The Big Reveal!

I am so excited about the Spring Round Up from the Remodeling Guy. If you havent visited his site before go now!! Its chock full of great ideas. Today he is hosting a remodeling party- projects big & small. When I was in the middle of my kitchen makeover I actually emailed Tim for some help and encouragment I am sooo glad I decided to take the plunge - I smile everytime I walk into my kitchen (except when the sink is full of dirty dishes).

Its done! (minus a few door pulls & island doors) but its done! The Kitchen Makeover is complete. I first must admit I dont recommend this for the faint at heart-it was a doozey. But I am sooooo glad I did it and I would definitely do it again! I feel quite proud of myself and I have to shout out a thank you to some folks who encouraged me along the way--- Tim- The Remodel Guy for the emails & great tips , Kristen at WeAREThatfamily my in real life friend who told me "I COULD DO IT", and Emily at Chatting at the Sky & Layla at The Lettered Cottage for the inspiration. If you want to read & see some befores go here and here.

I would not have been able to complete this makeover as fast as I did if my in-laws hadn't helped. They came into town "just in time" for the make-over- not that I planned it that way *wink* *wink*- they were amazing. My mother in law was on a mission to get it complete before she left! and a big thank you to my husband for installing all the hardware-I am SOOOOO glad I didn't not attempt that- because all my knobs would have been waaaayyyy off. Sooooo without further ado- here you go.

BEFORE




AFTER



BEFORE



AFTER


BEFORE




AFTER







And because I can't stop myself- this is my next project- staining the fireplace mantel a rich chocolate brown & painting the walls a yummy pale mocha.

Project Procastinators Party

Melissa over at The Inspired Room is hosting a Project Procastinators Party. Since I just got done with a HUGE kitchen make-over, Im not feeling too pressured to tackle another project- but yet I get that itch, that urge, that deisre to tackle something else. I have to admit- I am a GREAT starter, POOR (very poor) finisher. That great kitchen makeover- umm yea- I still have one more coat to paint on 4 doors and 3 doors to distress. ah-hem . so the Project Procastinators speaks to me- very deeply to me. Here is my next "urge" to tackle.


My fireplace mantle- it is currently the same color wood as the kitchen "was" and because both of these room open up to one another- I feel the "urge" to make them flow a little better. I plan to sand this down and stain it with a rich, dark, espresso color. *fingers crossed* I hope to have this done for the Project Procastinators Party on May 14th.

The $5 lamp

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality is hosting a garage/yard sale finds. I have to admit I have not garage sailed (is that even a word? it looks funny-I didnt float a garage at sea) in years but thought I'd try it again. and what do you know! I LOVE it! I found this lamp on Saturday- it was marked $2 but since it was for a Kids Summer Camp I paid $5- still well worth it. This lamp screamed spray paint me! spray paint me! and so I did. Here it is in its new home in my dining room. But dont look too close- I bombed on the shade! I thought I was sooooo thrifty & crafty I said to self "I can paint that shade too" ummm no go- It looks great when the light is off- but when its on- you can see ALL my spray marks *le sigh* so I am on the hunt for a nice black shade. Unless any of your crafty gals out there have some ideas of what I could do. I event tried painting the inside of the shade with gold- yeah it made it worse. So for now it will sit and look pretty just like light up. For more great finds go visit Southern Hospitality.

DIY Pillows

So I was strolling through Pottery Barn the other day and saw these really fun sea-life pillows. I fell in love with the SeaHorse one -that was until I saw the $49 price tag-that DOES NOT include the pillow-just the cover.

I carefully put the pillow down and headed to the nearest fabric store. I bought 2 yards of linen-like fabric, some burlap, paint & sea life stencils.

I used the pillows I currently have on my couch- they were gold & red. I cut the fabric to fit the pillow. I then got out my trusty hot glue gun and glued 3 sides and left the 4th open (so I could slide my pillow in)

On one pillow I cut a Star Fish out of the burlap & hot glued it on. On the other 2 I stenciled my sea life and on the 4th I just glued some coordinating trim. I got 4 pillows for under $13!!!! They really lighten up the room and make it a little more "beachy". Its now making me want to re-cover the couch in a light linen but 3 kids & a white couch = DISASTER in my book. So in the meantime I will just enjoy my "white" pillows.

Works for Me Wednesday-Unfinished Wood

I have seen all these cute wooden signs & tags everywhere but didnt especially like the price tag. So I did my best Winnie The Pooh "think, think, think" and made my own! I got all the unfinished wood pieces for .49 cents a piece at Hobby Lobby- got me some paint pens, craft paint (which I already had) and twine (which I had on hand too). First I painted a coat of white paint, then wrote with the paint pen (unfortunately my handwriting is NOT worth anything-but it will do) Then I drilled some holes & tied my twine.

I made these cute tags for my pantry baskets.



I LOVED the wooden letter look- but at $9.99 a letter NOT. So for $1 a letter & some black paint we can E.A.T.....



This is hanging on my season floral arrangement in the foyer.





This is on my front door arrangement- it use to have a Happy Easter wooden sign- now its all about the Beach.....


For more great Works For Me Wednesday ideas go see Kristen at WeAreTHATFamily

Easter & what-not

Ok so Im a little late at posting about the weekend. I have been a busy bee over-hauling my kitchen -THAT post will be up soon (fingers crossed) in meantime here are some pics we took over the weekend.

Chaos to get order

My husband always says you first have to have chaos to get order. Well my kitchen is just that. It is amazing to see how cluttered my cabinets are when the doors are removed ......and I thought I was getting that organized "thing" down- but obviously not. Here are some pics of the "work in progress".






This little gem has saved me HOURS of hand painting.







I can paint a sea of doors is less than 10 min!!!





The final product


Oh and if you happen to use a power sprayer-a little word of advise- dont wear flip flops- I have some nice gray speckled toes- hmmmm I wonder if nail polish would work in once of those things????

Going, going, gone....

Take a good look at this...because it will be the last time you see this wallpaper & ugly pink-ish cabinets. Cause baby Im going black!!! Thats right- there is no stopping me now. My in real life friend Kristen over at WeAreTHATfamily- gave me the final nudge to go black. I have been stalking other bloggers who have done it- two in particular that you should really go visit. Emily over at Chatting at the sky- "dare to paint your cabinets black". And Layla over at The Lettered Cottage- has an amazing kitchen on a TJMaxx/HomeGoods budget- LOVE It!!!

So here are all my before pics- I am still in the tear down wallpaper phase- I have so far to go-but refuse to look back. No retreat no surrender! Plus the in-laws are coming into town next week & I hope to rope them into helping me out. (tee hee).