Heather's Kitchen Facelift

I was absolutely thrilled about the kitchen space in our new home when we moved in last year!  Although everything was new and pretty, I really wanted to add some bright colors.  I was not set on a color scheme until I remembered that I had a full gallon of Dr. Seuss red that I bought last summer and never used.  I had originally planned on painting some stripes in my daughter's play room but decided against it when I realized all the touch up work necessary on textured walls.  The paint just sat in the closet until last week.  I remembered the paint looking more red when I purchased it and was slightly shocked when the first part of my kitchen makeover ended up with an orange island!  A couple of days looking at the orange and I decided I love it!
I made a few more changes with the same orange color.  I had a tall wood vase that looks so much prettier painted orange.  It didn't move from its original location above the cabinets.  I used orange Martha Stewart glitter to add our initial to a tray that I mod podged with newspaper.  I set it above the cabinets next to an old bottle holding a fake flower.  Pretty!

The dining area looks much better now too!  The play kitchen and cardboard refrigerator were definitely cluttering up the space.  Positioning the table differently made the room look so much bigger.  I moved the Venice picture into our living room and traded it for a fun print I found at IKEA (scroll down for a close up).  I made a window valance with just enough orange to pull it all together.

I love the orange bike in this picture!!!!!!!!

The curtains were a quick project made with fabric I found at Wal-mart!  I looked a few different places for something grey but couldn't find any reasonably priced fabric.  Surprisingly I found the perfect fabric at Wal-mart for only $1.50/yard.  Great bargain!  I really like how the ruffle turned out too!

My husband's grandfather made this stained glass light fixture.  We had it hanging in our previous home but had yet to swap it with the original in our new home.  The chain needs to be a little longer but this works for now.  Such a pretty light and it matches perfectly with the new colors in the kitchen!

Our refrigerator door is not magnetic so I found myself always struggling with where to put things (mail, pictures, notes, invitations, etc.).  I used a broken picture frame and transformed it into a great space for everything I would normally have hanging on the refrigerator (clutter!).  I blurred out all our personal information so the pictures might look a little strange.  I took advantage of a small space across from our pantry that was previously being used to park toys.  It now houses our garbage can, the play kitchen, and my new memo board.

Just an FYI on the original print in the frame - my middle brother bought the framed print for my husband almost 10 years ago.  It was hanging on the wall in my husband's first house for a couple of years.  When we had the house for sale a realtor called and scheduled an appointment to see the house with their clients.  We were surprised because a man and a little boy rang our doorbell at the appointment time but they did not have a realtor with them.  We had a difficult time communicating because the man did not speak English.  The little boy acted as an interpreter.  The only words the man ever spoke directly to us was, "oh Scarface," as he looked at the picture hanging on the wall.  They left and our door bell rang a second time.  It was the realtor and her clients with the scheduled appointment.  They were running late.  The man and little boy stopped by because they just happened to see our for sale sign in the yard.  The next day that man offered more than the our asking price and bought our house!  We have always credited the Scarface picture for selling our house.  I was really bummed about the glass breaking but am happy I was able to turn our good luck frame into something else we can use!  The backing on the memo board is simply the back of the Scarface print (I painted it with the same orange paint used on the island).

The last little project for the kitchen was transforming my canisters from black into something bright.  I used the same fabric on the curtains so it all matches. 

I have a few tutorials to go along with this post but you won't see them for a little while.  We have a fun and busy couple of weeks coming up!

I'm linking this post here.