Summer Project - Kitchen Cabinet Redo

Apartments are great, especially if you're not ready to commit to a house and take care of your own lawn, pest problems, and fix the AC when it's broken.  They're not great if you like to decorate and customize your home (unless you live somewhere, like NYC, where you actually BUY apartments instead of rent them).

I've been living in apartments for the last ten years and I think I've gotten pretty clever at learning how to adapt my space and floorplan into something less college dorm and more Better Homes and Garden worthy.  My current floorplan in one of the best I've lived in–it may be small at approximately 700 sq. ft, but I've managed to make it work so far.  We got rid of a lot of things and rethought how to do certain things, like a desk space (we have a built in desk, but it's awkwardly placed across from the kitchen that it's just not feasible for much beyond a bar and craft supply storage) and creating 'rooms' out of a large common area (living, dining, and play).

Since Michael and I got back together and he moved back in late last year, we've been on a quest to organize and downsize, since the space is so small and room is limited.  I decided to start with the kitchen and while the majority of it is organized, I felt it needed just a little bit more color and oomph.  Since it's an apartment, I can't really take out or paint the cabinets, so I did the next best thing...decorate them!

I measured my cabinet fronts and then took some pretty contact paper I found at Target and cut it to fit.  Then after cleaning the cabinet fronts (to remove any grease...it is the kitchen afterall!), I peeled it off and stuck it to the front.  I think it made a huge improvement and my kitchen is so much happier now!

Yes, my kitchen is a little cluttered....work in progress, people!

What do you think?

Cheers,
Kelly

Deckin' the Halls and Thanksgiving 2010 Recap

Now that we are recovered from our food comas yesterday...

We had a wonderful time visiting with Michael's mom's family and my family yesterday for Thanksgiving.  It was Michael's mom's birthday yesterday, so we drove out to Wimberley, TX to have dinner with Gigi, Aunt Cait, Auntie 'Chelle, Uncle Kevin, Uncle Steve, Aunt Jerry, Nana, and Mrs. Roberts (Uncle Steve's mom).  Dinner was fabulous and we watched the Macy's parade, a dog show, and the beginning of the Cowboys vs. Saints game.  We also took a lovely walk around the ranch to make some room for dessert:

Some of us climbed...

And ran...

And played in the birdbath!

Afterwards, we drove to my parents' house in Buda and enjoyed Thanksgiving 2.0 with my folks, my brothers David and Philip, Phil's girlfriend Andrea, and his roommate Aaron.  I am sad to say that my beloved Longhorns put up a good fight against the Aggies, but it wasn't enough.  We lost 24-17 and I was so very sad.  I seriously hope the Aggies make it the Big 12 Championship though; we need a Texas team to represent!

This year's Thanksgiving was one of the best, although it was marred just slightly by the news that my husband's Gramma Bobbe took ill and so we won't be seeing that side of the family this year.  We hope you feel better soon, Gramma!

We traditionally spend Black Friday decorating our home for Christmas and we definitely did that this morning!  Michael had to work in the afternoon, so we got an early start and were done in about an hour.  Now that's what I call teamwork!  Billa lent a hand hanging ornaments on the tree.  Here is a fine example of her handiwork:

At least she's consistent!

The stocking were hung by the chimney with care...

...In the hopes that St. Nick would soon be there!

In other news, the weather is finally cold!  I don't know how long it will last, but I am s thrilled about cold weather.  I broke out the sweaters this morning and put away some of my summer clothes.  I like to layer in the wintertime, so I didn't put away everything of course, but it was so refreshing to see my sweaters hanging back up again.

I have to say, given everything that has happened this year, I am so grateful to be able to spend the holidays with my husband's family as well as my own.  I have come to consider them as my family too and I grieved to think that I might not be seeing them at the holidays.  You certainly never know what you have until you are faced with losing it. 

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well and that if you are going out today that you're safe!  And if you are going out today, show a little kindness and appreciation to any retail employees you encounter...it will make for happiness all around!

Cheers,
Kelly

Room Redo: Part Deux

Billa's room redo has begun!

The last time I posted about redoing her room, I had started a list.  Well, it is with great relief and accomplishment that I can actually cross the first item off of it:

• Finish canvases and hang them
• Make new curtains (and hang them this time!)
• Make quilt and buy solid colored sheets to coordinate
• Get big girl bed and refinish/paint if needed
• Procure a couple of cute woodsy themed accents

Yes!  Here's a sneak peek at the finished canvases:

And here they are hanging up:

I'm one step there! Hurrah!

Here's what I am working on next:

Stay tuned!
Kelly

Room Redo!

Spring always inspires me to do STUFF. Whether it's trying new recipes, revamping my wardrobe or gardening, the energy of the season flows through me and I find myself up to my eyeballs in DIY projects of every kind.  This spring, I have unofficially resolved to not start new projects unless they are related to finishing an old project (does declaring it on my blog count as officially declaring it?).  The first one that comes to mind is decorating Sybilla's room!

Long before she was born, I had decided that her nursery theme would be "Family Tree"– I was going to make a huge tree mural and hang small photo frames of various family members from the branches and create a giant family tree.  I had chosen this sweet bedding set because it had all the colors I wanted to use and while still feminine, it was not overtly girly or pink:

This is "Secret Garden" made by Lambs & Ivy

Alas, despite it being on the registry we never received a single piece of the bedding set as a gift.  Our budget after baby got increasingly tight and so I never really got to buy any of it much less actually decorate Billa's room.  Then we moved and I resolved to actually decorate her room this time!  I got as far as painting her walls her favorite bright green color.  I did make some cute curtains for the room, but Michael's hand injury prevented us from being able to hang them right away and as more time passed, I grew to dislike them.  Ok, and I decided not to paint the mural but instead make a set of canvases, but that has yet to be finished.  Alright, alright.  And I also stripped, sanded and painted the dollhouse shelf with new paint.  But that was far from my dream of the perfect kids room!

Now it's a year later and another spring and I am hankerin' to get decoratin'!  I have decided to change up the theme a bit from "Family Tree" to "Whimsical Woodland."  I'm going to finish those damn canvases if it kills me and I plan on adding bird and critter accents to the room.  The walls will stay green and the dollhouse shelf will stay white with red trim.  We are in the process of getting Sybilla a big girl bed and she received a lovely mirror vanity from Gigi for Christmas.  Depending on what they look like, I may repaint them all, I haven't decided.  I have some old cabinet door panels from the carpentry job gone wrong that are made from cherry wood and I plan on using those for the bed's headboard. 

I've been looking at inspirations for bedding and accents and I found lots of different things.  Target's Circo has TWO adorable woodland themed bed sets, but while I like them, I don't LOVE them.  One of them is way too pink and the other just doesn't have quite the feel I want.  Plus, I need to do this on a budget.  I have fallen in love with this lamp and nightlight though and I just might splurge on them, I don't know yet!

The bed set on the left is just too pink for my taste.  The bed set on the right is perfect colors, but it just doesn't feel right.  Plus, they don't actually have it in store; you have to order it and I don't know that I want to do that for something I don't adore.  The lamp and the nightlight though are just too cute!

While I love Target and the bed sets I found were cute, they just didn't grab me like this from Pottery Barn Kids:

PBK Brooke Bedding set...I love it and it's perfect for what I want to do!

I just adore Pottery Barn.  It is totally my style and always will be.  It's classy, chic, and memorable all in one.  They always add a touch of unusual to everything, they have the best inspiration pictures, and the colors!  Everything is always so colorful without being over the top.  But their prices leave my bank account in pain, so I very rarely buy.  When I saw this set at PBK, I fell in love.  I love the colors on the quilt, the varying fabrics, the whimsical touches, and yes, he almost vintage feel to it.  It's almost shabby chic, but not.  But at $160 for the quilt (which would be the only piece I'd buy), I just can't do it.  So I'm going to make a version of it instead!  I've made quilts before and I have years of sewing under my belt, not to mention I have some cute fabrics I can use already.  I think it will be more special anyway if I make it, and there's the bonus of being able to customize it to my color scheme.

So the to do list is thusly:

• Finish canvases and hang them
• Make new curtains (and hang them this time!)
• Make quilt and buy solid colored sheets to coordinate
• Get big girl bed and refinish/paint if needed
• Procure a couple of cute woodsy themed accents

And hopefully by the end of all that, I shall have the cutest little girl's room on the face of this planet.  I'll keep you posted!

Cheers,
Kelly