A simple Beadboard Shelf - the perfect spot

On a weekend hunt of some antique shops and vintage shops in Pennsylvania with my adorable sister some years back, I spotted this adorable wall shelf ...

Right there, I decided it was coming home with me for my cottage at the beach. It was such a luscious soft grren, it had my heart.... It still does all these years later.
If it is blue, white or green I usually know it will fit in.
 All it takes is changing things up, and I like to do that. Besides I had a spot between 2 windows that was calling out for something other than a blank wall. I just hadn't found that something...until now.

So I plopped it in my car and hung it up in that empty spot and dressed it up with some beachy things from around the cottage. An old shell frame from a friend years ago, a candle holder from my daughter and talk about a bargain... that lighthouse plate was a dollar store find!

 It's got all the blues and greens that I love.

I love the little holes and dings it has in the beadboard it was made with.

And it's fun to switch up the accessorries a little. One of my favs is my depression glass candy dish.

Or the vase we fill with black scallop shells we find on the shore.

I found the "Cottage" sign at Home Goods. cute isn't it?  I have a love affair with that store.

Overall it's a really happy fit with all the blues and greens in my cottage.

Joining the Thrifty Decor Party @ http://funkyjunkinteriors.blogspot.com

Yippeee! We can eat in the Dining room again.

I am just finishing up the last few things to complete the kitchen and dining room renovation.
I love, love, love the new door leading to the yard from the dining room.

Do you remember how this area looked before?

 As a family we were very used to eating at the kitchen table. We only used the dining room at Thanksgiving.

And behind all these heads were a bunch of cabinets hanging from the ceiling!

 It may as well have been a wall!

That is all changed now. With the dining room completley opened to the kitchen, we will use it regularly. ( I also love love love these new french doors leading to the living room.)

From this:

To This:                  
(ignore over the oven ... not finished yet!)

We love having an island but we also really wanted to be able to use a table again, so we could all sit together.  I just had to get busy painting the table and reupholstering all the chairs.

That was the push I needed to finally complete the  dining chairs which had been in the basement during renovations. I previously had only 1 done and one half done.  I finished the other two yesterday and today we sat at the Dining table for dinner.

And a view from the family room to the kitchen is now un-obstructed all the way to the Dining room..
From this Before:

To this Now:

Remember the old horriibly ugly floor?/ pretending to be slate floor?

ugggghhh.  try not to shutter too much.

I really am loving my new kitchen. I waited a long time for it, and it took a lot of planning, but it was worth it.
We even got all new plates that goes so dreamy with the counter tops. and I love that they are Correll.
Correll is light weight enough that you can grab a stack of them to take to the table with one hand.
Or pull 6 out of the dishwasher and stack in the cabinet in one fell swoop...well almost.
And yet they are dressy enough to enjoy eating on them. They never break unless you happen to drop them straight down. Thankfully that doesn't happen too often.

Aren't they precious? I love how they have all the colors of my kitchen. You like?

My cabinet finally came in for over the oven.  That is the last step in the re-do.!!

I have more projects to post, my son just bought a house and is doing some renovation there. He hasn't moved in yet. When he does, and I take over his bed room, I will have more changes to make around here. I'm thinking guest room/ office/ craft room.

Wow. Can't believe after 6 kids I might actually have a Guest room!

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My Review of Color Story 24" Pure White Counter Stool

Originally submitted at All Barstools

Give your home a new and refreshed look with the Color Story Pure White Counter Stool. It is a classic 'schoolhouse' style vertical slat counter stool with camel shaped crest rail, saddle shaped wood seat, and open box stretched tapered legs. Having this piece will no...

Color Story 24" Pure White Counter Stool

Love love love

By Eileen from nj on 2/24/2011

 

5out of 5

Great stool that tucks under easily and is comfy. It is made of real wood which makes it sturdy but it isnt heavy. Even my contractoer who rehabbed my kitchen and is 6 foot 4 found it to be comfy and asked me where I found this deal. See this in action at http://cottagebeachhouse.blogspot/2011/02/kitchen-island-hutch-design-and-french.html

(legalese)

A Very Simple Valentine's Day

   My hope for Valentine's Day was having the kitchen completed enough to be working. By that I mean countertops , sink, oven and dishwasher , all working.  My wish came true. Instead of fighting the crowds outside for dinner I opted to cook a simple chicken pot pie. It was yummy. The recipe is here.
   I didn't find the time to get to the basement and unravel my milk glass and ruby glass for setting the table, so I gave it a simple dressing of white lace, a single long stem red rose, and a few heart shaped cookie cutters.

 To me, there is just something about white lace and a red rose that I adore.

My daughter made some delicious brownies for her sweetheart, and cut them into heart shapes with these. She got the cutters from Target. I love the 2 cupcakes with the smilie faces!
Her and her sweetheart.

The flowers on the sideboard came from her sweetheart. We put them in the water pitcher that my mom found in the 60's, in the attic, of the house I grew up in.

It's all ironstone, and late 1800's.
She found a matching bowl too and this will be the new spot for both of those pieces. These inherited pieces are treated like Royalty around here, and will fit nicely in my new Dining area.

Here is some of the ruby glass I wanted to use but didnt find time to dig out. Once I do it will live in the China closet again.

I am so happy to have most of my Dining room back again.

 I am still working on getting all the chairs recovered with a pretty new fabric

.

I hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day

Rag heart tutorial here

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The kitchen Island, a Hutch design and French Doors

The island is finally done!

I wanted the microwave in the island not above the stove. I wanted a mantle style for the oven area. We are still waiting for that.

We had our issues, but we worked them out. I had to make sure to get reduced size cabinets on the one side of the kitchen because the area we were working with just wasn't wide enough for an island AND full size cabinets on both walls. and I really wanted an island that we could sit at. These small stools work out well. They are very low profile and tuck in easily. They are really comfy too, and simple to assemble. All real wood.

Views above are from Dining room area.

View below is as you walk into kitchen. 

Ignore the mess in dining room still working in there!

So in compromising for the smaller size of the cabinets I compensated myself by making that area appear like a hutch. Which will do nicely when we set up food buffet style, at Christmas and Easter. So let me know what you think. We stepped back from the refridg to a 15 inch deep pantry and then stepped back again to 12 inch cabinets...

I still have to set up my shelves in this cabinet but the lights just got installed.

Remember this area Before ?...yuk.  We tore it all out.

I did love and keep ONLY my sink.  A black granite indestructable sink. ( more of that later)

During... taking down the seperation. The plumber was disconnecting! 
See the door opening in the background?

Now... that door opening in the background is now french doors. Soooo much prettier.

When I finish my table I will show more of that.  And more of the Dining room area. I am still finishing up the corner cabinet repaint. I finally found a rug that has the right color to go in there.

The reduced cabinet hutch area segues into the new french doors I had put in to separate the Dining room from the Living room. ( Where hubbo currently is working from.) So I added curtains that I can pull shut if needed. see the pretty new chandy!! ( Full view of that below.)

And my corner cabinet has found a new home in this corner of the Dining room. I think she fits in nicely there! With a fresh shot of white paint and nickel finish sprayed on her hinges... you like?
My cottage kitchen table will now stand in for the Dining table which has been delegated to the basement. I just want to paint the cottage table legs the same white as everything else. Right now she is off white.
The Before of this Dining room area at Thanksgiving (with  horrible old chandy)

And the new chandy which I Heart.

And I have been busy working on the Dining chairs. Taking them from
This Before :

To this After.

A little peek at the new back door that was a window before. ( Now we have a mess out there to fix up!)


A fresh, simple, line of paint at top and new fabric.

In the background you can also see a little bit of the end run of the cabinets on the sink- oven side.
My end of run

I was inspired by a photo in a magazine (don't remember which) but here it is below! I posted it before as an inspiration photo. The yellow x's are features I liked and incorporated.
Inspiration photo

It's good to have an idea book, so you know what you want and love. Just rip out of the magazines and save.
I have been doing that for a few years. I can't believe I finally have a nice kitchen!!!
 And it seems so much bigger, just by opening it up.

Oh... one last pic!  From the corner of the Dining Room, looking into the kitchen B4 ( these cabinets hung from the ceiling and opened from both sides! That huge block in the middle covered the back of the stove...

And the view from the same spot now:

It's been fun and nerve racking at the same time but all in all this kitchen re-do only took 1 month to complete.
Except for that one cabinet we are waiting for , and a few finishing details.
I will show the sink area in a future post.
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