Use Your Imagination

Our big project the last few months has been redoing our kitchen. I didn't take any pictures of before, which I could kick myself now for doing because it is hard to appreciate how much better it looks now than what it was before.  That's where using your imagination comes in.... Our house was built in 1985 and had the original golden oak cupboard where the finish was starting to come off and they just looked sad.  We had cream formica countertops that absolutely did nothing for the room. The floor is what I HATED the most, every time I cleaned it which was at least twice a day, I would curse it! It was white linoleum that looked dirty all the time even after mopping it. We also had a stainless steel sink that looked like it had better days.  Needless to say it needed some love.  Trent and I did everything except installing the countertops, it's nice to have my own personal handyman. I'm really happy with the results, it's amazing what it has done for the space.

Amazing what a coat of white paint will do for sad cupboards, and adding hardware totally changed the look of the cupboards.

Here are the new countertops-black added so much more warmth than the cream did before



Here's a glance at the new sink-I decided on white porcelain instead of stainless since we don't have anything else stainless in the room. It's a much deeper sink which makes a much bigger difference than I thought it would. I didn't realize I had such a shallow sink before.



And here is my favorite part of all-the floors-so much prettier if I do say than UGLY white linoleum.  Trent did an amazing job. We also added the beadboard and trim for a finishing touch.

This was just a little side project that I did for my birthday with a little help from my friend, Erika. I have been wanting to do a gallery wall in my living room for awhile to fill the big wall above my sofa. I decided on the theme home. The thought that wherever you are is home.  I framed a bunch of maps of all the places Trent and I had lived before adding in a few pictures of family. It turned out just the way I wanted it to and fills the space so much better than the one picture that was there before.

I mostly posted this for my mom to see, since I have been promising forever to send her pictures. I finally decided this is the easiest route to post them.  So anyone else who reads this-thank you for indulging me.

Decking the Halls

I am finally done with all the decorating for Christmas. There's so many pretty things out in the stores that I pine over and wish for, but this year I decided(okay the decision really was made for me) I needed to decorate with what I had on hand. I had to dig a little into my brain to get a little more creative(not nearly as creative as some out there in blogland). So here is just a peek at what I did(I'm documenting mostly for me, so next year I can remember exactly what I did).

1. STAR-This is the only new thing I did-Very cheap,easy and so fun(just the way I like it). I did this project with my friend Melissa. Each of ours turned out very different but both so cute(if I do say so myself). I just have to find a place to put it, so I can show it off properly.

2.This is my twinkle jar. Just some lights and berry garland wrapped around each other in a jar-tucked away in a lonely corner to light it up.

3.My front door this year-using a metal stocking that I got last year. My version of saying Welcome, come on in.

4.My mantle-using stockings that Trent's mom has made each of us-and our collection of nutcrackers that we've collected over the years. The kids fight over which nutcracker stands watch over their stockings.

5.Remember my bargain lanterns that I filled with Fall things?-they now have been switched to being all Christmasy(I love those lanterns, what can I fill them with next?)

6.My corner window, where I can be reminded daily-the reason for the season.

7.My living room table( Trent recently painted it the happy blue, it looks so much better than the green it used to be).

8.This inspiration came from my trusty Souther Living Magazine-I filled the tray with split peas(bag for 67 cents, who knew that I liked those green peas after all?) put some little red fake berries in, wrapped some red string around the candles and voila-Christmas.

9.I think this might be my favorite-strung some garland I had around the light and hung some ornaments. It makes me happy to look at.

So there you go- Hope you liked the peek-I'm wishing I could peek into each of your windows and see what cute things you've done to bring Christmas to your house. Have you hauled out the holly yet and hung the stockings with care? If not-remember Christmas is only 16 days away!(eek! I'm not ready!)