Monday's Makeover - My Southern Kitchen

Well, it is finally here!  I have a kitchen ...well 97% finished...we still have two walls of beadboard to put up but most of one wall is windows and a few pieces of molding.  We have purchased new light fixtures, as of tonight, for over the island and are moving the light fixture from over the island to over the kitchen table.  Mr. Fix-It will do that tomorrow.  We purchased 3 spot lights with 3 pendant lights to go on a track light fixture.  I was thrilled to finally find some pendant lights that complimented the warehouse light that I had originally picked out for over the island. When we remodeled the kitchen we moved the island a little and the light was no longer hanging in the right position so we opted for track lighting.  We also picked out a new faucet that I have been drooling over for a long time for the sink. l can't wait to get all the new touches added...I will add new photos as we add the new items.

I am so proud of the hard work that Mr. Fix-it has put into this kitchen.  He has done the whole renovation with a little help from me.  

Let's take a look back at where we started..  

and now we are here!!!!!

WELCOME TO MY KITCHEN!

I love it!!!

My kitchen is a little different than most.  I ordered only drawers in my bottom cabinets .

       

except for one corner where I had to put in a retractable lazy-susan.  

We stayed in log cabin years ago and I fell in love with the idea of all the drawers.  That way you don't loose things in the back of the lower cabinets.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my new kitchen.  Visit me often!

Linking up with:

Metamorphosis Monday

Help! I have this "thingy"...

I have this "thingy"...

this shadow box thingy...

That I CAN NOT figure out what to do with it

or where to put it...

My sister bought it for me at GW and brought it to me

because she said it "looked" like something I would have in my house

It is making me nuts!

The smaller boxes are just a teeny bit too small 

for the smaller spice bottles and the bigger boxes are 

just a teeny bit too little for the larger spice bottles.  

I don't really have room to lay it flat and use it somewhere in a drawer.  

  I am not a collector of nic-naks so that is out of the question.

I need ideas and suggestions.

Thoughts for Today

I miss working on my blog BUT...

My kitchen island is FINALLY going in as we speak.

My Dad has brought my Mom home after a 2 week trip to their cabin in the mountains.  Mom and Dad had went up so Mom could recuperate from 34 radiation treatments!  She goes this Monday for her PET scan to see if the treatments made any difference or not.

Mr. Fix-It and I have to run out to pick up our kitchen faucet.

Plus I have whipped up my favorite bolognese sauce so it can be cooking while Mr. Fix-It finishes up my island. Yummy.

Oh I should I mention that my beautiful daughter and her husband are coming over for dinner tomorrow night so I need to get some food started for that.

Can I get it all done?   

Random thought as I go dashing out the door...have you seen the new Campfire marshmallows called Giant Roasters? The marshmallows are about 2" x 2"... I found them at Wal-Mart.  Gotta warm up the fire pit tomorrow night!

Textures for Tuesday

My bedroom.  

Peace, tranquility....lots of sleepless nights due to menopause. :)  

No, really I do love it.  I have never had a bedroom that has had big windows like this one does.  

This has been my first summer living here and I have immensely enjoyed opening the windows at night at watching the lightning bugs in the woods that surround us here.  

But I digress.

I fell in love with and just had to have the picture over the bed.  It is a print by Michael Sowa called "Kohler's Pig."   The pig is either very optimistic or just plain happy.  Either way he makes me smile.  

Again, I digress....

I have always heard that when you are doing an all white room
to concentrate on the textures that are in it.
So here are some of the textures
from my bedroom....

I love the clean look and crispness of an all white room.

Monday's Makeover

My first makeover is special to me.  It was my Granny's (not Grandma or Grandmother...but Granny's) piano bench.  It was used in front of her "old timey" (that's "southernese" for antique) pump organ and then later on sat in front of her piano.  It is one of two pieces of hers that I was fortunate enough to get.  The other is her buffet which you can see parts of it in the second picture.  Here is the beginning picture...

Now let me explain...the fabric it the bench is covered in is a fishing tapestry because when I first got it, in my old house my bedroom furniture was all log.  I have the massive log bed, dresser, nightstands and log rocker.  This sat in the corner of my bedroom for a while.  I have it all in storage till we get to build our log house.  

Maggie Mae thinks it belongs to her.

So I took it apart last night and I painted it white.  When I got up this morning I put the fabric I had bought to go on it across the cushion to see what it would look like...I did not like it AT ALL!

The combination of the fabric with the white I had painted the bench just did not work so this evening I repainted the bench black.  (I did not however remember to take a picture of it while it was white.)

Black looks so much better.

I love it.  It looks fabulous!  I am thinking this will go in my master bath.  

Just a reminder of the before...

...and After.

Participating in...

Sumptuous Sunday

I am constantly looking at magazines and I see these wonderful recipes and I think I would like to fix that.  A few months back I was looking for country wedding ideas and I ran across several recipes on Country Living.com that looked easy and good.  The one that caught my eye and taste buds was the 

Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Apple and Goat Cheese 

 I made it and it was delicious!  Definitely a keeper.  Mr. Fix-It and I had it for dinner today and thought I would share it with you.

The fresh grated lemon rind and apple make it so light and fresh..

Love the smell of lemon and apple.  

I used a Granny Smith.

The stuffing is loose and creamy but will firm up a little as it is cooked.

I usually use my iron skillet but we were using it to roast potatoes in.

 It was delicious!  You can find the recipe here at Country Living.com.  Enjoy!!

Foxy Friday Finds

This week has not went as planned.  Ever have one of those weeks where you plan one thing and end up doing 20 others?  That has definitely been my week.  I have been a little under the weather the past two days so that has thrown my plans a little off this week.

Well I did have some good things happen today.  My sink has arrived!!  Mr. Fix-it and I went today to pick up some shelving brackets at Lowes and found out our sink had came in early!

The sink is much nicer than I remembered.  I can't wait for hubby to get off this round of work and start installing the island.  He works 5 nights on and 5 nights off.  Of course today is his first night going back to work so my island won't start going in till Wednesday of this coming week.  He did get some more bead board and some molding put in this week while he was off.   At least the end is in sight.

These are the original brackets I was considering. - Photo from Lowes

As I said we went to Lowes today to purchase some shelving brackets for the open shelves we are putting in the kitchen.  I had looked online and had chosen for a sleeker-looking lower cost bracket.  When we got to Lowes today we lucked up!

The Lowes I go to had lots of their shelving brackets on CLEARANCE!  We bought  6 packs of brackets (2 brackets in each pack for $5.32) which ended up being a third of what we were expecting to have to pay and they are a little more decorative that I had picked out originally.

These are the ones I found on clearance! - Photo from Lowes.com

I think they will look wonderful.  We also picked out boards for the shelving.  I do not want the white laminate shelving boards.  I want to paint pine boards for a little more causal look.  I am thinking about distressing the edges.  Mr. Fix-It and I are considering several different possible edges for the shelves.  I think I may live with them a little while before I decided on the edge design.

This is the kitchen wall where the open shelves will be going.  All the clear jars sitting on the counter top will be stored on the shelves along with some bowls and things.  Remember it is a renovation in progress.

On a random note...I just have to share...today hubby had went to pay the florist from where he had sent his mom some flowers while she was in the hospital recently.  He shows up at my office where I work with this bag.  He calls me Bambi (long story) and he says "I bought this to guard Bambi when I am not around."  I look in the bag and there is this adorable little gray fox made from grass.  The little fox is so different and was so sweet.