A New Year: The Fun We Had and Sneak Peek Kitchen Remodel

 

Happy 2013! I thought it would be fun to share a few pictures from our Christmas and New Year's adventures. It was for the most part a really relaxing and fun holiday season filled with blessings and God's goodness. Above is our short, fat tree with presents packed underneath, ready to get ripped open by three sets of tiny hands.

 

Here they go! My older two sons were so excited on Christmas morning. Their favorite toys were Rescue Bots. I loved how cute they were in their footie p.j's running around the house.

Here's our youngest child-it was baby boy's first Christmas! Back in February, I wrote a post about our Unexpected Gift-this perfectly sweet, little newborn that arrived into our lives and I can't believe is about to turn one! And we are very, very close to adopting him-just another month or two before he's our forever child! I am so thankful that we made room in our home and hearts for this little blessing. He is truly a joy and I'm so glad I'll get to be his forever mom.

On Christmas morning, I made these amazing strawberry and whipped cream filled crepes, with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Of course, they were devoured by all and gave us the energy to go on a nice walk through the woods at our favorite metropark.

Our boys loved exploring the woods and suspension bridge on our walk while baby boy was content on daddy's backpack.

I was really happy we got snow for Christmas! Right up until Christmas, we had warm temperatures and not a hint of snow. Here's our house and yard in the winter wonderland that finally came:

On New Year's Eve, we went to an event at our zoo for kids called "Noon Year's Eve". The ball goes up at noon and everyone cheers and drinks apple juice while the confetti flies everywhere. It was cute to see the excitement on my boys' faces and that they got to have some fun because there was no way I was letting them stay up until midnight. I actually wasn't even able to stay up that late myself...

I don't really do "New Year's Resolutions" but if I did, getting organized would be on there.( I'm proud to say I did work hard on getting rid of some clutter in my crafting space)It seems like e
very January I usually get the itch to do some kind of remodeling or repainting project. No surprise, right?
So, what we're working on now is a very inexpensive project to create open shelving in our kitchen. All I had to buy was a $13 can of special primer that goes on over laminate. I am so glad I discovered this stuff-it is so easy to work with and I was able to paint right over it in the color I wanted.  
I'll go ahead and show you a sneak peak of what we're working on:

First, we removed these plain laminate cupboard doors...

Then, after a light sanding, I primed the edges with the amazing Zinnser BIN primer. The stuff goes on so smooth over the shiny laminate, dries really fast and actually doesn't have as strong of an odor as the can says. Still, I cracked a window and had a fan going so I would still have brain cells left over. In the morning, I painted the primed edges a soft gray I had saved from my living room called Sharkey Gray.

 I'm still not done finding where to put everything so it looks nice and organized, but I love this arrangement so much better. It visually opens up my narrow galley kitchen and shows off pretty colors and baskets and is a lot easier to just grab a plate or cup. I love my organized spice rack that sits conveniently above my stove too. I'm glad we chose this cheaper option instead of paying for all new cupboards.

We do plan on hiring a contractor at some point to open up the wall between the kitchen and the dining room, install concrete countertops and move the sink over so more of a back window can be seen. Until then, we will try doing what we can to transform the rest of the plain laminate into something that blends with the more traditional style of the rest of the house. We shall see what we can come up with on the cheap...

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple! I can't wait to share my adoption pictures with you as well as kitchen progress, my final bathroom redo from last fall and some furniture projects I worked on last summer. I hope you'll come back for more!

 

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Trash To Treasure Gallery Wall

This summer I worked on remodeling my bathroom by adding a fresh coat of paint, a new mirror, lighting and as a finishing touch, a colorful gallery wall. Can you believe everything I used came from thrift store junk? I choose the pieces that had an interesting shape and the potential for prettiness-because I know what paint can do!

Below is everything I used to create the look above: 
Stainless steel platters, outdated Avon recipe plates, cast iron owl trivets...stuff you might just throw away, or transform like I did!

Here's what I did to create my gallery wall: 

Bathroom Progress

For those of you who've been following along, you'll know that I've been tackling the big project of repainting my bathroom and then adding updated lighting and mirror as well as replacing a door that is falling apart.

Above are some of the colors I liked-in the family of pale greens, yellow-greens, and beige all from Behr paint, who Consumer Reports gave a very good review. And, I wasn't disappointed either-I bought the paint with primer in Satin sheen and it went on really smoothly with none of the previous color showing through after just one coat of paint.

It's funny to me that I actually like paler colors on walls now-the last time I painted a bathroom I did it in a deep eggplant purple. My husband said that phase was "interesting"-but I'm glad he lets me try whatever my creative heart wants!

Well, I loved it then, and still love bright and bold colors-but more as accents colors on doors, cabinets, accent walls, and decorations against lighter walls.

Below is the color I chose called "Silky Bamboo". I love how soothing and peaceful the color is. But, I promise you it won't be boring: I plan on adding bright pops of tangerine with a painted door and handmade salvage wall art I can't wait to get started on.

Silky Bamboo by Behr paints

Here are a few of my "Pinspertions" for my bathroom remodel: 

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

I love the pale walls with bright tangerine pops. This looks a lot like my bathroom with the size, beadboard and window. 

Source: modernpalmblog.com via Kristina on Pinterest

I love this tangerine door and how it looks against the pale walls-like a creamsicle. I plan on painting my new door this color (and when I get to my kitchen, I will do that door tangerine, too, I think).

Here's what I'm working with:

Here's what I lived with for almost a year and a half from when we first moved in: 

Icy blue walls with a darker blue ceiling. Not terrible, but not me. 

Now, I'm cringing as I post a really ugly picture on my pretty blog: The hideous floral door with a 1980's wall papered cardboard panel that is peeling off. What the heck where they thinking?

I see no other option than replacing the whole door. On the other side is a mirror where the wooden edges are chipped. Luckily, we have a salvage warehouse in town where we can replace it with one from the 1920's-like the rest of the doors in my 1920's home.  So ready for my pretty tangerine door!

Here's the lighting and mirror I want to replace. I don't like how wide the lights are and their lack of style. Also, the mirror is pretty basic and not very safe with its sharp edges. I plan on taking a trip up to IKEA for replacements that will fit my budget but will for sure be more stylish.

Here are the first coats of Silky Bamboo on my walls:

I painted all the walls above the beadboard and the ceiling this color. I love it! It really makes my small bathroom seem bigger and it is for sure brighter and more cheerful.

Just a few touchups this week and I'll be done with the walls. I already went out and bought new bathmats and towels to compliment my new color-just need to clean up my painting mess. Next, will be the mirror and lighting replacements and the wall art I want to make. Can't wait to reveal the rest.

Thanks for tuning in and I hope you come back in the next few weeks to see the end result!

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