I'm still here!

I'm still here! I've got a couple of projects up my sleeve that I've been working on.  I'll get a post up soon. I promise!

Kitchen sneak peek!

There's been a lot of work and a lot of progress made on the house! We actually starting painting this weekend. I'm so excited! (You can see some of the befores here.)

One of the biggest transformations though, has been the kitchen. We aren't changing the footprint so much, but everything this else is getting a facelift.

Here's a sneak peek at what we've done so far.

As a reminder, here's what the kitchen looked like when we had our inspection.

So, what have we done? Well, wall paper is gone, beams are gone, light fixtures have been replaced with can lights (LOVE!), and the cabinets on the far end have been removed. We are planning on putting in a pantry of some sort on that end and probably a counter or table to eat breakfast at.

 This past weekend, Sparky (aka, my electrician husband) popped all of the decorative stuff off the front of the cupboard doors. They were glued on and he used a wonder bar (not to be confused with a wonder BRA), and hammer and they popped right off.  Then, he filled them with some putty and sanded them a couple of times.  They are pretty much ready for a new coat of white paint!

He also broke out the saws-all and cut off the little fence thing (so, technical...I know, but that's what it looked like to me).  Such a big difference! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! It doesn't even look like the same place. Even with just primer on the walls.

I can't wait to get the lovely gray paint we picked out on the walls and the new tile floor down!

Love is in the air!

I have never decorated for Valentine's Day before. Ever.  I think it's because I'm not a big fan of decorating with hearts. The look is a little too country for me. (If you decorate with them GREAT! They just aren't my style.)

But, while stalking reading some other blogs, I became inspired to make some of my own Valentine's Day decorations.  And, it is my son's birthday on Valentine's Day as well, so he deserves the house to look festive, doesn't he?

After reading this post and this post and this post and this post, I was ready to jump in!

So, where to start. What do I have at home that I can use?

I'd bought two rolls of flocked wrapping paper at Target after Christmas for a whopping $.25 a piece. As in twenty-five cents. I loved them and knew I could use them for something! 

I also have a ton of picture frames. Like, too many. But I can't bring myself to ever getting rid of any picture frames. I keep them forever. EVER.

I have white vases and a cool little silver pot.

I also have some left over red craft paint.

A trip to Home Depot got me a 4x4 post, for $6.97. 

A trip to the dollar store got me heart picks and ribbon.

And a trip to JoAnn's got me Valentine's scrapbook paper.

I had originally planned to print out letters on scrapbook paper and use Mod Podge to put them on my blocks.  But, for once in my life procrastination paid off and my Silhoutte came! So, I decided to use that instead.

This is my craft area. I can't wait to have a table to do this on in the new house.

What came out of all of this?

Scrapbook paper and scrapbook letters in a little five opening frame. I threw the picks in the vases just to have something behind it.  RC came home with a tissue paper flower, so I threw that in a vase too.

I think this is probably my favorite.  (Even though the pictures aren't the greatest. I was in a hurry and didn't have time to figure out my manual settings.)

I took the glass out of a picture frame and taped on the black flocked wrapping paper.  Then, I cut the sticks off of the picks and glued the hearts onto the paper.

I picked up a little cyclamen plant at Wal-Mart for my little silver pot.

I wrapped a ribbon around the top and then added vinyl letters. (Yay!)

Amazing what a bit of ribbon taped to a plain white pillar can do!

The top shelf of this stand is really small and I always have a hard time figuring out what to put there.  I don't know what made me think of using a playing card, but I kinda like how it looks! The Queen of Hearts is propped up using a red wine marker.

And this is what the whole stand looks like.

Next up was the blocks. My DH cut my blocks for me and I painted them red. Then, I downloaded a couple of designs from the Silhouette store and printed out letters.

The blocks are on a Norwegian bible that came out of my husband's grandparents house. I love it.

I really like the way everything turned out! Are you decorating for Valentine's this year?