Sneak Peek Photo of My Kitchen Transformation!

 Here's a little sneak peek of my kitchen while it was decked out with bridal shower goodies:

And a reminder of how it used to look:

More photos and details to come as soon as life slows a down a little! I will have another crazy week next week and then I should be able to get back into some more regular blogging. This summer has just been so full of projects and events that I haven't been able to make time to fit in some much needed blogging updates of all the changes.

Kitchen Projects-Part 1

So for awhile I've been trying to be patient and not do anything to my kitchen cabinets until we replace the countertops. We are planning to do that sometime this year. I wanted to wait until we had the new countertops installed before going ahead with painting my orangey-oakey-boringey-me-no-likey cabinets. That way, I would have the counters to match different paint colors chips to and select the right tone and shade of paint. This is important because I'm probably going to be brave and paint the upper cabinets and lower cabinets two different colors.

However, I was off work the other day and I just couldn't take it anymore. My plain, unadorned cabinets needed something, anything to spruce them up. So I made a trip to Home Depot and $50 later I came home with some oil-rubbed bronze knobs and pulls for my cabinets. (One good thing about having a small kitchen, buying knobs is cheap when you don't need very many.)

After a couple hours of drilling and going back to Home Depot for longer screws, here is a peek at my cabinets now. These knobs were cheapies at $1.50 each.

The pulls were a bit pricier at almost $4 each. Good thing I only have four drawers in my kitchen. Well, it's only a good thing because it saved me money in this instance.

Mr.Delightful Dwelling came home from work just as I was finishing up. There was wood dust everywhere because I had to drill all the holes for the hardware since our cabinets never had any. He asked "What in the world did you do to make such a mess?!" He was totally oblivious to the new cabinet knobs, he just noticed all the dust everywhere. Men. As long as he lets me do what I want to the kitchen, I can't complain too much when he doesn't notice what I've done.

I can't show off the whole kitchen just yet without revealing my next mini-makeover project. I have a new wide angle camera lens ordered and on its way. Then I can get some good shots of the whole room to share.

Decorating Cabinet Tops

My house has really tall ceilings. My kitchen cabinets are not so tall. That leaves quite a large gap of empty space to fill between the tops of the cabinets and the ceiling. I had some blue bottles and vases up there for awhile while I was in my blue and yellow phase. That phase has passed and my cabinets had been looking a bit bare on top since I painted my kitchen walls last year.

I finally got around to adding a little bit of interest up there. I shopped around the house and managed to come up with a couple arrangements all using stuff I had on hand.

I used vases, plates, and other accessories to create the arrangements. The platter shown in the photo below was a $1 Goodwill find that I painted Heirloom White. The jade dishes were from a family member. I think they are antique, I have no idea if they have any value. The white dishes are my everday dishes so I might need to pick up a couple white plates from the dollar store so I can have my regular dishes back for eating!

I'm still tinkering around with different accent pieces and working on an arrangement for the cabinets on the opposite wall. Overall I think it looks a bit prettier up there now than the blank emptiness it was for the past several months. The best part is that it didn't cost me a dime.

Kitchen Curtains Through the Ages

Long, long ago. A whole 4-1/2 years ago. That's when moved into this house and I put up these white sheer curtains and painted the walls yellow. That lasted about 4 years. The last 2 of those years I was slowly changing my mind on the colors I wanted in here as well as figuring out what curtains to use on that bay window. I take a very long time to make a decision about pretty much everything.

Then this summer I painted the walls a more neutral color. It does still have a gold tone, but it's much more of a tan. It always looks more yellow in photos than it really is in real life. I also changed out the wall decor, bought a new light fixture, and of course changed the curtains. But I just wasn't sure if I liked the white roll up curtains. They just weren't quite right and the white didn't seem to match well with the off-white wooden blinds.

So after having them hanging up there for 2 months, I decided to return them to Target and buy these valances instead. I like them much better. The lighting is horrible, but the valances are a soft gold color that matches the tone of the walls quite well. I think it gives it a much softer look compared to the white curtains before that seemed to scream for attention.

Again, the wall color is not as yellow as it look.s The tan paint spot on the ceiling above the bay window is exactly how it appears though. Really need to fix that someday.

I love the little trim detail on the edge. I also love the scalloped edge as opposed to just a flat edge along the bottom. I think I finally may have found curtains I like for this window. Maybe. I'm still deciding. But I think I'm 75% sure these are the ones.

What do you think? Please give me your opinion even if you think they are hideous.
I'll still like you, I promise.

Decorative Star Plaque Makeover

I picked up this star wall plaque thing at Goodwill awhile back. It had serious potential so I coughed up the $7 for it. I think I've mentioned several times that our Goodwill is a little pricey. It did have a Target sticker on the back though so I'm sure it orignally was much more.

I took the hooks off and sprayed them with Rustoleum Metallic paint in black. This paint isn't a real dark black, it's almost a dark brownish-black. I also used it on the mirror in my bathroom makeover and it looks like a mix of oil-rubbed bronze and black. I sprayed the wood plaque itself with Rustoleum Heirloom White. (If anyone knows of a spray paint that is slightly more white than Heirloom White without being bright white, please let me know. The Heirloom White is almost a little too cream for me.) It now looks like this:

I cut some scrapbook paper to stick to the back behind the star openings. I then used my Cricut to cut out our initials to stick in the middle of the stars. The "S" is for me, the "B" is for my hubby and the "L" is for our last name.

I shopped around the house for some accessories to hang on the hooks. The flower picture on the left is the one I picked up our trip to Galena, IL. The star ornament in the middle I bought in Colorado. The white bucket on the right is from our wedding. I had them hanging on the pews with flowers inside. I changed out the flowers and ribbon to something more neutral. I will probably end up hanging picture frames or plates from the hooks eventually, but this arrangement works for now.

Here's how it looks in the overall decor of my kitchen. I'm still unsure about the curtains. I can still return them to Target. I'm just not sure if I like them or if I should use shorter valances or long drapes instead. The blinds have to stay unfortunately. I plan to eventually stain and paint the table and chairs so that the table top is a dark wood and the legs and chairs are white.This photo is a bit dark, I'm always trying to take photos at night with bad lighting!

Linking up to all the fun DIY and transformation parties:

I Can See Clearly Now, the Blue Is Gone

I used to have this set of dark blue canisters for storing flour, sugar, etc. They look black in this photo, but they were really a dark blue. (This photo is from when I was trying to pick a paint color for the kitchen if you are wondering about the funny paint on the wall. You can read about that drama here.) We got them as a wedding gift and they were from back when I had a blue and yellow kitchen. Well, I've been over the dark blue for awhile now and I had been keeping an eye out for some clear containers to use instead.

I just happened to have a Macy's giftcard leftover from Christmas. I don't really like Macy's all that much(too pricey) so I don't really shop there very often. That's why I had a giftcard for 9 months and had yet to spend it all. I decided the other day to finally use it up and just buy something. I browsed the kitchen area for awhile and looked at all the cute, but expensive Martha Stewart kitchen gadgets. Just when I was about to leave, I spotted a set of clear storage containers. The price was only $24.99 so I went ahead and bought them with the giftcard.

I love how they look. So airy and open. I also like how I can put the scoop spoons inside the jar. With the old containers I had to store the spoons on the outside of the jars so I always had to wash them after using them.  Pretty, free containers=extra kitchen happiness. And I still have $6 left on the giftcard.

Kitchen Wall Art

I've had some bare kitchen walls since I painted the room several weeks ago. While I was waiting for the paint to dry on those curtain rods I painted, I decided to add some simple artwork to the walls. I had bought these decorative tin tiles at Old Time Pottery 2 years ago. I had one hanging in our bedroom at one time, but never had used all three. I figured they would look nice on one of the kitchen walls. Here they are posing with my new curtains.

And a close up so you can see the detail on the tiles. They were only $3.75 a piece, so the total set only cost $11.25. I went back there recently, and they have these large ones as well as some smaller ones that I think were $1.99. I might have to pick up some more to hang in another room because they are so cheap and pretty.

No More Naked Windows

Ever since I painted our kitchen several weeks ago, the windows have been very bare. I wasn't crazy about the curtains I had before. While I liked that they were sheer and let in a lot of light, that just didn't seem quite right. Since we have bay window, it makes finding the right curtains and curtain rods a bit trickier. Before we had one curtain rod higher than the others so that all three rods would fit. It looked a little weird.

When I painted the kitchen, those rods came down and I spackled the gazillion holes left behind so that I could put the rods back wherever I wanted. And the windows stayed bare for weeks.

Finally this past weekend, I was ready to get some covering on those windows. But I wasn't crazy about the silver color of the original curtain rods. So out came the oil-rubbed bronze Rustoleum. (If can't find this paint, try Lowe's or Home Depot. I just bought this can at one of those places.)

Luckily, I had saved all the hardware, screws, and anchors in a ziploc baggie so nothing got lost. After an hour and half of drilling new holes, measuring, making sure everything was level, and screwing in all the screws, I had curtain rods up again. I hung them all the same height, and removed the finials from the end of the middle rod so that it looks like one long rod wrapping around the window.

I bought these roll up curtains at Target for $15.99 each. I like them, I'm just trying to decide if the ribbons are too girlie. I wanted something to cover the top of the blinds since one of them is broken without fully obscuring the window. I also like that I can make them as long or short as I want. What do you think?

I'm also linking up this post to A Soft Place to Land and the Shabby Chic Cottage. I love DIY days!

Kitchen Revealed

I'm making this post my project for DIY Day on A Soft Place to Land and the Transformation Thursday party on The Shabby Chic Cottage Head on over and check out all the fantastic projects, crafts, and more on both wonderful blogs.





After teasing everyone Monday with the sneak peaks of the color I painted my kitchen, here is the promised reveal of the new paint job:

Again the color is Glidden's Whispering Wheat. I did the whole kitchen with one gallon of $20 paint. I had a giftcard so the project was almost free. I say almost because I happened to find this chandelier at Home Depot that was only $65. Hubby was nice enough to install it for me although there was some grumbling involved because nothing is ever as easy to install as it seems. It all worked out though and I love the color of the fixture and warm glow it casts on the room.

Even Emma enjoys the new color. Only one cat walked through the paint this time. Luckily, kitty paint prints come off of tile easily.

And here's one more before shot with the yellow paint and boring light:





And the more neutral and fresher after:

Now I just need to figure out what to do about curtains. I'm not sure whether to do just add valances or roman shade style curtains or to add long curtains like I had before. I'm not crazy about the blinds, but they are the wooden kind and are in every window of the house. I will be fixing the one slat on the left that is broken. I need to replace the curtain that covers the door to the laundry room on the right. We can't shut the door because the litter box is there so I need something to cover it. I may look for a pretty fabric shower curtain to hang there. I also need to decide what I want to hang on the walls.

My living room and dining room look really dark here, sorry for the bad photos.

To see my craziness with the paint samples I used to pick the color for the room, read this post.