Sunday, January 29, 2023

What I've Been Up To Lately: A Kitchen Remodel, Quilting, and Painted Ornaments

I know I haven't been that in active in Blog Land lately, so I thought I'd pop in and do a Lifestyle Post to share what I've been up to.  

As many of my regular readers may already know, I always do one large indoor home improvement project in the winter and one outdoor home improvement project in summer.  This winter, I am re-doing my kitchen.  It is a HUGE project, and just the thought of even starting it seemed so overwhelming  I've been put it off for years.  I'm not making any huge changes as I love my farmhouse kitchen and it's always been one of the most charming rooms of my house.  However, after twenty five years, it really needs a fresh coat of paint, and some serious decluttering.  One can accumulate a lot of junk in a kitchen in twenty five years!

BEFORE


As always, I was in a rush to start the project so I didn't take any "Before" pictures.  I did find these old photos on my blog, but they are kinda grainy and they are all decorated for Christmas, which makes the room seem even more cluttered.


The room was white with blue and yellow accents.  I had a tea pot theme going, hence the tea pot stencil on the wall.  When I repainted the walls, I covered up the stencil and have no plans to re-stencil it nor have a tea pot theme.  I actually got rid of all my tea pots except for one, and I'm getting rid of all the yellow accents.


I also accented with antique silver and red and white cook books.  I decided to remove the cook books   because I didn't want any color in the room other than blue, white, and some natural wood and silver accents.  I donated a lot of antique silver items, and kept just a few that I was actually using.


The china cabinets on the left of the photo above and below were just packed full of blue and white china and silver, almost all of which was given to me by friends.  I "Marie Kondo'd" my china cabinets, choosing only to keep items that "sparked joy" and I donated the rest.

The china cabinet wall also had stenciling on it, which I also removed.  The three china plates I pulled off the wall, but kept them, and they will probably go in the china cabinet instead of on the wall when I'm done.


On either side of the sink are more shelving spots for decor.  I removed so many items from these corner shelves, and plan on only having one or two items on the shelves when I'm done.





This is the stove are of the kitchen.  I love the tile on the countertop because it comes in handy when setting down hot items, but I really don't like the floral tile pieces anymore.  I would love to remove them, but I'm stressing my husband out enough by making him put in a much-needed new counter top and light fixture, that I don't want to push him. 😁


DURING

Kitchen and bath remodels are the absolute two worst rooms in the house to remodel, especially when you're doing all the work yourself.  First I had to de-grease the entire room using a more environmentally friendly version of TSP.  I could not believe how much grease was on every surface of this room...and yes, I did clean it regularly.  It was super hard getting the grease out of all the dental molding.  Decorative molding in old homes is beautiful, but it is so hard to keep clean.

All the cabinet doors had to be removed, all the hard ware had to come off.  I decided to save money and keep the existing hardware.  It was in good shape and I still liked it.  However, the old hinges rusted, so I had to clean and spray paint those.


I decided to skip re-painting the inside of the cabinets to save money and time, after all, who sees the inside other than me?  I did give them all a good cleaning and reorganizing.  


Now, this is still not the finished stove wall.  I  simply did the top of the cabinet by just keeping the pieces you see, but everything in the middle, above the range hood, is not staying there.  It's only there temporarily.  I will decorate and make that section pretty too!

I did buy some new bamboo spice racks from Amazon which I absolutely love.  Those will remain where I put them.  I will share more about those in my final reveal post.


Would you believe this light fixture used to be white?  I know, yuck!  I could take this down, clean it up, and spray paint it, but I decided on new lighting for the kitchen.  This light fixture is too dark for this room.  I am going with track lighting to bring more light in the room.



I'm grateful to have a nice large, warm space to work in my sunroom.  I can't imagine doing a project this big without this extra space.  After I remove the doors, I take them downstairs to my sunroom and de-grease them, sand, prime, and give two coats of Ultra White Cabinet Paint.



PAINTING WOODEN ORNAMENTS

My son gave me this wood ornament kit for my birthday.  My first thought was "What am I gonna do with those?" and I decided to use them as an activity with the grandchildren.  In the process of painting the trees with the grand babies, I discovered that I really enjoyed myself!  

The kit came with Christmas Tree Shapes, Round Ornament Shapes, Stars, and Snowflakes.  So far, I've only finished the trees and round ornaments.

Here are my trees:



When it was time to paint the round ornament shapes, I went on Pinterest for ideas.  I found I was really attracted to the black background ornaments, so I painted all the shapes black with a gold top.

These four ornaments were done using Stampin' Up! stamps.  I simply stamped the image in white craft ink and colored them in using craft paint.


This batch was all hand drawn, no stamps were used.  However, the ideas weren't my own,  I got them off of Pinterest.  If the design is simple enough, I can usually re-create it on my own.  I'm just completely incapable of drawing something out of my own head.


And these two are my least favorite, but I decided to show them to you anyway.   I found I am really bad at trying to draw words.  It didn't matter if I used paint or a paint marker, I just couldn't get that perfect calligraphy I wanted.  The candy cane ornament was made using a stencil.



That's all I have done for now.  When I finish the other ornament shapes, I will be sure to post them.

QUILTING


I have so many unfinished quilts in my craft room.  I am the type of person who loves to start a quilt, because I like designing them, but I never finish them.  Years ago I promised myself that I would try to quilt at least one hour a day in the winter so I can finish all my quilts.  Of course, with the kitchen remodel, I usually don't have that extra hour, but whenever I have spare time, I work on my quilt.


This one is almost done and I am hoping it is finished by the end of winter (fingers crossed).  All I have to do is a little more top stitching and then add the binding.


 Well, now you know why I haven't been blogging as much as I use too.  I haven't gone anywhere,  nor have I stopped blogging, I am just super busy right now.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

28 comments:

  1. Looks like you have been super busy with that kitchen remodel - which looks fabulous. And I love the painted oranaments and the quilt. I've never done quilting but I am in awe of those who do. Enjoy your week ahead, stay safe, and thankyou for visiting my blog last week.

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    1. Thank you, the kitchen has a long way to go, at least another month (or two) of work but I'm definitely hoping to have it done before spring. I'm not a very good quilter, but I try. I envy those women who can make amazing quilts and produce them so fast too!

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  2. I can totally relate to how time consuming a kitchen make over is. Some years ago I repainted all the cabinets and walls. It's so time consuming to remove all the doors and hardware, sand everything, prime, paint etc. My head is spinning just thinking about it and I have been planning on re-doing it again but with all the work involved I keep putting it off!! At least I managed to re-paint the walls in the kitchen last year!!
    I love the area around the stove (even if you're not yet done decorating it) and think the blue flowers on the tile look really nice with the white cabinets/drawers.

    Your quilt looks beautiful, love the birds! And love those wooden ornaments, they look beautiful and a great idea to use stamps and stencils to decorate them!

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    1. Yes, it is so time-consuming, which is why I've put it off for so long too. But it has just gotten so nasty, I can't put it off any longer. I'm doing it in baby steps to make it seem less overwhelming: one wall a week! That has helped. Thanks so much!

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  3. Wow that is some amazing work you are putting into the kitchen.. kudos. Looking forward to see the finished project.
    Those ornaments are beautiful.

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  4. You've been busy, love the quilt!! Thanks so much for linking up at the Unlimited Link Party 99. Shared.

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    1. Thanks Dee, yes, super busy. I need to stay busy in winter to get through these long winters in Wisconsin.

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  5. We bought those ornaments a couple years ago and the boys colored them. Yours just look amazing and professional! And that quilt is just gorgeous! Beautiful!
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

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  6. Oh boy; you really have been busy!

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  7. Your kitchen looks so cosy and full of character. Mine is very small and desperately needs a complete makeover with new units and white goods, but we keep putting it off. Thanks for linking!

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    1. "cozy" and "character" are definitely two words that I would use to describe it. Kitchen makeovers are a lot of work, that's why I put off for so long too. Thanks so much.

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  8. Love all of your creative projects! Everything looks so colorful and pretty. Thank you for sharing this post in the Talent-Sharing Tuesdays Link-Up 51.
    Carol
    www.scribblingboomer.com

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  9. Amy, CONGRATS! Your post is FEATURED at the Unlimited Link Party 100!

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  10. The bird quilt is absolutely gorgeous, Amy! How fun to do ornament painting with your grandchildren! And their cute too! Aww your kitchen already looks amazing and your still in process. I'm looking forward to seeing your finishing touches. Thanks for sharing!

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  11. Looks so very nice. That ornament painting is really cool.

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  12. I like how the section by your stove is coming out so far. I really like the spice racks and how they fit exactly into that space! Good luck with the rest of it. I can't wait to see it finished!

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    1. Thanks so much. Interesting fact about those spice racks. I bought them to go in that space but they were a tad too large so hubby took them apart and put a piece of foam on the side of the cabinet and put the spice rack back together without screwing it back together. The pressure of the foam holds the spice rack in place.

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  13. Wow Amy you sure were busy. I love your farmhouse kitchen it's so cozy. Your ornaments are so pretty. And that quilt, it's so lovely.
    Thank you so much for sharing this with Sweet Tea & Friends this month.

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    1. Thank you. You'll have to come back in a couple of months to see photos of the finished kitchen.

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