Flowering Dilemna

Happy Memorial Day to all! Humor me while I pretend I'm the optometrist......above you see photo 1. Now tell me which looks better......photo 1....oooooorrr.........

Photo 2? Again, that's photo 1 or photo 2.

Ahh, you're right, photo 2! Those scrawny little petunias came home with me from a store which will remain unnamed.....it rhymes with Dome Lepot. ;-) I paid $2.99 for each little pack. Ack. It pains me to pay for annuals....they just die at the end of the season. But I digress, I wanted a little somethin' somethin' to put in my front porch pots....so, I managed to hand over $6 to the Dome Lepot cashier and went on my merry way. Well not soooo merry, because I just paid $6 for those pathetic little things....which on a sidenote I NEVER buy plants from big box because we have an AWESOME greenhouse 8 miles away.....but I got a wild hair.

SO, back to the story. My voyage took me next to a grocery store (that I love) that rhymes with Baldi. Okay, I give in.....I was at the Aldi. ALDI ALDI ALDI. I love Aldi. If you don't have one nearby you must convince them to build one. NOW, being two days before Memorial Day they had these little planters marked down tooooo......you guessed it, $2.99. WAH? I felt used. Used by the Dome Lepot. I got about 40 times more flowers (okay, slight exaggeration) for THE.SAME.PRICE.

Lesson learned. I should have stuck to my greenhouse and avoided flower purchases in non flower producing stores. But, thank you Aldi for brightening my thrifty day. :-)

I pulled those little planters all apart....each had 4-6 petunias, PLUS a bunch of other lovely flowers. I added one little pot of tobacco leaf to each pot and now they look lovely. The tiny flags even came with those little Aldi planters.....try to beat that Dome Lepot. I dare ya.

Garden Markers

Am I the only crazy that saves EVERYTHING? I know there's someone out there with this logic too....besides you Dad..... "but it's so neat....there's got to be SOMETHING I could do with this, I should just save it." Some time ago began my compulsive environmentally conscious saving of concentrated oj metal lids....you know the metal thingies on the ends of the can? Well.....it finally dawned on me! Now aren't you glad I saved these my dear husband? I didn't spend a dime on this project. ;-)

GARDEN MARKERS!!!!

Basically follow these instructions, add a piece of wire as a poker, a pretty bead and there you have it! I'm off to make a jillion more to label all the things I lose track of in the garden. :-)

Linking up to:

Penny Pinching Party

Show and Tell

Idea Sharin' Wednesday

It's So Very Creative

It's Coming Up Summer Around Here

YAY SUMMER!!!

Wallpaper Removal MADE EASY!!

Be forewarned...if you have unwanted wallpaper in your home and you read this post....you may fall in love with me. Just so you know. As part of the "grand" kitchen remodel we are now undertaking (small squeal), there is a great deal of wallpaper to eradicate. Luckily, early in our homeowning experience I came across this mixture....and it saved my sanity.

Into an empty gallon milk carton pour 1 cup ammonia, 1 cup liquid fabric softener, fill the rest with water. Shake, pour into a squirt bottle.

This is what your solution will look like....you may want to mark the jug...

to avoid an unfortunate cereal incident.

Now squirt the wallpaper. If it's the really old kind just squirt it right on and let it soak a couple minutes. If it's the shiny "modern" kind just try to grab an edge and tear some of the shiny off, then squirt.




Now scrape it off the wall like butter on a hot day.




Seriously, it comes off this easy...in sheets...practically sliding down the wall before you can get to it. This will change your life. ;-) And your house will smell great (choose your favorite scent of fabric softener)

Our entryway hall is now primed and ready for topcoat....photos coming soon!!
Progress marches on.




Linked up to:
Hodgepodge Friday
Remodelaholics Anonymous

Super Star

To my sweet 6 year old boy....CONGRATULATIONS!!!! on completing your first 5k. You rock.

Kitchen Dreaming

Source

Ever since the day I first poked that tiny hole in the ceiling....for investigative purposes...my thoughts have turned to kitchens....nothing but kitchens. Kitchen remodel and thrifty don't usually reside in the same sentence....but they do now. I'm keeping my cabinets...because we've established before THEY CAN LOOK GREAT with fresh paint and new hardware. I'm keeping my appliances....stainless...love them. No plumbing is changing location. And as I mentioned I've got some great guys on my team. :-) I had previously purchased a new garbage disposal and GORGEOUS Kohler faucet (steeply discounted...thanks Dad!!) SO......we're not talking loads of $$$ here folks. BUT the difference will be amazing...I just know it.

Southern Living

Now on to the inspiration. I've flipped and flopped about cabinet color. LOVE the black and white in the first pic....but it might be a little dark for my kitchen. LOVE the white and robins egg blue in this one....that's what I'm thinking now. And that stove vent "mantel"....hello beautiful.

Source

The walls. Well this is pretty much what they will be.....3/4 beadboard...with paint on top. Probably the robins egg blue....possibly a light neutral.

Urban Grace Interiors

My frig really needs a house....this one would be perfect.


BHG
Sorry for the crapola photo...I took a photo of a magazine page...I know, lazy. BUT....love the vent mantel, again.



The ceiling...need I say more? My beadboard will all run in the same direction though....alternating would give me the heeby geebies I think.

HGTV

This one had me at hello.

This photo is the reason I want three pendants (or three of something) and that GORGIE GORGEOUS panel they all hang from.....perfection.

I can thank Kim over at Newly Woodwards for this beauty.....ever since seeing this photo this has been my only option for an island. This is it. I'm ordering the legs and figuring out how to build this. I.NEED.THIS.TABLE. Period.

Cote Kitchen
Again, with the three pendants...love these.

AND PRETTY MUCH EVERY KITCHEN IN THIS POST!!

After collecting photos for years I noticed a pattern....lots of white. So clean and fresh in the kitchen....I just can't see putting anything else in at this point! So....it will be a process....a bit at a time....but the goal is to be completely finished by the holidays.

Be brave!

Lessons

The kitchen ceiling project has now moved into phase 2.....details coming soon. However, there are a few lessons I'd like to pass along in case any crazy people fellow DIYers would like to take down a drop ceiling in the near future. First....while in the process of taking down a ceiling full to the brim with gross blown-in insulation, protect your diet 7-up.....unless you like your drink with fur topping.

Lesson #2: Projects NEVER go as planned....just go with it. Our ceiling had TWO layers of drop....a fiber tile layer AND a dry wall layer. Yay me. It works out best to take down one at a time. I was a pro by the end.

Lesson #3: Don't be offended by the huge mess. It sweeps up.

Lesson #4: When everything goes to H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS don't cry. It just makes the dust stick to your face.

Lesson #5: When you can see ALL THE WAY TO YOUR ROOF through the ceiling, that's not all bad. It opens up a world of opportunity to rewire for the snazzy pendant lights you've always wanted...

......and install the vent hood you've always wanted over the stove.

Lesson #6: Marry a man who thinks you are half off your rocker but loves you anyway. To all my sweet friends who wondered how he reacted when he saw my "project".....he offered to help clean it up, and fix it......and said "whatever you think is best." You're dying right now aren't you. Too bad, he's taken. ;-)

Lesson #7: Use plastic. LOTS of plastic.

LESSON #8: Borrow or steal the greatest Dad on earth who has lots of great ideas....and knows how to execute them, flawlessly.

Coming next.....the inspiration photos.....I can't wait to share them.

Let's Just Jump In

LAST TRAIN TO CRAZY TOWN....ALLLLLL ABOOOOARD! Toot toot. Okay, so you knoooow how I saaaaid the project might happen in a while. You knooooow, the kitchen project? Welllllllll. You were all so motivating. And I have a history of "wildhairedness disease". My husband still loves me...isn't he great.

Yesterday I was thinking about my $50 entryway remodel...do you remember? The room that is adjacent to that entry is this little hallway. Should be an easy remodel too, right? Maybe I'll start there and work toward the kitchen (the next adjacent space).

This is the view from the backdoor. See that dropped ceiling in that tiny hallway?

This is it close up.

Does your kitchen have three exits? Ours does....we're all about safety folks. ;-) The door on the left goes to the backdoor, the door in the middle goes up the back stairs and the door on the right goes to the dining room. Now you have the layout.

Well......yesterday I thought I'd peak at what was up above the hallway drop ceiling. I started with this little hole.

Then....I made the hole a little bigger and used my highly superior investigative tool (my camera)....and pushed it through the hole to take a photo....THIS IS WHAT I FOUND!!! Can't tell what that is? A perfect plastered ceiling above the drop. WOOHOO!!!

Sometimes investigations happen before you can even get your shoes on. He he he.

This is the view above the drop pointing toward the backdoor!!! BEADBOARD!!!!

The hole got a lot bigger.....and then the whole drop ceiling disappeared. How did that happen? It wasn't my fault. ;-)

Then the framing disappeard too. Poof.

The next AWESOME discovery was that the frosting finish on the walls was OVER THE TOP OF 73 LAYERS OF WALLPAPER. That might sound like bad news to the rest of the sane world, but that means it peels right off.....it's not plastered on my pristine plaster walls.

When I say 73 layers I'm not kidding folks.....I seriously just gained us a half an inch of livable space in our home. Did you know wallpapering was usually part of the spring cleaning plan of gals in the era my home was built? They put up a new layer over the old every year.

I found this cute puppy.

And this cool farm scene.

THEN the ugly paneling had to go. It was impeding progress.

Isn't that better? It's very tough area to photograph....if you really want to take in it's grandness just stop by. The tiny hallway is no longer claustrophobic.

Soooooo......that got me to thinking. What is above the kitchen's drop ceiling? The hallway was easy peasy. I'll just take a little look.

Umm......somehow the hole got a little bigger than small.

LOOK AT THAT CEILING!!!! Down comes the rest this week. Updates to follow...if I don't drown in blown in insulation (dirty filthy blown in insulation) But it's worth it....my kitchen is going to be beautiful!!!!

The big dumpster is on it's way.