Monday, January 09, 2012

A "Picture Perfect Room" challenge... Room 1: before

Am I the only one who can hardly believe it is almost the middle of January already?  How did that happen?  And where did the weekend go?  Oh yes, I spent it reading!  It was a reserve weekend which I jokingly refer to as Wednesday.  You see my husband is an active duty reservist.  I know, who knew there was such a thing, right?  Well he has been on active duty in the reserves for the past 7 years.  What does this have to do with his reserve weekend being a Wednesday?  Well, you see when he has a reserve weekend he works a 12 day "week".  And when Monday rolls around we know there are only 4 more days before he has a normal 2 day weekend.  So Sat/Sun/Mon is our "Wednesday" aka middle of the "week".  And typically not a lot gets done over the reserve weekend!  Henceforth my weekend of reading. and laundry but that's a given.

Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors is going to be doing a "Picture Perfect Room" challenge.  And knowing that I really want to have ALL the rooms in our house completed prior to graduation I decided now is the time to start.  The first room up.... our KITCHEN! which will lead into the DINING ROOM then the LIVING ROOM and FAMILY ROOM.  As you all have seen we have a fairly open floor plan so each of these rooms can be seen from pretty much each room.  Okay the kitchen can't be seen from the living room but it always spills over into the dining room which CAN be seen from the living room.
Today was supposed to be the first day.... a very productive day!  A day for scrubbing, cleaning, applying wallpaper to the kitchen cabinet door inserts, rearranging cabinets, sorting jars, etc.  Lets just say its not happening quite like that...  Do you see this lovely digit?  
What you can't see is the swelling.  Lets just leave it at it was one of those truly weird freakish accidents and the crazy thing is I was by myself when it happened, no one else to blame.  ha ha! Thankfully my whole hand wasn't injured, it doesn't appear to be broken, and I am starting to gain a bit of movement back.  Who knows maybe I will be able to tackle some of the kitchen work after all.  So today I am at least making my list of projects and am starting to do a bit of the organizing.  

I will leave you with a "before" picture and the plans for what all I am we are doing.  


No cost changes:
-Add bead board wallpaper (bought on clearance plus military discount using a giftcard at Lowe's a year ago) to door inserts
-possibly paint "island"
-clear off countertops
-organize jars and contents.  switch more items into jars.  possibly spray paint all lids to match.
-label everything using label maker, Silhouette, and label paper punch
-paint entire wall next to refrigerator with chalkboard paint.
-reuse chalkboard contact paper on refrigerator and to make tags
The BIG splurge:
-changing out non venting stove hood for a vented stove hood.  ideally either one of these from Ikea
Currently we have a non-venting fan over our stove.  Yeah not the greatest idea or invention known to mankind.

Currently done:
-changed pendant light out over sink for one we fell in love with at Lowe's which was on clearance last January for $5.  I LOVE it!!!  It fits right in with my love for Scandinavian design/decor (which I have absolutely none of until now.)

Do you see my pine cone trees I made?  On top of the kitchen cabinets?  I absolutely love them and plan on making a few move over the year.  The idea is to have groupings of 3 above the cabinets over the holidays.  

I hope you are having a good start to a great week!  Now I am off to get a little work done (or do a little more reading...)  Toodles!




7 comments:

  1. woohoo! good luck, have fun!
    on the other note--OUCH! I hope that's better real soon!
    gail

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    1. I got more done in the kitchen to include a chalkboard wall... :) And thank you for the concern about the hand. It still looks slightly bruised with some weird swelling but it does not hurt at all!
      Peggy

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  2. Oh I am so sorry about your hand! I hope it is better real soon.Sounds like you have a lot of work you are going to be doing but I bet it is going to look great when you are done. The trees you made are just adorable. Wow I was amazed at how you said that some of your herbs would make it through such cold winters with all that snow on them! That's awesome!

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    1. Thank you Alicia! It is snowing right now so I will let you know how my thyme is doing when we come into the next thaw. The hand is pretty weird as it still looks bruised and has some odd swelling but it does not hurt at all which is a definite praise since I am right handed! Have a great weekend!!

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  3. Peggy, I need you to come over and help me.

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    1. Oh you know I would be more than happy to! Just let me know the time and date!! Have you ever been on Pinterest? If so look at some kitchens/rooms that inspire you and see which elements it is that you are drawn to. It sounds like fun!!

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  4. Wow sounds like your kitchen is going to look great! Can't wait to see how it turns out. And I always make sure to ask for the military discount at Lowes too! Sorry about your finger- hope it heals up soon.

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