Kitchen Counters & Paint Conundrum

Hi there!  I hope everyone is having a good morning.  Today is all about kitchen counters.  Not so much what they're made of but what goes on top of them. 

I think decorating a kitchen is really tough because it needs to be functional.  You need your coffee pot, toaster, utensils, and paper towels out on the counter so you can cook -- and those things aren't always cute. Recently, I read a couple of blog posts on how to create nice looking, yet functional, kitchen counters which inspired me to make mine a little nicer and a lot less sterile.  

Here are my counters before I got started:

As you can see, they're perfectly functional.  Yes, the oak cabinets shatter my white-cabinet loving heart in a million pieces every time I see them.  But that issue aside, my counters needed a little something.  OK, they needed a lot of something.  They felt a little too ... cold and flat to me and definitely needed more style.

I loved the advice in the Every Girl blog.  Every Girl gave a slew of photos for big and small spaces and suggested:

"when styling your kitchen countertops, keep in mind this list of items that actually looks good out on display:

1. plant life, particularly herbs for cooking
2. a wood cutting board
3. cooking oils near the stove
4. fresh food like fruits of baked goods
5. dishware, especially on open shelving
6. cookbooks or cooking magazines that are thoughtfully arranged."

All of this is great advice.  I already had some fake plant life - a cute little faux plant (that looks real) that I bought from IKEA.  I definitely want to bring in some herbs once I plant some this Spring.  But for now, this works.  I found a small cake stand at Home Goods for $5.  I used it to prop up the fake plant behind my sink.

I did not have a wooden cutting board, so I picked one up at Home Goods for about $9.  I love the texture!  And I love that it hides my boring laminate counters a bit.   I brought in a pop of pattern and color by propping up this cute yellow tray from Crate and Barrel ($19) behind the paper towels.  I found the ceramic basket at Home Goods for about $4.  I put lemons or oranges in it (but had not done so in this pic), and I found this blue bowl at Crate and Barrel for $4.  I'd like to put something in it, but not sure what yet.  

Now, the far end area of the countertop was always tough ... it is long and boring and definitely needed something.  I decided to break things up by bringing in a lot of texture.  I found this basket at Target for $20.  It's pretty but also functional: it keeps a few things in it.  Then I got out my Barefoot Contessa cookbooks and displayed them. I use them a lot, and I *love* her, and the colors work!  I think I need a few more cookbooks over in this corner.

I thought the idea to have cooking oils near the stove was great, too.  I bought this olive oil decanter at Marshalls for $3 and the small tray at Pier 1 for $4.  I added my salt jar and pepper mill to the tray too.

I also found some inspiration in the blog of Emily A. Clark.  Her kitchen is lovely, but what I took away most was her chalkboard labels for her jars.  I decided to do that in my kitchen.  I bought these flour and sugar canisters at IKEA months ago.  Rather than DIY, I just bought chalkboard labels on Etsy from the shop, Bradens Grace.  Look how sweet!

While we are on the topic of the kitchen, I'm mulling over the wall color. As you know, I plan to repaint basically the entire house as soon as I can.  I know I want a soft cream or warm white throughout the space, but I was thinking of doing a different color in the kitchen and the kids' playroom.  The kitchen is awash in oak cabinets, and unfortunately, I cannot change that (unless I buy this place, which ... I am seriously considering, but that's for a different post).  Anyway, recently, blogger Emily A. Clark blogged some terrific suggestions for working with oak kitchen cabinets.  I gasped when I saw this photo she found, which was from the blog Living in Lovely Lala Land. 

via

She used Sherwin Williams Peppercorn.  Sure, it's dark and dramatic, but I love how that deep, rich grey tones down the orange in the oak.   My kitchen gets a ton of light and there is a lot of white in the space, so this is a definite possibility.  I think the grey would play nicely with cream in the rest of the space as well.  Ooh.

But dark grey is so out of my comfort zone.  Emily Clark herself has a kitchen with wood cabinets (though the tone is better than my blah oak) and she used a lighter color - Shoji White by Sherwin Williams. It's a warm white with some grey undertones, which would look pretty good with my cabinets and kitchen.

via

What do you think? Should I go dark with the walls in my kitchen? Or keep them bright and light?  I'd love to hear your honest thoughts.    

See you swoon,

DIY: Stylish Dry Erase Board

This was a fun little project.  I blogged a few weeks ago about how I plan my outfits for the week:  on Sundays, after watching the 5 day weather forecast, I go through my wardrobe and put together outfits and then write them out on a post-it note, which I stick in my closet.  I love doing this because it takes away the time pressure angst of "what will I wear today??" and makes it so much easier (not to mention more fun) to put together creative, stylish outfits.  

The post-it, though, needed to go.  I decided to make a DIY dry erase board for this purpose.  I have a spot in the corner behind my door and next to my closet where it could go.  I knew I did not want a standard dry erase board, though.  I wanted something a little more glam.  I used the frame that I bought at the Christmas Tree Shops on clearance for $1.25, some wrapping paper and white paint.

This project was so easy.  I used some white paint that I had on hand and painted over the frame.  It took a couple of coats.  I could have spray-painted, but it's cold here and I did not want to do it outside or inside.  Here is the frame once I painted it.

Then I bought some wrapping paper.  I loved this striped paper from Target, and loved even more that it would have five horizontal stripes -- so each stripe could be a day of the week!  

I just framed the paper, hung the frame, and added a dry erase marker.  And ... voila!  Here it is.

Same function as the little post-it, but a whole lot prettier.   And you can see that each day of the week gets its own stripe and the dry erase marker is hidden at the top.  Over the top organization tied up in a neat little (pastel stripey colored) bow.  :)

See you swoon,

Bookshelf: The Grand Finale

The end!  The end.  Oh I am so happy to post this post.

My bookshelf project is finally done.  I've made great progress from the beginning.  But first, here is my to do list -- 

• buying doors for the bottom part of the shelves
• adding hardware to those doors to match hardware on desk
• painting the backs of the open shelves so the contents really pop
• accessorizing the shelves and
• adding crown molding to the top of the shelves to make them a little more finished.

All that was left was accessorizing.  Let's take a walk down memory lane first.  The corner that needed some oopmh is back there near the secretary desk.  See how bare? 

I bought the tall skinny shelves around New Years Day and put them in place. My goal was to add storage and bring in something to take up the expanse of wall space in the dining room.

I added some crown molding to the tops of the shelves.  I wanted the shelves to look more polished and custom, and I wanted them to mimic the crown molding on the other furniture in the space, all of which has crown molding at the top.

Then I bought doors for the bottom halves of the shelves.  I needed functional storage for art supplies and my shredder and cords, so the doors were necessary to hide that stuff.  

Next, I settled on a color, Sherwin Williams Begonia, for the backs of the shelves.  I brushed on a few coats of paint to make the contents of the shelf really pop.

And now, all that was left was decorate.  I grabbed my decor bin and set everything on the dining room table.   I wanted options.  I had options.

After playing around with a bunch of things, here is what I ended up with!

On the left, I stacked books with faux coral on one shelf, my grandfather's tie-tacks on the middle shelf, more books (oriented a different way) and an old white pitcher on the top.

On the right, I put my fun textured vase on the bottom, a framed picture with starfish and clear vase on the middle shelf, and half of my entire collection of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Gibbon on the top.

I'm pleased to report the only thing I bought to add to the shelves was this little $9 vase from Crate and Barrel.  I loved it.

Oh I'm so happy.  What a difference this makes in my space!  And a huge project off my list.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  I think bookshelves like these can end up looking super cluttered and visually cacophonous ... but I hope my carefully edited collection of meaningful things that I love looks clean and pretty and special.  Ok one more time:

Up next: work on the kids' rooms and work on getting more pictures and art on the walls.  I have a bunch of frames ready to go for my living room, and I just need to hang them and get pictures in them.  And then I want to create a gallery wall in my stairwell.  Oh ... yes.  Excitement. 

See you swoon,

Swoon-Worthy Space Thursday {house beautiful sixties beachouse}

OK.  It is the last Thursday, and the last day, in February.  I cannot believe it.  Talk about time flying.  We are but weeks away from Spring!  

Last week, I shared a gorgeous beach home from Martha's Vineyard.  Up today is another beach home much closer to home, and one that was featured in House Beautiful:  a beach home located in Strathmere, which is a teeny tiny town nestled between Ocean City and Sea Isle City, NJ.  I remember getting the actual magazine in which this home was featured and loving it from the get-go.  I love the vibrant, fun colors paired with tons of crisp white, and I see a lot of my own style in this home.  Enough from me -- I'll let the pictures do the talking.  (all photos courtesy of House Beautiful)

Sigh.  Swoon.  Gasp.  What's your favorite part?  I love ... um ... everything.  I think my favorites are the den and kitchen.  And mudroom.  Ok, everything.  I love this home so much it hurts.

See you swoon,

What I Wore {part i}

Hi all!

I have been having so much fun with clothes and fashion lately and thought I might share with you.  So from time to time, I will post a round-up here on Swoon of some of my recent outfits.  I will note that I am working on taking better pictures of myself, which is really difficult.  I think I need a new camera.  Or a cameraman.  Ha.   In all seriousness, I think I need a new camera soon.  And I will take pictures with the timer function.  In the meantime, these will have to do.   

Anyway, here are a few looks I recently put together.  I'll put the sources under each photo.  

* Casual Friday - Cream Jacket and Skinny Jeans *

My office is business casual during the week, but on Fridays we can wear jeans.  I almost always do.  This particular Friday I wore my skinny jeans, cream shell with ruffle neckline and cream structured jacket that I scored on major sale recently at Banana Republic - I don't see it on the website at all.  I found it in the store and it was on clearance and then an additional 25% off.  It ended up costing $42.  I paired this with my flat brown riding boots and then layered a bunch of pearl necklaces together for a sort of uptown look. [and ugh! phone pictures.  always a great idea in theory and yet they never ever turn out nice.  no more. sorry]

cream jacket: banana republic (similar)

cream shell: banana republic outlet

jeans: gap always skinny mid-rise

boots: jcrew

* Grey Sweater Dress *

I really wanted a sweater dress this year, but I knew fit was key because they can be unforgiving and also look a little bulky.  I found this dress at Old Navy.  It got great reviews, so I figured I'd try it.  When I shop online I always read the reviews of items if they are there - you can learn about fit, material, size, etc.  I've passed up many a "great deal" because something had horrible reviews.  And I've picked up great tips, like ordering a size up or down, based on reviews.  Just a tip from me to you!  I ended up getting it for about $15 because it was on sale and then there was a promotion where you could take an additional 30% off.  I wore this with black hose and black boots and paired it with a cool multi-strand necklace from Anthropologie that Jamie got me years ago for my birthday.  I think this dress can go funky too ... if we have a cold day in late March, I want to wear a brown belt and brown riding boots with it.

dress: old navy

* Black Turtleneck and White Skirt *

I found my inspiration for this outfit in the New York Times Sunday Style Magazine - in an Estee Lauder ad of all places. You never know where you'll find inspiration! See ...  here it is:

I had just bought a black turtleneck on crazy clearance at Eddie Bauer for $7.  I didn't have a black turtle and I think they're a great staple. I'm so glad I snatched it up.  I've had this skirt for ages - probably close to 8 years.  I paired it with black patterned tights (you unfortunately cannot see the pattern in the pictures) and black heels, threw my hair in a bun, wore big earrings and ... here I am.   

turtleneck: Eddie Bauer

skirt: Gap (old)

shoes: manolo blahnik

There you go!  Have you put any fun outfits together lately? Or have you been shopping and are dying to share what you found?  Let's talk fashion today. And cameras.  Any recs for a great little point and shoot that takes divine pictures?  I am all ears. 

See you swoon,