Uppin' the Kitchen Ante

Good Morning friends. As I mentioned last Thursday, we have a parade of guests, arriving VERY SOON, so I got my butt in gear, starting mid last week and have been crossing things off my to-do list like a champ. Why yes, I am patting myself on the back right now, but you'll see why in a moment (and for the rest of the week for that matter).


First room first. While creating my to-do list last week, I decided one room that needed some loving was the kitchen...

It was looking better after adding some art and curtains, and refinishing our free bentwood chairs, but it still needed more. I figured it was finally time to give our other kitchen chairs some love. I'd spent quite a bit of time going back and forth on whether I wanted to paint them white, or the same Cornflower Blue that I used on the bentwood chairs. Finally, I figured since we had a ton of the blue left, they were going blue. So last week, I pulled out the paint and got to work slowly getting them all covered. 

It's a small change, that in person really makes a big impact. Before I painted them up, these chairs were looking a little worse for wear. Dirty and chipped and just not very nice. Today, they match and just look so much better than they did before. I love the personality that the blue chairs bring to our otherwise neutral dining space. It's nice that we are able to add some colour, and make it ours without putting any money into the actual home itself. So far, everything we have done to spruce up our dining space will be able to come with us when we leave, and that's exactly what we want to do. 

If you're observant, you may also notice the addition of some shelving. Those are actually two smaller LACK shelves from IKEA that B put up side by side. They used to hang in Halle's room back in Toronto, but the wall space she has here is much larger so these shelves were just too little to use in her room. I'm glad I found somewhere new to put them, and have some plans up my sleeve to hide the seam that is visible down the middle.

Currently the little shelves house a water colour of the Spanish steps, that I bought in Rome back in 2005. It also holds my little cupcake stands that I bought at Scout Market a few months ago. I need to do a bit more shopping of our home to find some other accessories to add, and already have a few in mind, I just need to find them amongst the boxes in our storage room. I'd also be thrilled if we could add two more shelves below these for some additional display space. We already own one, so I just need to snag one more and get it up.

Next on my list for this space? I'd still like to track down another light fixture that we can put here for now, and take with us when we leave. I'm also planning to make a faux Roman shade for the big window. It's such a large empty space, and I think that addition would really help make the space that much more cozy. 

B and I really put our head's down this weekend, especially during Halle's naps and after she went to bed, and accomplished a ton, so be sure to check in tomorrow to see how our Master Bedroom is looking after a little work.

What projects or rooms have you been paying extra attention to? Also, if you missed my post late last week, I'm looking for some guest posters for the month of September to help me out while we have visitors here. I'm hoping to get some people to share their own guest rooms, and/or how they prepare to welcome guests into their home! If you're interested, be sure to shoot me an email - I'd love to hear from you.