A Well Organized Kitchen

Every room in your house should be organized, especially the kitchen. An organized kitchen makes it easier to cook big meals at home and is so much easier to clean up the mess. Having said that of course my kitchen is not well organized. When you have a storage challenged small kitchen like mine being organized is difficult. I have more canned goods, utensils and small appliances than I have cabinet space so I have to store some things in another room. My dream is to have a beautiful bright kitchen with a big marble island and a cozy banquet by the window. Fulfilling that dream is not in my immediate financial future. For now all I can do is sit back and admire these beautiful well organized kitchens. 

House & Home

Elle Decor 

House Beautiful

House & Home

Elle Decor 

Country Living

House & Home

Elle Decor

Better Homes and Gardens

Martha Stewart

Happy Cooking!

Pretty Papered Tray

I love a decorative tray because they are both beautiful and practical. They add a pop of color to a table and they can keep a nightstand from becoming cluttered.  

BHG

I love this beautiful rich red flowered tray from Belle & June. If only I could paint.

Belle & June

Over the past couple of years I have collected a few wooden trays which I painted and posted about here and here. A third tray I found at the thrift store last year. It is 12" square and had plain white ceramic tiles that my dumb butt thought I could just crack and remove the tile. WRONG!. They were stuck so firmly to the bottom I nearly destroyed the tray trying to pry them out. 

So now what. My first thought was to tile over the bottom and until I ran into this post by Sarah at Cozy Cottage Cute where she used decorative paper to redo her tray. 

Cozy Cottage Cute

Cheap, quick, cute, perfect.

I took a trip over to Joann's fabrics and perused the paper  area. Decorative papers are fun to look at so if you plan to look for fancy paper to cover a tray, plan on spending a few minutes. I settled on these three as options.

I felt the spice rack paper was more kitchen oriented and I would be limited in where I could put it. The blue paper was a little to plain so the perfect choice was the Route 66 graphic.

This historic road runs through my home state of Illinois so I think it's appropriate and the blue, gray and pale yellow colors will make it easy to use in any room. Before I can do anything I have to repair the tray. I had some drywall compound on hand so I roughed up the tile and filled in the hole i made. I let it dry and harden for a day and then sanded it down.

Good as new. Or at least good enough to paper over. Now on to decorating the tray. I had previously painted the tray this soft gray so all I had to do was attach the paper. To start, I cut down the paper to fit the tray.

Using Mod Podge I spread a thin layer of the medium over the tile and let it dry a little until it was tacky. I then carefully laid the paper down and smooth out the edges with an old credit card and let it dry. Next I put two layers of Mod Podge on the top to seal it letting it dry completely between coats. Here is the completed tray.

You can find wooden trays that are painted or unpainted anywhere and everywhere. As long as it is the size you want you can change the appearance with a little fancy paper and a jar of Mod Podge. My favorite thing about using the Mod Podge on this decorative paper is the antiqued texture it give to it. It makes the paper more vibrant and interesting. 

Send me picks of your tray projects. I'd love to see your vision for transforming a tray.

trayTBarbara

Ready for Wood Floors

I want wood. Isn't that what my girl Nicole Curtis would say on Rehab Addict. Well I agree. I watch her show every week and DVR the episodes so I can re-watch when I want. She is such an inspiration. I wish I had half her gumption. All of her homes are beautiful, but what she did with the Minnehaha house was a wonder. Brava. 

Nicole Curtis - Minnehaha House

I have had carpet throughout my house for ever and it is so hard to keep clean. When you have a dog, especially a pug who eats, sleeps and sheds all day,  your realize it's a lot easier to sweep a wood floor than it is to vacuum. I've never installed a wood floor before so I read up on it and found this article on Houzz helpful. So now I have to decide on what type of wood. I'm thinking I will stick with the tried and true oak but am considering maple. 

Melissa Miranda

I like this too, except that my furniture is brown and I don't intend to buy a new sofa. 

HGTV

I like this color wood too, though I wouldn't go any darker than this.

Tiek Built Homes

As I shop, here are some of my questions:

Oak, maple or walnut?
Engineered or Solid
How much will I need?
Cost per square foot installed?
Does the install remove and re-install the baseboards?
If so, is this an additional cost?
How long does it take to install
Where to buy?

Here are a few wood samples I am looking at.

I absolutely love the dark walnut stain but that just will not work in my house. The pug factor along with having a small living room kinda rules that out. I 'm leaning towards the maple or natural oak. Since these floors are permanent, I will take my time and decide. Hmm. This make take a while.

Do you have wood floors? If so, what type of wood. Somebody help me decide.

Day Planners

Don't you love feel of a brand new day planner. There is something about the crisp, pristine, unused pages that motivates you to do big things and makes the coming year seem exciting. When I first open a new one I take time to write extra neatly because I can't defile the book with paper clips, scratch outs and eraser marks. By the time February roles around all bets are off but for January there are no mistakes. 

Mom Agenda

When shopping for a planner consider how you will use it. Do you want something to keep track of appointments or do you need something with space for planning projects for each months, tracking appointments and jotting down notes. If you choose to buy a super fancy genuine leather planner, consider buying one that has a refillable insert. I tend to like to change things up a bit so for now, a brand new planner each year suits my needs. 

Planners are available in an extensive assortment of styles, sizes and colors and $10 to $500 or more. If you are in the market for a new day planner why opt for the plain black vinyl pocket calendar.  What better way is there for you to express yourself than by using a beautiful day planner so have some fun with it. Here are a few that I thought were pretty. 

Jonathan Adler - Amazon

Smythson

Franklin Covey

   

Gigi New York

                 

Bloom - Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kate Spade - Amazon

Mom Agenda

Here's to a great year!!

Starting Anew

“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” — 
-John Pierpont Morgan

It's January. Cold, snowy, and to paraphrase Judy Holliday in Bells are Ringing, the partying is over. It's the start of a new year and the time everyone wants to start fresh or improve their life. My goals for 2014 are getting healthier, surprise surprise, managing my finances better, being a better sister, daughter, mother and friend and restarting my blog. 

I have wanted to restart my blog for awhile and seriously, what better time is there than January. Before restarting it, I took some time to reflect on why it wasn't successful the last time. It wasn't the growing pains that accompany a new blog such as not knowing what the heck you're doing, the poor quality of the photographs or poor writing. These are all things that improve with experience and time. Time. Time and time management was and is my biggest obstacle. When you work a full time job as I do and commute 90 minutes each way, sometimes when you come home after a long stressful day all you can think about is dinner, a shower and sleep. Blogging, whether you do it full time or part time, is work. Paid or not it is still work. It's work that brings me joy. What I learned is that I can't allow the things I have to do, aka employment, prevent me from doing those things I want to do, blogging. My first goal is to manage my time more efficiently so this month I will blog about having better organization in my home and my life. 

“So what do we do? Anything. Something. 
So long as we just don't sit there. 
If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. 
If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late. 
- Lee Iacocca” 

So it's January, the holiday's are over, it's cold outside and I am excited about my blog again. My home is important to me and though my resources are limited I still want it to shine. I will use my blog to share with you my ideas on how you can take what you already own or can get on the cheap, give it an update and use it to make your house the home you want it to be. I know today my blog may be a little rough around the edges, but time will smooth them out. Time and a good sander.

Remember, it's never to late to start over.

B.