Learning to love my home

This will hopefully become a regular feature on my blog...and that will hopefully get me blogging MORE.  I really do miss it...

As I said in the last post, I've been working on learning to love my home again!  I don't know why I struggle with this so much but I do.  The crazy thing is that there are really a lot of things I really DO love about my house.  I've just been so unmotivated with Reed gone and then it gets overwhelming and I'm lucky to tread water, so to speak.  But, I'm working on it now.  And, I'm really getting stuff DONE. 

First up, the kitchen.  Our kitchen was a labor of love.  I loved it when we first saw this house.  There was a fruit stained glass hanging lamp.  With CHERRIES, people!  Now, I loved cherries and had decorated our apartment in Maine with cherries!  But, they were REALLY starting to get old.  They made their appearance almost 11 years ago--before Anna was even born!  WHOA!  I've been feeling the itch to redecorate the room for some time now but couldn't find the right direction.  I finally found a fabric (which I did NOT take a picture of tonight) that I loved.  It had all the colors on it that I wanted to incorporate into my kitchen...AND, it was cherry free!  You see, my kitchen is green and red and I had NO intention of changing that but I also didn't want it to look Christmas-y.  So, I found this fabric.  A couple days later, I hit Richmond to go to the wonderful, amazing, craft extravaganza called Hobby Lobby.  Been there?  You should go!  LOVE IT!  But they were getting ready to close.  DISLIKE!  Who closes at 8 pm?????  I headed across the street to Home Goods and found the PERFECT complement to my new fabric.  It was a paisley that matched almost exactly and had ROOSTERS on it.  Thus started my new cherry free nouveau country kitchen.  I wound up with a platter and 4 small plates.

Kind of a before with the lovely lampshade awesomeness.

Step 1 was to move our hutch.  I'm not sure it's been moved since we moved in.  GROSS. Moving it really opened up the kitchen.  I wanted it on the wall it's on now since we moved in the house but we had a land line and this crazy intercom system that no longer works.  Problem solved!  Reorienting the room was a chore but well worth it!

Excuse the soda...Irene's a coming!  The hutch's new home.  Quite cozy!

Step 2 was to take down the fruit stained glass lampshade.  But, Reed's not home.  I was scared, people!  I stood on the chair next to the table the lamp hangs over and just tried on a whim to see if I could get it down.  Sure enough, I did.  Now, my dad is like a home improvement pro.  I've watched him update a few light fixtures in his day.  After I got it down, I thought...hey, I think I can do this!  Sure enough, I did! 

New. Simple. Classic.  Non-Fruit. 

SEE?  Totally level!!!!

Step 3 was to dress up the space!  I made 2 things for the room.  First up was the red shelf.  I spray painted it and then sanded it down.  I know...backwards, right?  Nope.  I wanted some of the wood grain to show through.  I hung it in quite an unorthodox way.  I didn't use a level.  Nope.  I didn't use a ruler.  I used a broom.  I probably wouldn't recommend using a broom again.  :D  I installed the first screw (complete with ANCHOR!!!). Our dust pan attaches to our broom so once I did that first one, I slid the dust pan right up underneath that screw and then marked it on the wall about 3.5 feet away.  And, YES, it's pretty level but that's honestly NOT the best way to hang a shelf.  I didn't even attach the top part of the shelf till after it was installed and I only did that with Gorilla Glue.  I do totally rock!  But, let me tell you, it is NOT moving!  My second craft project became an inclination while looking at Etsy one night.  I knew I could pull of this project.  I even had a distressed frame just waiting for it!  I needed the glass anyway for another project in the living room.  I got some chicken wire at Lowe's and stapled it to the back of the frame and then I stapled some cool green and white fabric over top of that (all on the back) to cover up the chicken wire in the back and show through.  When I find the pictures I want, I'll clothes pin them to the chicken wire.  Then, I dressed the space with some really meaningful things!  I remembered taking my Grandma Montgomery's roosters when we packed up her house so I went in search of those things!  I found in it a blue glass bottle, a blue glass BALL jar and some old books too!  They made it onto the shelf along with a rooster I found while antique-ing for my birthday.  I also bought milk glass bowls that day and they made it into my hutch along with some dishes I already had on hand like my "oh so awesome" Crate and Barrel bowls.  My mom has a milk glass dish just just like one of the ones I got.  One day (hopefully NOT anytime soon!), I'll have a set unless Tab gets to it first.  I got an old black lunch box just like my papa used to carry too.  I don't know why I remember him carrying this box, but I do.  I nearly cried when I saw it in the antique store.  My furniture in there is theirs (my dad's parents) so I really LOVE that I've been able to incorporate some more stuff from their house.  

Inspiration for the picture frame!  I can't wait to add to mine!

The red shelf, small rooster plates and picture frame...Love it!

The whole corner I've been working on...LOVE IT!

I'm not quite done.  I want to dress the tops of the cabinets too and I have an old plastic radio from their house too.  When we used to spend the night, this radio was on the headboard and it would often be the first thing I'd see in the morning at their house.  Growing up, my grandparents babysat us and we were very close to them both.  I miss them like crazy and being in the kitchen now reminds me of them both so much!