Window Pain

My name is Danielle and I am afraid of window treatments. It may sound ridiculous but I truly struggle with choosing window treatments for our home. We have lived in our house for ten months now and there are only two sets of windows in the house that have any form of coverings. Actually, scratch that. There are three but the third set is only because the previous owners left their curtains and I never took them down. I don't think that should count towards my total.

Charlotte's room has paper blinds. I think a cute patootie like her should have something way more adorable and then white paper blinds that are too long for her window. They honestly hang there, taunting me with there blandness. Aside from Charlotte's room there is our living room. The living room isn't much better. There are currently two unadorned drop cloths hanging awkwardly from a rod with not nearly enough ring clips. I'd show you pictures but I'm too embarassed.

Someday I will get around to dressing up all our windows in a way that shows off there beauty but for now I'm focused on one window and one window only. Our kitchen window. With the kitchen upgrades that I'm working on I want to have a plan for my window treatments. I don't want something too heavy. Just something small and flirty that adds some color to the space. Here are a few pictures of kitchen window treatments that have been inspiring me...

(Source: Woman's Day)

(Source: The Kitchn)

(Source: Country Living)

(Source: Southern Living)

(Source: Southern Living)

I'm not sure what I'll end up with but I'm really liking the idea of using bright patterned cloth napkins or towels as cafe curtains. Or who knows I could take a chance at conjuring up some curtains myself.

Help me out! What types of window treatments do you like to use in the kitchen?

Updated Laminate Countertops

The progress in the kitchen has been slow but steady. However, I'm excited to say that the countertops are officially painted. I have been dreaming of Ikea's butcher block countertops but, at this point, I would rather spend the money on other things for our home. I've gotta prioritize, ya know! So what's a girl to do with ugly laminate countertops and a very tight budget? Paint! Rustoleum sells a specialty paint specific for laminate countertops. I have been pondering this thought for almost a year now but was too scared to try it. However, now that the hub and I have been discussing butcher block countertops as a possible option (we could splurge and get them if we really wanted to but why not save a few bucks!) I figure I didn't have much to lose. In all actuality if it panned out for us we could save money!

After making the final decision to go through with the project I went out to the Lowe's by my work and purchased Rustoleum's Specialty Countertop Coating. As you can see on the box, the coat may be tinted to 16 different colors. I wanted to keep the countertops relatively neutral but also complimentary to the soon-to-be white cabinets. With that being said we went with "Light Ash" which is a soft gray color. After reading up on the product I grabbed all of my other necessities. For application you will need a foam roller for a smooth finish, painter's tape for painting of your work space, and a brush with flagged ends.

Because I am a total dip, I did not buy a brush with flagged ends. Instead I used a foam "Poly-Brush" that I had on hand. It worked out for me because I didn't have many areas where brush application was needed, however, I would recommend using a proper brush for your application. I would also recommend wearing gloves, which I did not because as I said, I am a dip. The coating is extremely sticky and hard to get off. It is recommended that clean up be done with Xylene. I personally discarded my rollers and brush after use.

This is what my counters looked like prior to applying the Countertop Coating. They were a light tan color with a speckled appearance. They didn't really fit my particular taste. Here is a close up to give you a better idea of what I was working with...

It's not the most terrible thing I've ever seen but with painting the cabinets I wanted to change up the counter as well. 

As I began applying there were a few things that I noticed. 1) It was important to keep the roller moving all the way from the front to the back of the counter in a fluid motion. (This will help to reduce roller marks.) 2)Keeping the brush relatively wet seemed to help as well. If my roller got too dry it seemed to make the finish appear more spongy. 3) I should roll out the top of the counter then move to my edge to catch any drips.



I wasn't sure what to expect as far as how many coats I would need. I didn't want the surface to appear too goopy (so what if it isn't a technical term!) so I made sure my coats were on the thin side. I ended up doing three total coats and still had paint to spare. The package says 1 quart covers 25 linear feet of average sized counterspace. It doesn't mention how many coats that is for but I was able to apply three even coats and only use 3/4 of the can but we also only have approximately 12 linear feet of counter space (small kitchen!)

I did this last night and the counters can not be used for 3 days so I can't say how well they will hold up but for now I'm loving the change.

Our laminate countertops have gone from yucky speckled tan to a nice clean, chic looking gray. Here is a close up of one of the edges...

While these aren't the butcher block countertops I have been dreaming about I will say they are an improvement. Are they perfect? No. Do they work for me? Yes! Overall this project cost me 30 buckaroos. For 30 bucks I can not complain. After I have had a chance to give these babies a test drive I'll let you know how durable they truly are. I'll also have to break my habit of not using a cutting board! I know, I know. I'm bold.

All in all I'm calling this project a success. And now for good measure here is Before & After shot...

I am one satisfied girl right now! What do you think? Do you have ugly laminate counters you'd like to paint or have already painted?

Oh and I forgot to mention - Make sure you've got some windows open and any little ones in your household aren't around. This stuff was very potent. You may also want to consider wearing a mask!

Thanks for dropping by! I hope you'll visit again soon! :)

Diy Play Kitchen

Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! One of my best friend was home this past week for a visit so I had a wonderful weekend catching up with her. We've known each other since Kindergarten! It's unreal to me that even though we see eachother barely once a year that nothing ever changes. It just goes to show that true friendship will stand the test of time despite the distance.

Anyhow, today I wanted to share the Play Kitchen that I made for my daughter back at Christmas time. After seeing all of the wonderful Play Kitchens around blogland I knew this is something I wanted to do for my little peanut. I looked and looked to find an affordable used entertainment center with no such luck until one week before Christmas. That meant I had a very strict one week deadline. Oy vey! Talk about some pressure!

This is something that I had planned on taking several weeks but ended up squishing it into one week. Needless to say I pretty much dedicated every spare moment to this project to ensure that it would be ready for Christmas morning. Here is the before...

The entertainment center was generously given to me by a friend of my parents. They had purchased a new one and were looking to get rid of this one. It was absolutely perfect for what I had in mind. After a week of devoting myself to this project I ended up with this adorable little play kitchen.

The first thing I did was rearrange the bottom shelf pieces to make the sink and oven area even. Once that was done I primed the entire piece and then painted it. Most of the paint that I used was leftover from other various projects. In anticipation for the "sink" I used a jigsaw to cut a hole the would fit the size of my bowl. The bowl I used was also something that I had on hand from a set of mixing bowls that I had yet to use because I have multiple sets. I figured it would serve a better purpose as Charlotte's sink than collecting dust on a shelf.

Next, the doors were cut from an MDF board, primed and painted. After they had dried I attached them with hinges and magnetic closures. I also used simple stainless drawer pulls for the "fridge" and "stove" handles. To provide depth to the stove I glued another piece of MDF to the top of stove. The pot rack was a key rack that I purchased from Home Depot on one of my many trips.

Every kitchen needs a window so I dug out two picture frames I had in a closet to create a "double hung window". Once I glued the frames to the wood backing I inserted blue cardstock into the frames to give the illusion of a sky. The basket was one I had on hand and spray painted with Rustoleum's "Lagoon Blue" for added color.

I think the last two final touches are my favorite from the project. On the left hand side I painted it with chalkboard paint for Charlotte to draw on. The final detail is the window valance and sink skirt. I didn't want to spend money on fabric so I turned to some of Charlotte's old clothes. I found a nice colorful shirt that matched the color scheme of the kitchen and cut it in half. One half was used for the valance and the other the sink skirt.

I'm so happy with how this turned out and I'm glad I didn't run out and buy a cheapy plastic kitchen for her. This is something that will be around for not only Charlotte but also any children we have in the future.

Have any of you created your own play kitchen? How did it turn out?

In Your Face Blue

When we purchased our house there was one room that I could not wait to renovate. For the first couple of weeks that we lived here the door stayed shut and it sat unused and shut off from my home. It was our half bath. It was awful. It was blue from floor to ceiling. I'm talking blue toilet, blue sink, blue walls, blue ceiling, the whole nine yards. I could not stand it! When people would come over to the house to check it out for the first time I was constantly making comments that sounded like this, "And this is the half bath. We're going to redo the whole thing. It's really bad." I'm not sure why it irritated me so much because I surely had seen worse but now that it has been months since I have had to stare at that blue toilet I am thrilled to look at how it was before and compare it to the after. This is what I was dealing with before...

I should also mention that residing on the wall behind the toilet was this ceiling height shelving unit along with some weird metal racks hanging off of the side of the toilet. I'm not really sure what someone would hang off of the side of a toilet but perhaps it was for reading material. I can only imagine. But without further ado this is my lovely half bath now...

The color appears much more pink when photgraphed. The color is actually called "Bellegrove Rose" from Valspars paint line. I actually decided on this color after a really rash decision of wanting to paint it red. It was awful. Needless to say I made a quick trip to Lowe's to pick up this lovely shade. I think my favorite part about this color was explaining it to my husband. I was afraid to tell him that it was pink so I kept telling him it was along the lines of a dusty rose sort of color. I did not lie. That is truly what it is. I just didn't want to slip and say the word pink because I'm not sure he would have liked the idea too much. I should also mention that my husband is color blind so he does not see colors in the true light.

I'm linking this post to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before & After Party. Check it out!

My Kitchen: A Work In Progress

Hello there! As I mentioned yesterday I'm working on making some changes in our kitchen. Our kitchen is small and on top of that it has low ceilings. Oh and I forgot to mention a brick wall. When we first looked at our house the exposed brick was one of the things that I really liked. It was unique especially given the history of our home. (The original part of the house was built in the 1930s and was a small brick home. In the early 1970s the previous owners purchased the property from family and hired an architect to build an addition. The exposed brick is an original exterior wall of the house.) Here is what the kitchen looked like when we first saw it...

(This picture was actually taken directly from the listing on Fizber.com.)

 However, over the past couple of months I've grown tired of looking at the somewhat dingy dark brick. It seems to suck all the light out of the room. Exposed brick does work in some spaces and I was hoping it would work for me but it just seems to make me feel like my kitchen is always dirty. With the being said painting the brick is on my list of things to do. Even though it will be covered with a layer of paint it will still add some nice texture and architetural interest to the room I think.

Anywho, that is what I was working with before I got all antsy and started taking cabinets and things down. This is currently what that same corner looks like...

Obviously this is a slightly different angle but you can see that the cabinet currently resides on the floor instead of the wall. We also took another cabinet down that was above the fridge. This cabinet had to go regardless because our refrigerator prevents the doors from being opened and closed. This is what that beautiful corner now looks like...

And for a disgusting close up....

Yes, I know. Not the most appetizing picture but sometimes things have to look worse before they look better. Some spackle and paint and it'll be good as new! And that will not happen on it's own unfortunately so I am off to spackle my little heart out!

Kitchen Inspiration

Yesterday I finally decided to dive into redoing the kitchen. My peanut had laid down for a nap and I began pestering my husband with things like "Come on, let's just go take that one cabinet down. It needs to come down anyways." After a few minutes I got him in there. I'll share pictures later as to the state of array that my kitchen is currently in. I don't intend on this being a major renovation but it's definitely going to take time and alot of work. So far all that has happened is a few cabinets came down along with pieces of the hideous laminate backsplash. As for what I am aiming to achieve with this makeover I'm thinking something along the lines of an Eclectic Country Kitchen. Here are some of the images that are currently inspiring me....

 

I am absolutely loving the vibrant colors against the clean white walls. Open shelving is definitely on the wish list for our kitchen.

I love the paneling behind the open shelving on this one. I'm also loving the stainless accents and chalkboards!

Again, I'm completely envious of the paneling and open shelving combination. Another feature I'm dying to have in my kitchen is butcher block countertops.

By now you're probably noticing a open shelving trend. The under counter baskets are another item on my wish list.

What are your opinions on open shelving? Do you love it or hate or scared to try it?