Creating a Plate with Meaning

I saw this wall on Pinterest and instantly fell in love with the idea!

(photo credit: Larissa Holland via mmmcrafts.blogspot.com)

I love the variety of sizes and colors of plates and how they all fit together.  I love the way they seem to creep up the wall, or perhaps they are falling down ~ depending on your perspective. I liked it so much, I decided I wanted to replicate it in my own home.

My wall wasn't created overnight.  My collection started with a couple of plates I got from my Grandpa, an antique collector.  One use to hang in his house, one still has his handwriting and price tag on the back of it and one is from a set of old dishes he had.  The other ones I purchased from random places ~ Crate and Barrel, a local antique store and Home Goods.

But since my plate wall was going up in my dining room, I also wanted a plate with our dinner blessing on it.  And I knew I would be creating it myself.  :)

I purchased a plain white dinner plate at TJ Max (on clearance for $1.50).  Measured out and drew lines (with pencil) directly onto my plate.

Took my fine tip black sharpie marker and wrote our prayer on it over and over and over.  I let it dry, began to wash off the pencil lines and proceeded to watch ALL of my words go down the drain with my lines. :(  Note to self ~ Regular Sharpie Markers DO NOT work on  glazed plates!

Since it was 11:30 at night.  I took a deep breath, gently place my plate on the counter and went to bed.

THE NEXT DAY.....

I went to the craft store and purchased the exact marker I had held in my hand the previous day when I was there, but talked myself out of buying.

Went home.  Redrew lines, rewrote my words and worried just a little when I turned the water on to get rid of my pencil lines.  I began to gently wipe them off and was relieved when they came off easily, but my ink did not!

My new plate:

Perfect for my plate wall!

Which, I will show you all tomorrow :)

Sassy

Sassy.

She seems to be growing up right before my very eyes.  She can be sweet, she can be sassy, she can be down right grouchy.  But isn't that true for just about anyone?

Last night, I was helping her do her homework (at our new kitchen island I might add).  Spelling words to be exact.  She was studying for her test that is scheduled for tomorrow.

She wasn't happy about me breaking out my camera to snap a few pictures of her ~ but conceded when I jumped in the shot with her.

Then I went outside to check on the other two.  They were very busy playing "store" in a nasty watery sand concoction.  

But were having fun and enjoying each other's company!

Whoo Hoo.... finally, our Kitchen Reveal!

Hubby and I had been discussing a kitchen remodel for some time now.  And after saving some $$ we were finally able to stop dreaming and make it a reality!  I will admit, we didn't do any of the physical work ourselves, but instead worked at picking out the new design and then worked at not having a kitchen for 6 weeks.

I admit, I had a vision for what I envisioned our kitchen to become and pinned them on my kitchen board via Pinterest (follow my boards by clicking here).  Here are a few of my pinned kitchens:

This was one of the first kitchens I ever pinned.  I LOVE everything about this kitchen.  I pinned this before we decided to go ahead and remodel.  I love the silver, the white, the glass and the pops of fresh greenery. 

my pinterest via Massucco Warner Miller

In this picture, my eyes were drawn to the crisp white, clear glass and lighted cabinets.  

my pinterest

And this kitchen, another one of my early kitchen pins.  Once again I absolutely love everything about it.  It just felt timeless, classic, bright and clean.  I love the black countertops, subway tile and glass cabinets.

my pinterest via House & Home

Alrighty, so now that you know what I like, here is our kitchen before:

and here my friends, is our after:

I knew I wanted an aqua color on the wall ~ the designer had me go with a lighter shade than I had planned and I am glad she convinced me of that.

I also knew I wanted a couple of glass cabinet doors.  Only a couple though, because we are a "real" family and this is definitely a kitchen that gets used and seriously, who wants to "see" tupperware?

I knew I wanted a farmhouse sink, subway tile, white cabinets, and silver hardware.  I also knew I wanted black countertops.  The kitchen designer mentioned doing the island top in white, a concept which had never crossed my mind.  She thought doing the black top on the island would create a sort of   "black hole" that I wouldn't like.  I wasn't convinced.  Then she pulled out my inspiration pictures (a couple of the above pics)  and pointed out that most of them had white islands and I must subconsciously like that look :)  I let my hubby make the final decision on that one and he chose white. I am certainly glad he did.  I love it.

Everything turned out amazing, meal time is no longer a foot fight under our little table and there is so much more work area for the kids to help me out.  

And yes, I am in LOVE with it!  

Details:

paint color ~ walls: White Rain by Benjamin Moore, accent color in window: Polished Slate by Benjamin Moore

sink ~ Barclay Fire Clay Farmhouse Sink

hardware ~ Bordeaux Shaker Cup Pull and Bordeaux Football Knob

faucet ~ Danze

countertops ~ Silestone in Tebas Black and Lagoon (island)

counter stools ~ Italmodern Eurostyle Camy Matte Aluminum Counter Stool

A Celebration

Last Friday our overnight guests began arriving ~ First it was Hubby's Sister J, her hubby D and their 3 boys.  Then Grandpa S and Grandma P.  The chaos began and everyone ~ kids included stayed up until 1am.  Saturday brought more arrivals ~ My sister E, her son K and my parents (known as Grandpa P and Grandma P). Later on my sister's husband arrived after coaching at a track meet.  We had a houseful.  17 people to be exact.  It was busy, crazy and fun.

Why all the company?

Last Sunday, Action celebrated his First Communion at church.  And our wonderful families came to town to help him celebrate.  He was excited and nervous.  But everything went smoothly and he looked dashing to boot :)

And, what's a celebration without cake(s)?

It was a wonderful day, a wonderful weekend and yep, I was really tired.  After the last of our guests had loaded up their vehicles and pulled away, I finished the dishes, washed the floor and took a 2 hour nap.  :)

** OH, and make sure you come back tomorrow for our big kitchen reveal!  Super excited to show you all how it turned out!  See you then! **

Going Greek

Hubby and I along with another couple are the organizers of a pancake breakfast fundraiser at our church.  Not only do we have a fabulous pancake breakfast, but we also have a $1 kid raffle, religious education tuition raffle, and silent auction.

Every year this event has a theme.  Last year's theme was Hollywood (you can check us out here).  This year's them was Greek ~ Ancient Greek that is :)  Really? A theme for a pancake breakfast you ask?  Well, the pancake breakfast we organize is just the beginning.  The following weekend there is an evening event (costumes preferred) which includes a LARGE silent auction, dinner and a live auction.  Drinks, food, fun and friends all while raising an amazing amount of money for the religious education of our youth.

Anyway, So Hubby and I dressed up for the breakfast ~ we're the ummm.... "hosts" after all AND we dressed up again for the evening event.

See, aren't we just Geeky.. I mean Greeky!  HA!

I actually found my dress at Nordstrom Rack for a STEAL!  Regular $395 ~ I purchased it for just about $25.  Hubby's fabulous outfit ~ Smiley's curtains, tied together with rope, a dashing red sash created with a bedsheet and he pulled out his old (we're talking college days) Birkenstock sandals.

Anyway, this is my very good reason that I've been a bit bloggy absent and let me tell you, when it was finally all said and done, this is exactly how I felt:

Oh, and I made some very fun centerpieces.  I'll show you those very soon!

Painting over RED walls

I finally did it!
I've only been thinking about painting over the red walls in my family room since May of 2010.

I just couldn't decide what to do with the big black square we call a TV that the previous owner had semi ~ built into the wall (poorly I might add)  and some crazy cut outs for components.   Well, all that is still there as I have yet to convince my husband we should rip out that silly hollow wall and get rid of the enormous TV.  But all in good time ~ I'll start with baby steps :)

Anyway.  The red we had on the walls was Boston Brick by Behr.  Initially I loved it.  Before we moved into our current house we owned a little 1940's bungalow in the city.  When I say little, I mean not quite 1000 square feet.  Our new (current) house had 2400 square feet (before we finished the basement!).  I wasn't use to so much space and was wanting to shrink up the rooms and make them feel more intimate.  Therefore we went with the red.  Anyway, fast forward a few years and I was definitely ready for a change.  Something lighter.... fresher.

Here's what our family room looked like before in all it's Boston Brick glory:

Then, with 1 coat of gray primer (it kind of looks blue in this picture).

This was a SUPER important step ~ the primer helped cover and block the red from bleeding through.

Finally, on to the "real" color.

2 coats of this:

(Sand Dollar by Sherwin Williams)

and we are feeling light and airy (maybe a little tired of holding a roller to, but so worth it)!

Oh, and we got new windows in the entire house ~ and I was lucky enough to get to prime and paint all of the new trim ~ which is why the window trim doesn't match the rest of the "ugly" trim... all in due time! :)

Love this picture ~ but I'm not sure where to put it ~ which is why the protective corners are still in tact.

Can you tell I'm ready for summer?