Even though I'm not much of a cook, I still want my kitchen to look nice. While I'm not crazy about the color of the cabinets (can't do anything about that since I'm not stupid enough to try painting them), I can change the out of date brassy door pulls. I bought a few different ones from Lowe's and Home Depot, but nothing was a dramatic improvement. And they were all over $3 a piece. With 28 pulls, that's a LOT for a so-so improvement. So I figured I'd try painting the old ones. If they didn't look good, I'd just bite the bullet and buy new ones. I don't have a good close-up picture of the pulls on the cabinets "before," but here's what they looked like after a little sanding.

I decided to try hammered black spray paint to give them some texture and hopefully look metal-like and not spray painted. I had a bunch of styrofoam left over from a piece of furniture that we put together, so I used a bunch of toothpicks to prop them all up. I thought myself pretty clever with this solution (pictured after a coat of primer).

Of course...I didn't feel so clever after this happened.

Yes, this was supposed to be the "after" but this one piece of foam tipped over and messed up three of the pulls. I had to sand them down and start over. I'm not so patient with the sandpaper, so these are still a bit bumpy, but I hid them in the high spot over the fridge. I dare you to notice the difference.

One thing I didn't plan for was the added thickness a coat of primer and two coats of black spray paint would add. Why do I never think these kinds of things through?? Luckily, a little cramming and they all made it back in. Voila!!

Here's the final look...all for an $8 can of spray paint! Hurray for cheap!

As a side note...does this area need an island?? I just can't decide if it would cozy it up or if it'd always be in the way. What do you think?

Rock and roll hoochie koo

There's been a project that I've wanted to do for years, but I never had the place to do it. Despite the fact that we had two boys rooms, their walls were always filled with their own stuff. How dare they. But now I have spare bedrooms and I could finally put together my rock and roll fantasy. Can you figure out what it is??

How about this??

Give up yet?? Greg has a collection of old classic rock (and some strange not so classic 80s stuff we shouldn't talk about), which used to sit in his parents' shed. When they finally got sick of it sitting around, he was going to toss them, but I made him keep them all...without much protest, mind you.

I wanted to to make an album cover collage and I LOVE it. What do you think??

Who doesn't love a little AC/DC?! I hung these above a bed in the spare room and maybe it was a happy accident, but I hung them a little too high. But that has inspired me to search the thrift stores for a cheap headboard that I can paint. Meanwhile, I'll just fake it with a sad little pillow. :)

Just this week I bought some patterned sheer curtains from Target for a steal. Can't wait to hang them up and get the room a little bit more complete. Still trolling for the headboard, but I'll find it. Meanwhile, I love me some classic rock!! 

Basket case

I was wandering through my favorite Goodwill last week (shocker), when I spotted this strange thing. 

Not quite sure what it is?? Me either. Which is why I'm going with "basket." But it's not really a basket, because it's flat. Normally I over think my Goodwill purchases, but this one I snapped up for some reason. Still not quite sure why, considering I've had a few GW failures lately (more on those in a future post). But it had a decent price.

But I've passed up better prices. Who knows. Anyway, I took it on home and tucked it in a corner of the garage, hoping someone wouldn't notice yet another project coming in...without any projects finishing up.  (Of course, that strategy didn't exactly work.) 

It was a bit light colored (and a bit 80s) for me so I was thinking spray paint, but I was afraid of how it would turn out. Then sometime the next day, it hit me that I should stain it. Huzzah!! I had some walnut stain on hand and it went pretty darn quickly. I actually started and finished a project in one day!

You probably can't tell a whole lot of difference, but it looks much better now. And here's a pic of it in action...

I'm not 100% convinced that I've taken the 80s out of it, but it'll do for now. I'd like a glass jar with a lid for the right side of the mantle, but I'm having a hard time finding one. (Have I missed my chance for that kind of thing??) I was thinking of putting different things in it to go with the seasons...seashells, cranberries, nuts, etc, etc.  Here's a closer shot..

What I really want for the mantle is an old window or some interesting architectural type piece. Do you think it's a keeper for now? Or send it back to the future Goodwill?