: 4722 14th Street NW.… Read the rest

Sourcing for the Kitchen

Ok, so our walls and floors aren’t that great, but do we really need to redo the kitchen? Especially if to do it right we need to do a gut. After all, right when we moved in, we made our kitchen work with some paint, fabric and craigslist purchases. It may not be the most comfortable or pretty, but really it works. for now.

And yet, the odds actually aren’t looking all too good.… Read the rest

To Gut or Not to Gut

That’s a trick question, because the answer is yes. We are planning to do a complete gut of the kitchen – because its necessary (and maybe because we want to, a little bit too).

walls: Currently, the drywall on the right hand side of the kitchen (where all of the appliances are) is actually about 7 inches from the actual brick wall – half a foot! in an urban house! so obviously that’s coming down to make room for valuable floorspace.… Read the rest

Register this!

Its getting down to six or seven weeks before Sergey and I are done with wedding time suck have a lovely ceremony and celebration with our families and friends. (The house hasn’t been totally neglected this summer – we are tackling a big ‘to do’ project, though its only thanks to Nikita, Sergey’s brother who is staying with us, and hired help – more on that later.)

VIB is getting a pretty sweet deal out of all this anyway.… Read the rest