As promised- Before and After Kitchen Hardware

I showed you last week how I spray painted all my kitchen hardware and promised some before and after photos after they were all hung back up.

My hardware once was white and brass as in these first few photos.

Now my hardware is a textured brown.

The inspiration for my hardware color came from my granite and backsplash.

What an easy and inexpensive update. The photos really don't give this change justice! I am currently attempting to darken my cabinet color. The first process and product I tried didn't work out. But there is hope! Yesterday, I found a blogger who had a similar color in her bathroom and darkened the color without much sanding. Check out her post here, Budget Bathroom Makeover.

Linking to: Metamorphis Monday, DIY Project Parade, and Mad Skills Monday 

Inexpensive Kitchen Update

I have been wanting to replace my kitchen hardware since we moved in. We have beautiful granite countertops, an amazing backsplash and sadly, builders grade brass and white hardware that don't match at all.

I found knobs but I just could not find pulls that went well with the knobs and for a $300+ investment, I wanted to find the perfect hardware. Well, in the mean time I got really tired of looking at the old hardware so I decided to spray paint them. To my delight they turned out great! After they are all dry and I'm done with a new finish on the wood in my kitchen I will show you them up and how well they coordinate with everything! I like them so much I may just stop my search for new hardware. What a great deal for less than $10 in paint and they have some wonderful texture and up close do not in any way just look like I spray painted them!

Linking to Motivate me Monday, Lucky Linky Tuesday, Take a Look Tuesday, Letting Creative Juices Flow Linky Party, Toot your Horn Tuesday, Anything Related Tuesday, DYI Project Parade, Mad Skills Monday, Boardwalk Bragfest

A photo story of our weekend camping trip

Chocolate Kahlua Cake

If you like chocolate like I do, this is a great recipe! A friend gave it to me about 10 years ago.

Chocolate Kahlua Cake

1 package devil's food cake mix
1 1/2 cups sour cream

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup Kahlua (the alcohol will cook out and the flavor will stay)

2 eggs

1 (3.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix

powdered sugar for dusting on finished cake
or a tub of chocolate icing

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray pam in a 12 cup bundt pan.
Combine all cake ingredients in a large bowl.
Beat with mixer about 2-3 minutes. (it's very thick!)
Spoon into bundt pan.
Bake about 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
Cool 15 minutes.
Remove from pan.
When cool, dust with powdered sugar or drizzle chocolate icing over it.

Refrigerate for best flavor (Kahlua flavor gets stronger the longer it sits).

Candy Buffet Anyone?

I've been putting the finishing touches on the candy buffet for my son's candy themed party.  I have some games planned and the kids will earn play money to use at the 'candy store' before they leave for home.

The garden is coming to life

The garden is coming to life, even with the lack of sun.

I ended up with the following in it:

3 varieties of tomatoes,

2 varieties of bell peppers

5 varieties of lettuce,

cabbage,

cauliflower,

lots of strawberries,

garlic,

rosemary, thyme, parsley, oregano, basil, and sage.

Take a guess who the first one in the pool was?!

Yep, my son was the first one at our neighborhood pool when it opened today. He had no concerns that the sun had not been out in over a week and that the water temperature was timid (to say the least). He happily jumped right in!

Set for two..

Does anyone else just love when peonies are in bloom?! I used some of the glass bottles I've started to collect and a few handpicked peonies to create a simple but elegant centerpiece for our table.With the flower centerpiece I figured it was a good time to pull out my feminine china which has some pretty pink flowers of it's own.

I'm linking up to Between Naps on the Porch - Tablescape Thursday, where I am  constantly amazed by the beautiful tablescapes. There are so many creative people, including the host, that really inspire and motivate me!

A beautiful day to be outdoors!

What a beautiful Kansas day it was! Fortunately, I was able to attend a fieldtrip with my 5th grader. It was so serene and peaceful even with 70+ kids running around! Now I am even more excited about camping out with the family this weekend!

A glimpse into our bedroom

These curtains may not look like much, but the memories behind them our priceless! During our Europe trip in 2008 (which we refer to as 'Eur08')  we bought this material at an open air market in Belgium for the sole purpose of making curtains out of them (I had a vision, but no window measurements).  When we returned I made drapes for our living room windows.  The following year we bought a new house and of course we took them with us! Today, I hung them on the windows in our bedroom, and as luck has it, they fit perfectly!

Honestly, our bedroom is the ideal place for them as it's the home to most of our traveling treasures.

We have a vaulted ceiling and way up high is this shelf which is a great place (in my opinion, so I don't have to dust them as often) for our worldly collection.

Our newest additions are from Jamaica... A wood carving and a small drum.

The next thing to go up there may be from China! ;0) No, I'm not talking about something we buy at Walmart! I'm hinting about where we hope to be visiting in 2011!

Candy Wreath- for candy party

I have 1 more week before my sons candy theme birthday party so I have been working on the last minute details!













I bought a foam wreath starter and just hot glued some gum drops on for a fun wreath. Thankfully I don't really like eating gum drops so I didn't deplete too much of the candy. When I was done I just wrapped some ribbon around it, hung it on the door, and called it good. I think it turned out cute!