Freshening Up Kitchen Cabinets!

Jill has been entirely too quiet, and I knew she was up to something.  And then, I heard rumors about her cupboards.  AaaHAAA!!!  So she HAD BEEN up to something -- and she's been on a roll, people!  So, I asked her to share.  Wait until you see what she's done!!
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Hello again!  I'm really excited to share a super-duper simple, quick, and cheap (yes, I said CHEAP!) update I recently made to a couple of my kitchen cabinets.  I have two cabinets with glass doors in my kitchen. They have looked pretty much the same since we moved into our house nine years ago.  And quite frankly, I was getting rather tired of the old look.

I was really inspired by two projects I saw on Pinterest... one by Pretty Handy Girl and the other by Emily A. Clark.  But -- I'm kind of a "fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants" kind of decorator, so I took their ideas and went in my own direction.  I tend to dive head first into a project without thinking it through, or even knowing if I have the supplies I will need.  Often, this blows up in my face (much to my husband's chagrin).  On this day, however, I think it all came together wonderfully.

I remembered some wrapping paper I had purchased after Christmas at the Target Dollar Spot.  I loved it, but wasn't sure exactly what I would use it for... maybe lining some drawers?  One day it hit me that maybe I could use it to line the back of the two cupboards for a new look.  I emptied the cupboards of all their contents, and got started.

I used just a few simple supplies.

• wrapping paper
• a ruler
• scissors
• Scotch Clean Mounting Squares (which I happened to already have)

I removed the shelves from the cabinets first.  I was hoping to be able to cover the backs with just one piece of paper, however the sizing was a little off.  I wound up using the paper horizontally, and using two pieces.  (It left me with a seam, but I was able to hide that with my shelves pretty well.  I tried to match the pattern up the best I could also.)  I measured (twice) and then cut my paper.  I was actually able to cut my paper by tearing it against my ruler.  It made for a nice straight cut.  Then, I mounted the paper with the mounting squares.  Easy peasy!

Next came the fun part... styling my shelves.  For this step, I gained a lot of inspiration from Kelly at Talk Of The House.  I think she is so great at styling, and her home is just lovely.

Now, you may be thinking, "Did she buy all new dishes to go in her newly lined cupboards?"  Well, the answer is yes... and no.  I hosted Thanksgiving for my family last year, and decided that my tulip-covered dinnerware wasn't going to cut it for my Thanksgiving dinner table.  I had been longing for a set of white dishes for a while, but didn't like the price tags I was seeing.  So, I ventured out to my local Dollar Tree store and found plain white dinnerware by the piece.  I bought 12 dinner plates, 12 mugs, and 2 serving bowls.  I packed them away after Thanksgiving, but when I started this project, I knew I would be digging them back out.  And true confessions here... I did wind up going out to Target and getting four cereal bowls (they didn't have them at Dollar Tree) and they set me back more than the 12 plates did!

And another silly tip... Do you see those mason jars on the top shelf?  Most of them are Classico spaghetti sauce jars... seriously!  Cheap, I tell ya... CHEEAAAAAP!  I think my husband thinks I'm crazy for saving spaghetti sauce jars, but... oh well.

All along, as I was working on this project, I was thinking that it would look so much better if I took off the glass doors.  So, when my husband came home that night, I talked him into it, and he helped me take them off.

I'm really happy with the result.  In fact, the next day I decided to put the paper on the back of this shelf that is underneath another cabinet at the other end of my kitchen.  It kind of helped to balance things out.  And the great thing about this project is that I can easily change the paper out any time I want.

So, now I have to paint my kitchen.  I told you I fly by the seat of my pants!  This little project has given me inspiration as well as direction on how I want to proceed in updating my kitchen.  Also, it's given me some ideas for other low-cost projects.

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I hope Jill's ideas have inspired you!
Stay tuned.  Maybe Jill will share more projects with us!

Taking a Cue on Stylish Storage

Kelly from The Essence of Home did a great post on "Stylish Storage" the other day.   She shared some awesome "stylish storage" ideas for the kitchen.  After reading it, I looked around my kitchen to see where I could tweak things -- and where I was already using the "Stylish Storage Principle."

Let's face it -- the kitchen can be a boring "service-oriented" space.  Some of us have kitchens that are on the small size where every inch counts, and it's hard to make room for things just for the sake of decor.  It's important to keep the things that you need often close at hand, and I also like to make sure that whenever possible I choose useful things that are also beautiful and colorful.  Then, they're fun to display.

Each of us has our own "favorite things" that we like to keep close by in the kitchen.  We each have our own storage issues and needs -- so not every idea works well in every home --but here are some of my ideas:

* files on my desktop in a wooden drawer-style box
* small useful items on my desk in a bowl

* colored silicone and patterned paper cupcake liners in a glass jar

[Notice I've added a few other small items to the jar for interest.]

* dish liquid in a pretty bottle (I totally copied this idea from Sasha!) coupled with a stack of useful bowls in a basket

I love it when the sun streams in the window and makes the soap glisten.  Also, I'm a bit of a bowl fanatic collector, and this basket is perfect for corralling a few of them with the soap and keeping it all handy.

* a bottle-drying rack used as a mug tree

I've bragged on this bottle-drying rack before, and I'm sticking to my story.  I LOVE it.  It's "look" changes every day.  Uh... most days the "Lego guy" mug doesn't make the cut... just ignore that one.

* a small mirror bounces light around in a dim corner

No, this isn't a storage solution -- but you were probably wondering about the mirror...



* teabags in a pretty jar

At Christmas-time, I often put peppermint teabags out in a jar, and include a tag made from the colorful box.  I loved the colors of the "Tangerine" box too, so I made a tag from it --and love the pop of color in the jar!

My kitchen is way different from Kelly's, and probably from yours too.  But, I challenge you to think about stylish storage solutions that will be effective for your life, and in your kitchen.  I've shown you the ideas already in use at my house.  Kelly has inspired me to think of some new ones.

What's your favorite (kitchen) stylish storage solution?

PJ Party

Today (and today only), Claudia @Mockingbird Hill Cottage is having a PJ Party.

Come & join in, and tell us the story of your favorite flannel pajamas!

[click button to go to party]

The story of my flannel pajamas started a few years back with a showing of "The Polar Express" for the kids at church.  For those of you unfamiliar with the movie:

On Christmas Eve:

"While idealistic, Santa-believing tots dream sweetly of sugar plums or listen intently for the patter of reindeer hooves, one preteen is kept awake by the drip, drip, drip of his own growing cynicism.  We know this because he skeptically looks up "North Pole" in the encyclopedia and maintains a drawer full of clippings exposing Santa as a fraud.  No annual mall photo with St. Nick.  No seasonal letter.  Despite his parents' assertions that the jolly old elf exists, this young man seems a lost cause.  Suddenly a train rumbles to a stop right outside the boy's window.  Wearing pajamas and slippers, he ventures into the snow to see what's going on.  According to the conductor, he is a candidate for The Polar Express, a train that takes children of waning faith on a wild ride to the North Pole where they get to meet the Big Red One in the flesh.  Well... sort of.  Actually, there are no flesh-and-blood actors onscreen in this computer-generated spin on Chris Van Allsburg's classic children's book."

(source)

In keeping with the theme of "wearing pajamas and slippers," those of us who were helping with the event were asked to wear exactly that.  My daughter was also helping out, so I bought flannel reindeer-patterned pajamas for each of us.  They were "Joe Boxers" from Kmart.

Do you love how the Christmas tree behind us has framed my head like a wreath?

Angelic, I know.

After the event, my daughter decided that she wasn't crazy about her pajamas, and so I "inherited" them.  (Score!) Before I knew it, I was a former fleece collector gone flannel, keeping close watch on the after-Christmas sales at a particular store in order to get the jammies I loved at a significantly reduced price.

At this point in time, I am the proud owner of about... [I'm counting] ...five pair of flannel pajamas.  I LOVE them. They are so cozy!  And yes -- as Claudia encouraged us to confess, I DO love to lounge in them.  After everyone leaves in the morning, I can often be found right here at my computer -- in my pj's catching up on e-mail and favorite bloggers' posts!  If I have no place to be on a given day, it's quite possible that I would enjoy more time in my pajamas.  Being in pajamas does not necessarily equal low productivity!  Seriously people.  Shame on anyone for thinking such a thing!  There.  I said it.  (You know all you non-loungers were thinking it!)

Now, I don't answer the door in my pajamas, and I can't say I've ever gardened in them (ahem... Claudia), howEVER, I HAVE been known to wear them late into a Saturday morning, or to don them very early on a Sunday afternoon.  I have DEFINITELY baked in them (oh please!), cleaned house in them, blogged in them, and scrapbooked in them.  And oh yes... watched movies in them too!

Truth be known -- I am a huge chicken when it comes to driving anywhere in them.  So, in extreme unplanned situations (like driving my kids to school at the very last minute) I have been known to throw on my jeans over them and go.  Really?  If I were to just go in my pajamas?  THAT would be the day the sun would rise early, and my car would break down.  Not taking THAT chance!  Although, now that I think of it -- I DID drive to "The Polar Express" in them!  What was I thinking?  Well, my pajamas were brand-spanking-new that day, and even IRONED. I mean -- you understand... don't you?  I was going to CHURCH, people!  Do I iron them now?  Heck no, friends. I'm only one fry short of a full Happy Meal, not TWO.

There.  Now you know all my secrets.

p.s.  You might think that my choice of colorful and/or bold patterns would keep me awake at night.  I am here to report:  NO WORRIES!  ZZZZzzzzzZZzZz.

Thanks for stopping by, and...

SWEET DREAMS

(or house-cleaning... whatever!)

Grapefruit in the Sunshine

As I was cutting open a grapefruit, the sun was streaming in the window.  Admiring the beautiful shades of pink, and the delicious way the sunlight bounced off the citrus, I snapped these shots.

Gone Fishin'

That's the new joke around here.  You see, I've become addicted to these:

That's right.  Pepperidge Farm Goldfish SOFT Bread -- of the cinnamon variety, if you please.  It all started when my daughter spotted them at one of our thrifty grocery stores.  She was on a kick with them for a while -- and then she gave them up cold turkey.  I don't even know what to tell you about that.  I mean why, oh why would anyone willingly give these up?  Being the good homemaker that I am [*cough], I couldn't let the leftovers go to waste -- and now I'm hooked!

They are quite simply "delectable."  Not in the gooey P-Dub cinnamon roll fashion or anything.  I did say QUITE SIMPLY.  They are a nice subtle cinnamon, but I think it's the texture that gets me.  My favorite way to enjoy them is lightly toasted, with no toppings.

After I realized my addiction how much I loved them, we stocked up on them for $1.00-$1.19 a pack.  Oh yes, my freezer was full of our thrifty "catch."  Until one day, the freezer was... (cue the scary music... jaws maybe?)  ...EMPTY.  And so, I went "fishing."  My catch-as-catch-can thrifty grocers didn't seem to be carrying these any longer.  What?  Say it isn't so.  Well, you know -- when all else fails... ASK SOMEONE.  The lovely clerk that took my inquiry said that the Pepperidge Farm man told her these weren't selling too well -- so he hadn't been bringing them lately.  What?  Not selling well?  For crying out loud.  I was buying every thrifty pack I could find.  And then my husband enlightened me.  "I'm pretty sure the Pepperidge Farm man meant they weren't selling well at the regular grocery store [you know, for FULL PRICE?] -- and so he had none to bring to the thrift grocer."  Oh, right.

[heavy sigh]

I feel like I'm swimming upstream!!!  Now, I can't even find these in the regular grocery stores.  I have been sad, sad, sad -- and a little "in withdrawal" I suspect.

And then it happened.  One day I walked into a regular grocery store, spotted one lone pack on the shelf, and did the unthinkable...

... I paid full price!

And if I'm honest, I can't say it won't happen again.  But, I won't give up "fishing" at the thrift grocer.  I never know what good stuff I might catch there!

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Do you have a thrift grocer?

What about a thrift bakery?  [We used to have a WONDER Thrift Store nearby.  I don't need to tell you that tale.]

What do you do when you can't find a particular food product that you've been enjoying?  Shop online?  Talk to your store manager?  Give up?

Have you ever heard of HometownFavorites?  It's an on-line site for hard-to-find groceries.  We've ordered some things from them in the past.  They didn't ask me to tell you about them, I just thought I'd throw this information into my Fish Tale.

Okay -- I'm done with all this fishy folderol.  But from now on, if I leave a note saying "gone fishing," you'll know exactly what I mean.  I'm outta bread.

~ The End ~

p.s. I've listed some new Brag Books in THE SHOP.  I hope you'll check them out.  Here's a peek: