Kitchen {inspiration}

Been thinking about my kitchen re-do lately. So I thought I would make a design board …

Plastic {free} Pantry

In a very small effort to transform my kitchen, I decided to ditch the plastic in my pantry. I've done this before, but not to this extent. I was in Ace Hardware the other day and noticed that Ball makes ½ gallon jars. I really had no idea. I had just purchased a dozen wide-mouth quart jars for this project, but couldn't resist the ½ gallon ones. So here's what I did:

All traces of plastic are gone. I even put cereal in jars. I used the ½ gallon jars. I ♥ these things! 

This is the sweet side of the pantry … honey, turbinado, cocoa, sugars … ♥

And beans. I am so lazy - I have several cans off to the side that you can't see (of which the cans are surely coated with BPA). I must phase those out and take the time to soak beans when I need or want them. :)

OK … that's it … just sharing the  fun ;)

Kiss Me {I'm Irish}

Y'all know I like to make wreaths, right? So I made one for March, for St. Patrick's Day. And bonus since green is my favorite color (most of the time).

Cute, right?

I decided to put the words "Kiss Me" on this one instead of lucky. After all, it's not luck that I believe in :)

And these flowers … LoVe them! No sew, and super easy to make. You can find a great tutorial here.

I love it. Too bad I'll have to take it down in a few weeks!

Reading Room 3

Are you tired of seeing the reading room yet? My vintage sheets came yesterday from a seller on Etsy.  Goodness, I ♥ Etsy! I made the curtains this morning and hung them this afternoon.

 ♥ this curtain rod I found at Target … it's extremely difficult to find curtain rods that are not brown these days!

 Now to find a new home for that chandelier (oh, Elise!)

Aren't they fabulous? Perfect for window curtains in my newest room. I adore the butterflies. I sort of liken them to the changes that take place inside me when I read a great book. But I am waxing poetic.

I also put 25 holes in my freshly painted walls …

The view from my chairs ♥

I've always liked these things … whatever you call them. They add dimension and interest.

The rest of the room will be fun fun fun … finding the finds for the shelves and walls and lamps and such.  It's cozy in here!

Laundry Room Part 1

I hate doing laundry.  I know some people love it.  I'm not one of those people.  I'm really not sure why … I think it's the folding.  No, now that I think about it, it's not the folding as much as it's the putting away.  I really hate putting laundry away.  Just ask Brandon.  I am the queen of full baskets of freshly cleaned and folded laundry sitting … for days.  What?  It's been cleaned, I just haven't, um, found the time to put it away in my ridiculously busy schedule ;) !

That leads me to today's post and project … the laundry room (more like a laundry closet).  {WARNING - embarrassing pictures coming up!}  I grew weary of seeing this:

and this:

and this:

So I bought some cute (of course - would I buy anything else?) pop-up storage boxes from TJ Maxx:

I would've bought more, but that's all they had.  Bummer.

And then I proceeded to organize & clean out my laundry room:

See my cute polka-dotted brooms?  They make me happy when I sweep :) … please ignore those dirty  walls .. I'd like to paint them.  Eventually.

Ahhhh.  I actually don't mind the doors being open to it any more.  Above … that's my book that I use to make all my cleaners - Clean House, Clean Planet.  That and Borax.  I ♥ Borax.

So what is it about clean and ultra-organized space that makes me feel at peace?

Now to just replace this ugly (to me - please don't throw tomatoes at me if you like it!) 1990s country laundry sign -

with something more like this.  If I had more time in my ridiculously busy schedule today I'd have to make one.  Maybe tomorrow ...

Light Love!

I need new lights.  OK, so it's just a desire, not really a need.  Well, I desire to finish my redecorating, so in order to do that I need new lights.  How's that? ANYWAY … last night I was at Lowe's searching for some wire that I needed to finish a project.  Now, I don't normally go to Lowe's as I am a Home Depot fan.   But I am aware that they have better finishing items, like lighting.  So I ventured over and found my lights. Yay!  I haven't bought them yet because I was alone and, well, I like to have Brandon's approval before spending a lot of money.  Although these aren't really a lot of money.  But here's what I found:

For the foyer … ♥ it!

For the … well, I can't settle on a name for the room … dining room turned sitting room?  It feels so pretentious to say sitting room, but I guess that is what it is.

And a floor lamp.  Now I know I said I wanted a lamp/table (antique one, thank you!), but I really like the lines on this (although I'll probably change the shade).  And who knew I would find it at Lowe's?

Now I need to just go get them, right honey?

Step Stool Makeover

Hobby Lobby gift cards are fun.  I received one for my birthday and I was, of course, perplexed as to just how I wanted to use it.  A few weeks ago I saw some step stools that could actually be used as step stools (go figure!) in the naked wood department.  I thought they would be cute decoupaged.  So that's what I bought with my gift card - 2 of them and a nice pack of K&Company paper.  I ♥ their paper by the way … check it out if you get a chance!

Here is the stool naked and ready for clothing:

I ♥ how things looks photographed on my lovely new floors.  But I digress …

And here is one of the stools covered and ready for work:

I'm working on the other one - it'll be different.  I still have to spray clear acrylic on them to seal and protect them since I do plan on actually using them for their purpose … step stools.  But it's been too hot to get outside to do anything these days.  Thankfully it's cooling off a bit here, so I'll probably have more completed projects to show you soon!  :)

The girls think they're cute.  And I do too :) … they were soooo simple to make.  A couple of stools, some scrapbooking paper and Mod Podge is all you need.  Well, scissors are helpful too, but you know what I'm saying :)  Travel on down to Hobby Lobby (and use your 40% off coupon this week) and buy some cute paper and decoupage something today!

Drapery Delight Part 2

I made my curtains and valances from the Amy Butler sheets that I bought the other day. It was SO.Incredibly.EASY! Here they are:

I'm not too keen on that curtains rod - it's one of the first things we ever bought for our first house almost 13 years ago - but I had it and I wanted  antique white, so there ya go.

I made curtains for one of the windows (the longer ones) and I made valances for the other windows (the shorter ones).  Here are the valances:

And the lovely rosette clips that I stumbled upon:

And they can also be closed (but I kind of like them open):

So here is the room … almost finished!

And this is the pattern in the curtains & valances:

It's starting to look like adults live here and not like a dorm.  Yay!  We just need to install the fan and find a desk for that wall and it'll be done!  Ü