$12 Goes a Long Way

Thought I would show you my $12 Craigslist table. It used to be blue but a sprayed it black. Now it has a perfect little home in our tiny foyer.

Old/ New

I think we are finally going to leave the house today! Yea! We have been snowed in since Monday and have quite a bit of cabin fever. We are definitely running out of ways to entertain our 11 month old and our selves. Today I thought I would share a picture of a chest I recently painted for our living room. It was given to us by my in laws. I love it. It was originally a blue and white which just did not fit our decor so I painted it gray with light gray accents and a metallic taupe on the hardware.

Kitchen Before and After

Well we did a little mini makeover to our kitchen. Just some paint and new lighting really. There is still a long list of things to do but I thought I would give you a little sneak peak. We all remember the before of ugly wood cabinets, hideous fluorescent lighting, oh and of course the flower wall paper! 

After
We removed the cabinet doors. I love love the open shelving. I was a little unsure at first if I could do open shelving but now I may never go back. Unloading the dishwasher is a breeze and when you have company over no one is asking where the plates or the glasses are. Just set up the buffet line in the kitchen and everyone grabs what they need!

 We installed corbels from Home Depot under the cabinets for a more custom open shelving look.

  A few details....
~ upper cabinets are painted Alabaster (Sherwin Williams)
~lower cabinets are Useful Grey (SW)
~ trim Alabaster
~walls Natural Choice (SW)
~ hardware Martha Stewart (Home Depot)

This little spice area had doors but I took them off and got these great little spice containers at Ikea.

  New chandelier from Overstock.

New small school house light from Lowes.

You can also see in the above pictures we replaced the fluorescent lighting with recess which made a huge difference. All in all this mini makeover was just under $2000.... not too bad.

Still to do.....
~ curtains for the big widow over looking the back yard.
~ bamboo shades for the other window.
~ lighting above the sink.
~ new rug for breakfast area
~  paint chairs for breakfast area

Long term to do's.....
~ pull up linoleum flooring and refinish hardwoods underneath
~ rip our lower cabinetry and replace to make a true galley style kitchen
~ oh and of course Carrar marble countertops
...... one day!

Friday Randomness

Well it has been a rather boring yet exhausting Friday around here. This little lady is a little under the weather though you wouldn't know it for all of her sweet giggles and crawling like a mad women. Today just consisted of chasing her around the house, wiping snot (sorry gross I know), going for a walk  and sitting outside on the beautiful fall day. Other updates... the new lighting was installed in the kitchen yesterday. Looks great but no pict yet. There was a mild moment of panic during install when after he cut 3 holes in my ceiling the can lights would not fit due to the subfloor from the second floor being extremely low. So I made a mad dash to Home Depot and found they make shallow or shorter can lights... thank goodness these worked and I don't have empty holes in my ceiling. On to other randomness.... I have to tell you  I absolutely love this laundry detergent.

It smells amazing!!!
Well off to enjoy a glass of wine, some spaghetti and a little relaxing on the sofa. Happy weekend... Enjoy!

Mini Makeover

Well today begins our mini kitchen makeover. No funds to do the big reno yet but maybe one day.When we bought our house (8 months ago) most of the house had been renovated. The kitchen was the next project for the former home owners but they decided to sale before it was renovated. In the future we would love to either expand the space or make a true galley kitchen but for now we are installing new lighting and painting. The lighting install is happening now. We are replacing the blinding florescent with recess lighting and a new chandelier in the breakfast area and a new semi flushmount in the small hallway leading to the basement. Painting should be happening sometime next week. I will keep you posted on before and afters. This is our kitchen currently....

In much need of an update. Picts of come!

New chandelier

My new chandelier for our breakfast room came in the week. It is not up yet but it looks great! You just can't beat Overstock's lighting. Love it!

Bookcase Before & After

Well I have been doing a little work on our office lately. We had these old bookcases..... I gave them a little update with some high gloss navy. Here are the before and after.

Before

After

 

Sorry not the best pict!

Living Room Design Board

Here is a look at some of my plans for our living room...... hopefully one day!

Sparkle

Love my new {to me} chandelier. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law had it in the basement and were never going to use it so they gave it to me! After a good cleaning I love the way it turned out!

Also, hope you have a relaxing Labor Day with something good to eat!