Flaunt it Friday 105!

Hi party animals!

Boy, am I ready for a party! Yesterday was one of those days... It was topped off by one of my boys spilling water on our 4 month old laptop. :(

I'm currently trying some "laptop drying methods" but it might be a goner.

This is really going to cramp my blogging style!

Please bare with me while I attempt to get back online for real. Blogging from my iPhone just isn't gonna cut it! (but I guess it's better then nothin')

Party on!

My Spring Kitchen

Hi there!  How's it going in your neck of the woods?  Around here we've gone from some lovely springtime 70 degree days to 96 over the weekend!  School has been out for one week, swim lessons have started and it feels like summer.

Since we have a few more weeks before it is "officially" summer I thought I'd share my kitchen decked out in it's Spring motif before I switch it up again.  Besides, I haven't shared any pics of my entire kitchen for quite a while so thought I'd give a little peak.

One small update with big impact that we recently completed was switching out our kitchen cabinet drawer knobs to cup pulls.  See how we easily drilled new holes HERE.

You can also see that we added crown moulding.  I almost didn't put my cabinet top decor back up after the crown was added but decided I like them both together.  We had this installed by my carpenter uncle so no tutorial on this one.  

On my island you can see I still have out my favorite spring bouquet of real lilac and allium cut from our yard.  Sadly, it is long gone but was great while it lasted.

In my kitchen I have a sideboard table that I love to decorate for the season.  I added some simple greenery under my glass domes and a coffee filter wreath.

I keep a spare kitchen chair next to my sideboard which holds my favorite burlap pillow.  No, I didn't make it, was a steal at TJ Maxx.

Here is a view of the layout of the kitchen to give you a better idea...

For my Spring table centerpiece I used a tray with some decorative greenery balls and a bouquet of tulips.  I'll be changing the tulips out soon for some more summery flowers.

Here is a full (but dark) picture of our kitchen table and rug.

This pic is a little dark but I wanted to share that I'm still enjoying my damask outdoor rug in my kitchen.  Because it's an outdoor rug it resists stains.  And with 2 little boys eating over it every day believe me, it gets a lot of stains!  You can see more pictures of it HERE.

From some of my the above pictures you can see I am growing some potted herbs in the kitchen over by the kitchen sink.  You can see how this kitchen herb garden is doing HERE.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my most recent kitchen tour.  Do you do anything special for summer in your kitchen?

Some Patriotic Pinspiration for your Memorial Day

Hi all!   In honor of Memorial Day I'm sharing some patriotic "pinspiration" with you.

Maybe we can put some of these great ideas to good use for the 4th of July which will be here sooner than we know it!

Some lovely patriotic tablescapes...

Souce

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DIY patriotic wreaths...

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Free patriotic printables....

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Patriotic sweet treats...

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“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

- President Abraham Lincoln 

Kitchen Herbs in Numbered Pots Cuteness

I've always wanted to grow herbs in my kitchen in cute little pots.  They would add a nice touch of green and whimsy AND I could conveniently clip some off whenever I needed some fresh herbs while cooking.
I found some really cute and cheap numbered pots at TJ Maxx (where else!? when will they pay me for all the free advertising?! ;)  They were going to be perfect for my kitchen herbs!

I picked up some herbs at the grocery store and was especially excited to be getting a basil plant.  I love pesto sauce but rarely find good pesto anywhere.  The stuff you buy in the jars is yuck-O.  The trick that makes it so delicious is using fresh basil.  With my new little kitchen herb garden I'd be able to make fresh pesto sauce any time!  Yippee!

The other plants I picked because they were cute (sweet marjorum) and smelled good (lavender).

sweet marjorum is cute!

I lined up my darling little numbered pots on a thin white serving dish that I already had and rarely used.   Perfect!  I had to sneak it out of the garage sale pile, shhh, don't tell Mr. Chic aka: Mr. My-wife-has-too-much-decorative-stuff-and-it's-taking-over-my-house-so-I'm-trying-to-make-her-sell-everything-in-the-garage-sale.;)  I put them in my kitchen near two windows and the sink... filtered sun and easy watering...  it was going to be great!

fresh basil.

It was great!..

for about 2 weeks.

Then they started looking a little stressed.  I made sure they had enough water.  Was I over watering?

Then the basil they started looking a lot stressed.

Maybe they weren't getting enough sun.  I moved them outside hoping the sun would cure what ailed them.  I guess I waited too long.

Now they look like this...

The basil and marjoram or goners.  I'm not sure if the lavender will bounce back or not, it's been oustide for 24 hours and doesn't look much better, actually a bit worse.

I'm not very good at house plants. If I were a pirate my name would be "Captain Black Thumb".  Oooh, sounds mean, huh.

Anyway, I do ok at  outdoor plants (mainly because Mr. Chic waters them everyday... thanks, honey!).  I realize that these plants are all "full sun" herbs and apparently my kitchen is not quite "full sun".  Big surprise there considering my kitchen is inside, duh.

So, do any of you have any suggestions of easy little herbs or house plants I could put in these pots?  I love the look of them but don't want Captain Black Thumb to strike again.  Maybe I should get some fakes??  I'd be much obliged for all ye suggestions, Arrrrr ye a black thumb too?  (that was in my best pirate voice)


PS:  Sorry, been watching too match Jake and the Neverland Pirates around here.


Linking: Someday Crafts.

Flaunt it Friday 104!

Hey party peeps!  Once again it's time to flaunt it!!

How to Change Your Kitchen Cabinet Knobs or Handles

Hello friends!  Is your kitchen looking a little out of style but you can't spend a lot to fix it up?  One inexpensive change you can make that can have a pretty big impact it is to change your cabinet handles and/or knobs.

People seem to forget about this little detail that can really make such a difference for not a whole lot of cash.

We made the change a few months back and I'm so happy with the results.  Our cabinet pulls weren't out of style, they were completely fine, just a little boring... plain stainless steel knobs on everything.  I decided to put a more stylish cup pull on the drawers.  It would make a big difference for a small price.

Since I could easily match stainless steel knobs to new stainless steel cup pulls, I only had to buy new cup pulls for the drawers leaving the cabinet doors as is.  Consider doing this if your current hardware isn't too shabby.  This cut the cost by more that half because we have more cabinet doors than drawers.

I got mine from a wholesaler I work with but you can find some decent pulls at Target and even Wal-Mart.

I enlisted my favorite handy man Mr. Chic to do the labor for me because he's faster with the drill.  But really, this one is easy enough that someone who is a power tool rookie could handle it.

Here's a little picture of all the tools you need (which aren't very many).

Tools:

• Cordless drill
• Proper size drill bit
• New cabinet pulls (most come with the screws needed to attach them)
• Measure Pro Cabinet Hardware Installation Kit (or something similar)
• Marker or pen
• Small screwdriver

We didn't end up using the grips, we thought we'd have to use them to hold on our measuring tool but it ended up fitting over the top of the drawer.

Let's get started...

First, remove the old knobs (Duh).  Use the smallest screwdriver you've got, the screw head will be inside the drawer.  Having a short little screwdriver helps avoid taking everything out of the drawer to get to the screw.

Once you've got the old knob off it's time to mark the drill holes for the new pulls.

Mr. Chic found this handy-dandy and inexpensive "Measure Pro Cabinet Hardware Installation Kit" at Menards and it made this job foolproof!  

Since the center of the drawer was already marked by the old cabinet knob it was really easy to find, the new pulls had a 3 inch span so we found it on our measuring tool and made the marks for the new holes.  Make sure you check your new pull measurement before you drill!

This little Measure Pro thing-ma-jig makes sure that your new holes will be placed properly.  It takes all of the guess work out of it, highly recommended!  And no, they did not sponsor this post!

Now that you've got your new holes marked, it's time to drill!

This will make some major saw dust in your drawers so you may want to take everything out, especially if the drawer has any eating utensils in it.  It's a good excuse to give your drawers a good wipe down.  Once I got into mine, the were really kind of grosser than I expected... lots and lots of crumbs!

Now that the holes are drilled and the drawers are wiped out it's time to add your new cup pulls!  Simply stick the new screws through the new holes and screw them by hand into the handle, make sure you tighten them up with a screwdriver once they are attached.

Here is a bad "before" shot that was taken from the real estate listing of the previous owners, the one I took was accidentally deleted by one of my little helpers. :)

This shot is from the previous owners before we moved in!

I'm so happy with the results, what a difference!

Could your kitchen use some new cabinet handles or knobs?  It might make a bigger difference than you think!

Linking:  Home Stories A to Z Tutes & Tips Party, Someday Crafts Whatever Wednesday, Tatertots & Jello Weekend Wrap-up

Shaklee Basic H2 Sample Winners!

Hey everyone!  Checking in real quick with 5 winners of Shaklee Basic H2 samples chosen by Random.org.


1  Carly Sturm
2.  Jackie
3.  Natural Nesters
4.  Amanda & Graham
5.  Jen

I will be sending you all an email shortly.

There are only a few more days to take advantage of free membership for life, place an order now and you're in!  expires May 31.

Click here to check out great Shaklee products!

I'll be back shortly with how to give your kitchen an update for cheap!  Come back and see me soon! :)