Kitchen Inspiration

I thought I'd show you some of the kitchens I have in my pinterest homes and interiors board that I find soooooooo droolworthy :)


I really like the grey tiles as a splash back and their contrast against the white cupboards and counter top. And it ties in nicely with the more industrial stainless steal island bench.

Image via here

Again, the contrast of this grey in the cupboards 'makes' this otherwise all white kitchen, and brings out the grey flecks in the marble counter tops.

Image via here

Love the lights, love the counter tops, love the detailing on the cabinetry profiles and the stand proud kick boards.... drooooooool!

Image via here

It feels a bit poky but I guess it's just part of the kitchen and I really like the idea of a desk area in the kitchen for kids to do homework. And the blue ceiling is a really cool touch.

Image via here

I think this is pretty much my dream kitchen! I love the layout and the lights, the wooden floors, every detail!

Image via here

Do you like my selection or you prefer something more modern and streamline?

I hope you had a great weekend, we did :)

A Mini DIY

Last week I decided to take down the chalk board in the kitchen and make a notice board .You know what it's like, bits of paperwork tend to mount up in the kitchen.. party invites, 4c petrol vouchers, shopping lists etc.

So I bought a small canvas for $6 from a cheapy shop, got some of my hessian out and cut it to size so it would wrap around to the back of the canvas and just used my everyday paper stapler and stapled it to the frame at the back of the canvas.

Then I got out some pretty light blue ribbon that matches the kitchen and stapled it on too. Easy.

It's been so handy already and matches my cutlery print I made late last year.

So just a mini DIY... but the best sort; a practical one.

On another note, still waiting for more info on Cyclone Yasi. There are no reports of death or injury as yet so that's good news but just hoping that everyone in Mission Beach, Tully etc are ok. And I hope our fellow blogger Sharyne is ok!

Take care,

Some little additions to the kitchen

I hope you had a great weekend!
We did! I bought three ceiling fans on Saturday from Beacon Lighting to put in the bedrooms we will hopefully get them installed soon, we are also having a new aircon installed tomorrow!!! YAY getting ready for summer!

While I was out shopping for the fans I stopped in at Spotlight to get a few Christmasy things. Like Bon Bons, gift tags, I think I want to make some white bunting for the deck and I also spotted this cute white 'Kitchen' sign and couldn't resist!

Look at that groovy retro typeface! I love it and doesn't it go well with my old style radio! If you're new to my blog and want to see my little kitchen makeover post click here.

Another new addition in the kitchen are these wooden alphabet and number magnets I made for Will to play with.


We were given two wooden puzzles handed down from friends but when all the pieces were ending up everywhere (and Will's not really old enough for a 26 piece puzzle) I decided to turn them into magnets for the fridge.

I bought a long roll of magnetic tape with a sticky side to it and chopped pieces off and stuck them on the back of the puzzle pieces.

They look great and have already provided a good hour or two of play time for Will!

I love it when you can re-purpose something don't you???

On Sunday we had a birthday BBQ for Glen's birthday with family and friends.

I was cheeky and turned the numbers around on his cake :)
It was a lovely afternoon and all the kids played really well. Oh and see the massive sandpit you can see in the background? Well we are part way through a landscaping project... I will do a post on it once we've finished.

How was your weekend? What did you get up to?
Have a great day,

Kitchen print... Just for me???

I designed and made a little print for my kitchen wall the other day, here it is!

It's called 'Cutlery' and to make it I drew a knife, fork and spoon put the corresponding titles underneath and put a hessian looking background behind the illustrations. It suits the light brown branch and the brown in my kitchen blind etc.

Glen loves it and I think it's quite special too. Advice please, should I list it on my shops or just keep it for me?
And for this little man... who is yet to learn the meaning of cutlery and prefers not to use them :)

Have a great day everyone,

My Kitchen Makeover

Here is my kitchen makeover revealed. Its nothing too exciting and it's taken a while to get done but with pretty much $0 budget and doing it all by myself, I'm pretty happy with the changes.

I'll just quickly run you through what's been done:

• First up; removed the: curtains, cork board, the two little round tiles which were stuck to the splash back tiles as well as a really granny looking tile as well.
  
• Replaced the brown plastic handles with stainless steal ones
• Put in a dishwasher
• Painted over the wood panelling
• Bought two white bar stools to go under the bench
• Plastered, sanded, plastered, sanded then painted the cork boards in the left over blue paint we have which ended up matching quite nicely with the ugly lino floor tiles
• Made a new blind for the window
• Bought and sprayed white a cute little birdy hook to be a tea towel holder (there was no place to hang tea towels when we moved in)!
  
• Painted my wooden branch in a light brown to match the blind

I think that's it... I still want to find a new clock for the wall to replace the one we've got and there are a few little things like that which I will do later but it's taken me quite a while to get it as far as it is with other projects on the go.

So here are my before and after pics (before photos taken at house inspection) after pics taken this morning (you'll see the high chair, formula tin and other bits and bobs as I wanted you to see it as we live, not over styled just to look good for the photos).

before
When I took that cork board off the wall it left a big square on the wall where it had been - not a great look.

after
Replaced by my funny chalkboard which says 'Both of us can't look good at the same time, it's me or the house'
I want to replace that little shelf that the phone sits on and put about 4 matching little shelves above it to display things on. I just have to figure out how to build and attach it.

before
I put our microwave into the cupboard above the fridge as the spot where the previous owners had it took up too much bench space.

after

before

after

after
Our dishwasher.
I lived for nearly a year without a dishwasher (the hardest year of my life :) just joking. But we didn't think there was any space to put one in, especially since our bench tops are narrower than normal. But we had our builder make a little 'box' for it to sit in under the breakfast bar which isn't ideal but better than handwashing.

before
Ugly curtains for the 70s and drying rack hanging from the wall!!?!?!

after
My new blind I posted about a few weeks ago. And you can see the little birdies on the branch hook which was a cast iron colour when I bought it for $5 at Recollections.

before
There are the weird tiles above the stove and next to the toaster.

after
The new kitchen knobs made a world of difference.

before

after
The 'M' on the door which I painted the same blue stands for 'Minky' our cat as the laundry is his 'bedroom' :)
And that's the clock I want to replace (Glen wont want to hear that because he loves that clock).

before

after

So there you have it my kitchen makeover.
I hope you enjoyed this little look into my home, and on some exciting news... my bro and sister in law just exchanged contracts on a house a few suburbs up from us. So I'll be helping my sister in law with her big plans for the place!!!! YAY!

Have a great day,

My DIY blind

Do you remember this post where I got this material for sooooo cheap and planned to make a Roman Blind for the kitchen window, and you all convinced me that Roman Blinds were easy?

Well the thought of making the Roman Blind has been freaking me out a bit (I know, I know it's easy right?) So anyway when I saw the very lovely Tina's post the other day with the roll up blind she make for the little window on her front door, I got inspired!

So on Saturday I got to it and made a roll up blind for the kitchen. Take a look...

Sorry, not fantastic photos, the light has been bad the last two days.

I attached two sets of ribbons to tie the blind up with and I lined the material with a white calico I already had. I think I may get a slightly thicker stick for the bottom of the blind just to make it feel a bit sturdier. I made a pretend pelmet thingy like Tina did...

I painted my wooden branch in a light brown colour to match the brown going through the fabric. So all up I think it probably cost me around $25!!! Pretty good hey!

And just to give you a bit of contrast, here is a photo taken back before we bought the house, when we were just doing an inspection so that you can see the original cafe style curtains and the wood panelling and see, there was no deck...?


I am pretty close to finishing my kitchen makeover so when it's done I'll do a big post with all the before and after pics.

Anyway, what are you up to today???
The cold has taken hold unfortunately so lots of Vitamin Cs for me today :)

Have a lovely day,

DIY Roman Blinds - wish me luck!

This project has been on my mind all year but I have not yet had the guts (or the time) to undertake it. Yes Roman Blinds people, tricky, but maybe not too tricky - I hope!

Take a look as some pretty inspiration so you can get my drift...

Isn't this the happiest looking home office? The colours and the light are stunning, and so are those blinds.

A more subtle room but very elegant and neutral, those grey roman's with the white ribbon down the edge are gorgeous!

These ones let lots of nice light through and really tie all the elements of this kitchen together don't you think?

And do you know a little girl who WOULDN'T want a pink and turquoise bedroom like this one?

Above images via here

Very wintery, cosy, natural looking and you can't go past stripes can you?

So do you want to see the fabric I've chosen? Well this fabric chose me really. I saw it at Spotlight yesterday and it was my favourite in the whole shop by far so I bought half a meter to make kitchen tea towels out of but then when it rang up at $5/mtr as opposed to the $14.95/mtr on the tag I said to the lady 'Well at that price let me have an extra 2mtrs'. THEN she couldn't get get the computer to work properly and gave me the extra 2mtrs at $1.50!
Don't you agree, it was meant to be?

And there it is, stunning right?

So it might take me a few weeks to get started (find the time) but I will do a little 'how to' post when it's completed. I've got a great book which has 'how to make roman blinds' but I've lent it to a neighbour down the road so if I don't get it back in time I've found a great online tutorial which looks just as good as my book's instructions here.

Have any of you lovely ladies out there made roman blinds before? How did they turn out, is it hard... no, no, actually don't tell me that!

Have a lovely day,

There's a fire in the kitchen...

I'd love to be hanging out in this gorgeous white, bright kitchen today, all warm and toasty with a fire going.
My cold/flu has given me a very sore croaky throat today, so I sound like a cross between a frog and Darth Vader :)

I'm thinking of putting on the slow cooker, as right now I've still got the energy to think about dinner, and I am dreaming of a cozy fireplace to warm me up!

Have a great day everyone & thanks so much again for all the lovely comments and new blog visitors. I'll try and get around to saying Hi to everyone soon :)

Wood, wood, wood, wood, wood, wood...

What do you think about wood in decor?

Now I know we've got it everywhere, floors, tables, chairs but looking at this feature in the latest issue of real living mag got me thinking about where I stand on wood. Check it out...

Hmmm.... to be honest I really don't love it. Maybe if I had a modern mountain cabin I would decorate like this with warm tones and textures.

Do you want to see the reason for my aversion to wood....

This is my kitchen....
(pics taken at home inspection prior to purchasing)

Wooden panelling and cork on the walls.... yep, you heard and saw right...

Don't worry, the tin of white paint surfaced soon after we moved in and I will have to post before and after pics sometime soon (I still hate my kitchen but not as much as before).


Ok, ok, you can stop screaming now...

So you can now probably understand why I shuddered over the real living feature but I'd love to know what you think of this style of decorating?

Now can I suggest you go walk into your kitchen right now and take a deep breath and be thankful that it doesn't look as hideous as mine did/does ;)

I hope you have a great day,