Kitchen Project - Rustic Shelf

I worked all morning on this project - measuring and cutting a rough sawn piece of solid maple, then sanding it and painting it Canyon Black with Rustoleum Painter's Touch satin spraypaint.  I didn't use a primer and I painted it lightly so as to still see the woodgrain through the paint. When the paint was dry to the touch, I used a sanding block to rub the paint off the corners and edges.  I also painted some corbels I had in the shed, leftovers from a project where I decided to go another direction.  The corbels had been stained a cedar colour so I coated them really well with paint and then sanded the corners and edges.  I was so excited to finally see the finished product:

 I hung the shelf high so I could keep my lamp on the sideboard.  And on my next trip to Ikea, I want to pick up a Fintorp rail, hooks, and wire baskets to hang underneath the shelf.

I'm not crazy about the style of the corbels, but I prefer to use up what I have on hand. I'm sure that when the rail, hooks and baskets are installed, the look will come together.  I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

I want to paint the legs & shelves on my microwave stand but not sure what colour to go with.  Do I paint it black to match the chair & shelf, stain it to match the kitchen cabinets or should I go with a creamy white because it will go in my laundry room when I install the counter on this wall???  Or now that I like the way this wall looks, do I scrap my idea to add open base cabinets and a countertop and keep the kitchen as it is now???  So many choices!!

Have a happy day!

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P O S T   U P D A T E - J U L Y  1 2 ,  2 0 1 1:  

I bit the bullet and got down to painting the microwave stand.  I went with the Canyon Black spray paint that I already had on hand and after painting the base of it with just a light coat of paint, I sanded the edges in the same way that I did the shelf.  To lessen the brightness of the unfinished wood that was showing through when I sanded, I rubbed some dark oak stain over the sanded areas and let it sink in.  The finish is mottled and worn and I'm so happy with it!!  Check it out:

It only took me an hour to pop the butcher block top off, spray the legs, and give a Danish Oil treatment to the butcher block.  Two hours later, it was back together and loaded back up.  I love spray paint!!

Have a great day.

Linked to: 

Beyond the Picket Fence

I heart Nap Time

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Modern Country Style Kitchen Favourites 

My Repurposed Life

The Shabby Nest

Funky Junk SNS 87

Brambleberry Cottage

Debbiedoos Blogging & Blabbing

DIY by Design

Saavy Southern Style

Homemaker on a Dime

My Garden

The weather has been horrible here this spring.  It's the 17th of June and we have not yet had a day of temperatures even near the average temperatures for this time of year!  I have been trying to clean up and decorate and garden outdoors, but have been chased back in by heavy downpours frequently.  Finally I have made some progress although my painting projects have had to be delayed...

Here are the photographs of what I have put together so far.

My crabapple tree in full bloom

The potting bench with a fresh coat of paint and

with the storm window I scooped for free! also

painted to match.  (ignore the plaques behind the window, 

they are to be hung on the wall above the basket)

One of my new lawn chairs ($9!) and my new

stainless baby bbq

the rest of my new lawn chairs with my old table &

umbrella.  

Nice tilted birdbath (I'll level that off next!), the pallet fence (idea

scooped from another blogger) and the shed doors that I tried to

paint but couldn't get more than one coat on thx to rainy weather.  The

pallet & door crosspieces will be painted white. Weedy gravel still on the

to-do list!

My newest garden patch put in an area that was a pain to mow.  Can you see the 

shape of a dog's head in the orange rock?  (Ignore the blue box, it's the only way to 

keep my cat from jumping through the hole in the fence lattice.)

A tiny deck, the door leads to my bedroom.

This garden is a year old

I still have some work to do, but the bulk of the hard work is done.  Sooooo happy :).  I hope you enjoyed the tour.  Have a great day!

Linked to:

Funky Junk SNS 85  Patio Decor

An Oregon Cottage  Garden Party

Fishtail Cottage Cottage Flora Thursdays

At the Picket Fence Inspiration Friday

Update on Kitchen Reno

Last summer, almost as soon as I moved in, my kitchen reno began.  To keep my budget manageable, I had planned to install half the cabinets immediately and finish the cabinetry in a year.  I bought my cabinets from Home Depot - just their in-stock stuff with special order doors in a colour that suited me better.  Lo and behold, one year later H.D. has discontinued this line...  thanks a lot!

Actually, I mean that!!  I've had to come up with an alternate plan and I am much happier with my new plan than the original.  But more on this later.  Here are the photos of the way the kitchen looks now:

Actually the French door is
only propped in place!  It is on
my list of planned changes.

This is an older photo, but nothing has changed in this section.

 My immediate plans include shelves over the sideboard.  I want something that looks like this:

From Goodbye City Life

and a pot rack over my sink, picked up at a garage sale two weeks ago:


And, of course, the French door installed.  The sideboard will eventually be moved out of this room.  To finish off the room, I'm going with open base cabinets that will be installed where sideboard is now with a butcher block counter top and a section of it open for a breakfast bar.  Thanks Home Depot for forcing me to come up with an idea that is WAY LESS expensive, more creative and, I think, more appealing overall.

Cheerio!

Sunflower Hill

A couple of weeks ago, I was taking pictures of the gorgeous yellow flowers that bloom here in the spring.  The locals call them sunflowers but they are actually Balsam Root.  So Sunflower Hill should really be Balsam Root Hill but that doesn't sound near as attractive as Sunflower Hill...  Guess I understand the reasoning behind the switch!

The scenery was so beautiful and the photographs turned out so well that I did a blog post on them.  I also posted some on Facebook which prompted a friend to suggest I do a painting of one of the photographs.  My nemesis is daisy shaped flowers, I cannot figure out how to paint them.  I make a mess no matter which way I try them so I wasn't too keen to attempt another painting of this type of flower.  Then again, I did love the original photograph:

Balsam Root

So I tried again.  This one's for you, Joanne.

9x9 Watercolour on Paper

I didn't like the way the flowers and leaves turned out so I cut the bottom third of the painting off and I added in more daisy shapes to fill in the spaces.  I also added the white petals yesterday because the yellow blended in too well with the green background.

Much better this way!

Of course, I could cut all the flowers out of the picture & wind up with a very pretty and simple landscape:

Yup, that looks really good to me!  Now where did I put those scissors...

Mudroom/Laundry Room Mini-Tour

I am more than halfway through the reno of my enclosed back porch!  It is now my mudroom, laundry room and spare bathroom.  (Click on any of the links below to see the original blog posts.)

So far, I've replaced a single pane window and bought new, high-efficiency front loading machines:

Installed a $10 window treatment: 

Added mega storage and lots and lots of hooks and hanging space:

Pantry

Closet, tower storage unit,  hanging rack & laundry tub cabinet

Love the beauty
of a mirror I found at Winners

An old crate I found was whitewashed and repurposed into a storage bench at the back door:

I've painted the walls BM Sundial and the trim BM Snow White.  I even spray painted my ugly old brown ironing board with white glossy paint and bought a bright blue cover for it so it blends in better.

I painted an old wood shelving unit I had out in the shed and brought it in to hold all the laundry & mudroom stuff (dog & cat grooming, hiking stuff, laundry baskets, soap, etc.):

I bought new wire baskets from Superstore and the Ikea hanging pots to hold scissors, clothes shavers and clothespins:

It feels like command central now!  and I'm much happier with it.   The next steps are to move and stack the washer & dryer, install the laundry tub and to finish the bathroom that has now been gutted and is to the left of the closet organizer.  Best of all, so far this project has come together much more quickly than I anticipated. HOORAY!

Cheers!

Linked to:  The Mustard Ceiling Roomspiration Laundry Rooms

Tool Boxes

I'm really happy with the two toolboxes I found recently.  One was an authentic metal toolbox in original turquoise paint!  Although it was quite pretty in its own right, I wanted it to look a little more cool (sorry forgot to take before photo!!) so I painted the outside of it satin black:

Isn't it beautiful?? I so love the turquoise against
the black.

 

When I found the toolbox, I intended to use it as a mailbox but I can't bring myself to hang it outside where I won't get to see the beautiful interior of it.  So I'm keeping  it in my front entry to hold mail, magazines, catalogues, etc.

Then at a garage sale today, I stumbled across this toolbox planter:

Welcome Summertime :)

& I thought I was going to have to build one of these wooden boxes myself to participate in Donna's link party!  I so love garage sales!!!!!!!!!!!

Linked to Funky Junk SNS84 & Southern Hospitality Thrifty Treasures