Bedroom door makeover

You guys, it's October! Lily will be 3 months old this month and I start planning Gracie's 6th birthday. Unreal how fast time flies right by! Anyway, over the weekend I finally said to myself enough is enough and decided to paint my bedroom door. I had been thinking about painting it yellow for months and months but while I was pregnant I was so busy doing so many other things that I just never got to it. So, since Hubs was off work all weekend, which btw is very rare, I decided to get that mini project done!

Here it is before. It used to be painted in chalkboard paint but being that this door (like all my doors) have panels it really was pointless and a waste of paint to make it chalkboard. But of course I didn't think about that until after I painted it. Figures, right?



Annnd after! Yellow is bliss. :) I used the same yellow paint from Lily's nursery.



I took this wider shot on a different day then the first picture, so the lighting is different.



I'm much happier with it now and it really adds some more happy to my kitchen! :) My next project for the house is to refinish this chest/coffee table in my living room. I'm going to either do it black like the rest of the wood in my living room or a very dark wood color. I haven't decided yet. I'll be working on this project next week!



Other than that, I'll be back later this week with some product reviews from the Mama Vox Box I got from Influenster! Stay tuned! Happy October! :)

Add it to the list!!

That's right! Add the table & bench in the kitchen to the list of things that are finished!! My kitchen is now 90% complete!! All that is left is the side of the kitchen where we will be adding the tall floor to ceiling cabinets and window seat. Now if only we could find said cabinets at a yard sale or thrift store! That is the next step.

I decided about two weeks ago that instead of painting the Chevron print in yellow on the bench at the kitchen table that I would instead buy yellow Chevron fabric and a seat cushion and just cover the bench. A lot easier! I looked online and found this fabric. I ordered waaay more than I wound up needing, so throw pillows are in my future. lol! I'm also thinking about making seat cushions for the chairs in the kitchen as well, to match the bench, or maybe little pillows for the seats. We shall see what I get myself into next!

Anyway, here is the kitchen table & bench before I painted it...



And after I painted and upholstered the bench... (Hiii Clarabelle!) ;)



A little closer...



I can't even express how much I love it now! Completely different, isn't it? Yellow Chevron makes me a happy girl. :)

Big things & Little things

My little one started Pre-K this past week. I can't believe my baby isn't a baby or a toddler anymore, but a big kid going to school everyday! It's amazing how time flies. One minute you're rocking them to sleep and changing diapers, the next you're picking which school you want them to attend. We actually decided to send Gracie to the same Pre-school Paul went to 20-something years ago! There is even a lady who still works there from when Paul attended all those years ago. I couldn't believe it!

Here is Gracie on her first day of PreK. She was so excited & still remains excited everyday. She even goes to bed early all by herself now. "Mom, it's bedtime! Turn my tv off! I have school tomorrow." She's the best!



Other than that I finally got my butt in gear and got on the kitchen table transformation. I'm changing it from this...



..to a black table with a dark charcoal chalkboard top. The bench will be yellow & white chevron on top and black on the bottom. I'm so pumped! I've always wanted to paint something chevron.

Here is what I did today. Sanded and primed.



I still need to paint sometime today after it dies and I lightly sand it one more time.

Please comment! Don't just read and leave! Let me know you're actually reading these posts so I know I'm not just talking to myself. ;) Until next time...

The Kitchen Reveal!

I'm back, I'm back!! :) First, thanks to those of you who tweeted, emailed, commented telling me I shouldn't give up on my blog as well as all of the sweet comments you sent along. It was much appreciated! And because of you, I'm back! :)

Before I went on hiatus, we finished the kitchen. Although we still need to add the floor to ceiling cabinets and window seat... more on that later. But for now, here are the befores (somewhat) and afters. I don't have any original before shots of the kitchen before we started this entire project due to my computer crashing and losing everything on my hard drive. But here is the basic idea, from an earlier post.
B Everything was white. Green counter tops.


The original back splash was OLD OLD tile from when Paul's parents lived here. A few years ago I decided I'd just paint it red (that was the theme). Then when I knew I was going to be redoing my kitchen this time, I ripped them off the wall.

(Once again, sorry for the awful quality. These were taken on my Nokia.)

After.

After we installed the beadboard backsplash, before the paint. See that spot above the cabinets that is spackled? It was a corner that served no purpose, so we closed it in.






Annd after everything was painted!







This is the area above my sink. It used to be a ugly mirror with glass shelves. Awful! My dad built this for me & I love it so much! This picture was taken before I moved the honeypot to the shelf above the oven.


Also, a couple weekends ago we were out doing our Sunday thrifting and I found this amazing mail sorter, something I've been looking for forever! This is the before.

And after I painted it yellow and hung it up. I love it so much!



So, that's the kitchen! I'm so happy with it. As for the floor to ceiling cabinets I mentioned above, they will look something like this...



Mine will be blue like the bottom half of my cabinets. And I'll probably add a coffee table in front of the window bench to make it more welcoming to sit on and be a little coffee break/socializing area. The problem right now is trying to find used cabinets like these. I've looked everywhere and sadly I haven't been lucky, but I'm not giving up. I'll continue my hunt until the day I have them!

Welp, that's all for now. Until next time! ;)

I've got it covered!

What do I have covered, you ask?! Ok, you probably didn't ask but I'll just tell you anyway. Today, my dad & I hit up Home Depot (my current home away from home) for some ideas on fan covers for above the stove/oven. We looked up and down two different isles that offer different types of covers for the fans but nothing that really caught my eye. Plus the fact that most of them were nearly $60 to $100 bucks. Yeah, no bueno. I don't have money to just throw away on a brand new fan, plus I only need the cover, which all came in the wrong size.

Our home, like many homes is pretty old. It was built a long time ago, I couldn't even tell you when, so trying to find things that fit just right on something that has been in the same spot for generations, just doesn't happen that often. So, my dad being the brains of this operation said to me, 'why don't you just spray paint it?' Um, duh! Why didn't I think of that? Because he's the brains. Like I said. ;)

I quickly put together a before & after collage of pictures on my Nokia and emailed it to myself. So, bare with me on the not so high quality photos.



Not too shabby! I'm pretty happy with it and the best part? Didn't cost me a penny since I already had the paint (and the fan cover!) for a different project. That's what we in the biz call a win/win! ;)

In other kitchen news, we finished putting all the backsplash beadboard in the kitchen. Like it's DONE. Next step? Painting! That is the plan for Saturday. You can kind of get a sneak peek in the pictures above of the area behind the fridge & oven. Once it's allllll finished I'll have before, during the process and after pictures for you! Next week. Promise!

Crazy busy & sunburned

Things sure have been busy around here lately! My niece Taylor came to stay with us for about a week, we visited the Zoo, took Gracie (& Taylor) to her first Yankees (minor league) game, had a big 4th of July shindig at my parents & then visited the Florida Aquarium where I got an awful sunburn on my thighs... of all places. So bad in fact that I could barely walk for a good 2 to 3 days because it seriously felt like my skin was ripping off. Yeah. Awesome.

Today, I finally had money in hand to go get the last bit of supplies to finish the kitchen. I'm so thankful for my parents & their constant help when it comes to these things. Mostly, my dad. That man is a boss! Him & I will be getting our boo-tays in gear tomorrow on beadboard installation & whatever else we can cram into one day. I'll be sure to take pictures as progress happens.

Gracie asked to spend the night at my parents house, so I got to work on cleaning, because lord knows when the kids are home, it's HARD... IMPOSSIBLE to clean. Straightening up is about all I can get away with, but seriously CLEANING is just not something that can happen. I got so much accomplished today, I'm pretty proud of myself. I still need to get in Gracie's room and clean it as well but that room is seriously overwhelming. I'll just put it off till Saturday when she'll be with my parents for the entire day. Because I'll need a good 8 hours in that pigsty. Hey, I'm just keepin' it real, people.

One last thing, Pepper our Mama kitty is still pregnant. I have a feeling tho that these little kittens will be here in the next day or so. She's been very clingy and loving and I read online that that is a sign of pre-labor. Fingers crossed for healthy kittens! :)

Little improvements

I know, I've been totally slacking lately with the updates. Sorry! Huge sorry! I guess time just gets away from me. What are ya gonna do? Yanno? It happens.

Warning: Before viewing the pictures below, be aware that I still don't have access to a good working camera. These were taken with my Nokia. View at your own risk. haha ;P

Anyway, enough excuses. I've been pretty busy around here doing things here and there. I recently took down the big ugly fluorescent light that was in between my kitchen & living room. I had been asking Paul to do it since.. I don't know, February to take it down but you know if you want something done right, you might as well just do it yourself. So after months of looking at it, I finally just got it done.

Before... (from when it was Easter time)


And after... from the kitchen side.


& the living room side.


So much better.

We also took a trip to Ikea last week to pick up the dishes I have been impatiently waiting for. I also picked up these Vivan curtains for the front window since we needed something a little more private. If you stand at end of our driveway and look at the front window at night, you could see right in & that is a problem, until now! These curtains are a tad bit thicker & worked perfectly on the privacy issue. I got gray of course, they match my walls perfectly!



I took this picture at night, so it's super dark, but during the day they make the room much darker which is really good for summer because it is hot as hell outside! Keeps the room much cooler.



So you can see how they are hung... behind the pretty sheer curtains. So from the outside, you only see gray, which is fine with me.



My mom and I are going to hem them so that they reach just below the window. I only want the pretty blue & white curtains to be long and flowing. I'm sure months will go by before we actually get this done tho. lol.

Back to the kitchen for a moment. These are the dishes I got. White. Simple. Perfect.



And here they are all cleaned & put away... at the top you can see yellow bowls. I got those two for $1.99 at Ikea. I mean COME ON. I heart Ikea.

I also got yellow place mats for the kitchen table. I love pops of yellow in a room! These were .99 a piece I believe. I'm going to be painting the table black, top of it in chalkboard paint & the bench I'm gonna do a chevron print on. I'm excited to get started on this project VERY soon!



I've also been holding on to these E. A. T. letters since February. Well, I finally got on this project too.



I painted them yellow too! See a trend going here?



Then I picked a place in the kitchen to hang them. Hello lonely wall!



Goodbye lonely wall! Hello happy yellow letters! :)



And a wide shot of everything.



Overall I'm happy about the little improvements made in the last week or so. Doing little things really does make a big impact. I hope to share the finished kitchen within the new month or so. This kitchen redo has taken a lot longer than I'd planned but isn't that always the way it goes? Until next time! <3

finishin' the kitchen

I'll finally have some pictures of the finished kitchen for you guys in the next couple weeks. We're going tomorrow to buy the bead board for the back splash from Home Depot. Then we'll work on getting it put into place.

But to hold you over until the final reveal of the kitchen being completely finished (on one side! still gotta work on the floor to ceiling cabinets and window seat as mentioned here) I figured I'd go ahead and show you the process of painting the cabinets from white to navy blue.

This is what they looked like originally, before the paint. You can also see the old countertops in this picture too.



One thing I learned thanks to internet searching is to put a pushpin at all four corners of the cabinet doors before painting so that they don't stick to whatever you lay them on, for example news paper or plastic sheets or whatever you choose to use.






First I primed them with KILZ primer. I did two coats of primer, after cleaning them. Most people use a special cleaner before painting cabinets but I didn't have anything like that, so I just used Windex and paper towels. This is after two coats of primer.



It says on the can to let it dry for 30 minutes in between each coat but I waited about an hour in between, just to be sure it was dry. Then I started painting with the color I picked Deep Blue Sea by Behr. This is after one coat I think. I did three.



This is after I finished painting the final coat of the blue. It was still wet in this picture, which is why it's so shiny.



Annnd this is the finished product. I figured I'd go ahead and show you the new counter tops too. If you look at the walls behind the sink area, under the top cabinets, which I also painted a light grey color & the wall behind the stove, that is where the bead board will be going. I'll probably be painting that white.



Here is a wider view of the kitchen. The bead board will be behind the fridge & oven as well.



We got the counter at Ikea, of course. You can check it out on their website here. The countertops are also a greyish silver color. They match everything so perfectly. I was originally going to do a dark wood countertop but once I saw these, I changed my mind instantly because the color was perfect! I'm really happy with these countertops. They are SO EASY to keep clean!! I'm very happy with them.

If you have any questions about this process at all, feel free to ask me about it!

missing in action

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. I spent my week pretty chill with no home improvement projects going on right now. We had plans on going to the Habitat For Humanity restore this past week to look for tall cabinets and a bench but the day got away from us and we didn't get to go. We decided to stay home and play with the kids outside instead.

This is what we wanna put in our kitchen. Two floor to ceiling cabinets & a window bench. I can't wait till it's done!



Paul & I recently got the idea to start watching Mad Men, since we've always heard great things about it. It only took us a few days to make it to Season 4. I guess you can say, the hype is real, it's a greeeaaat show! I'm really looking forward to getting completely caught up & watching this season. I started DVRing it when it started a couple weeks ago, because I knew we'd catch up. If you haven't seen it, I high recommended it. If you have Netflix, it's even easier to watch it, which is what we did. Thanks Netflix! ;)

Other than that, we took Gracie to the Aquarium on Thursday while Jordan was in school. She's been asking us everyday for a couple weeks when we were going to take her again, so we decided on Tuesday we'd go. She had such a blast and like most of the kids that were there that day, she didn't wanna leave when it was time to go.



The best part about the Aquarium for the kids is the mini outside water park. It has a giant pirate ship that the kids can climb all over with a little water slide and lots of random water spots all around so the kids and run around and get cooled off. The kids love it!

Today is my cleaning day. The kids are with their grandparents for the weekend, like usual, which I appreciate because that means I can get everything put together for the next week. I gotta get all the laundry done, house cleaned & all that good stuff. I'll of course be doing all of this while the Yankees game is on. You don't think I'd miss a Yankees game do you? Not me! ;) Have a great weekend!

the elephant in the room

I have the entire day to myself, so I haven't really left my bedroom much today except to eat lunch & use the bathroom. I love lazy days where I can just stay in my PJs all day & watch tv in bed, as well as surf the net & update my blog!!

This past week, my parents took Gracie to the zoo, since I got 3 free passes the last time I went because a few rides were closed. Our zoo is so amazing because every time we go (we have a yearly pass) if there is one thing not working, they will always comp the visit with free tickets to come back. It doesn't even matter that I have the year pass, they still give me free tickets! It's pretty awesome! We've already given three tickets to my parents and three tickets to my MIL.

Anyway, when my parents brought Gracie home after their zoo trip on Wednesday, my mom handed me a box & said 'Happy early Anniversary!' I opened the box and inside was this beautiful 24 carat gold Elephant! Squee!!









Isn't he beautiful?! He lives on a shelf in the dining room area.



I love it so much! I think we're gonna go & get Mr. Gold Elephant a friend to put on the other end of the shelf. Paul wants a penguin. He loves penguins like I love elephants. He actually used to have a huge embarrassing collection when I first started dating him, but got rid of them all because it was just overkill. I can't even. It was pretty funny.

Today, after I started making my lunch, I went to go let Max in & opened my front door & saw a package. I totally forgot that my other new elephants would be here today! My parents also ordered me these amazingly friggin' cute salt & pepper shaker elephants for my birthday from Mod Cloth! Countdown is down to 9 days (April 2nd)! I'll be 27.

The box they came in is so cute!



Here are a bunch of snap shots of these cute little things...











I love those little elephant tails! Too stinkin' cute.

These little guys live in the kitchen. On the shelves my dad built for me above my sink. I've actually been wanting to share this area with you guys for a while now but it's not completely done yet, so you can't completely see the sink & the counter. I'll share those pictures when we get the back splash up.







The kitchen printouts were ordered from this great Etsy store. Check it out if you're interested!

Like I said above, we still need to add the back splash & molding around the built-ins. All in good time! We will get there. :)

Hope you all have a great weekend! My birthday is a week from Monday! Eeeeee!!