Chalk Art.

Lately.. I'm kind of obsessed.

It started when I first saw this pin.

 Source

And totally copied it. No shame. I did however, take a crappy cell phone picture at night of it.

Sorry guys.

And, then.. The Nester wrote about it.

That Dana is just Ah-mazing, isn't she? Amazing. 

Welp, then I just kept going.. and going.. and going with it.

I really love having a chalkboard in the kitchen. Dust and all. Some days, when I walk past it and it's had the same little art on it for a bit it says "Rachelle.. Take a minute, won't ya?"

So I do.

Happy Monday!

Or, if you're in Michigan, specifically the Kzoo area.. Happy Oberon day. It's all I've heard about today. :) I sure don't enjoy beer but I'll say hip hip hooray for the Michigan spokesperson beer of Summer!

*Also! Please, if you're going to pin any images that aren't mine make sure to pin them directly from their site. Let's all play fair shall we?*

Kitchen Progress

So you know our kitchen is seriously a never ending project.. But I thought it'd be fun to take a walk down memory lane and join in on Thrifty's party "Show us your Kitchens"

Mind you.. It still needs a few more details.. and it rarely stays clean. But it's so much better than the kitchen we had when we moved in. This little hub of the home as sure come a long way in the last 5 or so years.

Enjoy!

Old. Orange. 6 Cabinets.. TOTAL. 

Getting there. ;) 

Just recently.. We added the bun feet for a little fun. 

And, some beadboard backsplash.

Then! This weekend we threw some corbels up there. 

My camera is acting kind of funky since the cat knocked it over so excuse the super bright picture there. It is what it is. New camera.. Of course that means knock it on the floor. Of course.

I'd love to get a real rug in the place. Add some crown. Get rid of the counter top microwave and some more little details that don't exactly drive me nuts to do anything about it right now.. But eventually. ;) 

Thanks for dropping by! 

Photo-board for the kitchen.

Remember the super cute Summer-to-do-List that I made last year? It fit perfectly in the space coming into the kitchen and I was bummed out when it was gone. Left with a big empty spot on the wall with a nail hole. Boo!

So I thought.. and thunked..and played with it a little and kept going back to the original frame that I used. It was a great size for the space and I'm kind of partial to white frames.

Then it hit me!

What's better than white frames? Well.. with a touch of industrial.

Case in point. Steel!

Add some pictures and you're golden! I thought about using this as a Memo board.. But we have the cork board right over yonder and I don't want every open space in our house to be cluttered with papers..calenders..notes etc. But, I'm definitely down for seeing the faces of my favorite people every day when I come and go from the kitchen!

I really like how the metal looks against the chalkboard.

I just love it.

Right now it's only got a few pictures on it. I'm totally that mom who hasn't printed a picture in forever and a day, but I'm getting better! Because of this picture board.. I already ordered some prints online! Whohoo! It's already making me a better person.

But for now I'll enjoy some from when Chloe-girl was a tiny chunker and I was young and tan. :)

Linking up with Tip Junkie!

Kitchen details

It's the little things that matter right? Just like the little details that make you say "Huh? Now that's cute!" It also helps take away the stock cabinet look that we had going on before.

It started with a few bun feet from Home Depot.

Then a builder Dad with a saw and a lot of courage.

I say courage because the bottom of the cabinets by the sink aren't as deep as the ones by the stove and dishwasher. I definitely didn't want them sticking out because goodness gracious everyone knows that I'd be stubbing my foot every ten minutes can we all agree on that? Yes we can. So we cut it in half and Builder Dad was shaking in his boots trying to cut something that rolls 2 inches away from A SAW.. you know because it can become a bloody mess if you're not careful. ;)

Anyway, it worked out in the end and he only lost one and a half fingers.

Kidding.

But the next issue was that they were half an inch too short. Now, you wouldn't be able to notice unless you got down on the floor and looked. We thought about leaving it but, I figured it would probably be something that kept me up late at night being irritated that I didn't spend an extra dollar and some brain power figuring out how to make it taller.

So I did.

I thought about using those discs you can find at Hobby Lobby in the wood section, or a small bead something small enough that we could fit under the foot but something curvy enough that looked like it was supposed to be there.

Then on an end cap I found these suckers! We cut a little bit off but the bottom of the bun slid right in. Perfecto! Best two bones I've ever spent.

They remind me of horse legs, boney knees and all. Do you see it?

We also painted the toe kick the color of the walls just so that they would pop a little more. I like it. I've seen it done with black paint but we don't have anything super dark in the kitchen and I thought that the black would overwhelm more than enhance if you know what I mean. So we added two more to the corners and I couldn't be happier. Adds a little custom charm to the little kitchen that could.

Dear Kitchen, you've come a long way baby.

How about you? Have you added any little touches to your kitchen to spruce it up lately? Share! I want to hear it all!

Kitchen Backsplash

Oh how I wish I had some before-before-before pictures of this kitchen! You know when it looked like this:

But before that it was some gnarly lovely thick baby blue wallpaper which was used to cover up a horrible plaster job. The walls were pretty damaged and uneven but we lived with it for as long as we could before it was time to cover them up. (Three years later,*cough..cough*hey! Life happens)

Tile would have been nice but I wasn't up to fixing the uneven plaster job so bead board it is! Plus it was so cost efficient it's ridiculous. Something like 20.00 a sheet and we only needed two. Yes please!

Builder Dad came over and lent a hand with everything. He forgot his saw horses, but you know what? We improvised. ;)

This time we went for the thicker bead board, I like the look of it and it breaks up from the thinner bead board that goes along the sides of the cabinets.

Some plastic trim caps it off and there you go. It's lovely. Well, this wall is lovely, the other side of the room.....

That's another story. I can't even go there with you yet. Ha! Anyone else out there decide to go with bead board over tile back splash? Share your links in the comments!

Kitchen Shelves

A while back we added a couple Ikea shelves to the kitchen (after I drooled forever over them in Emily's Kitchen) and I figured they weren't exactly blog material but you know what? Today they're going to be.

Well, more so the knock off Anthro letters that I made this weekend. I kind of have a crush on them, a big ol' one.

 

They were inspired by these beauties

Source

Anyway, back to the fridge and all it's boring glory.

Our fridge floats by itself in our kitchen and it annoys the heck out of me so I thought some shelves would help anchor it a bit. The wall is too small for a built in enclosure and this seemed like the next best thing. A little illusion if you will, yes?

I threw the Pepsi crate up there for some vintage love, and I'm digging all the different textures together. Creamy white dishes (Because they wouldn't fit in the cupboard and we don't drink coffee at home) metallic letters, dusty old books and aqua ball jars.

I like mixing items that have a touch of masculine and feminine (metal & flowers) old and new. Go with it. 

My helper decided to get in on the action too, with some left over Halloween candy in her mouth. Who the heck told her she could get so big? Pretty sure I JUST had her. 

Chalkboard wall

First things first, thank you SO much for the sweet words about the makeover! I was pretty nervous with it, because ya know the rule. Don't fix what isn't broken, and the old design was just fine. But I was ready for something new. Glad ya'll like it. I was sweating bullets for a minute.

Thought I'd drop in with a little face lift I did this weekend. Just for kicks and giggles.

And....Go.

Take a look here at this plain boring wall. I'd walked past it one too many times and was too irritated with it I pulled out our can of chalkboard paint and went to town with the worlds smallest paint brush.

When I get an idea, it must be done. Now.

1. Whip out the chalkboard paint

2. Paint it on

3. Forget to photograph that process

4. Let the paint cure, then rub the whole thing with chalk so that when you go to write on it, it doesn't "stick"

  5. Rub it in and get uber dusty. 

Be semi-embarrassed of your two fingernails that are sort-of painted...eek. I'm a nail polish picker, what can I say? :)

Let the dog get his picture taken, like always weirdo.

It's a nice little splash of fun in our house I think. The entry way already had the fun chalkboard tags goin' on and this is just a bigger version of it. :) 

 On another note, I think I need a new camera.. These pictures royally suck.

Just being honest.

Don't judge. :) 

What have YOU slapped chalkboard paint on lately?

Frugal Friday! 
SAS Day 
Shanty2Chic 
Before and After partay

A non-Christmas post. New dining room table.

Do you feel it? The awkward feeling like I should be still talking about Christmas right now and I'm not going to. :) Yes December feels like the month that is all about the glimmer and magic and this Craigs list find, technically was magic. Every once and a while I'll peruse CL just to see if I can find anything that fits my fancy, usually not. But then one day, the clouds parted and the angles sang. This table is EXACTLY like I wanted. At the time, we had a pub style table. Dark and way too tall for a two year old who wants to get in her booster seat by herself.

Crash.

A daily sound I'd hear.

 

I love the look of round tables, our dining room is small so a little round table is great for us and the chunky base. Goodness, I was in love. Leaf? Oh shut up. Can't get better.

Wish I'd taken a real before picture but this will have to do.

I mentioned it so sweetly to my husband and he said we could go look. Look means buy, trust me. So we did, then he asked what I wanted to do with it. Oh, sweet boy. Guess what color? Guess. Yes some lovely white. Can't go wrong.

She got two coats of Killz oil based primer. Yes oil base sucks, it's hard to clean up and tends to dry fast so you have to work faster. But, for a kitchen table I want something that is going to stick. No peeling for me! Then I went over it with a plain jane white. Followed by Deft clear wood finish, a top coat that doesn't yellow. The last thing I want is a yellow table.

 Oh, the dressers? Yeah, those are the built ins from the girls room, I figured since I had the paint out I might as well get those done too. We worked all day but everything that needed a fresh coat of white got one. :) Nothings safe when I have a new can of paint.

The chairs aren't quite done yet but eh, they will eventually. And soon enough we'll have a nice rug to soften the floor up and I'll finally put up those curtains I've had for the last year. While we're at it we might as well paint the kitchen, so sick of the yellow.  Don't tell my husband that though.

For now I'm just enjoying a table that better suits our family. 

:)