A Little Kitchen Decor

Here's a fun quick project that Dollar Store Crafts, Mod Podge Rocks and my mama would be proud of! I wanted a little cohesive (and cheap!) decorations to go on top of my cabinets for my kitchen and got a stroke of inspiration from Kimm at Reinvented. Her original post can be found here.

I picked up two red melamine plates and three glass plates and five display stands at Dollar Tree. I printed out some cool designs on the laser printer and got to work. It’s important to use a laser printer because inkjet printer ink will smear. You can also just use a cool wrapping paper like Kimm, but I had a difficult time finding just what I wanted. This was cheaper too, because I chose several designs and five different rolls of wrapping paper would have added up quickly.

I cut out the circles, applied Mod Podge to the plates, smoothed out the wrinkles, and coated each plate with another coat of Mod Podge. Don't worry if you get it everywhere- the Mod Podge dries clear.

I used cheap foam brushes that came nine to a pack to apply the Mod Podge. They're great because I don't feel guilty when I toss them in the trash for easy clean up.

There are still some opaque lines on some of the plates because I am very impatient and can't wait for things to fully dry! Also, a word for the wise: you can speed up the drying process by using your hair dryer on a low setting. DON'T try to rush the process by using the dryer on high-I got bubbles, but I was able to pop them and smooth everything out before everything was fully dried.

Reason #4,554...

...why I love my husband.

He really listens to all of my rambling about coupons and sales! While talking to my sister's boyfriend today about buying a pair of hunting waders, he ACTUALLY said, "What you need to do is find where you can get the pair you want and check out retailmenot.com."

He really listens to what I say, y'all! It makes my heart flutter :)

A Kitchen Renovation

Justin bought our house nearly two years ago from the original family that built it in the 1960s. While it is certainly sturdy and well built, is has never been updated. Exhibit A: Notice our tongue-and-groove pine paneling (which is pretty remarkable in and of itself) with the same pine cabinets (makes for a cave-like appearance) and the lovely honeycomb linoleum, which was worn through in several spots, but has held up pretty well for being almost 50 years old, although probably would not have our house featured in Better Homes and Gardens.

We decided to take on this project on our own to save money for other important stuff—you know—bills. Luckily, my sweetie is pretty handy with power tools and he’s had some experience working with his dad in their kitchen before.

He’s not amused at me while we’re trying to clear out the space.

And the demolition begins. We (well Justin really) planned for me to be completely out of the house the weekend they were installing the new cabinets, but I got to stand by for some of the destruction before I scooted on over to Savannah to visit my sister at college and catch the opening weekend of New Moon.

You see that huge giant white thing the size of my stove? That was our water heater. More on that later.*

RAWR! My man just looks good with power tools :)

My lovely sister-in-law playing like one of the Price is Right models—showing off the new counter tops.

Carpentry is a messy job y’all! My sweet father-in-law let our cabinets take up residence in his shop for the better part of two months while we slowly made it through the process.

Man, after this project, I will be on hiatus from painting for the next decade. Each and every single piece had to be given three coats of Kilz and two coats of the color paint- which I may or may not have picked out just because it was named “Cake Batter.” :)

Here they are installed in the house---Justin is a genius with cabinets, if I do say so myself.

Notice this beauty? Justin built in a small wine rack and a place to slide wine glasses. His liquor fits in the back of the space just perfectly.

Have you ever seen someone so excited about kitchen storage?!?! I LOVE EVERY BIT OF IT!!!

As soon as we got the bottom cabinets in, Justin laid the flooring- a floating linoleum tile floor that looks like stone. It’s super durable- Skie can play hell on some flooring when she tromps her 160-pound self through the kitchen- and looks great with the counter tops we picked up.

About a month later (the week between Christmas and New Years’) we finished demolition on the top half of the cabinets. I missed a lot of demolition last time, but boy did these folks love their nails! There were about 15 nails in this one board!

  

And VOILA!!! Here is the final product. Justin did an awesome job with the help of all the guys in our family with installation.

I am so proud to have a new brighter and more functional kitchen!

 

*Remember the GIGANTO water heater I mentioned earlier? Check out this:

See that red arrow? That’s where the water heater used to be. We were able to make that entire cabinet front a slide-out drawer cabinet to hold our trash can, cleaning supplies AND a tankless on-demand water heater! WOOT!!! I love having extra space.

It was a hard job, but looking back on it now, boy was it worth it. Can you believe the whole thing set us back less than $2,500? That’s the right number of zeros there folks! It’s amazing what you can get done if you work really hard :)

Christmas fun

 

Christmas was a blast!

 

Christmas morning

  

My sweet husband had a fire going every chance he got! Skie likes to curl up as close as she can with her butt almost in the fireplace. You would figure it would get too hot there.

Justin’s cousin Becky and her husband Robert have the cutest little boy ever (Dylan). Justin puts up with me holding and smelling all of the little ones in the family (the smell they put in baby lotion is intoxicating!!!) as long as I promise to give them back!

My niece Rivers trying out her antlers (I think they might secretly be devil horns).

Justin was certain he was going to get our little house lit up like Clark Griswald’s. He did a really good job!

 

I made shotgun shell Christmas lights for the guys to string up on the camper for their hunting trip.

Santa was out riding his motorcycle in Tifton during my lunch break.

Our Christmas parade was awesome. My mama and daddy made the Santa’s workshop for the float with Santa and Rudolph (my sister makes a good reindeer).

I made these little gift bags for my coworkers.

Skie dressed up for a little Christmas cheer.

 

And Justin and I got tons of cool stuff for Christmas. His favorite was the branding iron with his (I say OUR-his middle initial is the same as my first) initials.

I bought him a Kitchen Aid meat grinder attachment for my mixer so he’s the grilling king!

We made out like fat rats, but most importantly, we had good times with our family and friends.