tag: kitchen



Mar 30
2011
 

french to farm

So I have had this sign in my kitchen for years. I can’t even remember where I originally picked it up at, but it was perfect for hanging under my cabinets on the back splash where I wanted a little interest. It worked o.k in our last house as you can see from this picture:

sign before: cafe

sign before: cafe

As a designer, there was always a few things that bugged me about this sign:

  1. The letter spacing was TOO wide. In fact the sign was too wide for only the word “cafe” but it was a nice size for a sign.
  2. The large letter “c” was too fat for the other letters, it is a problem that bugs me with all small cap designs, but really bugged me here.
  3. The fake texture looked cheesy up close.

So when I pulled out this sign at the new house, I knew right away it wouldn’t work. At first I just put it aside and then decided it was a perfect opportunity to MAKE it work and fix all those issues I had before. So going with my country/farmhouse theme on the main level, I looked up some vintage signs for inspiration and then came up with this:

sign after: farm fresh eggs

sign after: farm fresh eggs

I love it! It now adds a little colour above the stove, doesn’t bug me anymore and fits with our decor.

Now what else can I paint? ;)

Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter  | Comments 2 comments »
Posted by Janet under create, decorate
Tags: , ,

Nov 20
2010
 

within arm’s reach

We have a GREAT pantry in our new kitchen. It is VERY deep and therefore in some aspects, hard to use. We did not pay the extra for the roll out shelves, because we knew there were other places we would rather have spent our money. Plus, we do not usually purchase more groceries than we will need for the next month or so, so we knew that the pantry would not be fully used. (But a GREAT selling feature someday, so worth adding!)

My Pantry Baskets

I love my pantry baskets. No more messy pantry shelves!


The first thing I did to make it more accessible and organized, is to use dollar store plastic baskets to contain the items that easily fall over (like noodle envelopes) or used at one time (like lunch supplies). I labelled the baskets to be easily read from standing in front of the pantry. I just love how neat and tidy this looks. And I can quickly see when I am out of one of our staples, as each item or category has it’s own place.

my top pantry shelf

where we hold our cereal boxes


On the very top cabinet of our pantry, we house our snacks and cereal. The cereal made the most sense on the top shelf as is it the tallest item and still would be within reach above everything else. The issue I was having, was that the boxes would get shoved back by each other and eventually I would have to get a chair and climb up to retrieve the boxes within reach. This was frustrating to say the least.

this piece of wood stops the boxes from travelling back.


While working on a separate project around the house, I happened to have a piece of MDF trim that was unused and almost exactly the same width as the cabinet. Using double sided stick foam tape, I attached the trim across the shelf at the depth of the largest cereal box we have. Now, my boxes no longer travel veyond reach and the back of the cabinet is still accessible if I ever wanted to use it for long term storage. And no more chair climbing!

Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter  | Comments 1 comment »
Posted by Janet under organize
Tags: ,

Nov 18
2010
 

Tailoring your home to fit

One of the most important things I have ever learned after living in a bunch a different houses is that not all house fit you perfectly. Even a custom designed house has to be tailoring to fit your exact needs. And over the course of living in the house, it may need alterations now and then to work for you.

Now I am not talking about large renovations or changes. Just the small one to make a house that fits, fit PERFECTLY. And often these changes do not cost a lot of money.

Some of my small changes to our new house are as follows:

  • Kitchen shelves.
    Our custom kitchen is gorgeous, bright and exactly as I envisioned. We have lots of cabinet and lots of counter space. But I realized right away we could use more shelves. The bottom cabinets only had one shelf each and since I don’t like lots of items stacked or wasted space, I measured my existing bottom shelves and headed out to Home Depot. 1 hour later and about $12 including tax, I had 5 new shelves and brackets to use in my bottom cabinets. This gave me SO much flexibility for an area for the kids crafts & games, my work area and hard to stack items. A huge impact for such little investment.

    • one shelf was original, one my added one, can you tell?

  • Towel bar to fit.
    This is such a minor thing but one I use all the time and does affect the functionality of my bathrooms. Instead of having the builder install standard towel bar and towel rings, I wait and assess how I use each bathroom before installing the proper set up. For instance, in the ensuite, we don’t need a formal towel bar for bath towels. Since this is the most used bathroom, we use hooks to catch our daily shower towels. Two hooks look nice together, function perfectly and stop towels from being place over a door or bathtub. In the powder room, I like to use a towel bar for hand towels over a towel ring. I find the ring too fussy but most towel bars are too long. So I shorten it. Currently, I used a rotary tool to shorten the bar but have also used a hack saw in the past. This allows me to create the perfect towel bar for that situation.

These are just two examples and I am sure I will have more as I work my way to a home that functions and fits our family.

Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter  | Comments 1 comment »
Posted by Janet under organize
Tags: , ,

Jun 13
2010
 

quest for a country kitchen

So in the new house, the area that I am most excited about and putting most thought into at the planning stage, is the kitchen. I have always wanted a yellow country kitchen and that is what I am working towards.

The kitchen will have white cabinets and wood floors with a mid. grey/brown counter (backsplash to be chosen) something like this inspiration image. I won’t have glass on my upper cabinets but I do like the natural stone backsplash tiled on an angle.

The other area in the kitchen that I am very excited about is the desk area. We have added cabinets all the way along one wall and at the end will be a desk for the phone, and even my computer while I wait for the basement (and an office) to be finished. I like this inspiration photo of a kitchen desk as ours will have a window above it as well.

But my mission this week is to locate the lighting. I am purchasing the lights myself for the kitchen and bath areas to avoid the standard builder’s selection. In the kitchen, I really, really, want school house lights but I don’t want to pay so much for them. These ones are from Restoration Hardware but are a little pricy (since I want at least 2) and I would have to also pay for shipping. But I love them. I just have to find my available and better priced options.

Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter  | Comments 1 comment »
Posted by Janet under decorate
Tags: ,

Feb 17
2010
 

a little bit of colour at no cost

Our kitchen is a place I am always looking for ways to add colour. The issue is that if you just place stuff around randomly, it can often look cluttered and not cohesive. So I have decided to infuse a little bit of green here and there to create a pulled together look.

One thing I love when I look at kitchens online and/or in magazines is the bright coloures utensil holder. I just don’t have the budget to spend money to replace something that was already functional. So last night, I had an idea.

I took this tin a friend gave us during a visit. And painted it using some craft paint I had already in the colour I wanted.

utensil holder - before

utensil holder - before

I then sprayed it with 3 coats of extra thick clear coat glaze. And ended up with this.

utensil holder - after

utensil holder - after

I love what I was able to do for $0 dollars.

Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter  | Comments 1 comment »
Posted by Janet under create, decorate
Tags: , ,

Newer Entries »