So it's been awhile since I last blog. I blame A) my three week trip to Nebraska to visit family and B) my laziness (since I've been back for a couple weeks now). I've never been good at routine; I've never been able to journal for more than a week, I don't remember to take my multi-vitamins every day, and apparently I can't blog consistently either. But now is better than never right?
Like I previously mentioned, I spent most of July and early August in the midwest visiting family. It was just me and my Sweetpea visiting, giving Daddy a little break. We drove (well, I drove) the two day trip. Seems horrible, but Aliyah is a good passenger since she's been driving literally across the country since she was an infant. I just stocked up on Red Bull and sang Dixie Chicks the whole way. Our visit was long overdue so I expected to stay awhile, although things got a little lengthier with the complication of my sister getting an appendectomy. RIP Bailey's appendix. Overall it was a wonderful trip.
I want to share with you what my sister and I did (before losing her appendix) for my mom during my visit. We are super proud of our work, and I'm super proud of how thrifty we were ;) This is what my mom's kitchen looked like before:
To be fair, that's how it was when we moved in over 10 years ago, so you can't blame my mom. It was just all wrong though, from the bunnies on the wallpaper to the bunnies stenciled along the top. The dark cabinets looked dated and were generally in need of maintenance. The kitchen doesn't have a built-in dishwasher, so there was a rolling one that you hooked up to the faucet. It never got used though, so Craigslist found it a new home (and we got more money in our budget). The general plan of attack was to just freshen everything up.
About four days and alot of blood, sweat, and tears later, this was the finished result!
We removed the wallpaper, primed, and painted with a lovely, warm color called "Toffee Crunch". RIP blue bunnies! We also removed all the cabinets so they could be cleaned, the hinges got a good dose of WD-40, and we put new knobs and drawer pulls on. After all that diry work was done we had alot of fun doing the decorating. The new curtains, the blue sign that says "Live Simply" and some new dishtowels and oven mitts came from Big Lots. (They were having a special 20% off sale so we got the towels cheaper than we would have at the Dollar Tree - how often does THAT happen?!)
This shelf was just on the other side of this dividing wall. We moved it into the kitchen and antiqued it with a little white paint and some sandpaper. The artwork up above is from the Dollar Tree and the decorative blue balls were from Big Lots. You may be wondering why I'm telling you where everything came from; I am proud of the bargains I find and love to share them. I'm that person who, when you compliment an article of clothing, immediately tells you it was on sale/clearance/had a coupon/whatever. But I digress... The jar of seashells were collected by my grandfather while he served in the Pacific in WWII, and the schoolbell belonged to my grandmother. Most of the dished/knick knacks were pulled from the back of cabinets. The photos of Aliyah were taken by my good friend Elisabeth at ElisabethCS, frames from the Dollar Tree.
You may have noticed the blue breadbox in the before pictures, we gave that a coat of white spray paint and then painted the front with chalkboard paint. We thought it would be useful for shopping lists or notes or for wonderful artwork by a three year old ;)
I made customizable recycling containers with some spray paint, a homemade stencil, and some more chalkboard paint. Great way to reuse a kitty litter container!
I'm really proud of the cabinet fixtures. It was a small change that really made a big impact in the end. I adore the little bird art too, which of course came from the Dollar Tree :)
All these items were hiding in a cupboard, but I think they are a really good addition to the whole asthetic. I also want to mention how much the new wall color reinvigorates the (realllllly outdated) linoleum counters.
And this little detail is possibly my favorite part. The first person to figure out how it came to be wins 1,000 Friendship Dollars!
Alright, that concludes this HGTV-like entry. I promise to blog again soon as I've been super crafty lately....
