Cabinet Make-over

TI

I finally decided it was time to re do this cabinet that had belonged to my grandmother, then to my mother and was given to me when Shaun and I moved into our old house. It started off as a blonde wood and at some point in the 90's my mother gave it this green crackle look.

I struggled for a while with changing it because even though it didn't really match the look of my house I was feeling nostalgic about it. But this winter I have really gotten in the mood to make my downstairs someplace that I love to look at. After all that is where I do spend a lot of time...especially during these long winters.

I really wanted to change this wall in my kitchen and make it more functional. The sofa table was nice for party displays or decorations but wasn't all that functional.

 The table was pretty in that spot but the wall as a whole felt kind of empty.
 So I decided that this cabinet might do the trick.

 It had two glass doors, but we broke the glass out (one of the doors blew over in the wind during the sanding process and broke...thank God we were planning on replacing the glass with chicken wire anyway.) After Shaun spent a long time sanding, I used two coats of primer and two coats of paint. Then we added the chicken wire...which took exactly one hour with the two of us working together (in case you were wondering.) I really like the way it came out, except the color I chose occasionally looks pink to me so I might change the color eventually but for now I am happy.

Here is a before (taken in our dining room in our old house.)

(sorry about all of the Halloween pictures)

And here she is now!

The shelf above the cabinet was a one of a few that my mother's neighbor was giving away for FREE. They were all bright red but I knew after a nice white coat of paint I would one day have a spot for them!

High Chair Rail

Many of you already know that I have had many struggles with my family room since we've moved in three years ago. It is awkward and small and I have had trouble making it feel like an actual family room, rather than just a space with couches and a TV in it. After Christmas I couldn't take it any more and decided to move some furniture around and asked Shaun to put up some high chair rail on the walls. It is still not my dream room, but I must admit it is actually feeling kind of cozy and I don't totally hate it anymore!!!!!!!! I wish I had a good before picture but I don't ( I really need to get better at that.)

I'm still deciding if I want to put anything else up on the walls or possibly display some pictures resting on top of the chair rail. Any suggestions?

I am working on another furniture project that I will hopefully be able to share with you soon. Also, I  realized today that I only have ONE Easter decoration so I'd better get going on that soon....

Kitchen Table Update

For a while now I have been wanting to update our kitchen table. This table came with our previous home's dining room. The tabletop matched the light wood floors that were in that house, however I've been wanting to change the top since we moved. This January I finally decided it was time. This is what it looked like before.

So I hired my handsome handyman and his two adorable little helpers....

Then I stained the wood, put a coat of wax on and viola.....

Obviously I need to do something about my chairs, but we haven't had the opportunity as February has been the month of everyone getting sick all the time!!!!!! But I wanted to share the progress so far.

(Almost) Finished Kitchen

Although I would have preferred to have "staged" the kitchen for photos, I decided to take advantage of the very RARE opportunity that both of the girls were napping to snap some pictures of the kitchen and even though I don't feel like these photos really do it justice, I just feel like it would be wrong not to share them with you! Some disclaimers...our budget did not allow for new floors (we would like to eventually do a wood color similar to the butcher block counter on our hutch which I think will really pull everything together) and I still have some decorating to do. For example, I really need to find some sort of decoration for above the window. And lastly, still not sure whether or not to paint the walls or leave them, but for right now we are leaving them.

Here is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in...

 

 And here she is now!

 The left wall was empty and we had a large kitchen island there at first and then put two craigslist hutches there. We purchased unfinished cabinets for the bottom and open shelves with a plate wrack for the top. We bought the butcher block counter top at ikea and put up some wainscotting for a backsplash. The corbels really pull the whole piece together. I love being able to have all of the extra storage, but also wanted this side to give the appearance of a hutch rather than just more cabinets.

Kitchen Update

Well, if you thought I was indecisive about a backsplash for the kitchen you should have seen me the past week about a countertop. I really wanted something light and neutral for the counters. I didn't want anything too loud that would make a huge statement. I fell in love with marble, but decided it would be way too difficult with little ones. Then, I fell in love with quartz but it would have taken too long to get in. That left me with granite. I love granite for its durability, but most of the slabs were a bit too loud for the look I was going for. I thought I had finally made up my mind with kashmir white. Then I started looking at pictures online of kasmir white granite with white cabinets and it looked too gray and I got really nervous and freaked out. My mother suggested black and at first I was like NO WAY. Then I started seeing pictures of "honed" black granite which I thought looked really good. So, long story short...I decided on honed absolute black granite. I'm really hoping I can still acheive the "warmth" I was going for in the kitchen with a black countertop. I think the dullness of the honed granite will help. Also, on the empty wall of the kitchen where Shaun added the built in cabinets, we got a butcher block counter which I love and saved us $600 (instead of granite) and adds to the "hutch" look I was going for and I am hoping will also add some warmth! Phew...that was alot of rambling about countertops. I hope it will all make sense to you when I show you the finished product. (It is being installed on the 18th...ahhh I can't wait that long)

 (kashmir white granite with white cabinets. image via Coastal Countertops and Tile)

(honed black granite with white cabinets image via Advanced Kitchens)

Little helpers

Hey everyone...just popping in to say hi. We are still knee deep in kitchen projects. The cabinets are all painted, just waiting to dry and get hung. I am trying to figure out a counter top. Unfortunately, the ones that I love are all marble, but after doing some spill tests on samples of marble we decided against it for our kitchen. I love the durability of granite, but I am not in love with the spottiness. Any advice/suggestions? Anyway, here are some pictures of daddy's little helper!

Even little Claudia wanted to get in on the action...I've never seen two little girls get so excited over power tools in my life! Here's hoping they still want to help us when they get a little older

Dark Room Inspiration and Prints

I have this image saved  in my inspiration folder on my computer for a while now. I love this room and hope to one day have the nerve to do a dark color like this on my walls. If I ever do, I would use this room as a guide because the lighter bedding and warm accessories really work well with the dark wall color.

 image via pinterest

Another reason I saved this image is because I love the random prints on the walls and I have been searching all over to start a collection to one day do a collage wall somewhere in my home. I have really not been having much luck finding prints that interest me. If you find yourself in a similar position, one inexpensive solution is to use vintage post cards in frames like the ones I have here.

These are from a set of vintage Italian postcards I found in my favorite antique store.

Another suggestion that my friend gave me was to use pictures from old books. She used illustrations from a book she had as a child to frame in her son's nursery and it looks great. (I really hope to have some images from his room for you soon on the blog!)

I hope you are all enjoying some spring-ish weather this weekend!!

Shed/Playhouse

Our shed arrived a few months ago and as I had mentioned in a previous post we want to make the front half of it a play house for the girls. Shaun is VERY excited about this project and there is even talks about running cable out there. I know. So here she is.....a warning: the ugly window above the door was an error the shed company made and we will be removing it and replacing it with some prettier ones.

Isn't the little door so cute! Maddie already loves going in there even though there's nothing inside. Now if we can only make it look more like this...

amore

A little bit of Valentine's Day around my house...

Looking forward to doing a little Valentine's Day baking with my two loves for tomorrow!