Ceramic Display Inspiration

I am so in love with the white color trend these days.  My mind is constantly thinking of the next transformation or the next purchase.  I have never been one to collect ceramic items but love the inspiration I am finding online and in magazines.  I have been hunting thrift and home stores for serving plates, trays and other decor items lately.  Most recently  I scored a very simple ivory tone ceramic urn (for six bucks at HomeSense!)that fits perfectly on top of our dining room sideboard.  My newest mission is to create a beautiful plate display on the vaulted wall of our kitchen.  Check out some of these great ideas:

source

love how the plates wrap around the wall,  such a unique idea!

source

thinking I would like to build one like this on my lower/end kitchen cabinet...hmmmm

source

source

White Kitchens

For what seems to be the LONGEST while, I have been wanting to repaint my kitchen cupboards.  The flat panel oak has soon got to go, however I need some assistance convincing the Mr. that it will turn out just fine!  Initially when we built the house our contractor missed half the kitchen in the budget.  When we went to select cabinets we were already 50% in the hole.  At the time (seven years ago) our budget allowed either flat panel oak or contractor grade white cabinets, while still being over by about $4000.  We chose the oak at the time and although I have no regrets I am ready for a change.  I think painting the cabinets white/cream will not only modernise the kitchen, but it will also help brighten up our home.  I feel very confident after reading stories from some of the following sources that I to can successfully repaint our dated oak cabinets! 

source

source

source

source

source

$5 Night Table

I recently found this night table while browsing one of the local "yard sales" on Facebook.  The price was the first thing that caught my attention, five bucks..I couldn't go wrong!  I needed a small night table for my son's room and this looked like the perfect fit.  When I picked it up I was pleased to see what great condition it was in.  So with today being my day off, I thought I should tackle it's transformation.  

It all starts with a little sanding with the trusty mouse sander.  Usually, I would prime the piece but I decided to forgo that today.  I then applied an even coat of Rust-oleum Painter's Touch in Apple Red.   Once dried I lightly distressed the edges with some sand paper.  One of my favorite finishes is glazing.  I absolutely love Valspar's Antiquing Glaze for this procedure.  You really can't mess it up.  Simply apply to the entire area and rub off.  If the effect is too strong I will spritz a little water to allow for any additional glaze to be toned down.  I finalized the table with Watco Clear Lacquer to protect the surfaces.

So pleased with the outcome. The best part is that I had all of the supplies already on hand!

New Lamps

I am so excited about my super-d-duper find today!  While out on my lunch break this afternoon I decided to pop into Winners to pass the time.  I wasn't looking for anything specific, just browsing, until I came upon these two beauties.  I have been looking for new bedroom lamps lately but haven't come across the perfect pair.  Well, I take that back. I haven't come across the perfect pair with the perfect price;)  I couldn't believe my eyes when I glanced at the bottom of the lamp.  $20 bucks!  Start the car!!!  So here they are *sigh*, I love them.

Long Weekend Wrap Up

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend!  Holidays are great, but isn't it funny that you almost need another day off just to recover from the holiday?!  We had a fantastic weekend!  The children decorated  eggs, they hunted for those chocolate eggs, we started some spring purging cleaning, had some visitors and we went visiting.  Whoa, that was a mouthful!  I even squeezed in a 16km run today (that I was supposed to do yesterday :)  Here are a few pics 

  In between all the fun festivities, we also managed to complete and start a couple of other projects.  When we brought the unit into the mudroom we had to remove the existing deacon's bench.  The bench also provided hooks to hang our coats. With this gone we had to buy or make some type of coat/ hook /shelf.  We managed to come up with this, all with some scrap wood and trim that we already had.  I picked the hooks up at Home Depot for $3.98 each.

and a little help from Thai!

Linking up with Miss Mustard Seed

Hop on over to Miss Mustard Seed for this weeks Link Party

There are some really great inspirational submissions and many fabulous ideas.