Day Twenty-Two: The Kitchen (Part Two)

Continuing from yesterday...

As soon as the backsplash went in, we knew we needed to lighten up the paint color quite a bit.  Travis was headed out of town on a mission's trip and my parents offered to take the kids so I could have a few days to get some painting done.  Although I was loving the idea of relaxing in Iowa too, I knew this was the golden opportunity to knock some painting out without the kids in the mix.  That was confirmed when Carter had the primer accident a few days before they left!  

So I began priming all of the color out of the room.  

Which is truly no fun by yourself.  Looking at these pictures again almost makes me want to break out in hives.  SO. MUCH. WORK.

Already the impact was significant, the whole room got so much lighter and brighter. 

And then the fun part began!

I chose a very light tan that blends nicely with the countertops and gives our kitchen a great backdrop.  I toyed with going grey or a very light blue but it kept changing the colors in the tile so I decided against that. I'm glad I went with this color because we ended up painting the living room and the hallway in the same neutral color. 

And this is what it all looks like today! 

The knobs were an easy, inexpensive upgrade that give our cabinets a more finished look.  We also swapped out all of our plastic outlet covers for a brushed nickel finish that looks nice with the knobs and the faucet.

I am so happy with the way it all works together, my kitchen makes me smile now.  

When we moved in I had the ugliest stainless steel sink that was so shallow you could hardly wash a pan in it without spraying the room and we had a cheap builder grade faucet.  The whole thing was awful.

I found this sink, brand new and in the original package, for $20 on Craig's List!  Such a great find and another way to tie all of the white together and to give me a deep sink to work with.  I also chose this sleek and simple faucet to change up the look and I'm glad I did!

When we had two children we knew we couldn't keep our table on the carpet anymore, it was too messy and I didn't want the headache of food spilling all the time.  Again, our big kitchen and a $20 table I scored on Craig's list have served us very, very well.  I'd love to sand that table down and paint it, as well as get some new chairs.  I still like the style of the chairs very much but they were hand-me downs from my cousin's family and between their 4 kids and our 2, we have used them well and they are starting to get very wobbly and I know it's a matter of time before they break.  

So true! 

After I put this up not to long ago, Ava asked me, "Does that say I love Jesus and coffee??"  Ha!  

No, but it could say that too, that would also be true :) 

I love the way this kitchen has lightened up!  In my dreams I'd love to paint those cabinets a grey color, but I have reached the limit of what I'm willing to do and pay for around here!  They are nice cabinets and much better than they could have been.  I keep reminding myself to be thankful, even if I'm lost in a sea of oak! And yes, there is a trim piece missing over the sink that needs to go up, we just haven't gotten around to it yet.  

Just a few touches to break up all that space above the cabinets.  So wish they would have chosen tall cabinets to the ceiling! 

We continued that same color out here and it's made such a nice transition between the spaces.  Also a great place for Carter to extend his playing with his cars and trucks!  

He was a big fan of more tile and less carpet :) 

I am very, very thankful for this kitchen and for the beautiful space it provides while I'm cooking or serving my family.  I am glad the work is done and I hope someday in the near future it draws the eye of a buyer too!  It's amazing what some paint, backsplash, and some brushed nickel finishes will do!  Not to mention a lot of prayer, elbow grease and sweat.  

Now if only it looked this clean and orderly everyday, right??  

Thanks for touring with me!

Day Twenty-One: The Kitchen (Part One)

Happy Wednesday!  I'm scrambling to get some posts put together and I'm happy to finally be getting to our kitchen! In theory I have 2 days to get 11 posts done (classic!) and I'm quite sure I'll bleed into November, but I'm going to crank out a few and see if I can't get this home series wrapped up! 

I love my kitchen and always have.  I'm very thankful today for the large footprint it came with and therefore the way it has morphed into an "eat-in" kitchen over the years. 

When we bought here, I was so thankful for this kitchen because it was much newer and nicer than most everything we had seen and for the most part it was very neutral.  White appliances weren't my favorite but I was happy they were all matching and new.  The countertops were nothing special but they weren't ugly or in bad condition.  I knew I could work with this look and make it my own over time.  I did paint the walls before we ever moved in.  They were kind of a celery green, which did NOTHING for this space and I wanted cozy and warm, so I went with a chocolate brown.  I loved it all these years but as I look back at these pictures, wow is it dark.  In person I don't think it felt so dark but who knows.  We loved it anyway :) 

Some tricky and challenging things about this kitchen is having no natural light and nothing architectural to work with.  It's your basic builder-grade kitchen with no frills or anything unique, so I've always struggled to make it interesting by adding some seasonal things or a few pieces I rotated over the sink, over the cupboards, on the walls, etc.  It's also doubled as a workspace for my makeshift floral business!  Many people have laughed when they've seen me in the middle of a wedding, counters full of bouquets and centerpieces, buckets of flowers all over the floor and corsages/bouts in my fridge! 

We knew that it would be foolish to spend a lot of money updating our kitchen, even though kitchens are definitely a good return on investment and they do make an impact on buyers, but because we've already lost so much value in our home we have been looking for wise ways to update without really doing a remodel.  We didn't want to replace cabinets, countertops or appliances so for months and months I was on the hunt for ideas and backsplash materials to tie everything together and make this kitchen look as good as it could on a shoestring budget.

Boy did we get our prayers answered!!  In July Travis' aunt and uncle came all the way from Texas to visit us and also to help us with a few projects around here.  We were thrilled to have them and so very thankful for their willingness and time and generosity to help us make some significant progress.  Ron is a jack of all trades and has built homes for many, many years.  There's not a whole lot he can't do and better yet, do quickly.  Having him here was invaluable and of course having Peggy too was icing on the cake!  

Ava and Carter were so excited to have Nana and Papa here! We tried to let them get some fun time with the kids too so they didn't think they had to work in order to earn their keep :) 

And we took some time to show them around Minneapolis a little bit during one of the most gorgeous stretches of weather!  It was picture perfect while they were here, a sign they need to come back again!!

But really?  They came and worked.  Ron worked hard on putting this backsplash in our kitchen!  It was quite a job, of course I picked something that was time consuming and meticulous, but as it was going up we were LOVING the results!!  This tile was laid in sheets but it still required millions of little cuts and some thinking to get it all up, sort of like working with a jagged-edge puzzle.

And oh my goodness, it was definitely changing the look of our kitchen!!

Travis did some of the work too, but he ran a soccer camp that week and basically Ron did most of it himself.  These pics are all pre-grout but even without the grout it was amazing.  I LOVED it.  

I had no idea what I wanted to use in here but as I began looking months ago I quickly realized what I didn't like.

I imagined I would go with bigger tiles, something very understated and simple, but I never could land on some that I loved or that did much in the way of impact. I brought home many samples and always ruled them out after getting them up against the countertop and under the cabinets.  It was trickier than I imagined but I kept holding out hope for something better.  

While the guys worked hard, the girls got to go out for a little shopping and coffee :) My parents came up from Iowa to see Ron and Peggy and to thank them for helping us so much.  They hadn't seen each other for 10 years (since our wedding) so it was fun to have a day or so together.

When we came home from our outing, they had the tile done, knobs and pulls on the cabinets and our new faucet installed!

And just like that, I fell in love with the kitchen again!  I like this picture because you can see the sheen on the tiles that we chose.  They are a mixture of glass and marble pieces and when the sunlight streams in they give off such a beautiful glow.

As is fitting with all of our other projects, the Lord totally took care of us in this kitchen update.  I mentioned that I had been looking for backsplash for a few months and hadn't found anything until one night in May or June when I was looking at one of the cooking blogs that I love.  One of the gals from Our Best Bites had just redone her kitchen and I was looking at the pictures dreaming about how lovely it was.  As I was looking I noticed that her backsplash was so interesting and what I loved about it was all the bright white with a subtle amount of blue and grey.  I realized that was a look I really liked and imagined it would work so well in my kitchen, tying the white appliances in and complementing our countertops.  Well imagine my surprise when she listed the materials and sources for her kitchen at the end of the post and she mentioned that her backsplash was just a random find at Costco of all places!  

Immediately I was intrigued but a little disappointed, knowing how hit or miss Costco can be but I decided it couldn't hurt to run over there and just see if they happened to have any at our Costco too??  I literally jumped in the car and got there at 7:30 pm, about a half hour before they closed, and walked over to the aisle I thought it might be in.  I quickly saw tons and tons of boxes of the exact same style of tile but noticed they were all in a chocolate brown/caramel/amber color scheme.  Beautiful, but not what I was looking for.  I was sad but not surprised when all of the sudden I noticed a cart with 8 boxes of tile and clearance sign.  Guess what color that tile was???  The exact same one I was looking for!  Because they only had a few left, they were on clearance, and in a clear sign from the Lord, they were marked down to $2.79 a sq. foot.!!!  Crazy cheap for glass and marble tile from Italy!!!!  I just stared at it for a minute, not believing it was true and grabbed my little piece of paper with the sq. footage I had previously calculated we'd need, did some quick math and realized that 8 boxes would give EXACTLY what we would need to do our kitchen.  UNBELIEVABLE!!!!  I had budgeted several hundred dollars for the backsplash, but just like that at 7:55pm that night I walked out with tile I loved for about $70!!!!!!!!  

And once again I was praising the Lord for taking care of us and providing.  He really is amazing, isn't He??  All of these details, all of the ways He went before us and gave us wisdom and blessed us through the generosity of family, we are still so grateful and in awe of how He worked all of this out. 

Stay tuned for part two, to see the other changes we made and the way my kitchen looks today! 

So fun to finally be sharing this with you!!

Day Twenty: Don't Be Fooled!

I posted a picture on instagram recently of my kids playroom, toys scattered all around and no one but their Mother interested in cleaning up! We've all been there, right?  A mess all around and a shortage of helpers just waiting to jump in?  Posting it and reading comments from friends made me think about a few things. 

When I post pictures like this on my blog, it may seem like we live in a pretty organized way.  For the most part everything has its place and it looks pretty clutter-free.  It's certainly not magazine-cover worthy, but it's looking about as good as gets.  We get to enjoy our home like this after the kids have gone to bed for about 30 minutes until we collapse ourselves and start another day.  OR when we have guests over, and we've killed ourselves to live in a much cleaner state than normal, careful to wipe every surface down and find a home for every toy.  I like it when my house is like this but the honest truth is that really, it rarely looks this good! 

This is a more realistic kind of look for us.

Laundry covering our couch...

...toys in piles, in various states of play.  

It would be dreamy if I walked in here and always had a cozy throw to grab and a few pillows behind my back.  Doesn't that sound great?  Who wouldn't want to kick their feet up and settle in for some conversation or a good book??

In reality, there is rarely a seat that is clutter free and ready to enjoy.  On most days you have to dig a little to find the cushion to sit on and even then, there's no guarantee that something isn't stuffed in the sides of the cushion or on the ottoman where your feet would love to be!  In this picture, I can't even blame it on the kids...that would be my stuff all over the place.

I shared this picture of our new sheets, approximately 5 minutes after I made our bed at 7 am.  It looked so nice, I love the new darker blue and the way it looks with that robin's egg blue.  

I enjoyed it for about 2 minutes before it looked like this for the rest of the day!

And that toy pic I originally posted?  Here it is. 

As you can see, my kids were having a great day playing with aaaaallllll of their things!

And actually when I look at this, it's not so bad. These are mostly little things, the big stuff is actually put away.  

Why am I showing you all of this??? Because I realized you mostly see these spaces when everything is neat and tidy, organized and basically not played with.  And while there is nothing wrong with that, I realized I don't want you to get the wrong impression of us.  

Because we do really live here.  And we aren't unlike you.  My kids don't make their beds, they don't always come running when I ask them to clean up and everything we own doesn't "match." 

Despite my best efforts, tacky things invade my once darling spaces and almost nothing ever looks like I intended it after I walk out of the room.

We have odd things in every room, like these two pieces of wood that belong somewhere, I just don't know where??

And as often as I dress my kids in all the cute clothes we have been given, Carter still insists on running around in a pull-up, no matter what the temperature outside!

My mirrors and all the windows have tons of little handprints, smears and smudges on them and when I go to great lengths to clean them, it lasts all of 5 minutes before someone is pressing their nose against the glass, again!  

It's really easy to post pictures like this and give the impression that everything is amazing over here, we have bowls brimming with golden apples and cookbooks that I cook from every night.  With this digital world of social media, it's pretty easy to stage pictures and make everything look just a little more artsy than it actually is.  This photo isn't a lie, that's actually what it looks like on my countertop right now...  

But unless I pan back to show you the bigger picture, you'd never know that my stove is brimming with dirty pans, that I have 2 pieces of bacon left on the counter from breakfast 6 hours ago, or that I'm hiding a package of candy from the kids next to the crockpot.  THAT my friends is reality! 

When we live day to day we make messes and everything is not perfect.  Sometimes I'm diligent to clean up right away, sometimes it sits in disarray for a day and I move the laundry off the couch so I can lay down and watch TV.  Yes, I'm admitting that, we even watch TV of all things :) 

Staging a photo is one thing, but staging a life is another.  I love writing about our home and taking pictures and sharing stories.  Somewhere in NE Iowa, my Mom is shaking her head right now and is about to say "I told you so!" after reading that.  She always told me I should major in Journalism and write about Interior Design for a magazine like Better Homes and Gardens.  *ahem* She may have had a point!  Anyway, I love to do this and this "31 Days on Home" series has been a fun one for me.  But I would be remiss if I left you with the impression that our home is the most important thing or that we've somehow figured out how to have kids and a home that is never dirty!  We haven't.  

Our trash piles up just like yours and there is ALWAYS something that needs attention or another room with a "project."  They really never end, do they??

As much as I love order and design and beautiful spaces, I love these three way more.  I love that this is their home too and that we all get to live here together.  Relaxing and unwinding really doesn't come naturally to me.  I don't sit still very well and I have a hard time doing nothing.  But I'm married to a man who helps me unwind and gives me lots of grace and permission to just chill.  I'm grateful that he never comes home and demands that the house look better or wonders what on earth I've done all day? He often comes home and tells me to sit down with him, gets on the floor with the kids and then helps me tackle some disaster area before we go to bed.  

I love the little shoes that pile up and even the toys I find tucked in the oddest places.  I love them because they are reminders of the BLESSINGS God has given me and the privilege of a home brimming with life!  I won't lie, sometimes I'm bugged by it all and I get sick of picking it all up.  But really when I start to think about what life would be like without the messes?  That's a life I don't really want to imagine...

Maybe you assumed all of this and you've caught on to our reality because you know me or you've come to my house before.  But in case you ever had a delusional thought and wondered if our house was always picked up based on my social media usage, please let me put that to rest for you!  Don't be fooled, we're just like you and our home is too.  I think a home that is lived in and even messy, may say more about the people who live there than one that is always pristine and perfect.  It's exhausting trying to keep up with the latest and greatest everything or trying to maintain a standard that is unrealistic.  I'm a work in progress, but that is one truth that marriage and motherhood have taught me.  And maybe my own Mom too, who never had a problem turning down a nap in place of cleaning all afternoon.  After all these years and two kids, I get it now.  I so get it...

This is post number 20 friends, and on that note, I'm kicking my feet up for a nap!