Small Moves Kitchen Redo Part 3

Remember the 5 shelves I got for $5 I mentioned here?

Well, I finally found a use for 2 of them. I know it's not all 5, but I'm workin' on that one!

In my last post I told you about moving my microwave stand to the other end of the kitchen. That left a bare spot underneath my faux window which got me thinking.

#1. I can't put any furniture there because the space is needed for the island.
#2. I want to put something there, but it can't be art, the faux window is the art here...

*Ding. A light bulb turns on somewhere. I know I want to display my pretty hand blown aqua glasses, but I don't really have a way to do that. Enter the shelves.

I grabbed a couple levels, a tape measure, some wall anchors, and a screwdriver. I elected to screw these in manually because Hayden was asleep in his rocker in the living room.

I deduced that 2 will fit wonderfully, if I have the edges begin 2" in from the door frames on either side. I also checked to make sure that each of my 6 glasses would fit.

Once I knew it would work I got to work measuring. This took me about 3 times as long as it would have taken Hubs to tackle, but I wanted to figure something out myself. It feels awesome!

Anyway, back to business. Here's what I got when everything was in place.

That is really pretty! The cool thing is that I can change out those glasses for something else anytime the winds change mood strikes.

What do you think of my new solution? I'm thinking of creating a chalkboard area underneath the shelves once Hayden gets a little bigger.

Small Moves Kitchen Redo Part 2

In preparation of bringing in a new kitchen island we needed a teensy bit more space in that area. We made a small adjustment. See where the microwave is?

Not only did I move the table towards the living room slighly, I also moved that microwave and the stand. Here's the space before the big small move.

And after the move:

I got the petal bowl years ago from a humongo antique mall in Edinburgh, Indiana. I stuck a "Storm Watch" Yankee Candle inside so when I have it lit, it'll make the bowl sparkle.

There you have it. A small change for big impact.

Herb Shelf to Sea Shelf

Remember the herb shelf I told you about?

Dill, Oregano, and Thyme. Not quite the look I want in my kitchen. While we had the paint out during our Kitchen paint job redo a few weeks back, I whipped this puppy into shape and gave it a much needed push in the "beachy" direction.

Here she is now:

Sure, the lack of orange on the walls does help significantly, but using the Weathered Glass paint I had leftover from the backsplash treatment, and some Pale Sand 1 wall color to make the transformation.

The cards on top were Mother's Day and Anniversary cards. The card from Hayden made me cry!

Anyways I think it's a huge improvement over the herbs. Some shells or starfish will finish this thing off. I need to get on that.

I'm linked up with A Beach Cottage's Good Life Wednesday!

Ode To Kitchen Chairs

I've got a big night ahead of me. I'm going to whip out the sandpaper and spray paint and go to town on a couple chairs. Once Hubs says he likes the finished product, I'll do the rest of them. Our table and chairs were once upon a time a very expensive purchase. I never really "loved" them. Maybe it's the color of the stain.

The table can house six people. In my humble opinion, it makes it a bit crowded. And besides, there's only three of us. I moved two of them away and tucked them into the "corner" behind the traveshamockery of a sectional, the Orange-Headed Stepchild if you will.

These are my unsuspecting victims. They're in fantastic shape. They're extremely sturdy and durable. My only qualm with them is actually something the dogs did, not the chairs.

See those marks of discoloration? That's not a camera flaw, ladies and gents. No siree. Those are places where the dogs have chewed on them. They're still compltely sturdy, don't get me wrong. They're just a bit knawed on the edges. Those parts are going to need some extra TLC to smooth out and make it presentable again. I'll get down in there and get some nice close ups of the actual damage when I'm working on them tonight.

Here's to my attempt at sprucing up some tired chairs.

The Kitchen Redo Part 1

I know it has been awhile since I posted. There's a very good reason for this. I have a crappy camera. Well, crappy for blogging standards. And though we cannot afford a second DSLR camera (Hubs has one already) on top of the fact that I've no idea how to use the honkin' thing, we elected for a much better digital camera. One where I can do more adjustments and zoom to my heart's content (18x).

This past weekend was our 6 year anniversary, and Hubs got me that camera. I've been playing around with it and I'm happy to report that things are looking much better!

And that brings me to why this is 'part 1' of my mega kitchen redo. I have a rather low quality picture of half the kitchen, showing the new paint colors, among others that were taken a few weeks ago with dear old crappy camera. Not only have things changed in the kitchen (hence part 1), but I plan to do a final reveal once it's all said and done which hopefully won't be much longer.

Without further ado, I give you Part 1 of the fantabulous redo of the kitchen. A refresher of what I had before:

And "now":

Remember Sally Lee by the Sea's inspiration picture?

I used Weathered Glass by Valspar for my backsplash and Pale Sand 1 by Valspar for my walls. It is like a brand new house! The only thing we didn't do from the inspiration pic, was install the metal sheet behind the stove.

Here's for some of the "small stuff". You see those two track lights hanging above the sink in the before picture?

I had Hubs change those out for this beauty:

See my "ambient lighting" up above the cabinets? I need to push those back so they aren't so visible!

Doesn't my wreath look better with the light creamy walls instead of the horrid orange?

That does it for part 1 of my reveal. I'll be back for more lovely projects that I've done, and even more once I get them completed!

Big Sisters with Big Hearts

Our dogs are special. They were our babies before Hayden came along, and they are still our babies, just with fur. As all new parents with previous furbabies are concerned, they wonder what reaction their furry companions will have on the new addition to the family.

We, too, were concerned.

We had three dogs, that's right people, three dogs. Two Border Collies and a Rat Terrier.

Meet Oreo, the dog we no longer call our own.

But Oreo also had a dark side.

That's merely a yawn, but you get the idea.

When Hayden came around it was time to introduce him to the furbabies. The only one of the three we were truly concerned about was Oreo. We knew that she was already very picky about the way anyone touched her and she was aggressive around her food. While Hubs held Hayden up and away, I sat down and took a few minutes to tug and pull on her fur, just to see if she'd keep her cool. She didn't. She snapped. In a bad way.

Some deep scratches and bite marks later, we knew without a doubt that her attitude was not worth risking the safety of our son. Out she went (don't worry we took her to the nearby no-kill animal shelter where she has been happily placed with another family).

But this story isn't about her. This is about the other two.

Cricket is a Rat Terror Terrier. She's still part puppy, and it shows. She loves to snuggle, but if she gets in a play mood, you'd better stay out of her way or at least stand still because she will run right into you! Sometimes not even the walls can't stay out of her way.

Pumpkin is a Border Collie. She is the sweetest, most loving dog I think I've ever met. She never growls, never bites, and she puts up with strange babies pulling and squeazing with finesse. She doesn't mind snuggle time even if it means she's in an uncomfortable position.

They have even calmed down three hundred percent since Hayden's arrival.

Hayden adores his big sisters. And they adore him.

Hayden is a lucky little dude.

I'm linking up with Donna at Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special, found here.

Coat Closet to Media Closet

I'm sorry I don't have a picture of the before, or in-progress. Hubs moved too quickly for me to get a shot. BUT imagine this: wire shelf cluttered with Winter gear, coats, jackets, cleaning supplies, and some junk. If I might add we didn't use anything in there. Usually whatever coat or jackets we were wearing ended up hung on a chair. So we emptied it out entirely. Hubs installed some shelves he custom made.

I should note that if you are going to do this project or something similar in your home you should probably assemble it in the area you're working because Hubs tried to preassemble it and then put it in the closet, well his measurements were so precise he couldn't get it in!

He put the shelves in, patched the walls, and then I took over with a slap two coats of green paint (I don't remember the name of the paint right now, I'll have to check on that. I do know that I got it from Walmart.)

Here's the result.

We put in the humongo supply of television seasons, DVDs, BluRays, and Games.

He hung some Guitar Hero/Rockband guitars on the free wall.

And electricity was an issue (we couldn't figure a way to get it in there safely and cheaply) so we bought a battery powered switch light.

So there you have it. Our new media closet.

We went from this:

See the shelves of movies and stuff along the wall? It was super cluttered in there. (We had 3 shelves, you just can't see the third one.)

Here's how it looks now:

If you want details on exactly how Hubs put those shelves together in the media closet, just let me know and I'll get that information posted!

So what do you think?