Reini Days over on Washington Street: June 2012

Another update and a few photos showing the progress of our kitchen makeover.

It is slow going, with summer started, and I just can't seem to find the motivation to get started on the cabinets, but today I plan to clean and degloss one section of them, and get some primer up.

For now, these are the pillows I have on the bench below the dining area window.

The little green one I found at a thrift store quite a while back and paid like a dollar for it.

The red one I found on sale at Walmart for $9.

I am thinking of maybe having one or two more pillows for this bench, so I can change them around from time to time. I would love to get a burlap one, with maybe some numbers or a letter R on it...and would also love to have a white one with some black French script writing.

I'm not sure I'm going to do anything to the bench. I kind of like it the way it is....and since it's up against a white wall, I don't think it would look good white. If I painted it green like the walls it would be too much green....I just don't have any idea. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

On the other side of the bench, we have this:

This is a white ceramic coffee pot I bought at a garage sale. I maybe paid $2 for it. It's in really nice condition, and is heavy...the only thing was..there was no lid for it. I bought it anyway, and it makes a nice vase for my fake *gasp* flowers.

I won a gift card for Amazon, and after using it, this cute tray only cost me $1.95.

It's a nice sturdy plastic tray, and is made to look like a feed sack. When the cabinets are done I plan on putting this on top of them, leaning against the wall, but for now it's staying on the bench.

A couple things on my table. The little vases are a project I posted about HERE, and I've had little lilacs in them, but right now I just have some little fake green stuff in them.

The burlap and lace table runner was a giveaway I won....I just LOVE how this looks in the room!

The candle holder I bought at a garage sale for 50 cents. My plan was to paint it, but once I got it home...I loved the worn black paint with the bit of gold showing through, so I'm leaving that as it is.

My stepdaughter bought the green candle that is in it. It's the perfect shade of green, and I love the little leaf charm held on by the cording. So cute!

Here is what else I have on my table today:

This table runner is just the most perfect thing!

The lilacs smelled soooo good when I brought them in the house.

The candle holders were some ugly wooden things that I bought for I think 50 cents at Goodwill, and I painted them the same color as the walls, and stuck some white dollar store candles in them.

The pear is plastic, I have had it forever, and apparently I have a deep, meaningful relationship with it, because it shows up in a lot of my photos, and I can't ever see myself without it. It's like the perfect color green, and has these tiny brown speckles on it. We're in love.

The little pitcher is another Goodwill find, I paid $3 for it, and it has a raised grape cluster design on each side.

Here is a closer shot of the cute little pitcher, and my beloved pear.

Here is the dining area wall.

The stencil was a giveaway win from Cutting Edge Stencils. I just love how it turned out. I am thinking I may add one or two more branches somewhere on this wall as well.

We have 99% of the trim up on the wall, and we also added trim around the window, which has made SO much of a difference.

Here are the before and after shots of the window trim:

The curtain rod was an ugly shiny gold before, so instead of buying a new one, I just sprayed the old one with some matte black paint.

I really wanted to make curtains out of painter's drop cloths, but at the time I couldn't find any that were big enough. I was so tired of not having curtains on the window, though, so one day I was at Kmart and thought I would take a look and see what they had. I found these cream colored linen panels, and they were only $15 each, so I grabbed them. I love how they look!

Here are a couple more photos, showing the detail, and how they puddle on the floor. This will be awesome for collecting dog and cat hair...haha!

I can't WAIT to change this flooring! My husband has big plans....a really awesome idea.

I'll blog about that when the time comes. :)

Now...for the lighting above the table. This was really a lesson in patience. And I hated every minute of it.

First...the before:

Oh my.

Since we are on a budget, I didn't have two or three hundred dollars to spend on a new light. And all of the ones that I saw and loved, were around that price. I wanted a simple chandelier, something matte black with white glass shades. Nothing frilly or with a bunch of dangly sparkly things....and I found the perfect one on the Home Depot website. When I got ready to order it, it was out of stock. *Sigh*

So I emailed the company...and was told they didn't know when they were getting more in, I would just have to keep checking back.

Wonderful.

I don't have the patience for this.

So for the next THREE weeks, I went and looked every day to see if it was in stock yet.

When it was finally in, I ordered it, it shipped very quickly and arrived in perfect condition.

I was so excited. It looks like a really expensive light, but it was only $73 with tax....and had FREE SHIPPING!

Introducing......The New Light:

L.O.V.E.

Now the light we had had 3 bulbs, and was plenty bright enough.

This one has 5...and I mentioned to my husband a couple times that maybe we should get a dimmer switch for it...because I think with the extra bulbs, it's going to be bright.

So he bought one, and installed it along with the light.

Now I suppose I could have gotten smaller bulbs, but I didn't. I bought 60 watt bulbs, and when this sucker is all the way up....it's like we're on the surface of the sun. It's BRIGHT!

Most of the time we keep it like half way up...but when the girls and I are sitting at the table playing games...it's really nice to have it so bright, but I am glad that we paid the extra few dollars and got the dimmer switch.

So that is where we are today.

There is still so much to do, but I am loving how it's turning out so far.

It's amazing how different everything is looking, but it's looking exactly how I envisioned it.

I'll post again when we get more done...and I say we, because without the help of my sweet husband...none of this would be getting done. :)