A Few New Friends in Blogland

Recently, I have found a few new friends out in blogland that you have GOT to visit!

First up is Tracy—OMG is she hilarious! She seriously makes me LOL.

Her blog title is “It’s an Average Life,” and she chats about everything. I mean EVERYTHING!

Her Thursday Toots are hysterical! Just get some coffee and some chocolate, and plow through her archives and have a good laugh.

(Click on the picture to go straight to insanity—I mean Tracy’s blog.)

Next up is -- Cheap Chic Home.

Check out these oversized candy corn creations that she made out of Styrofoam cones and plaster. I will be making these!

(Click on the candy corn photo to go to Cheap Chic Home.)

Thanks, Kim for your awesomeness!

And finally…Meet Katy of Mom and Her Drill.

This woman uses power tools. I mean, like she builds decks and stuff!

Check out her kitchen re-do—LOVE HER!

(Click on the kitchen picture to go to Katy’s blog. She has some great projects going on.)

Awesome, right? Don’t you just love them all already? I do!

Let me know if you get a chance to visit and tell them Misti sent ya!

1990’s Kitchen Do-Over

Wow! Just WOW! My long-time friend, Sandra and her husband Scott recently had their 1990’s kitchen updated and it is gorgeous!  They picked out the former colors with a designer years ago, and are now moving on up to 2010 with a fabulous new color palette, granite countertops, gorgeous tile on the backsplash, new sink, new appliances, fixtures, flooring, and have changed their cabinets from a whitewashed to a beautifully updated creamy finish.

Check out this transform—Can you believe that this…

…is now looking like this?

I love how the refrigerator looks like it was custom made for that wall, and how they removed the microwave to make room for the new tilework and stovetop appliance.

Before: The Hoosier cabinets were being used for storage.

 After:  This wall is now loaded with cabinets,  some to the ceiling, adding much-needed storage space.  Adding the wall mounted microwave and oven were a stroke of genius! By moving things around, they were able to have more storage space AND a more functional stovetop cooking area.  They also love the new desk/computer area!

Before:

After:  New undermount sink, lighting and plumbing fixtures, and new tile, too! Oh, and check out the dishwasher…NICE.

Before:

After:  Adding the dark wood flooring is an amazing contrast to the creamy white cabinetry. Also, they made the bar area functional and kid-friendly, too.

Seriously—What an unbelievable transformation! Congrats to this family! The details are amazing—and that tile work is really a knockout job!

I will be linking this to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch. Click on the link below to see other great transformations.

 

Come back and visit soon. If you have a great transformation I need to see, please send me photos. Everyone loves a re-do!

~Misti

Clean Out the Pantry Clutter

Since school started our pantry has been a mess with forty thousand boxes of snacks and bag after bag of chips. I had to come up with a solution!

So this: (forty thousand boxes and bags)

Went to this:

EASY PEASY! This big bucket has a handle, and I can take it to my ‘lunch making station’ (aka the kitchen island) with one hand!

Chips and snacks all in one spot. So easy, even the kids can grab it and help make their choices for the day! And THAT is a wonderful thing.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

~Misti

Visions of Burlap this Christmas

I know, I know—It’s really too early to be thinking of Christmas, but in my world if I don’t start thinking about it very early, the things that I really want to do, just will NOT happen.

Last year after the holidays, I found myself thinking of all the things that I SHOULD have decorated the tree with, but didn’t.

I remembered having a bag full of burlap fabric in the basement, and thinking how cool it would have been to have draped the burlap all through the tree! This wreath found in the Ballard Designs catalog (Nov. 2009)reminded me:

You see, several places now sell wired burlap ribbon, but I think I’m going for the real thing. Think it will work?

Don’t you think this tree is crying out for a burlap treatment?

Also, for my skinny tree, I’m thinking of making small 4 x 6-sized song lyric sheets tied to the tree or attached with clothes pins. Another thing that signifies our family and the things that are meaningful to us. Yes, burlap is very meaningful to me!

Do you have any visions dancing through your head for this year? I would love to hear your ideas!

~Misti