Kitchen Island re-do

It's all done and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. 

This is what I started with - it was fine white but my cabinets are a glazed cream color and the white just wasn't doing it for me. And it just seemed...a bit too...old school maybe. But you know - for something I bought at a garage sale 10 years ago - it's been great. It just needed a make-over!

I wanted a very dark brown - almost black - but I couldn't find that exact color. SO what's a girl to do? Improvise!

Here's what I did. I lightly sanded it down to "rough" it up a bit. 

After that I went over it in spots with a brick red color so that later when I sanded the edges I would get a hint of the red and the white. I like layers!

so then I went over the whole thing in a flat black

And then I went over all of it in a dark, chocolate brown - and got this.

It is the exact color I wanted. I also sprayed some brushed nickel on the knobs and voila - new, old kitchen island that cost me NADA. I already owned everything I used. 

I like that it is a darker color compared to my cabinets. And I feel like it grounds the space more too.

To review - front side

before

and

after

from the side - before

before

and

after

From behind 

before

and

after - I added a chalkboard :) 

I love that too. And so does the 3 yr old!

Thanks for looking!

I'm linkin up!

AND

real quick like

The kitchen island is DONE - I even have it in the house. I'm just finishing the drawer pulls and it will be totally finished.

In other news I just scored some AWESOME finds from the trash. An old, metal porch chair. I'm totally psyched. I have to get all the rust off of it and it is COVERED. So that is my next project.

Pictures to follow in a bit!

To Paint or Not To Paint

that is my questions for you peeps.

Here's my dilemma.

We have this one wall in our kitchen and it really has no purpose. We didn't put cabinets on that side for two reasons - 1. we were basically out of money from having just gutted the kitchen and putting cabinets everywhere else...and 2. we weren't sure if we were going to maybe knock that wall out and open the kitchen to the living room. (please excuse the Diego Rescue Backpack in the lower right of the photo AND the tools all over the stove. They are not, in fact, supposed to be there but the hubby and the 3 yr old seem to use this part of my kitchen as a "catch all" dumping ground. )

SO I just made do. The stove is an old Chambers that was in the house when we bought it. It probably still works although it isn't hooked up to anything right now. We just moved it over there b/c I thought it was cool and old and I didn't want to part with it. I store water bottles and capri suns in it now! Anyway - I don't really want to get rid of it yet BUT, truth is, I could use more storage in the kitchen. And it is kinda taking up a large amount of room without a large amount of function. Not a good combo.

Now - for reference - here is picture of our other side of the kitchen - so you can get a feel for the color of the cabinets, etc.

I *tried* resizing 3 times - no idea what is going on here - but you get the idea of what the kitchen looks like.

Here's what I'm wondering. We have this China cabinet in our dining room - the dining room that is currently under Re-DO. This was part of the dining room set that hubby's dad gave us. We didn't buy it or pick it out - it was a freebie.

We already *have* a china cabinet in the dining room that is built in and original to the home. You can see it in these pictures.

Original leaded glass. *swoon* I love this cabinet.

Point is I don't need two. It is cluttering up the space. And it is big and dark. And ...well...I just don' t love it. BUT it was given to us by hubby's father. This was hubby's parent's dining room furniture.

So do I take the doors off, paint it the same creamy color as the existing cabinets, and move it into the kitchen - it could hold my dishes and I could put baskets in the bottom (where the doors are now) and use it for storage. OR should we leave it as is? If we leave it alone it is going to the basement to be stored.

*sigh*

Obviously I'm on the side of painting it and USING it. Hubby is afraid we'll "ruin" it if we paint it. I told him I would rather be using it and loving it instead of having it languish away in storage. I don't know. I need opinions!

I'm linking up to Amanda at Serenity Now's Decorating Dilemma's party!

Color my World

Color has been a large part of my life. And I have always felt that the colors around us influence our moods - I am a believer in color psychology. Which brings me to what I"ve been doing the last few days - rethinking the colors in our home.

Let me start by saying that I've never been a big fan of the color blue. There is nothing wrong with the color - but it just didn't speak to me. I have never felt that I had any real connection to it; I don't live by the ocean or even a lake and I don't even have blue eyes. I have no foundation in the color whatsoever. I have also thought that it would be a lovely color to decorate if I lived near water. But I don't. I live in Oklahoma - a state that is just about as landlocked as you can get. The colors I decorate with mostly are the colors I see everyday around me: shades of green ( like my eyes ), yellows, golds, tans and browns. The shades that color the Great Plains in which I live.

But now, all of a sudden, I am finding myself drawn to the color blue - or shades of it at least. I bought a new coverlet for our bed the other day that is turquoise and light blue. I have been switching out my red and brown accents in the living room for white milk glass and items of blue and turquoise. I am finding it all very relaxing, soothing, and most importantly, calming. These 3 feelings are all things I need more of in my life. Interestingly, I find that I am almost unconsciously attempting to create that around myself right now.

Which brings me to my dining room. *SIGH* Currently I have a red dining room. We bought this house in the summer of 2004 and this was the first room I painted. It is painted a color called Ladybug. I still love the color BUT I am just tired of it. It has been 5 years. And also, RED just doesn't speak to me anymore.

When I painted this room, red definitely had something to say to me and about me. I had just landed a big job. I was in charge of 500 employees and I was learning my way through a department of 8 direct reports and how to hold my own in an industry that was ALL male. Red was my color; it was my shield and my safe place.

But it isn't so much anymore. I find that I shrink from red right now. I want something quieter. I want my dining room to softly speak to me rather than yell. I want to feel calmed by it rather than excited. I really want to paint my dining room a warm gray color.

Now, I went round and round with this last November and I just could NOT find the "right" gray. The trouble is that our wood trim, and there is a lot of it, is all stained. It is the original trim and because of that I have flinched from painting it. Well, that and the prospect of all the sanding we'd have to do. But I keep coming back to this and feeling that it is just time - time to do it. I am feeling that it may be time to paint at least some of the trim. Possibly the trim around the windows, doors, baseboards and some of the crown molding. We also have a built in hutch that is the original wood trim. You can see part of the built in here in this picture. I may not paint that. I wonder if it will look ok to leave that alone. I guess we'll find out.

So anyway - this is my next big project. If anyone has any pointers or words of wisdom - I'm all ears. Wish me luck.

Giveaway!!!

Real quick before I go to bed - I had to post about a Fun Giveaway over at Finesse Your Nest!

Kendall is celebrating 200 followers by giving away a book each day this week!!! Head over to her blog and check it out!!!!

We are supposed to have really pretty weather tomorrow so I am thinking about doing some painting/crafting! If I am able to I'll get some things posted on here...but no promises I still have a sick little baby girl (viral throat infection = yuckies) so it may or may not happen. But here's hoping!!! Oh and I also re-vamped our bedroom and lightened it up for Spring/Summer. I just need to change the lamp shades from dark red to a crisp white and I'll feel better about how it's looking. Maybe I'll post some pictures of that if I get time too!

edited - to fix the typos. Good lord you can tell I was sleepy when I typed all that!

All sorts of Good Things

It's been a few days!
First of several Good Things - my husband got our heater working again! HOORAH! It took 2 different trips to OKC and 3 different blower motors but he finally did it. He is awesome like that - I think I'll keep him!

Second Good Thing - I got a job writing for a website online! YAAA!!! It is challenging for me but also very cool.

Third Good Thing - Alec tried out for a part in the school musical of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and got a part! We don't know which part but he got one! YAAAA!!! Go Alec!

Fourth Good Thing - I have been a crafting/re-doing fool! I'm also linking up to 3 different parties - Kendall over at Finesse Your Nest for Shop Your House Sunday, Kimm at Reinvented for Trash to Treasure Tuesday, and with Maryann over at Domestically Speaking for her Power of Paint party! I'm having another MRI tomorrow for the Meningiomas ( I talk about that over here, here, and here ) and that means that I have had a TON of nervous energy to burn. That equals me being almost manic and getting a bunch of projects finished! So WOOT for me on that account! So hold on to your hats ladies - there are LOTS of pictures in this post.

First off are the Shop Your House items:

 

This old sewing machine used to sit in the middle of my looooong living room wall where the console table sits now. It is beyond thunderdome heavy so when we rearranged the living room the husband did not want to move it far - much less down the stairs into the basement. So we tried it at the side of the sofa - where we needed a table anyway - and it worked!

 This is the console table we moved down and now it is sitting just about where 

the sewing machine was - this needed to be here. It is holding several items I "shopped" for in my house. The little glass doodads and the clock on the left side were scavenged from other areas as was the skinny buffet lamp!

 Close up shots of the items! That bamboo wood frame also came from the Salvation Army. It was 50 cents.

Now on to Trash to Treasure and the Power of Paint!

First off are the mirrors!
A couple of weeks back I had posted a picture of a large round mirror I had found in my basement on another Shop Your House Sunday with Kendall. Well - I had a vision and it included LOTS of mirrors surrounding that large one on my dining room walls. I finally got it finished! 

 

This is the left side of the large window.

This is the right side.

This is a shot of the room. 

It is a work in progress! I still need to re-cover those chairs cushions but that is a future project!

I only spent a total of $12 on all of those mirrors - other than the large round one on the left as I already had that one. 

First - I taped the mirrors off. As you can see they were all sorts of types and colors!

 

Then I spray painted them Satin Nickel.

Then I went over them with a mixture of black craft paint and glazing medium, wiped them down and Voila! New, old mirrors! All came from thrift stores, Goodwill and the Salvation Army! Gotta love spray paint and glaze!!!

And a closer look at the other side too.

Excuse the finger prints on the mirror - my 3 yr old had been "helping". ;) 

Now the next project was my very looooong living room wall. I had NOT been happy with it since we moved in 5 yrs ago but I could not figure out what to do with it. I went on a rearranging kick and then it came to me - I'll showcase some of our family photos on that wall. 

Before

I know, a very 'tired' sofa and part of the blah wall behind it

Then I added a slipcover - BETTER - but not there yet. 

So I rearranged....

After

 All the photos are in Sepia (except the one large photo of Piper and I right after she was born) and everything is in a shade of dark brown frame.

  

These frames also came from thift stores, the Salvation Army and Goodwill and only cost me $8 total. I painted some of them dark brown and glazed with black and others I left as they were.

  

The husband thought I was crazy at first - hanging empty frames on the wall and then putting framed pictures inside those frames....but now he likes it. I dig the architectural element of it.

Trying to get the entire wall here...see it is still a bowling alley of a room but I think this helps break it up a bit and give it interest. I still need to get another basket for under the console table...or possibly an old suitcase to hold throws and pillows...still working on that one. 

  

And this is the After picture, with a cameo by Max, of where the sofa ended up. The picture frame wall is to the right. Still a work in progress here too. I need something large over the sofa...so I was thinking maybe 3 large photos of the kids, blown up and framed out in 11X14 frames???? Possibly???? I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for looking! I know it was long but I told you - I've been burning off nervous energy!!!

Quandries and Give-Aways!

What's a girl to do? I have several painting projects that I would like to get underway but they all require me to be able to spray paint them and that requires that I be outside to do it. It is only in the 30's here and that, according to the can, is too cold to effectively use said spray paint. *hmph* I checked the weather and it says that we won't have temps in the 50's until Saturday and 50's, according to the paint can, is the coolest it can be for the paint to adhere correctly. *sigh*

So here is what I have planned to work on this week if the weather holds:

Painting

First, the table/magazine stand that I found during my shopping the house expedition. I am going to get it cleaned up, put a coat of Almond Satin spray paint over it, sand it and rough it up a bit, and then go over it with a dark brown glaze to age it. Hopefully it will turn out well. I'll post pictures either way.


Second, I have these 2 small mirrors that are currently an ugly cross between brass and gold. I'm going to spray paint them a silver Nickel and then go over them with the dark brown glaze too. I'm actually going for more of a "champagne" finish on these. But since I can't find a champagne finish spray paint I thought I'd try the brown glaze of the top of silver and just see how it turns out. I'll post pics of those too when they are done.

Thrift Storing

Tomorrow I'm taking Max into Norman to go to Mother's Day Out and that means that Miss Pip and I get to go cruise the thrift stores. WOOT! Nothing gets me more excited than a good thrift store outing! I'm searching for old mirrors but who knows what else I'll find. Maybe some cool fabric, baskets, or a nice old piece of furniture? What I love about thrift stores is the possibilities they hold. I like finding something that has been discarded and giving it a purpose again; a new lease on life; a second chance. That speaks to me.

The Husband is Out of Town 

And you know what that means; it is time to rearrange the furniture! HA! Poor guy - he never knows what he will find whenever he has to go away for his job for a few days. *giggle* I usually do things like this when he leaves. It gives me more time to move everything back to where it was if it looks terrible tweak what I've done! I took pictures today of what I'm dealing with in my living room and I'll post them IF the furniture arrangement scheme works out. The problem is that my living room is it's real long and skinny - a rectangley bowling alley shape and it makes me crazy because I can never seem to get the furniture placement *right*.

In the Mean Time

My son, Alec, who is 12 came home from school today in a funk. When I finally got him to tell me what was going on it turns out that a "friend" of his made a joke about me at recess. I have Bell's Palsy and I talk about that over here at my personal blog. I hate that I have this but there isn't anything I can do about it that I haven't already done or am currently doing. It just *is* right now. But his little buddy thought it would be cute to turn it into a joke and that hurt Alec and embarrassed him terribly. He was/is really angry. I'm not sure what to do without making the situation worse - but I guess I just want to ask - why do 12 year olds have to be so nasty? I can take it but why does that little asshat have to do that to my son??? Oh how I dislike middle school aged children...(other than my own, of course.)

And now...the Good Stuff aka a Give - Away!!!

I'm going to link up to a cool blog called Drab to Fab that is having a fabulous give-away! Go here to read all about it, and enter to win 3 different things! YA for fun give-aways!