November 15th, 2011
Nearly 9 months ago we walked through our house for the first time. It looked and smelled pretty aweful, but I loved the spaces and I knew that with a lot of work and a little vision we could make it look beautiful and smell good too. I have tons of before pictures and will do a post with those soon, but for now, I’ll just share this gem:
This is looking from the family room into the kitchen. We new right away that the wall would have to go and the kitchen expanded into the eating nook, and now 9 months later we are *almost* done with the kitchen. I showed you pictures of it not yet painted yesterday, and today, after much sweat and a really really late night…
Tada! You can see in the right hand side of the image the wall near the end of the nook area. That stayed the same, so it gives you a point of reference of the expansion.
And here you can see how it interacts with the other half of the kitchen
Still waiting on the countertops and backsplash tile.
The cabinets will have glass doors, and the wood planks will be painted a smoky aqua. And once all that happens, the kitchen will be officially done! I can’t believe how long of a journey its been, but it was all worth it!
If you want to see the journey, you can view older posts:
Picking a Marble Slab
Kitchen update – install 2
Kitchen Reveal
Cherry Countertops
Kitchen Cabinets Painted 1
Kitchen update – install 1
Move-in Kitchen
Kitchen Plans2
Kitchen Plans 1
November 14th, 2011
One of the joys of building your own cabinets is the tedious task of painting them. However by the time you get to the point that they are ready to paint, you are so excited that the painting hardly seems like a chore (especially when your husband does most of the work).
It’s been so exciting to see the other half of the kitchen come together. We finally got the very last details finished — the crown moulding, the baseboards, the edging strips where the cabinets meet the walls etc. Its been a long and tedious journey, but the build and install are complete!
I got to help out by being moral support, by taping along the floors and insides of the cabinet with my trusty frog tape, and also the elite task of puttying nail holes. So here it is in all its pre-finished glory, just waiting to be painted white:
I love our corbels, I actually have a great story (and photos) to share about those!
And here you can see the crazy mess we’ve been living in while Mr. Project has been installing the cabinets. Trust me, it’s not fun to live in a crazy kitchen.
So there ya go! I’ll show you pics of the painted kitchen tomorrow!
November 14th, 2011
Karen from The Bald Dragonfly here, and I happen to think that nobody describes the iconic holiday image better than Clement Clarke Moore from his poem, The Night Before Christmas. The image portrayed in Lost & Found Christmas is the spitting image of what is written…”…He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf…” It became a great focal point to my hand crafted holiday gift tags and ornament holder. The beautiful textures and patterns from the Lost & Found: Christmas line offer a nice vintage vibe, while the red glittered accents add a touch of sophistication and glam.
To make the tag/ornament holder, I started with an upcycled package from my boys’ toys. After washing and cleaning the inside and out, I carefully measured the Santa paper and cut to fit inside the packaging. After rounding the corners, I simply added a bit of repositional adhesive in strategic locations to secure the image to the clear packaging. I repeated for the back side of the packaging as well with the same sheet of paper. Then I wrapped some jute twine around the outside of the packaging, having secured that with hot glue.
The tags were created from various designs from the Lost & Found: Christmas collection and scrapbooking/cardmaking tools such as corner rounders, label die cuts, twine and fasteners. I found a bit of red, glittery ribbon that had been recycled from my mother-in-laws holiday arrangement from last year that was a perfect match to the red glitter accents! I simply added a strip of the lighter patterned paper to the back of the tags as a place for the address of the gifts.
Once the person that I gift this to has used up all the tags, the decorated box remains as a perfect place to store precious and delicate ornaments. It’s is like two gifts in one! The possibilities are endless for tag-making with this line. Mix and match patterns and shapes to add variety to your tag line-up or let your tags become more vintage by including such things as lace and buttons.
November 11th, 2011
For the past week, Oliver has been pulling a face that is cute enough to make you laugh until you cry:
It’s his pout face! If you take something away or make a loud noise or just in general upset his balance, he pulls these awesome pouty lips. And as quicky as it comes, it’s gone. So I’ve been desperately trying to get a photo of it because the cuteness cannot be contained, and finally succeeded today! He could not be any cuter. I love this boy!!
November 11th, 2011
Happy November everyone! Can you believe we’re already back to short days and early sunsets?? The short days are hard for me, but I try to get out during the day as much as possible to soak in the sunshine – either running errands or just walking the dog.
For my project this week, I made a fun and simple Ribbon Wreath in fall colors. I used the Stella & Rose Mabel “Little Lady” trims.
Here’s the other supplies I gathered: a foam wreath, a spool of brown satin ribbon and the MME trims.
I used Scor-Tape to secure the satin ribbon to the wreath and started wrapping!
I covered the wreath with the brown satin, the orange grosgrain, and the aqua twill. I think the aqua gives a modern edge to the standard fall colors.
I stamped a Happy Thanksgiving greeting and attached it with ribbon, then tied a bow with the aqua twill. The stamp is from Hero Arts.
Here is my wreath hanging on my front door!
