The December Chalkboard Calendar: It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Yesterday I decided that since it was December 2nd, I'd better get started on the December calendar for the chalkboard. So in the morning, I erased November. And then I stood there and looked at the blank wall. And nothing came to me.

So I decided the best thing to do was to walk away and come back when I was feeling a bit more inspired. I really loved the December calendar from last year and I wanted to make this one special too.

When the boys came home from school the wall was still blank and they commented how "weird" it looked. As soon as everybody was settled in with a snack and doing homework, I tried again. I looked on my Chalkboard Love board on Pinterest for some inspiration. I tried to copy a couple things and it just wasn't working. I needed to do my own thing, and....FINALLY....it all started to come together.

So I present to you.....the December chalkboard calendar.....

Happy December! It's the most WONDERFUL time of the year!

Playroom Update: Sampling Paint Colors

Yesterday I was FINALLY able to get out and pick up a couple paint samples for the playroom at my neighborhood Sherwin Williams store. Having the kids home for the Summer makes getting out to do things like that difficult. But yesterday I was able to run out for a half hour and pick up the paint. Thankfully, my Sherwin Williams store is really close by.

(If you are just tuning in you can read HERE about my process of picking out a wall paint color for the playroom.)

I came home with my small cans of Comfort Gray (SW 6205) and Sea Salt (SW 6204) and immediately painted the samples on the wall. I started with the Comfort Gray and I liked it a lot. But the farther I went I started to get a sneaking suspicion that it was a little too dark. The playroom is a pretty small room. Next came Sea Salt.

 



 

I let the paint dry completely and I found myself walking in the room every few minutes to look at it. Believe it or not, after all my unscientific research, I'm pretty sure that Sea Salt is going to be the color for us.

 

It's still a nice gray (with a greenish cast), but is a little lighter. In making my decision, I took into account that someday I would like to get a dark gray sectional for the room. Maybe something like the IKEA Ektorp. I like the idea of a little more contrast between the walls and the sofa.

 

 



So that's where things stand with the playroom. School will be starting in a couple weeks and I don't think I will be painting before that. Plus we have a little architectural challenge we have to overcome before we paint. I'll explain more about that another time.

 

But the moral of this story is....even though you think a paint color looks perfect on the paint chip, in a picture, or in somebody else's room, it's worth it to buy a sample and try it out first in your own room.



 

The Most-Pinned Item From My Blog And Free Printables

Do you remember this post about the re-do we did in our kid's bathroom a while ago?

 You may be surprised to find out (as I was) that the most pinned image from this blog on Pinterest is this one of the wall art I DIY-ed.

So I figured why not give this word art away as free printables!

You can download all four words HERE. (You DO NOT have to sign up for box to be able to download them.) They are 8x10, but for the bathroom I printed them as 5x7's and matted them in inexpensive 8x10 frames.

I will tell you that they are ink-suckers....so you might want to save them and have them printed somewhere instead of doing them yourself. Your choice.

ENJOY!!

** For personal use only. Not intended for resale. **

The Art Of Improvisation: A Kitchen Cart Makeover

Back a few months ago, I started seeing a new trend on Pinterest....refurbished Cosco kitchen carts from the 1950s. I actually remember my Grandma having one of these in her basement.

source

 source

source

I started to think that having a cart in the kitchen might help with a little storage problem I have.....besides looking cute.

So I was keeping my eyes open for one, checking Craig's List and eBay occasionally. Then last Sunday on the way home from church, we passed by my favorite used furniture store. You know, the one where I found my coffee table. And there, out in front of the store it was....a kitchen cart. I didn't have time to go look at it that day and since the store is closed on Mondays, I had to wait until Tuesday to go back.

So I brought it home on Tuesday. Interestingly, I looked at an original Cosco advertisement online and the carts originally sold for $12.95 to $14.95. I paid a bit more than that, but much less than some of the carts I've seen on eBay.

Structurally, the cart is in good condition, however it did have some rust, especially on the top shelf. I bought it knowing that I would have to do some work on it and I would probably pain it. 

I spent some time the next day cleaning all the grime off of it and working at the rust with some steel wool. The legs actually cleaned up pretty well. While cleaning it up though I came to the realization that I wasn't going to be able to paint it until the weather warms up a bit.

So I decided to improvise. I'm very good at improvisation. No, you won't find me in a comedy club or on Whose Line Is It Anyway? But when it comes to things around the house, I'm good at making things work in spite of....whatever.

I had some parchment paper and I cut a piece to fit the top shelf, covering up the rusty parts. And I brought out the cute Vera Bradley placemats that I received for Christmas for the lower two shelves. It's looking pretty good, I think!

I would've loved to use the cart as a hot beverage station. But I really only had one place to put it in the kitchen and there was no outlet for my Kuerig machine. So I opted to make it a little breakfast center. On top I put large jars of our favorite cereals, plus a cannister of raisins. (I LOVE raisins on my cereal!)

The second shelf has a wire basket for keeping packets of oatmeal and some of my extra white dishes. And the bottom shelf took care of my storage issue....my crockpot. I use it a lot and I have been keeping it in the back of one of my lower cabinets. It really was a pain to get it out. Now I have much easier access to it.

And here's what the cart looks like in front of our chalkboard wall. I'm really happy with the way it has turned out (who knows if I will ever paint it) and I think it's a fun addition to our kitchen.

Linking up to.....

and

Favorite Bloggers, Part 2

Good Morning!

Today's post is coming to you from "somewhat sunny, but warmer-than-Ohio"....Florida! We are having such a good time so far. In our travels Sal and I have already shared a couple giggling fits....like only two sisters can share. Mom and Dad have made us feel so welcome in their little home away from home. They are showing us a good time!

So today I'm bringing you another one of my favorite blogs....Our Fifth House.

Carmel's style is somewhat different than mine (I like to think of it as "Sassy Ralph Lauren"), but she always has such good ideas that are a jumping off point for me and help me be more bold and creative in my own home.

I first came across Carmel's blog while doing a Google search for chalkboard walls WAY before I ever did the chalkboard wall in our kitchen. Her post about her chalkboard calendar gave me the confidence to take a step and paint a whole wall in our kitchen black when I'm sure there we're those that thought I was crazy. Ha!

                            

source

And then there was her Mudroom closet. My, oh my, how I adore that closet! It was a HUGE inspiration for mine.

                                      

source

Her use of beadboard wallpaper in the closet inspired me to use it in our kitchen even before the Mudroom closet project.

She even convinced me that converting a recessed light over our kitchen sink to a pendant light would be an easy project. And it was!

                                          

source

It just goes to show you that you can gain inspiration from a lot of sources and easily adapt them to your own needs and tastes.

source

So stop on over to Our Fifth House and check out the rest of Carmel's beautiful home. You may find yourself inspired to try something bold and new in your home or the confidence to try something you thought you couldn't do.

Finally....The Mudroom Closet Reveal!

Hello!

I'm excited to finally share my mudroom closet with you. I never dreamed this project would take me almost a month! It was filled with ups and downs and delays for all sorts of reasons. But in the end, I'm very happy with how it all turned out.

Let me remind you of how things looked when I started. Ouch!

              

When I first shared the mudroom with you, I didn't really have any thoughts of doing a makeover. I really just intended to clean it out and get all our winter gear organized. The sorting and cleaning out only took me parts of two days. I was able to donate some things the kids had outgrown, relocate a few things to different places in the house, and throw some things away.

But once I had cleared everything out and it was totally empty, I realized something....it still looked really bad! The walls were extremely scuffed and dirty from everyone just throwing their shoes and boots in there. I tried to scrub the walls but to no avail. I was only scrubbing off the paint. You see, when we put on this addition, we never painted the closet, only primed it. So I decided that before I put everything back in, I really needed to paint.

But somewhere in between realizing this and digging out the painting supplies, I remembered a very cool mudroom makeover that I had pinned from Carmel at Our Fifth House. I was totally inspired.

Now I knew that my closet wasn't, nor did it need to be as amazing as Carmel's. After all, she was creating a complete mudroom out of a closet and a hallway. I still was going to be closing my closet doors. But that doesn't mean it couldn't be cute, right?

I purchased some of the supplies I needed...like cute new metal door knobs and wood, but it just seemed that my time to work on the project kept getting waylaid. Between birthday celebrations, Hubster traveling (I knew I was going to need his help for some of my ideas), meetings, church activities, etc., it just wasn't getting done.

Finally, last week I decided to paint. I planned on using leftover yellow paint from the mudroom. But when I picked up the can, I realized it was not going to be enough. So I wound up mixing that with the leftover paint from the kitchen. It made the yellow a little duller, but I reminded myself it was only a closet. (You have no idea how many times I told myself that during this project!)

My plan was to wallpaper the lower half using the same bead board wallpaper that I had used in the kitchen, only horizontally like Carmel did. The day after I painted, I attempted to do the wallpapering myself. Big mistake. I really needed a couple extra hands. So I gave up on that and waited for Hubster to be able to help me a couple days later. But in messing up the wallpaper, I also had wasted some and now I didn't have enough. So that evening when I was tired and crabby and disappointed that I hadn't got the papering done, I headed out to Lowe's to get more which was a fiasco and a long story itself.

Finally, this past weekend we had no plans so Hubster and I worked together on hanging the wallpaper, installing a kind of chair rail board, painting, and installing new hooks.

Yesterday was spent purchasing a few accessories....like new baskets to store things like gloves and hats (It always bugged me a bit that you could see through the old baskets. It made it look a little messy to me.) and a cute sign I found at Hobby Lobby.

So....are you ready for the final reveal?



Ta-daaaa!!!!!

Hubster now has his own big basket on the floor for his caps, ear protection for mowing, gloves, etc.

My daughter also needed her own little basket for her iPod, headphones, and other little doo-dads she feels are necessary to keep in this closet.

And don't you love this metal sign? I thought it was just perfect for us all to see as we grab our coats to head out the door. It might be my favorite part of this whole makeover.

I also added another boot tray since it seemed like the two we had were always overflowing.

Now I have to be honest and tell you that there are still a few things that need to be put back in the closet. And the kids will be hanging their school backpacks here as well. But you'll indulge me a couple "beauty shots," right?

I love a good "before and after."

And one last look. I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for stopping by!

Today's Thankfulness.....

* For safety for Hubster traveling in bad weather.

* For my sweet sister and her love for all the nieces and nephews in her family.

* For the Lord's provision of help when I needed it.

* For a beautiful blue Fall sky.