Liquidation Chairs [and new fabric for our tooshies]

I mentioned in yesterday's post that we did not leave Desert Liquidators sans goodies. We actually found EIGHT goodies. All after I was upset about Lowes not having those Parsons chairs, I found cooler looking chairs that need a good cleaning and make-over.

Yes, they aren't fresh and new. But they have CHARACTER. Maybe they are not as tall as the current chairs, but who cares? They are rough and tough and will get us through the next several years with the kiddos.

My current chairs?! Less than 2 years old from Mor? Already broken.

The metal is a cobalt blue. Cool, but not what I was looking for. So they are going to be spray painted (by the patient husband) oil-rubbed bronze (to match the extras in our house/kitchen, including our new pendant lamp above the sink).  And then we are going to cover the wood with foam and fabric.

What kind of fabric you ask?!

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, we went to a fabric store in Tempe and looked through their yards and yards of stuff. Most of it was pretty old (as in fashioned). And not pretty. However, in the $5/yard bin I found 2.75 yards (crossing my fingers it's enough) of a cool fabric. Not too modern or too bold. But not boring and brown. I think it's going to look loverly in the space.

There are so many colors - and I can go so many ways. Cool green, calm blues, sweet burnt orange or butter yellow. I can't wait to try my hand at covering up the seats of these chairs.

But first things first... I must clean (SCOUR) them. I see myself knee deep in rubber gloves and suds this week!

Lovely & Lacey

I love when I stumble upon the perfect thing. I thought I knew what I wanted for my kitchen's window coverings; I was wrong.

I was on Pinterest looking through the house decor pins for nothing in particular and came across this picture:

Now... I've been stalking Layla's blog for quite a while, so I knew it wasn't her house. But after I clicked over to see the deets, I realized that Layla had been visiting a friend and took pictures of her kitchen.

I love everything about the dressings. The lace, the bulky, black clips. Hey, look - a pendant light! Similar to mine.

Now I just need to find the perfect lace. And bulky clips.

Roll, Roll, Roll your Dough...

Or not.
Especially considering that my rolling pins now have several layers of stain on them!  If you are a Facebook fan, you may remember this picture I had posted to my wall:

If you are NOT a Facebook fan, why the heck not?!  :)

The rolling pins (top left) were scored during a visit to Goodwill, months and months ago. They were $1.99 a piece and at the looks of them, one or two were quite old. Oh, to be a slab of dough all those years ago. Imagine the pies those things helped create! Thankfully, I have a wonderful rolling pin myself (thanks, mom!) so I didn't need the extra pins to use. Rather, I thought they would look lovely above my cabinets. After the recent changes I made, I had one spot left to fill.

I took each of the rolling pins and sanded them down a little. You know, to remove the GRIME and a bit of the varnish/lacquer stuff.   Once sanded, I used two types of stain - Red Mahogany and Early American; I wanted there to be a little variance from the cabinets. After a few coats and playing with the colors, I let the rolling pins dry for a few days.

Then I got out my Handy Dandy helper, Alex, and he helped measure and hammer in REALLY long nails. The pins are currently resting on the nails. I may consider a more permanent way to hang them, but since we still need to paint the kitchen in the near future, I think they are holding up fine for now.

It's off center, you say? Well, that is a large space to fill and the rolling pins aren't very long. But that's okay - I have another brilliant idea.  I plan on adding a BREAD BOARD to the left of the pins.

One of my new favorite blogs, Our Vintage Home Love, sells bread boards of all shapes and sizes. She kinda got me hooked. So I am currently in the market for a new (or used) bread board that I can customize and hang up above my cabinets.

I think once I have the bread board up - I am done with accessorizing the kitchen. I want to keep it traditional and clean.

Mission accomplished, me thinks!

The Kitchen is coming together now...

Do you remember my inspiration picture for my kitchen?

No? Here's a reminder:

Isn't she a beaut?
Obviously, being in a newly built home (less than two years old), there isn't a WHOLE lot I am going to change, but I do want to give our large kitchen BIG CHARACTER.

While I was at Ross yesterday, I came across two 11x14" frames - reduced to $8.99 each. I love it when things are available in twos. I picked them up.

I scoured the net looking for something to put IN those frames. I wanted something suitable for the kitchen, but not too kitchen-y. I remembered that I bought a book of scrapbook paper that had yet to be opened. It was vintage and loverly. After browsing through the pages, I decided on these two:

They are similar in color and there's a numbers and words theme. I love them!
I asked Alex to help with getting everything hung (moved the clock from another location)... and he obliged.

Eeks! I took the above picture at an angle. The new pictures are centered on the cabinets. Promise. But do you see some similarities to my inspiration pic?

Here... let me help!

Just to bring some perspective...I have 10 ft. ceilings... But I also have tall cabinets...

And here's what I have going on to the left. A plate I bought at Hobby Lobby the week we closed on the house. Also, a new fork and spoon from the HL I got a few weeks back. Simple.

I am starting to work on my other side of the kitchen and should have two more updates for you this week!
Excited much?!

How's it Hanging?

Very well, I think?!

The husband got my new pendant light up - hanging beautifully in my kitchen, above my sink!
But... I will admit. It wasn't the first one we bought. I screwed up the spray paint. So, we opted to go back and buy the pricier one. I will use the one I messed up somewhere else in the house (after I sand it and repaint it - essentially fixing it!).

When I came home from my cousin's party, the husband and my oldest were in the garage hanging more lights. So I quickly ran passed them to check out my newly illuminated kitchen.

It generally starts with a new whole... 

And some wiring...
(with a little help from our little guy!)

And this is what it looks like:

Probably my most favorite thing? The Vintage light bulb ($7 at HomeDepot). It rocks my socks.

I am going to be moving the curtain rods up about a foot, so I am not sure if this is the final placement of the pendant light, but I am loving it as is, already. What a difference!!

Lights, Party, Action!

I have a party to go to tonight; my cousin just graduated with a degree focused in ultrasounds. I think the professional term is sonography. We are so proud of her. She's been an X-Ray technician for a while, but took a leap and made it into the big time.

Before the party though, Marcos and I had to get our daily trip to Home Depot in. Really, we forgot the thing we were getting for HIM yesterday. Sheesh. I am sorry; I was so excited about the board & batten.

This time, we headed over to the lighting - he was shopping for new BIGGER and BRIGHTER lights for his garage. But he stopped for a moment and pointed something out.

He said the last time he was at HD alone, he as going to buy me this light. (Awwww!) It's so pretty! I need a light over the kitchen sink. Bad. But this particular light was $90. Couldn't do it.

So I found one similar - and cheaper - but I need to do a little work to it!
Of course, that will have to wait until I get home from Carrie's party! =)

Stay tuned for some electrical and light action!

It's got BONES, baby!

I had to go into the office yesterday for work. For about an hour. And then I made the mistake of going to Goodwill on my lunch break.  I was looking for a console table. I didn't find one. :(

I was about to leave the store when my eye spied something... Well, something.

 Look at that seat cushion. Doesn't that look like a curled up lip?!

Prolly now it does. ;)

Anyway - I hurried home... and guess what my eye spied THERE?!?!

Okay - admittedly, I also spied it in the rear view mirror on the way home.  I called my husband before I handed over my debit card and BEGGED him not to get upset.

I told him that it was UGLY. But that the BONES were good. I promised that I would learn how to reupholster asap.

You see... I wasn't going to get it. It had no tag on it and when I asked, I was told that it was $49.99. Nope. Couldn't do it. So, I moseyed on over to the lamps and stuff. That's when a different Donation Assistant stopped me and said that they were wrong, it was really $29.99 - and 50% off.

I got that high back loveseat for FIFTEEN DOLLARS.

I knew EXACTLY what I wanted to do with it...

Remember this post about benches?  It linked to my Pinterest boards which has the likes of these guys on it (sources are on Pinterest)

So, I have a LONG way to go with the thing, but I have a good feeling it will all work out.

It needs to be CLEANED. It's in good shape. And I need to settle on a fabric (yellow corduroy?!)

But here's what it looks like as is, today.

P.S. I am working on changing out the valances for drapes that come to the floor for that window. That will help with the height difference. I think.

P.S.S. I am not keeping the chair there. lol. Just wanted to set the mood. It's in the formal living room until I can figure out HOW to make it over.

P.S.S.S. Go visit Kimberly from Simply Living... she's hosting her FIRST giveaway today. And it's also Prints by QOTC's first giveaway!! 

If you are a reupholsterer, know a reupholsterer or play one on TV (or knows someone who plays one on TV), please reach out with tips, atta-girls, and prayers. ;)

Can't wait to see what she looks like when all is said and done!

I FOUND IT: The Kitchen of my Dreams.

via

I found this kitchen late last night. Just by Googling walnut cabinets. It seems everyone has white cabinets these days... I needed some inspiration since I will not be painting my cabinets white. Too.Much.Work.

This is the inspiration picture I have been waiting for. The "AH-HAAA!!" moment I needed. Slowly, I will start working on getting my kitchen to resemble this picture. I say resemble because I want it to have some of my own ideas/pieces of me in there. I am halfway there with the cabinets, the side-board I redid and my dark kitchen table.  So really... it's the little pieces of charm I need to start working on.

Is it possible to be in love with a kitchen, let alone a PICTURE of a kitchen?!
Swoon.

Finally, a Furniture Makeover [Don't be mad, mom!]

I have this chest.
Not that chest; get your mind out of the gutter, people. A chest of DRAWERS.
It might be a vanity. But I am going to go with a sideboard.

This sideboard, given to me by my mother a few years back, is beautiful. It still has the mirror, even though it's not been attached in quite some time (I have it elsewhere in the house). Here's a picture of Nic's Cowboy birthday from last December... where I used it as a drink station. Also, used the mirror for a saloon look.

In fact, the sideboard has been sitting along side my kitchen island. A place to house our placemats and kitchen towels. I love the character is adds to the space, but I've always been keen on perhaps lightening it up a bit. It's antique, but I am not sure how old it is. I didn't want to take away the beauty of the piece, simply enhance it.

Here is the before picture. A beauty, but in need of some TLC. I sanded it up a little. Primed the base of the sideboard, and added a walnut stain to the drawers and top. I knew I wasn't going to start from bare wood, so I didn't sand too much. The walnut stain just enhanced the existing color, deepened it a little. And the primer got me ready to spray the sideboard Heirloom White from Rust-Oleum.

It was well over 100 degrees today, so it dried rather quickly. I did a few coats of the stain, one coat of the primer and two coats of the white. I was originally going to paint the base Lagoon, also by Rust-Oleum.
I LOVE the color...

But I think I will bring it in elsewhere in the kitchen. Once I saw what the primer looked like on the sideboard, I knew it was the white right thing to do.

The kitchen is a COMPLETE work in progress. Of course, the basics are there, and they look lovely. But I really want to give is some character. One of the next things I am going to work on is raising the curtain rods up HIGHER and adding swagalicious white curtains. Perhaps the white will have SOME print on them, but mostly white, is what I am thinking. We also have plans to add window ledges. All of our walls have rounded edges. Blah, no fun. So we are going to add ledges like the one we did in my office.

I picked up some stainless steel looking knobs from Home Depot, $1.27 each. They go nicely with the appliances.

So that's it for now... I am off to go scrub all of this spray paint off of me. I never remember to wear gloves. You'd think after 2 years... lol..

Anyway, hope you have a wonderful start to your week!

xoxo,
me.

Color Me....!?! [Pic Heavy]

Guys. My kitchen is in desperate need of SOMETHING. I am going to throw a few photos at you.

This is my kitchen the day we signed our contract. My boss and I were in a kitchen cabinet debate, and I ended up having to count my cabinets. 28 total cabinets, I have. She has 34. She won, which means she gets to clean more cabinets.

Anyway. It's not the cabinets I am focusing on here... it's the kitchen walls. Let me see if I can dig up some more pictures.

If I were to stand in the above picture and look the exact opposite way, this is what I would see (except that I moved chairs around, etc):

Here is a more recent shot of the kitchen. Not the best picture, but the colors are pretty close:

I've recently taken a ton of things down from above my cabinets. And I decided I am not in love with the window coverings.

Don't you love how I am piecing together all these random shoots instead of just going to take new pictures. Please note, the HOME sign and the utensils are no longer there.

Now... my issue.

We eventually want to add a tile back splash. But think we should wait until we replace the counter-tops for granite or a solid surfice. In the meantime, the paint is builder grade beige (albeit upgraded builder grade), and it's FLAT. In my kitchen with the 4 kids... it's bad. Really bad.

So, I want to go ahead and just paint the kitchen. Therein lies my problem. It's an open concept house, where the entire downstairs (except the small hall to my office) is the SAME COLOR. I could add paint to the cabinet walls and leave the window wall alone (shown directly above).

Paint is a cheap way to change things around, plus - I could purchase a decent brand and ensure that it's WASHABLE (music to my ears!).

But what COLOR?! 

I've whined and cried and blubbered about wanting to lighten up the downstairs (our mistake, going with darker blinds, something we will change later on). In the meantime, have you ANY suggestions on a neutral paint color that looks rad with YELLOW (accessories for the kitchen, me thinks and maybe new window coverings in a print with some yellow, green, and turquoise/teal/blue?) and that looks okay with the BEIGE in the remainder of the house.

I *could* paint the rest of the downstairs (the family room and entire kitchen), but I couldn't take that paint into the hallway just yet.

It's a little high. My legs aren't that long. I can't reach the foyer ceiling. And I am NOT ready to tackle that baby. I guess I *could* pick a neutral color that goes with the beige, but isn't the SAME beige, that I could do in the family room and the formal living and dining rooms.

I do plan on adding board and batten to one formal dining room wall.  I took down the mirror already... it will be about 65" high, just like my office. However, I will go with the same white as the doors and molding in the house, and not a BRIGHT WHITE. (mistake!)

While my living and dininging room are deeper, this is what I saw that was similar to what I was looking at doing (see the back wall?!)

via

I am liking white, yellow, green, and some blues. Some of those colors are already in my house. But I just need to figure out what color to paint the kitchen!! I want to keep it neutral, so that I can go bolder on the window coverings, chair coverings and toss pillows.

One more look at my cabinet colors... and then PLEASE start shouting colors at me!!

xoxo,
me