Kitchen Re-do

Welcome to my kitchen.  While it's still a little off from what I would have choosen had a built my home, it's come a long, long way from where it once was.

My favorite thing about it is probably the wall color.  I hemmed and hawwed over many other paint colors in my house, but this one I always knew.  It's Benjamin Moore Wickham Grey and for me it was love at first site.  

Funny story, though.  When I was buying the paint I asked them to maybe just put in a little more blue because I was worried it wouldn't be much of a color, and the girl looked at me and said, "there's no blue in it..."  I was a little shocked and worried, but stuck to my gut and boy am I glad I did.  I love it!!  It's a pretty pale french blue.

And it plays really well with the Benjamin Moore China White we used on the cabinets.  Kind of a French Country vibe.

Anyway...this is what the place looked like before: 

Sort of cave-like.  And dark...and ugly.  I don't hate stained wood, but something about this stain made it milky...like it was laid on too thick or something.  So it all had to go.  I originally thought it really all would go, but we actually ended up keeping a lot of things... 

One thing I was certain of was getting rid of that awful drop box florescent light!  Ugh.  Couldn't wait to see that thing gone!  We replaced it with four recessed lights, and sometimes I wish I'd been able to talk my husband into the six that I wanted, but once the pendant lights are shining 4 does the job nicely. 

Which brings me to the pendant Tiffany lights we had in here...

Aren't they just lovely??  Someone thought so because they sold pretty well online! haha.

I did make my hubby move one of the pendants over about 6 inches because they were just too close together... 

I got major eye rolls for making him do this, but ...it just needed to be done. 

See?  Look how pretty that ceiling is now!  It came a looong way!! 

When we walked through the house listing off what needed to be changed, I opened the fridge door, which opened up against this corner wall, and realized that because of the handle, the fridge could only open up about a foot wide...how ridiculous!?  So, next on the list was switching places with the fridge and the pantry.  It was a pretty big ordeal especially since we had to replace the crown molding because it didn't work in reverse...

But all's well that ends well, am I right?  And it all works so well now that it's switched around.  I can open both fridge and freezer as wide as they will go.  Perfect.

Surprisingly, once it was all painted and finished, I didn't hate the backsplash so much...and the countertops really popped where they hadn't before.  We also replaced all that tile flooring with laminate wood planks that look like old hardwood flooring.  Gorgeous!  No regrets there.

We also ended up keeping the knobs and pulls and even the hinges and everything looks and works great.

And then it was all about finishing touches.  Most of the items on the top of the cabinets were thrift store finds.  Love that.

These copper molds belonged to my mother, and bring me back to my childhood every time I see them.

I got the grand idea to put sugar and flour in huge canisters like this from a friend of mine.  They are SO much more practical than the tiny canisters that come in a set like the one I got at my wedding.  Those things never hold an entire bag of flour or sugar so it's always been a problem for me, because it's not a real storage solution.  Anyway, these are from Target and I love them. 

The window by the sink is one of my favorite spots.  I love looking out those windows.  They were covered in ugly blinds, which I quickly threw away.  I ended up replacing those with these little tension rods that happen to fit really snug once I took the decorative balls of the ends that met in the middle.  It almost looks custom.  Perfect.  And these flowy little curtains were a wedding gift from long ago.  They work perfectly here.

Lastly, I put this sign up above the doorway connecting this kitchen to the formal front room.  Words to live by...found at Hobby Lobby.

So, there you have it.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Homemade Laundry Soap - 1 year later review and updated recipe

So, a year ago I adopted this laundry detergent recipe.  It says it will last a whole year and it really does!  And I love it!!  I just made a few changes this year.  So, here is my updated recipe: 

Here are the ingredients.  

And here are the things I changed: 

First of all, I miscalculated the size of the canister I'd need, so I upgraded to this larger size.  I really love these canisters from {Target} and I use them to store flour and sugar as well. 

The other thing I changed about my recipe is that instead of using a normal cheese grater to grate the soap, I decided to try a zester to get the pieces as small as possible.  It worked like a charm.  I set up my bucket and grater like this and my third time doing this was definitely a charm.

The reason I made this change is because sometimes my washer had a hard time disolving the larger soap shavings, especially on a cold water cycle.  The smaller pieces seem to dissolve much easier.

Once the soap was grated, I just threw all the rest of the ingredients into the bucket and mixed them all together.  And it rubbed my hands raw...so next time I'll be wearing gloves for that step. 

Anyway, the result is a wonderfully beautiful detergent that looks and smells like summer. 

I ended up using the smaller canister to store my Oxiclean White Revive which I add to loads of white laundry in place of bleach.  I really love that stuff.  It does the trick without ruining anything! 

There you have it!  All in all, this laundry detergent costs about $20-$30 to make, and it lasts for a whole year!!  That's a pretty good deal, if you ask me.

Designing a Dance Studio

My sister in law recently asked me for tips regarding her dance studio:

 She wanted to know what I would suggest to make it pop.

 So, I thought for a minute and decided that all the coolest dance studios have brick walls:

 It doesn't really matter what color the brick is.  Brick just brings an urban feel into the space which ups the cool factor by a lot!

I'd also suggest doing something fun with the ceiling.  Either making that woodwork pop, or painting it white...

Or even lining it with tin like this one.  Wow!

 The other thing that can take a dance studio from dull to amazing is the lighting.  While florescent lights are very practical, they don't provide the best light.  They're not very flattering to skin tone or texture, and their light is really flat and cold.  

These globe lantern lights are kind of fun.  

But, I would definitely suggest recessed or pendant lighting as well. 

 There's something magical about dancing in and out of pools of light.

 It's so pretty and moody.

Especially spilling down a brick wall:

 And let's go back to my favorite dance studio:

I really love how they used twinkle lights around the floor.  Isn't that just so fun!!? 

I mean, you could even go crazy and use twinkle lights to line the windows if you wanted to!

 Throwing a marquee light like this (just maybe not quite so huge) up on the wall would take it up a notch as well.

The only other thing I'd suggest is using benches around the walls.  Vintage benches, or handmade wooden benches.  

I think they're not only cute but practical and can seat more people than individual chairs can.

Cocoa & Conversation Relief Society Activity

For January, we wanted to keep it simple and we just decided to have a get together.

And we decided that the get together was going to be a hot chocolate party.

I mean, after I found these printables at {Upcycled Treasures} it was a must in my mind, cause Baby, it IS cold outside, and everyone wants hot chocolate when it's cold. 

And when I found this quote from Eliza R. Snow, it made me feel even better.  What makes you feel better than warm chocolate along with warm conversation?  Nothing.  The answer is nothing.

So, we got a lovely sister in our ward to host the party at her lovely, inviting house, and brought in all the fixins for a real party!  And this one was A LOT of fun to put together! 

I found these awesome little wooden scoopers and drizzlers on Amazon and prime got them to me right on time. We used the scoopers for most of the toppings, but to make the fudge and caramel sauces easy to apply, I actually put them on electric candle warmers to keep them warm and stuck a honey drizzler in them.  It was perfect.

The jars all came from the dollar store...and they were the perfect size!

I found the stir sticks in the craft section at Walmart, and glued snowflake buttons to the top...and I LOVE how they turned out!

I found these little labels on {Upcycled Treasures} as well, and because I loved them so much, they kind of dictated what we served as toppings, but the list was pretty extensive and I couldn't think of anything else I'd want anyway!  We had white chocolate chips, tiny marshmallows, crushed peppermint, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, cinnamon sticks, carmel sauce, and chocolate fudge sauce.  And of course whipped cream to top it off!

A little red and white bakers twine was just the thing to hold these labels in place.  I loved the way it all looked!  I brought in my snowballs, my snowmen, and my mini trees to round out the display, as well as some apothecary jars filled with pinecones and berries. 

My favorite purchase for this party is a toss up between the scoopers and these awesome cups, which I also found on Amazon.  I just loved them so so SO much better than foamy cups.  And they came with that awesome cardboard sleeve!  Then, these labels made them just theeee cutest!  I think everyone else appreciated them as well.  Plus, they had lids so sisters could take some for the road.  

Because one serving of all this just wasn't enough!  Gotta do at least two different versions of toppings, right? 

If anyone came to this party cold, they definitely left feeling warmed up. :)

I used {this hot chocolate crock pot recipe} which I found on Pinterest and everyone liked it, plus it was easy to make, serve, and keep warm in the crock pot. 

 We all just had a grand time visiting with each other.  Sometimes it's nice to just get together without a program!  

We are all sisters, after all.