Our Kitchen: The Before (Naked)

The granite installer comes..... TOMORROW! So, I just officially made our kitchen counters look naked. Sunday afternoon I worked to organize the top drawers, clean out a few cabinets, clear out all the supplies from under the sink and cleared off most of the counters except for the necesseties. 

After clearning off our Keurig coffee machine, utensil holder, paper towel holder, catch-all bowls and taking off all of the switch plates this is what's left.

Looks a little stark, huh?

The white trash compactor has never been touched in this house. By us or the previous owners. In fact, the user manual is still sitting inside the bin. B and I have talked about two different options for replacing this - wine refrigerator or pull-out trash can (I think trash can would be more practical, B thinks wine fridge would be cooler). What are your thoughts?

I never would have guessed I'd be so nervous about getting granite. Maybe it's just excitement that has me stirred up? Wish us luck tomorrow, can't wait to share "the after"!

Our Kitchen: The Before (Decorated)

The official count down to granite is..... 3 DAYS!! Since this granite deal is about to get real, I wanted to share The Before (Decorated) pictures of our kitchen. 

This is our kitchen looking it's Sunday best.

Literally, I spent Sunday morning cleaning and making our kitchen look spotless and in tact as it would be if we were having company. I realized that the only "current' pictures I have of our kitchen were from Christmas time - and as it should be no surprise, there was Christmas decor everywhere - so I wanted pictures just a normal, June day with no holiday/seasonal decor to be seen. 

  

Of course, you probably noticed that Lime Green and Mackenzie-Childs are "my thing". Aside from all of the cute green and checker decor, let me introduce you to 1995. Light woodwork, white counter-tops, formerly brass hardware and florescent lighting.

In reality, I don't think our kitchen is THAT bad. We just can't wait to get rid of the white, 'stains easy', 'see every crumb', 'hard to keep white' counter-tops and back-splash.  

And see this cute little corner nook with the lamp? It will also be getting 'granitized' - thanks to my Mom for the great idea!  

I heard that our granite installer was cutting our granite today... in preparation for Thursday's install!

Count down to granite: 3 DAYS!!! Eeeeek!

Hand-painted Wooden Monogram

 

 

Over a year ago, I pinned this painted wooden monogram to my “Wishing & Daydreaming” board on Pinterest.

 

Fast forward to last fall when I was first introduced to the Groopdealz website; my first purchase was this 18” unfinished wooden monogram. I was so excited to check-off one of my wishes from the Pinterest board. (I’ve actually purchased 5 unfinished wooden monograms to give as Christmas, birthday and even bridal shower gifts – and they’ve been a hit!)

 

I didn’t know what color I wanted to paint it immediately, so I put it away in my craft closet until I decided on a color. After a few months, I thought painting it gold would be a good neutral option. Maybe it was my spray paint selection, but the gold was off-par and not at all what I had in mind - so, back to the craft closet the monogram went. It sat in the craft closet awaiting a new paint job for a another month or two until one Saturday afternoon, I felt the urge to paint. 

 

Inspired by a few pieces of my personal, Mackenzie-Childs, Green Flower Market Collection – I was excited to take on a personal challenge to paint a floral design on something that was not just a flat canvas.  

 

 

 

 

I was ‘in the zone’ painting, until I was rudely interrupted by storms and a power outage.

 

Sunday, I resumed painting until another round of storms came. That night, Edmond was hit with a tornado just 2 miles from our house. Also, the towns of Shawnee, OK and Little Axe, OK were hit by F4 tornadoes.

 

The next day, was Monday, May 20th the day an F5 tornado went through Moore, OK Which inspired me to paint for Oklahoma. The #prayforoklahoma painting can be seen here. 

 

This past weekend, I finally was able to focus some time to finish the monogram. With some input from miss Dixie Belle, there was still some detail work to be done before it was complete.

 

Using Mackenzie-Childs ribbon, our McDaniel Monogram now hangs on our mantel! I'm so pleased how it turned out and hope we get to enjoy it in our home.