Feb 27, 2010

Blue Vintage Kitchen Cannisters


Sorry for my lack of posting lately. If you look at my profile you'll see I'm an accountant. This is the time of year that I walk around with constant black circles under my eyes. I work 3 days a week in the office and the rest of the hours I get in at home while home schooling my son. I will be leaving accounting after April 15th sometime, since my son has Aspergers and needs me 24/7.

All my projects are in slow mode until after April 15th and its killing me. I keep seeing the cutest things lately on other blogs.

Well I posted my kitchen on HGTV's rate my space and boy did I get feedback. From putting away my daily appliances, to decorating the top of my cabinets, to adding a pop of color. Their was some disagreement on the use of red, one commenter said I should and one said steer clear. My walls are grey-blue so that is the direction I am going in for my pops of color along with white.

This morning we stopped at the antique mall looking for apothecary jars and I found the cutest cannisters. They are just so me and go so well in my kitchen.



Here was my attempt to recreate these cannisters. It didn't work out so well. I will fix and finish them just not now. They are hanging out in the unfinshed project graveyard in my garage.



Here's what they looked like to begin with.

Feb 13, 2010

A Big Change....

I am changing my blog name. This family is sweet with a few nuts truly describes my family but is not fitting for my blog name. I have been trying so hard to think of something cute for a while. I see all the other blog names and wonder why I couldn't think of something so catchy.

Well last week I was at the Habitat Restore and my husband and son were talking to a fellow blogger about my blog. When she asked what my blogs name was I didn't want to say it because its so long and unfitting.

I started this blog because I wanted to write about turning our first home into something that is truly our own.

I try to keep my family posts to a minimum for their privacy, so the blog name should be more about the house.

I live in a Cul-de-sac on a downward sloping hill with a picket fence at the top of the hill. So my new name couldn't be more fitting.

Bread Box Makeover





I was itching to paint something white and Goodwill had this breadbox for $3. Jackpot! Honestly, I have never wanted a breadbox. But now its just too cute. We keep our bread in the fridge, so I think I may use this for potatos. I might even put in a divider and put potatos and onions.




The bread sign was upside down. I lightly sanded the box and primed it with Zinsers. I tried spraying it, but that is not my specialty. I must have sprayed too close because I got runs and clumps. I sanded the clumps and just touched up with a brush.

I lightly distressed it and left all the nail holes. I like it this way. I did coat it with spray clear coat. I still need to restaple the bottom but for now I will let the paint cure a few days.

Partying @

Remodelaholic

Funk Junk Interiors

Feb 7, 2010

How to Lay Peel & Stick Tile

Ok I got a lot of compliments on the floor and a few fellow bloggers mentioned they would be doing this to their floors too.


So I decided to share my wisdom of peel & stick tile.

First forget about searching the internet for tile you like. Everytime we would find something we liked home depot or lowes had discontinued carrying it. It was so frustrating.


I knew I wanted a black and white tile floor if I couldn't get hardwoods.


It was pretty easy to find the black. Lowes carried an nice black marble tile from Armstrong, we could not find a white. We find a nice off white marble tile from Armstrong.





We bought a few of each tile to lay on the floor to see how it looked in our room.




We liked it and went back and bought 100 sq ft of each color. (we ended up buying 30 sq ft more of each color to finish).


Here's where you can learn from our mistakes. We started laying tile in one corner and working our way out. This was a big mistake because the walls are not even and the pattern started to slant.





We pulled up the tile and chalked two lines; one horizontally in the center of the room and one vertically in the center of the room. We layed the first black tile down so each point on the tile was directly on the horizontal and vertical line in the very center of the room. From that point we worked out into each of the four grids using the lines as our guides. My husband said this was much easier than working off the walls.







The tiles will cut easily with a razor blade.


Partying at....

Funky Junk Interiors

Feb 1, 2010

Don't you just...


hate when you see a picture of something that would be perfect for your room and its unavailable. I found a picture of these great canisters, which will bring a much needed pop of color to my kitchen but I can't find them in a store.


If anyone sees anything cute just like this or finds these canisters please leave a link in a comment.

Kitchen Reveal!!!

Here is the before. When we moved in the walls were painted two shades of greenish blue and tan above the cabinets on one wall. The cabinet boxes were painted the same color as the walls and the doors were painted cream. The floor had a tan generic sheet vinyl floor.




After


Here it is after my husband made the chandelier longer.





We put a 25" apron sink on a 36" base cabinet. This was ok because the countertop holds the sink. We did have to cut the two original drawers and make them into two small drawers (they no longer open we just crazy glued them to the base cabinet)



This has been a lot of work.

Here's what we did and a breakdown of costs.

1. Paint Cabinets & Walls Benjamin Moore - $100 paint and brushes
2. Ikea Black Countertops & Farmhouse Sink - $400
3. Price Pfister Faucet Home Depot - $140
4. Armstrong Vinyl Tile Lowes - $260
5. Tongue and Groove Beadboard Backsplash Home Depot- $60
6. 2 Ikea Chandeliers - $80

For a grand total of $1,020!!!!

We did buy a paint sprayer and compressor to spray that cabinets for $120 but since their are so many uses we'll have for them I didn't include it in the total.

Their are still a few small things to do. I will not love it until it has crown molding. But for now its a huge improvement.

This post is hooked up to:

Before and After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick

Metamorphasis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Make your Monday @ Twice Remembered

DIY Day @ A Soft Place to Land

Timeless Tuesday @ Paula Grace Designs

Just Something I Whipped up Monday @ The Girl Creative

Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking

Show and Tell @ Blue Crickett Design