Pretty Amazing Man....

Cole loves to surprise me. He is really good at it too. When I least expect it he does something amazing that reminds me I am totally head over heals for him. Several weekends ago my Mommy, Lucy and I went to the Bay Area to visit my Grandpa. While we were away Cole decided to rip out the linoleum (the hideously dirty cream stuff) in our kitchen. We are constantly looking for ways to update this bad boy of a kitchen of ours. Cole and I have always both agreed that we like the way slate looks but never talked about conquering our floor seriously. With the help of his Dad, Cole set out to redo the kitchen floor while we were away. When I returned home I was pleasantly surprised to find a new slate/tile floor that I adore. So without further ado.... Here are some before and after photos of our new kitchen floor.

Before.... The lovely linoleum...

 Cole took some photos of the step by step progress... So here is the tile all laid out and ready for grout... He picked a tile that had some brown in it to match the cupboards in case we decide to not refinish them.

And here are the after....

 The flooring makes a huge difference. I used to battle with a floor that constantly looked dirty... probably cause it was though I mean what do you expect with a toddler and two dogs.... Now we can hide the dirt better!!!

Below you can see where I painted the backside of the cupboards with chalkboard paint that I made. You see Lucy is a new found artist and chasing her around with crayons in her hand (washable or not) is exhausting so I gave her the low walls to express herself on. I cleaned it up for the photo though.

 Weston, Lucy's BFF wanted in on the action. Napping is overrated on Mondays.

Anyways look at the beautiful floor. Pretty much Cole and his Dad rock and I love it.

 Now I am at a loss for what to do with the cupboards. I was sold on the idea of painting them white but now I don't know. I do know that the counter tops must go and that my previous idea of white tops could be out and a darker counter top could be in.

Anywhoo.... For our family and friends out there wondering what kind of home upgrades we have been up too here you have it. Except I can't take any credit for this. It was all Cole... Nice work babe.

Let's Run Away.... Or at Least Plan to

It is finally time to do something about this map that has been hanging around my house. I know many of you have noticed it before, wondering "what the heck is she gonna do with that?" Well I want to let you in on my master plan. You see I am horrible at geography. I don't know why and I can't pretend to be a super smarty pants because others out there will attest to my mapping abilities. This is not something I want to share but somewhere along my life journey I dropped the ball maybe in social studies. There was even a day when I thought one of my besties Molly was from the East Coast because she was from Minnesota. It rocked my world when I realized Minnesota bordered North Dakota. I knew where N. Dakota was because I lived in Montana at the time and I knew it bordered Montana. I guess I blacked out in 4th grade. Also for all of the mothers of students I have previously taught, be glad I was your child's Kindergarten teacher and nothing more! 

I can't tell you that I am in love with this map but it was an antique I found hidden in the depths of my old classroom closet, which makes it free. Thus, I am using it until I find one I love more. The whole point of this project is for not only my benefit but Lucy's. I want to give her the skills I lack. How amazing will it be to have a map at her disposal with photos of her and her family linking to different states on different journeys. It also opens up to letter recognition, color recognition, story telling, etc, etc. 

Here are my materials :

map

large piece of board cut to size   $8.99 (Home Depot)

1 can of chalkboard spray paint about $4 (also From the HD)

White moulding around $20 all together (HD)

Spray Adhesive already had it (HD)

Liquid nails also already had it (HD)

I fit the map to the board and traced around it making sure all sides are equal. Then traced around it with a sharpie.

 There below is my sharpie line so I knew where I needed to spray paint. I don't like wasting this stuff cause I use it a lot. PS enjoy the view folks

 Cole cutting off the extra stuff... Yes that is a Skil saw... Thanks Dad

Then I spray painted black chalkboard paint around the edges of the board

Next I used spray adhesive and glued the map to the board. Make sure you are measuring so that your dimensions on both parallel sides are equal.

 The next step was the hardest because we did not have the correct tools and it required a lot of math. Cole stepped in for me, thank god. I wanted to use some fancy decorative moulding around the edge but instead I found the cheapest stuff money could buy at Home Depot. I am so happy we purchased the stuff we did because its flat and will be easy to write on or stick pictures to.

Cole did his damnedest to make the correct angles to make a frame. We were a little off but all he did was measure the length of the end of the board and took that measurement into the length of the board. He drew a line from that mark to the corner then cut it with a skil saw. Could I describe that any worse.. Jeez

 Cutting off the ends....

Then we used liquid nails to piece all the frames together. Then my father-in-law Neil brought over his drill to screw it into the wall. Yeah we have a drill but the battery won't charge so thank god for our local handy man. Love ya Neil!!

 This is a scale shot for you. I wanted to hang it low enough so it can be an interactive piece for Lucy to touch and read.

 Here is a close up of how hard making corners is.. YIKES... anyways we just used white grout to fill it in. Nice

 If you decide to do this do not make the same mistake we did. We needed to measure our boards to fit longer so we can have more picture space and writing space.

 Lola aka "Misery" ..... I can't tell if she is impressed or not.

 I really like the piece. It was a lot harder than I thought to put together. However, I think this will serve as a great conversation piece and a wonderful learning tool for Lucy. Its not fine art but it's sentimental art. We made it and will continue to create it.

Let me know what you think. Sorry this is the worlds longest post but it was worth it.