Our Jimmy John's Kitchen (Part 3)

Our Jimmy John's Kitchen design...
for our home...
is coming along nicely!

You can catch up with our plans and progress at...

Part 1- The Why.
Did we seriously have Jimmy John's cater our wedding?
The design plans, and some catastrophic before shots.

Part 2 - The How.
BOLD COLORS - How can you be sure you will love them?
Here's 10 easy steps to fool-proof color picking!

Part 3 - The What.
You are here.
Jimmy John's is a restaurant. Ours is a home. How do you make one into the other - ON A BUDGET?! See pics of the restaurant and the annotations of what we felt were the most important aspects we needed to replicate in our kitchen. Details about windows, walls, curtains, stainless switch plates, ceiling fixtures, etc.

Part 4. The reveal!
See the Before and Afters, the Master Project List, "Where can I buy it?" list, and...announcing the Next Project!

A few of you took the time to e-mail to let me know that you aren't blessed to have a Jimmy John's near you yet! So, I should probably show you what we are shooting for!

Here's Jimmy John's.

It's an energetic place with fun and wacky signs.
Great subs.
Colorful, free-spirited, sorta loud - pretty much like our family!

I annotated the pic, but it's a little difficult to see. There were a few items we felt would be crucial to our design. Basically, we really wanted the crazy signs - the pickle was a must have - and lots of stainless steel. Lastly, we needed to find a way to replicate the feel of the tile work, but not the cost and labor that actual tile would involve.

THE WALLS
Okay, so let's get down to the nitty gritty.
First the "before shot" of our blecky colored walls.

Meet my husband. Yes, the walls really were that green yellow puke color. It was there before we moved in. First, my husband took down the 70's mirrors and sanded and spackled the area. We had already chosen our paint colors - we started with a base of off white.

You can tell where are priorities are.
Paint, brushes, tape, coffee maker....

We decided to paint faux tile.
It was cheap, relatively easy, and wasn't a permanent deal. What to you call that piece up there above the cabinets?? Is that a soffit?

Whatever that's called, (I'm gonna call it Bob), we painted Bob a rich tomato red - so colorful funny signs would pop against it. We kept in mind that having Bob painted red, the kitchen could easily get too dark - so we only painted a few brown and black "tiles."

The taping...was fun. Not really.
It wasn't complicated, but it was difficult to get straight lines since we had to bend over - or lay on - the counter top to get to the walls. I designed a really random pattern in Paint. Then we taped and painted one row at a time, let it dry, painted a second coat... We taped inside some squares and outside others, so that the "white" space would remain empty.
It required a lot of taping and re-taping. But, it worked!

We chose to make the faux tile a checkerboard pattern, not identical with the actual Jimmy tile, but hopefully staying in the spirit. (Please ignore the clutter...)
What do you think? Get the jimmy vibe?

STAINLESS STEEL WALL PLATES

We replaced all of the wall plates for the outlets and switches. We added GFCI's were we needed 'em. (I don't have a before pic - just imagine the original plates from 1959 covered in paint so badly that you can't even plug in your coffee maker!) The stainless was a bit more - but I really like how they turned out.

THE WINDOWS, WOODWORK, AND CURTAINS
As you heard with the wall plates, the folks who lived here before us didn't exactly keep the place up. This includes the windows. My hubby started in on the windows while I was at work.

Taped to each window is a swatch of curtain.
We had already narrowed it down to 2. Each had the colors we were looking for, tomato red, green, and yellow. Now, I'm not a big painter of woodwork. But, here's a before shot of a different window that in the same condition as our kitchen windows.

Nice, eh?
I like rustic charm, but our windows look much better in chocolate brown.

Oh, and I should mention that hubby cleaned the original window pulls.
He also refinished the cabinets.
I had no idea they could look so good!

LIGHT FIXTURE

Jimmy John's uses a lot of different lights in their restaurants.
In the very top photo there's an amber pendant light. (Home depot had that one, but we passed so we didn't bump our heads.) In the next photo up there, the JJ's had silver retro pendants.

We elected to go with a retro-inspired nickle flush mount. (Home depot.) I chose this partially because it reminded me of the vintage art deco fixtures in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. Wanna see how they compare?

Not bad for just seeing something in the store and thinking,
"Boy, that reminds me of the Museum lights. And we love that place!"
Here's our sad little light bulb - what was in our kitchen when we started.

FUN, COLORFUL SIGNS

One of the most important pieces for our Jimmy John's kitchen is the logo sign. Without it, well, it just wouldn't be a Jimmy John's! We lucked out and Santa brought us this METAL logo sign a very nice 15 inches wide. (Thanks, Santa!)

Our 14 year old is getting pretty handy with a hammer!
Here's the sign in its full glory.

We put it front and center just like we had planned.

Making the signs took hours.
And, hours. (And...you get the idea.)
I'm gonna save the reveal of the signs for our next post.
Here's a sneak speak at the rough copies of a few of them.

We'll have our full reveal right back here on Tuesday...this week!!
And, we'll be linking up to the...
Imagine the Impossibilities Challenge.

So, what do you think of our progress so far?
Have we captured the Jimmy John's feel?

Click the blue button below...
to let us know!

Linking up to:

Quick and Tasty Couscous Dinner (Vegetarian, too!)

Simple easy dinner inspiration.
Can we be honest?

In our home sometimes the violin lessons, track meets or church youth group take precedence over the homemade parmesan bread I would like to make. And, Greek pastitsio with sauce that cooks for hours and messing with paper-thin phyllo dough to make baklava won't be happening either.


Sometimes I'm looking for food that's quick, easy, tasty...and in my freezer and pantry. If I can make it in 30 minutes or less, I'm smiling. What if I told you that this meal is vegetarian? Are you smiling now, too?

Here's the team.
The Morningstar Chicken Patties are a staple in our home. (And, no this isn't a paid endorsement!) You've heard me talk about them before since I use them all the time in my Sizzler's Malibu chicken taste-alike recipe.

Here's the secret...they really aren't chicken. So, if you are looking for a "Meatless Monday" dinner, this is a nice option.

(My husband seriously loves these patties. They are perfect as a meatless Chicken Parmigiana, too. We wait for a super sale, save up coupons, then buy in bulk when they go on sale.)

After the fake-out chicken, we have the basil and herb couscous. Quick and easy. I mix a teaspoon of the herbs mix in the veggies.

Which veggies? The Green Giant antioxidant blend. Tossing in a little extra butter and a tad of garlic powder makes 'em even better.

Preheat the oven, toss the veggies in the microwave, couscous in a small pan. Doesn't get much easier than that. If you try it, let me know.

So, where the Friday FREE-FOR-ALL been?
Well, it's on hiatus for now. There are just too many projects and recipes I have in the works right now. Things I'm really excited about! Like the Jimmy John's kitchen we're making!

If you need more inspiration, check out the How Quick (Meals) button in the sidebar. And, of course there's How Healthy and How Tasty, too.

So, what is your "go-to" meal for something quick and healthy?
Click on the blue button and share your favorite meals!

10 Easy Steps to Finding Your Perfect Paint Color (Our Jimmy John's Kitchen Redesign - Part 2)

When is the last time you chose a paint color?
Was it easy?
Did it take forever to choose a color?

We recently let you in on a secret - we're turning our kitchen into a Jimmy John's!
Wanna catch up?

Part 1- The Why.
Did we seriously have Jimmy John's cater our wedding?
The design plans, and some catastrophic before shots.

Part 2 - The How. You are here!
BOLD COLORS - How can you be sure you will love them?
Here's 10 easy steps to fool-proof color picking!

Part 3 - The What.
Jimmy John's is a restaurant. Ours is a home. How do you make one into the other - ON A BUDGET?! See pics of the restaurant and the annotations of what we felt were the most important aspects we needed to replicate in our kitchen. Details about windows, walls, curtains, stainless switch plates, ceiling fixtures, etc.

Part 4. The reveal!
See the Before and Afters, the Master Project List, "Where can I buy it?" list, and...announcing the Next Project!

A while back told you that if you look at the colors we've chosen they look like a banana split.

Yet, they're perfect on the walls!

Life is too short to live with a room color you hate.
This is a lesson I learned after 5 years in a strawberry pink room.
(No joke.)

Here's what I do so I:
Don't have to live with a color I hate.
Don't have to buy a second color.
Don't have to re-paint a room.

1. I usually go to the store and find 10 or so paint chips that I like.

2. I grab 3-4 copies of the same chips.
(Yes, I'm leaving with 30-40 chips.)

3. I cut out a chip I like, times 3, and tape 'em on the back so it's one big swatch of color.

4. Repeat for the other 9 choices.

5. Tape white paper together to make a large neutral canvas and tape it to the wall in question.

6. Tape each of the 10 swatches on the paper - leaving a lot of space in between.


7. Decide whether the rooms is used more in the daylight or the nighttime.

8. Look at the colors during the most used time. Remove the obvious "no's."

9. The next day, look at them a second time during the most used time.
(Narrow down the choices to 2 or 3 you can live with.)

10. Look at the remaining 2 or 3 chips during the OTHER time of the day.
(Choose the pretty one and buy it!)

NEVER. EVER. PICK A PAINT IN THE STORE.
Even using the fancy thingy they provide with the various types of lighting.
You might be sure it's the right color. Swatch it first. Trust me.

I've been searching high and low for my "in progress shots of our kitchen re-do. (We're 97% done now.) When I find the pics, I'll post em. The kitchen reveal is next Monday! Here's the deets.

Since the choosing our colors was so important in our design,
I figured the steps would be helpful.
Were they?

How do you choose?
(Click the blue button and scroll down to comment.)

Linking to:

Sausage Gravy Recipe - Biscuits Anyone?

We were lucky enough to have a whole mess of fresh Italian sausage
we needed to cook. Darn. (We love sausage.)

So, we made some Zuppa Toscana using our Olive Garden taste-alike recipe.
(We have tweaked the recipe to give it even MORE flavor. Coming soon!)

Still, we were left with lots of sausage.

Hey...
Biscuits and gravy for dinner!

Sausage Gravy

About 1 cup of cooked sausage.
2 Tb. sausage fat
2 Tb. AP flour
2 cups of warm milk, or half n half
salt and pepper

First, I heated up my sausage fat in a cast iron skillet.
Tonight my fat was a combo of about 1 Tb. sausage fat and 1 Tb. butter.
(It was pretty lean sausage.)

Mixed an equal portion of AP flour into the fat.
In this case, I used 2 tablespoons.

While my roux is cooking (only about 2 minutes) till bubbly...
Our milk (I used half n half) is warming in the microwave.
(You don't have to warm it, but the gravy will be ready sooner.)

Added in the warm milk or half n half slowly and bring to a boil.
Reserve some liquid which you can add if needed.
Reduce the heat to a low simmer, added pepper.
Wait on the salt.

Added the cooked sausage. I usually take the pan off the heat. Cast iron retains the heat and continues to warm the sausage without thickening the gravy too much. If you need to, add additional milk to loosen it up. Now, after the sausage has had time to mingle with the gravy, I taste it and add salt to taste.

Grab yer biscuits. Usually I make mine. But, tonight it was a Pilsbury night. (Yeah, I said it.) There's nothing like real buttermilk biscuits hot out of the oven. And, they're easy and cheap. But, tonight the kitchen was already a disaster. So, I didn't. (Just keeping it real.)

Here, I'll distract you...
"Oooh, look at the grayyyyveeee."

Do you make your own biscuits and gravy?

Our Kitchen Redesign - A Jimmy John's Kitchen! (Part 1)

Do I have your attention, yet?
Isn't this lovely?
Talk about a "before shot," eh?

We have been redoing our kitchen for a year now for a while now, and it's about time we got around to blogging it! The finished kitchen will be posted in 2 weeks.

(If you want to follow the progress, you can subscribe by email or follow us via Facebook, Twitter - links are all in the sidebar for you.)

We told you how our kitchen looks like a banana split.
These are the paint colors.

I never thought I would paint my kitchen those colors.
Then again, I certainly didn't think I would get married in my 40s
and find myself with 2 wonderful step-sons.

So now my life is filled with laughter & teenagers.
And, since we're just a little wacky....

We're making our kitchen into...
A Jimmy's John's Restaurant.

Why would we re-do our kitchen into a Jimmy John's?
I guess it would help to know a bit about us.

We love JJ's.
So much that we had our wedding rehearsal catered by Jimmy John's.

Well, we didn't really have a wedding rehearsal. We had a Game Night. We booked a small rustic hotel in the woods and invited our friends to bring their favorite board games. (Did I mention it was a very small hotel? Only 9 rooms. Two levels - huge front porches.) We had a smorgasbord of Jimmy John's sammies and lots of pickles to eat while we played games. It was a hit. You get the picture - we love JJ's.

Isn't that a great front porch for a rustic hotel?
(I loved those rocking chairs!)

Next, you should know that our family values fun.
Rip roaring, laugh till your orange crush comes out of your nose, fun.

Some would call us silly.
Some (I'm sure) call us crazy.
To us, it's normal.

So, I grabbed a camera and took some pictures to see if what we had in mind might work. Here were our rough ideas. Some things turned out exactly as planned. Some morphed a bit as it went along.

We hoped for something front and center to do JJ's proud.
And, set the tone.

We weren't sure how we would pull off the tile.
After all, it's ubiquitous in the restaurants, yet tile work can be expensive,
it's labor intensive - and it would be a (fairly) permanent upgrade.

We wanted Jimmy John's style signs to bring lightheartedness.

If I could muster the courage...
Red would be a bold choice and bring energy.

(But, would it be too overpowering?
Could we REALLY paint bright red in our kitchen?)

The JJ's signs have such color.
Maybe we could give them a big red backdrop?
Make the signs - pop?

Oh my! That's really red!

Those were our plans - along with incorporating lots of stainless steel like the JJ's stores have. Oh, and we had pretty much zero dollars to work with. Easy, right?

Here's the good news!
We are 99 percent done!

We will be blogging the progress over the next two weeks.
We'll be revealing our finished kitchen on the January 31st.

A big thank you to a few people.
First, Donna of Funky Junk Interiors has challenged her readers to finish a room and make it Picture Perfect. She'll be hosting a series of linky parties so readers can show off their finished projects. The first party will be on the 31st.

Also, a big "thanks for the encouragement" goes to a group of ladies who is hosting Imagine the Possibilities Challenge. They formed this awesome group and encouraged others to follow suit. I'll be linking up there, too.


For those with a keen eye -
The before pics are from a second kitchen we have, identical footprint, also in need of overhaul. Our kitchen was in a similar condition. Worse, actually. You can see some yucky before shots of our half done greenish-bleck colored walls in our 15 minutes to homemade donuts post.

Part 1- The Why. You are Here!
Did we seriously have Jimmy John's cater our wedding?
The design plans, and some catastrophic before shots.

Part 2 - The How.
BOLD COLORS - How can you be sure you will love them?
Here's 10 easy steps to fool-proof color picking!

Part 3 - The What.
Jimmy John's is a restaurant. Ours is a home. How do you make one into the other - ON A BUDGET?! See pics of the restaurant and the annotations of what we felt were the most important aspects we needed to replicate in our kitchen. Details about windows, walls, curtains, stainless switch plates, ceiling fixtures, etc.

Part 4. The reveal!
See the Before and Afters, the Master Project List, "Where can I buy it?" list, and...announcing the Next Project!

So, are we nuts?
Do you WANT to see our finished project?
Did anyone actually get to the bottom of this post?
I'm seriously wondering...