Kitchen and Laundry Room

I have a new convenience in my kitchen that my husband just finished for me.  He wired three undercounter lights to an outlet we had our builder install over the microwave.  This outlet is on a switch on the backsplash, next to the range.  All I have to do is flip one switch to get light on all the counters!  My husband is my hero!

This is my kitchen with the three undercounter lights turned on.

Do you see the switch just to the right of the range?  No?  I don't either.  It blends into the subway tile in this picture.  Here, I'll point it out . . .

There it is.  Oh, this is so wonderful for a woman who likes lots of light in her kitchen.  One flip of the switch and I have it!

On another note, I did a quick project in my laundry room that really added a fun pop of color.  I hung some 70s framed tiles that my parents used to have hanging in their vacation home.  My Dad just recently sent them to me.

The laundry room is just off the kitchen and doesn't look very pretty but I keep the door open during the day because I like the light from the window.  With these framed tiles I can keep the colorful theme from my breakfast room on the other side of the kitchen.  I blogged about my breakfast room here.

Now the laundry room looks pretty and adds to the colorful theme in the kitchen.

So what do you think about my 70s, framed tiles?

Cindy

I'm linking to:

The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

The Tattered Tag's Keep it Simple Sunday

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia's Tuesday's Treasures

A Beach Cottage's Good Life Wednesdays

A Little Knick Knack's Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Valentines

I love Valentine's Day!

When I was growing up, my father always gave my Mom and my two sisters and I gifts for Valentine's Day.  That always meant so much to me.  When I was raising my kids, I continued that tradition.  My third child, Jimmy, was even born on Valentine's Day which was a real gift from God to me. 

Every year, we always set the table with all the pretty pink, red and white tablecloths and red and white crocheted doilies I own.  We used pretty dishes and had a special meal for Valentine's Day/Jimmy's Birthday.

Jim has grown up to be a fine young man who'll be 21 on Monday.  I'm very proud of him.
 

15th birthday, 2005



18th birthday, 2008

I haven't been with him on his birthday since 2008 but I still send Valentine goodies to him and his brothers. 

These are my boys this last December.  That's Jim on the left.

This year my oldest son requested brownies so I sent him a whole panfull.  Jim and my youngest son both requested chocolate chip cookies so I made Blonde Brownies and added a whole 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips and they each got a whole panfull of those.  Additionally, Jim asked for sugar cookies so I made them into sandwiches with the frosting in between so they would pack easier. 

I really didn't do Christmas this year (you can read about it here and here) so I had such a good time baking for Valentine's Day. 

Since this is the first Valentine's Day I'll be away from my daughter, I got to send her some goodies too.  She requested fudge. 

I packed it in a little foil baking pan and added some scrapbook paper, stickers and a happy greeting before mailing it.

I made an extra batch of Blonde Brownies and had sugar cookies and fudge left over so I prepared several plates of these goodies and took them to our neighborhood fire station, the sales office for our builder and church for the staff.  It was so much fun to brighten the day for other people and spread around the happiness I feel with this holiday.

If I could, I'd give Valentine's goodies to everyone who reads this blog.  Instead I'll just wish you loads of pink and red joy and a happy Valentine's Day!

Cindy

Breakfast Room Part I

I have my breakfast room to a point where I don't mind posting pictures.  First, here is a before picture soon after we moved in:

There are five windows in this room.  That alone was a big selling point with me because I love lots of light but it meant making five curtains.  You can see the fabric on the sofa that I ordered for making the curtains for the windows. 

There were lots of problems with this room besides the lack of curtains.  Probably the biggest problem was the table.  We had our formal, mahogany dining room table with our more casual black Windsor chairs.  It gave us more room at the table but looked all wrong.  We moved our smaller, round black table into the room and it looks so much better.

I also didn't like the floor situation.  We have brown tile with brown grout.  That was a common sense choice since we have two dogs who both have a knack for finding any mud in the backyard and tracking it inside.  Our first choice for flooring would be wood, but that was out of the question at this time due to financial constraints.  I like the brown tile but not in this room.  I really wanted a rug like this:

Which is available here for only $600 plus $150 shipping.  That's too much for me.

I also like this rug from Target:

Available here for only $550 with free shipping.   Again, that was too much.

Then I remembered that we already have a rug with a blue background and is the right size.  I didn't have a place for it and was thinking of getting rid of it.  It's not exactly what I want but it does the job and I already own it so it's free.  And an added bonus by putting the rug in the room was that the file cabinet drawer stays closed.  Another problem solved.

I added some pictures to the room.  You can read about some of them here.  I also hung the silhouettes of the kids I had made at Disneyland 12 years ago and again at Christmas just two months ago.  I've also made four of the five drapes so we have more privacy and light control.

My husband started to install the chandelier but ran into a problem with some wiring that our builder needs to fix.  The chandelier is up without it's glass shades and it doesn't work yet, but I'm going to show the room anyway.

So now for the big reveal:

Do you like our sofa?  It's from my mother-in-law.  I hated it when we first got it, but it's kind of grown on me and I love it with the drapes.

It may not stay there forever but for now I like having a place to sit in the sun in the morning.

You can also see the rug in this photo.  It's a little too busy with the drapes, but it looks so much better than the bare tile floor.  It really defines the room and gives it a warm feel.  I can live with it for now.

So, again here it is before:

And after:

What do you think?

Cindy

I'm linking to the following:

The Tattered Tag's Keep It Simple Sunday

Cottage Instinct's Make It 4 Monday

Between Naps on the Porch Metamorphosis Monday

The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia's Tuesday's Treasures

A Little Knick Knack's Everything But the Kitchen Sink

Jennifer Rizzo's Refresh Your Room Party

Picture Groupings

I've been busy making curtains for my breakfast room and back bedroom in the last couple of days.  I hope to show the finished rooms in the near future, but in the meantime, I want to show you some of my inspiration pix of picture groupings on walls.  Sorry if I show your picture without giving you credit.  If one of these is yours or you know to whom it belongs, please let me know so I can give credit where it is due.

This is so great, so where do I start?  All black and white portraits with white matting in similar red frames.  As if that isn't enough, there are picture lights for night time viewing.  Then they're all hung on wonderful v-groove paneling painted white with black doors.  Oh, and the ceiling is also paneled.  Wow!  How's this for taking a boring hall and making a gallery?

More black and white portraits with white matting but in different frames.  This works so well, though, because the frames are similar in color to the pictures.  Notice how they hung them so they all touch?  Very clever.

Same idea but with colored pictures in similar frames and matting.  So fresh and fun.

Here's another idea - a picture ledge.  None of these pictures are actually hanging on the wall; they're all leaning against the wall.  This makes it easy to rearrange the pictures.

This is another take on the picture ledge.

As is this but instead of photos, this one uses paintings of similar subjects.  I love the brown wall with the pops of white.

This is another take on the picture ledge with the pictures resting on the top of the wainscoting.  I love the bright, fresh colors of this one.  Makes me think of spring.

I love this one.  Similar size, same theme but all different frames.  Don't you just love that striped wall and the way many of the pictures are crooked?  So charming.

Once again, similar subject (panorama photos), with similar frames and matting.

Here we have different subjects, different sizes, different frames but they all have soft, muted colors.  Notice how the pictures over the bed aren't hanging as high as the pictures next to the bed?  I don't know that I would have done it that way, but I love the result.

Another one with pictures of all sizes and subjects.  Most frames don't match and they've even mixed photos and paintings but it still works to create a cozy, added-over-time feel.

I love this one.  The frames are either dark wood or very thin, lighter wood.  They've added two mirrors in different shapes, a painting and an eye chart that reads, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".  Put this all together with the beadboard wall and striped roman shade and it makes a wonderful grouping.

Isn't this one great?  There's an equestrian theme running throughout but it includes more than just framed pictures.  There is a mirror with hats and a horn, a polo stick and a mish mash of ribbons.  Add all this to a wall painted dark brown over white beadboard and it makes me want to see the rest of the house.  I love the way they hung pictures over and under the chair rail.

I have this picture identified as a Tracy Porter shot.  I keep this one for the clever way they added their flat-screen TV to the picture grouping.  That's a great way to hide the TV right out in the open.

This is a picture grouping I did in my family room.  Within this grouping are three pictures my husband's Grandma painted and two paintings, two woodcuts and one carving that my Dad did.  I also added a bulletin board and a sign I bought at Round Top that I plan to replace with a painting when I find the right one.  The sign reads, "This fence is state property.  Do not move without permit.  State of California Dept. of Public Works - Div. of Highways."  It's fun but doesn't fit the theme of works by family members.

I have so many pictures, paintings and other art works and I love to display them all.  A picture grouping is a great way to do so.  How do you like to display your pictures?

Cindy

Back Porch

Before we got our blast of arctic air, I took advantage of the nice weather in Central Texas on Monday to do a photo shoot on our back porch.  I hope to make the porch look inviting so we've moved some really neat stuff out there.

First of all, we added an old oak cabinet and a maple hutch.  The cabinet is a good place to store gardening supplies and adding the hutch gives me display space.

This bucket is a recent acquisition from my father-in-law.  It's really sturdy and really heavy. 

I'm using it to store my hand gardening tools.

This minnow bucket is also from my Father-in-law.  It's also in great shape and still has it's sticker and lettering.  It love it's little galvanized cuteness.

I've had this table since I was a kid.  I don't have room for it inside but I don't want to get rid of it just yet.

I suspect it was made in the 1920s or 30s and still had it's original paint, a medium green, when I got it.

Can you see the green peeking through the chips?  It's seen some use since I painted it white so it's gotten wonderfully shabby.  I think the porch is the perfect place for it now.

Last is this old garden chair I bought at the Mile High Flea Market in Denver.  I bought it at least 13 years ago for only six dollars. 

It matches the green on the bucket.

We also have a bench and two wicker chairs for seating on the porch.

I'd like to paint the chairs and maybe even the bench.  I've been thinking of black or dark brown.  I want them to look better together and provide some contrast to the white siding on the house and the grey concrete. 

Big Dog kept getting in my way when I was taking pictures so I put him on down-stay in front of the bench.  Didn't he pose nicely for me?

Right after the photo shoot I had to snatch up the pillows and chair cushions so he wouldn't chew them up. 

Besides bringing warmer weather, spring will allow me to bring lots of potted plants out.  I hope to use the porch for entertaining and will have lots of room for serving snacks and beverages.

Thanks for visiting my porch today.  Please come back!

Cindy

I'm linking to the following:

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia's Tuesday's Treasures