She's back....sort of.

Hey everyone. It has been 3 months since I was able to post last. This summer was a little wild. Major surgery in June and an entire summer of re cooperation. I was hoping for a 6 week recovery and it turned into 10 weeks. I am back to most things that I do in normal life but things like lifting are still a no-no. I have taken to doing smaller projects while I let my body heal a little more. Hopefully those darn stairs get done soon.
I found this cute vintage vanity chair at a local antique store for $18. I thought it had great bones and it was really sturdy for being over 60 years old. It came home and I made a plan.

I started by taking the chair seat off and priming and painting the whole thing white. Once it was dry I decided to use an old piece of burlap to cover the seat. I laid it over the seat and stapled it to the bottom so that it would hold tight. Once I got the seat covered I took a $4 twin sheet from good old Walmart and decided to make a little skirt out of it. I did this by cutting it to the length I wanted, I used it long ways so that I could make it a no sew project. I stapled the skirt to the seat base and made folds so that it added a pleated look. It took a few minutes to staple it all together and it gave it a whole new look. 

Before 

After

A few things from around the house, some paint on the shelf, pictures that I had framed and in a closet and a whole new entry way. We knew we wanted a shelf for keys and things, a basket for shoes, some hooks for jackets and what not, and something cute to cover an ugly security keypad (it's under the pictures) We love the country/cottage look that we ended up with.

Thanks for check in, 

Ali 

Linked up over at My Uncommon Slice of Suberbia.

 

Our finished backyard and gate

Before and afters . The before are on the left and the after are on the right. What a difference, right? So clean and the gate is my very favorite part. No more make shift gate. This new baby is sturdy and pretty. We even added a latch to the house to hold the gate open if we want to. It ended up taking about 18 hours to do the whole project and most of those were my hubby working alone while I cut kids hair, did laundry, etc. I felt a little useless the last day but I did help a bunch on the gate. The post of brick is all him. I love it. Best of all it is done!

Now to convince myself not to take on any new projects before we leave fore vacation and my upcoming surgery. It's so hard but I am loving living with all of our hard work. For now I am making caddy's for cleaning supplies. Spring cleaning the house and getting ready for some time off. 

The brick project continued.

Well two days of brick work and we aren't quite done. We have about 5 hours to go and that is to finish up 19 more bricks, a post we are adding for the gate and to get the new gate made an hung. Here are a few more during pictures. The gate is gone! It's already better but we have to build the new one so the utility people can get to our meters. Hoping to get done on Saturday since we have a packed week.

Never a dull moment

We had a free Saturday after some cancelled plans. We were sitting on the couch drinking coffee at 7 this morning when we decided that is would be a great day to work on our sprinklers. Well, sprinklers turned into a much bigger project. We have a wall in our backyard that looks unfinished. We have been talking for 5 years about adding brick to the top. Do we know how to lay bricks? Nope but I am telling you with YouTube you can learn anything. A few hours shopping and $150 later we started a big project.
As soon as we got home I couldn't wait to get the wind damaged gate out. We added a cute little gate when we moved in but the first good wind came along and ripped it to shreds. We had an old crib sitting on the side of the house waiting to go in the trash, We were in a bind so the crib became our "temporary" gate that has been there for 4 years or so.
We are 4 hours in so far and we still have about 4 or 5 to go to finish the brick, new gate and maybe we will work on those darn sprinklers:).
Here are a few before and during pictures. Ignore the grass/weeds. We have tried everything even ground sterilizer and can't kill it. We are looking into new ideas for killing the grass from hell. I finally told my hubby that if we tried to make more of it and sell it as unkillable it would finally die since we had a purpose for it. Finished picture will be up soon but doesn't it look awesome already?

Our main backyard as soon as you walk out the back door. The unfinished wall and grass from hell. 

The side of our house. I honestly can't believe I am sharing this picture. It is so grass and I hate this area. 

Our beautiful gate. 

2000 pounds of supplies. My van was low riding. 

The first section DONE! I keep finding reasons to walk past the back door and look at it. I can't wait to finish it and get that grass out of there. 

My new kitchen!

When we decided to redo our kitchen I started going crazy looking at pictures, blogs, more pictures, of kitchens so that I knew exactly what I wanted. We started debating in January over painting our cabinets white. We kept deciding that since we have white appliances and off white tile that white would be way to much white. We bought a ton of sample paints and non were quite right.
I wanted a kitchen that felt loved, vintage, cottage like, farm ish, etc. The kind of kitchen that you can picture someone baking an apple pie in or a Mom making her children's lunches for the day while she sips on her morning coffee and sings. I wanted a kitchen that looked like it had been in the home for years. I wanted a kitchen that I LOVED and felt like the heart of the home. Light, airy and full of life.
I decided to go and see what the cost of new cabinet doors would be that I could add over the cabinet bases we already have. I was shocked when they said around $8000. Holy cow! I did however on this trip fall head over heals in love with a cabinet made by Martha Stewart. I loved the color. The color made me think if the kind of kitchen I wanted. I had to have that color. A little detective work and I was able to find the paint name and color code to have a gallon of it made. Yup, I fell in love with a discontinued color. Go figure. The color is called Ocean floor by Martha Stewart and they can look it up in the computer at Home depot.
Here is the drab 1980's before picture complete with oak, oak and more oak.I hated that the floor was a different color from the cabinets. I hated that it was dark, worn out, dirty and just old.

Sorry about the no doors in this picture. I really need to remember to do before pictures. 

And..........Here is our new and beautiful kitchen and TONS of pictures of all her glory. I still need to add rugs and cute stuff but I want to find the perfect things instead of just getting stuff that works but I don't love. What I love most is that the cabinets have a neutral feel so we can change the decor color based on the season. I can't wait to see it in the fall with pops of orange and red. I am thinking spring will be a deep teal and maybe winter will be navy. 

Who doesn't love a farm table?

The wainscoting adds such a statement and custom looks.  Not to mention how light and bright it makes it feel. 

Chalkboard cabinets. The kids love them. 

A few kitchen towels tucked into a little basket and of course live plants. Adds a cared for feel while still looking used. 

The birds and the bees:)

My plan is to add a conversion chart in the cabinet for oz, cups, tablespoons, etc. I hate having to pull out my cookbook (iphone) to look up how many oz. are in a cup. 

Looking for the perfect rug but so far I have no idea what to add that will look great. For now wood floors are fine. 

One of my very favorite pieces in the kitchen is an antique plate that I love. I also have a special love for my cutting board. Did I mention I made it in college? 

It doesn't even feel like my kitchen. I feel like I am on vacation in someone else's house. It's so pretty and makes the feel of the open concept part of our house feel totally different. Of course it makes me want to redo more stuff to get that feel in the entire house. 

We tried 6 different curtains and nothing had the feel we wanted. For now we will use the tie back  Pottery Barn knock off's. 

Would you ever know that the light switch cover is spray painted plastic? They look like a million bucks. We screwed some big cup hooks into the underside of the cabinet to hold a few of my favorite Polish mugs. 

Our converted drawer to store sink stuff. $10 and I love it!

I can't believe how much of a difference a few knobs can make. How did we ever live without them? 

and a few side by sides of the before and after. 

and one more

Here is the price break down for our kitchen.
Wainscoting back splash - $30.00 One sheet of wainscoting, one tube of adhesive and we had to convert the outlets to stick out a little more for $1 each.
Paint on the kitchen cabinets - $27.00 and we only used half of the gallon.
we had primer and all of the tools already so no cost there.
I got my knobs in contractors packs at Home Depot and did all 27 cabinets and 12 drawers for under $100. Who knew knobs we so darn expensive?
We spray painted all of the switch plate and light switch covers, hinges and the oven hood with a bottle of left over spray paint from another project.I love the Rustolium Oil rubbed bronze, what a huge money saver.
The curtains are the same thing I did in the master bedroom with the $5 Walmart flat sheet and some cheap ribbon.I sewed these ones since I knew I would want to wash them more often.
We also converted our old and worn out table into an amazing little farm table for $15 by adding a new wood top.You can still look from the underneath side and see the vintage window we used the first time around.
The kids favorite part is the $10 we spent on chalkboard paint to convert a few cabinets into chalk boards for our market list and weekly schedule.
Total for the entire project was under $200.00!!! Take that $8000 Martha Cabinets!
It did however take us 9 days and a ton of hours to complete the look but I am THRILLED with the final look. It is exactly what I wanted. My kitchen makes my heart go pitter patter and I keep doing a happy dance when I see it.

Thanks for looking,
Ali

We are linked up over at

Kitchen day 3

We have a new backsplash! The kitchen is coming along awesome. Tomorrow primer on the cabinets and this weekend paint! Also question for you guys. Which curtain do you like? Or neither? So many fun choices. The best part is my mom is giving me an antique plate with daffodils that I love so much I have a tattoo of it. Best news ever! Ahh, I'm so excited.