Outside Spring Time Spruce Up

Our new convection range was scheduled to be delivered last Saturday. I received a delivery ETA of 3:30AM-5:30PM. Yep, you read that correct. A 14 hour window! After I was done laughing I decided to take full advantage of being held captive at my home and I made plans for some spring planting to take place. Things had been looking pretty sad around here. After some new flowers, shrubs and mulch, I would say its looking much better!

I also purchased a decorative trellis to go on either side of our house. I wanted to balance out the flower bed by the front door. It always looks so empty until the lantana fills out every spring. 

We replaced the lights on our home last year and I have yet to share them. These have replaced the old white ones we used to have flanking the garage. 

And in case you forgot what the old ones looked like. 

The one by the front door was replaced as well. We went from this builder grade light...

To this...much better!

I made this H door hanger out of old wood, ribbon and a collection of buttons.  

One last comparison for fun! What our house looked like when we purchased it..

What it looks like now...

Have a wonderful day!

Amber

Cabinets & Backsplash

The cabinets are FINALLY painted. Boy did that turn into a mess. The paint let me down. The more coats I applied the worse it got which pushed my procrastination over the edge. It should not take two months to paint kitchen cabinets people! 

We are proud new owners of tuxedo cabinets. I've always been in love with them. The top cabinets are painted Olympic One True White and the bottom painted Olympic One Volcanic Ash. I am already loving having the lower half darker since it is at dog level. Our dogs come and go as they please through their dog door and you can bet they love to come inside on a rainy day and shake off on every thing!

As you can see, our drawer pulls are installed but we still need to order and install the cabinet door knobs. 

I am also thinking about painting the end of that built-in cutting board so it blends in better.

We purchased a new over-the-range microwave oven (to free up our counter tops) and of course that purchased lead to a new convection oven. I would love to get the matching dishwasher and fridge but those will have to wait. 

So on to our backsplash. I had two in mind when I started planing out this kitchen upgrade. One for the "temporary-while-we-save-up" phase 1 and my dreamy white subway tile for phase 2. 

For phase 1 I was throwing around these ideas:

• Sawdust and Embryos has a wonderful post on painting a backsplash. I love the colors they use. It looks so real.

• Gray Eyed Scorpio also has a post on one she painted in her kitchen. It really highlights the great thing about paint. If you hate it you can always paint over it!

But first place went to this chalkboard painted backsplash on The Blooming Hydrangea. I love the whole kitchen! Its similar to the style I like and its shaped exactly like my kitchen. I thought I had it figured out but then I started thinking about trying to make those straight lines on my bumpy orange peel textured walls. Phase 1 was scrapped and I jumped head first into phase 2. 

White subway tile has always been clean and classic to me. You can love it or hate it but its simplicity makes it timeless and the fact that its so versatile doesn't hurt either.   

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In the beginning, my husband and I wanted to try to install the tile ourselves. We knew we would save allot of money and there are a million DIY tile posts to walk us through it but I'm not so sure now. I think we are perfectly capable of pulling it off but the question really is...do we want to? We are coming to the end of our home remodel that has lasted 12 long months. We are burnt out and just want it to be done. I am in the process of picking our tile and grout color. We will see who ends up installing it but either way there will be shiny white subway tile in our kitchen soon! 

Amber