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.

Finding that Stud...

When Cole and I got married we got some of the
most amazing dishes and stemware. Oh boy did we get stemware. We had inherited my Grandmas crystal and received a lot of really cool glasses. When we moved into our new house we were psyched to pull out all of our wedding gifts and put them on display. We have lots of cupboard space in our new house, nice tall cupboards. To our surprise though it wasn't enough space. Take a look.....

See those are some full cupboards.

So after I was inspired by all of the open air shelves on Young House Love, I decided I needed one. I also had just the place in mind for my new shelf. We have this big wall next to the fridge with an awkward sized chalkboard. I knew I wanted to do something with the wall but I didn't know what. Here are some pics so you can visualize the wall that needs love. 

Knowing I wanted a new shelf I set out to my local Home Depot. Guess where I headed to first in that grand ol' store? You guessed it the cull bin, and would you believe that I found my shelf board for $0.51. Woop Woop! God I love the cull bin. Now for my not so proud moment. When I went to find the brackets for the shelf they were expensive and they didn't have a great selection. I am not a huge fan of the scroll look which was a few bucks cheaper but I opted for the $9.99 version. Yeah, I paid twenty bucks for the brackets. I guess I rationalized it because I only spent $.51 for the shelf and I had the paint. (Oh yeah the hardware is included with the brackets)

 I added two lovely coats to my shelf and brackets for that semi-gloss finish that I love.

 Then late into the night I solicited the help of Cole to hang the beauty. He was reluctant because he was headed straight to the couch in the family room, beer in hand. Thanks again babe! You are the best. Below you can see Cole struggling with the math. His measurements were not lining up, to our surprise it was because I kept moving the brackets not knowing he was measuring.. Sorry... By the way to all of you instant gratification readers like myself, I have learned that you must find the stud in the wall when hanging things. I have always been a "put a nail in the wall and call it good," kinnda girl. Now that I have Lucy I fear that everything I put on the wall will fall on her sweet head. So I am extra paranoid about finding the stud and making it sturdy. Especially when I am hanging crazy heavy shelves.

 Finding that stud and screwing in the stuff. Looking good Cole. Who knew "we" were so handy.

 Then we hung the shelf and the hardware and I added some finishing touches. Oh yeah "we" re-centered the chalkboard too.

 Done and done. Now we can relax and have a beer... It was ten at night.

 

I couldn't help but decorate the shelf ASAP. I secretly wanted to make sure it could hold the weight of some sturdy things. So I loaded it up with out margarita glasses..(Yum Margaritas..) Side thought entirely, if you know anything about the Pioneer Woman, which I do. She is awesome. She makes these margaritas that look amazing... Check out her site here and buy the book to get the recipe. They would look so good in my glasses. I also added my big bean pot. I love it and it has been hidden way too long. Anyways, we didn't hear any loud crashes last night which told me the shelf held up. We did hear the wind last night. Yuck. But Lucy slept through it. Yeah!

 

 Here is Lucy this morning enjoying Grandmas waffles.. She loves them. Oh and look at that shelf behind her. Looking good.

 I must say I am loving my new shelf. I keep moving different things on and off of it. It also adds life to my chalkboard.