Kitchen Makeover - PART THREE

The Eating Area - before and after

Before (this is a long ago "before", but you get the idea)

AFTER - set of 7 black chairs from Goodwill for $20, new curtains sewn by my mother, an old window on the wall free from a friend, my cobalt blue collection in it's new home, and a slight splurge on a new light fixture!

I'm still toying with the idea of painted the bottom of the table black....

Kitchen Makeover Part II: The Faux Tin Backsplash for 25 cents!

The 25 cent back splash!!  Yippeeeee!!

Can't say I've ever had a "back splash" per se, just painted it the same as the walls!  Shall I even go so far as to admit, I never really thought about doing cool things on that space of the wall until a few years ago?  Back splash?  What's a back splash?

I was making a mad dash in to town one Saturday to run 5 errands in 
enough time allotted for about 2 errands.  As I'm coming in to town, there is a big sign spouting "Rummage Sale".   I'm still a recovering garage sale addict, so slips now and then are inevitable.   
  I stop.  Amidst my amazing finds was a huge roll of paintable wallpaper!!!  For a QUARTER!  I was thinking that stuff might make a neat back splash, and I was even willing to pay for a roll at Lowes.     It always pays to stop, no matter how big of a hurry you're in!

Mom measured and cut it down to the size needed, then I took it outside and spray painted it silver.

We used Elmer's Glue mixed with a little water to adhere it to the wall.  Afterall, we're into using what we have on hand, and wallpaper paste is not something I had on hand!

Kitchen Makeover - PART ONE

Before Beauty

I loved my cobalt blue kitchen.  Afterall, blue has always been my favorite color.  (Yes, I love orange too, but blue has been with me through thick and thin and you can't forsake a friend like that!).  But after 7 years, the "change" bug was really biting me.  And leaving quite an itchy spot!!  Those cupboards always bugged me.  Man I wanted to paint them.  But it just seemed so sinful.  But a good friend nudged me in the "go for it" direction, so I went for it, baby!  My white and cobalt blue kitchen is now what my dad calls machine gray.  Sounds pretty, eh?  Cabinets are black on the bottom and white on top, painted with Behr Semi Gloss Enamel.  It was expensive paint at about $35 a gallon, but last I checked, that's a penny in the bucket compared to buying new cabinets!!  We went with that brand because that's what the dude at Lowe's said would be our best bet.  I also took all the hardware (pulls) off and spray painted them silver.  Again, quite a bit cheaper that new. However, if you have to buy new, don't go anywhere until you look at Ebay.  I don't know why, but brand new on ebay is waaaaay cheaper than in the store and there is an amazing variety to choose from.

Money saving tip: mix your own paint.  This can be scary, but just use your brain and remember that blue and yellow make green.  I had some white on hand, some black, some blackish brown, some gray....

We (me and my dear mother who came from Iowa to help me with this overwhelming project) stirred it all together and tested it on the wall until I had something I liked.

Beautimous!!! no??  I'm like a proud parent looking at this here corner of my kitchen. :)

Stay tuned for more of this kitchen makeover such as: painting the countertops, the decor, and much more - on a shoestring of course!!

Marie's master piece

I have this friend.  I think she would give Martha Stuart a run for her money.  Then again, maybe Martha has already run with the money.  Anyways, this was a plain Jane metal table that my good pal Marie did that I just had to share with you.  The way she explained how she got this look?  Painted it white, then set flower shaped plates around on the table top and free handed this black design around each plate.  I don't know about you, but I'm impressed.  And the chairs are spray painted red.  This woman can be dangerous with a can of spray paint.  (Just ask her husband.)

when in doubt, paint the chair red

Isn't an old red chair just a charming little greeting on a front porch?  I happen to think so.  And the good thing about it is, you can paint an old wood chair rather haphazardly since it's supposed to have that weathered look, and you have a quick and cute sittin' spot.  Or better yet, put a big pot of flowers on the seat for a chic country look.  Me and potted flowers don't go well together since you actually have to water them.  Every day.

This barstool took a few coats of spray paint.  Man I have such a love/hate relationship with spray paint.  The part of me that lives by "waste not, want not" has a really hard time with all the over spray.  The slightest breeze and nooooooo come back here paint  - and it it disappears into thin air.

One day I pull into a friend's house and at the end of the driveway with a free sign is the chair on the left.  Way cool!  I grab it and paint it red.  I'm in the "Goodwill As Is" store not even a week later and what do you know, but a matching one for 79 cents!!!  And it even rocks!  I gave that a coat of red too.  Then the squirrels took a liking to it and I can no longer sit in my darling, more-comfy-than-it-looks chair. :(  But Tim got a BB gun and now I think it's safe to fix the seat....   just kidding....

Tori's lamp

Not sure why, but this odd little lamp just jumped out at me a few years ago while garage saling.  I even paid more than usual for it because well, it was so unique!  It looked a little oddly out of place in Tori's room so today we took care of that.  I love how one simple addition turned it into such a darling little light in her room!

I pulled apart some yellow gerber daisies and spray painted them teal.  Using a hot glue gun I glued three flower layers to the shade and put a big brown button in the middle.

Tidy Keepers

So.  I did the unthinkable.  Miss Frugal here actually paid to have my house cleaned.  You see, it actually started when I got a gift certificate as a birthday gift from my mother-in-law for an hour and a half of cleaning.  Whoa, wait a minute here, how does your mother-in-law get away with a gift like that?!  Gee thanks, she must think my house is a disaster!  No actually, I didn't take offense at all because number one, I despise cleaning and number two, my husband told her to do it.  I was 8 months preggo at the time and really couldn't do much of anything.  (Think humongous and then triple that thought).  So when they called to make their appointment, I could just tell by her voice that she was awesome at what she did.  No, seriously.  You really could tell.  First they came and went through my house with a pen and paper, writing down what I wanted them to focus on, like the 5 month old sticky spots on my kitchen floor.  Then the day they came to do the actualy cleaning, wow.  These ladies GO TO TOWN.  Fast, professional, they know how to GET THINGS DONE.  They are paid by the hour, and let me tell you, they pack more into that time allotment than.... searching my head for a good analogy here.... the socks I stuff in my sock drawer.  (Lame, but I don't want burned supper so I'm typing furiously!)  So lately I've just been too busy to think about cleaning.  (Like busy spray painting everything in sight, searching for little boy's lost blankies, and blogging of course.)  So I get a follow up call from Dana, and before I know it I'm agreeing for them to come for three hours.  They moved in with vacuum cleaners, supplies, and now that they've left, I'm afraid to do anything for fear of undoing my marvelously clean house!  "Pee outside, boys!  I don't want to mess up the bathroom!"  So if you're from the Parma area, you get your phone right now and give these women a call - you won't be sorry!  And, I promise they didn't pay me for this little promotion.  But Irene did buy three wood chairs from my barn!  Woot woot!  Oh and, you know they gotta be alright - I noticed a Harley Davidson sticker on the car.  Always a plus when considering a cleaning lady.

Ladybug shelves

These wooden lady bugs you can buy at JoAnn's for 59 cents.  Already painted!  I hot glued them on to the shelf after painting it white.  Had this ribbon stashed away in my tangled up, disorganized ribbon box and glued that on, and then added the antique buttons, also applied with hot glue.

I have no place in my house that a ladybug shelf would not look ridiculously out of place.  My apologizes for the double negative.  But they are just so fun to make!  And they sell fast too, another reason I like to make them! :)  Take an ordinary shelf, paint it white and turn it into something cute - obviously you don't have to use ladybugs!  Sometimes I wish I had another girl so I could decorate with things other than footballs, basketballs, tractors, cars, airplanes, baseballs, you get the point.

More ladybugs from JoAnn's and more buttons from my antique button jar!

Laboring on labor Day

I was getting tired of looking at this ugly potato bin in the barn.  It wasn't taking up much space, but it was getting harmful to my eyes.  Time to whip out the black and white paint!

Now tell me, don't you just want to go put a bag of spuds in this cute bin now??  And no, sorry to disappoint you, but I did not free hand that!

Fashion on the cheap

Oh boy.  Do I even go near the subject of fashion?  I've passed into that realm of "This was in style when I was a kid, and it's circled back around, but you're never supposed to wear things twice in a lifetime....".  Tis a predicament.  Whoever thought the 80's would circle back around anyway?  I thought maybe that was one cycle that might just well, not cycle.  So here's the scoop for today, and how to achieve this look on the cheap.  Or maybe you don't want to achieve this look at all, maybe you hate this look!  Just apply the concept with something else and hush.

1. Find the nearest Dots store.  My friends who make fun of me for shopping in Dots don't know what they're missing out on.
2. Go STRAIGHT to the back, do not pass go, and don't stop until you hit the clearance racks.  The ones with signs over them reading $3, $5, and $7.
3. Pull out cute blue dress with the $3 tag and see the potential it has to hug every bulge in your body the wrong way.  Grab a bigger size than normal, fork over your hard-earned three dolla make me wanna holla, and exit.
4. Night before church, try it on and realize it is the butt-hugger you feared it would be.  Frantically search the room for something to stretch it over for the night.  It needs to be wearable in 8 hours.  And since I can't drop 10 pounds quite that fast, the dress needs to grow.

My dress, stretching to it's full potential.

5. Yank, pull and stretch dress over laundry basket after Hubby refuses to wear it to bed.
6. In the morning, slowly pull off and cross your fingers.  Stomp your foot in annoyance that you used a rectangular shaped basket instead of a round one, but hope those little bulges work themselves out.
7. accessorize with a wide belt easily found at Goodwill for a buck or 2, and a dollar store necklace. Throw on Payless clearanced shoes to finish off the look.

8. Shoes included, the total cost is $14.

I would have shown you a few more options, but frankly I felt really stupid posing for pictures. (I looked stupid too, hence the chopped off head!)

Thrifty Thoughts - BABY EDITION

As I was waiting for this page to load, I overheard my 4 year old ask his little brother, "do you want me to pick your nose?"  What happened to the saying "You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose?!!!  Wait a minute, those weren't my kids.  I don't know who's kids are sitting in my house. Usually I love to claim them, but anyhow moving on to the subject at hand!  And that would be?  Some BABY SAVING TIPS!

1. Make your own baby food.  I have to confess something.  Actually I have two things to confess.  The first time I tried this, I didn't realize you had to cook the carrots before putting them in the blender.  I really didn't ride the short bus.  I know you were wondering.  My other confession is, I did not make baby food for the first two children (although that one carrot attempt sorta counts), but when I went to buy those yummy smashed beans for baby #3, I had to blink a few times to see the price had gone up to 50 cents a jar!  Humph.  I get bags full of green beans from my next door neighbor and even grew a tiny patch myself this year so I make a big pot last week for supper and all the ones we didn't eat went thunk, into the blender, into baby food jars, and into the freezer.  note: add water!  And you'll have to stop the blender and pull off all the bean strings stuck around the blades.  It kind of looks like when you pull the hair out of the drain.  SICKO.
2. rip wet wipes in half.  Usually their little bums don't need more than that.  But sometimes they do, plus another, and 5 more, and oh goodness, just put them in the bathtub.
3. SIGN UP for all those baby newsletters and stuff.  They'll send you lots of free samples in the mail - including tubs of powdered formula!  My babies were breastfed so I sold them on ebay.  The coupons sell on ebay too!
4. Hit up the garage sales.  Your baby doesn't need new - she doesn't care and she probably will hate that $200 fancy shmancy swing you bought her.  Trust me, I just talked to a mom who has one and yeah.  Darn it.  Buy it (swings, strollers, jumparoos, bouncy seats, etc. ) for a few bucks, and you ain't out much when junior screams every time he gets near it and you can probably resell it for more when you're done.

Tori in her $7 garage sale bouncy seat. another money saver - put her in brother's old sleepers!  haha

5. Your pediatrician gets loads of free samples to give away to patients.  Last time I was in, our Doctor gave me six small bottles of cough syrup.  He also gives me lots of infant Tylenol.  If they don't offer it, just ask.  Chances are, they'd be happy to hand some out.  That's what it's for!

Warped sofa table before and after

I got talked into this hunk of sofa table by the lady running the garage sale.  Boy it had issues!  Ones that required my husband's handymaness which required some sweet talking....  I spray painted the metal poles silver and the the wood got sanded and repainted black.  We won't mention the wood chunks required for the bottom so any lamp that might be set on top didn't go skidding to the middle with a crash.  FYI: The vertical divider in the middle is a mirror. 

Ta da!  After photo!

Beach Bums

Our family, me with  my sack of potatoes ;)

So there was a week of quietness from Kammy's Korner.  And that was because I wanted to do nothing but relax at Silver Beach on Lake Michigan for the week with some of my bestest friends!  here are a few snapshots of my family during our amazing week gettin' some R&R.  (and we did that while sharing a rented house with  5 couples and 9 kids, all 4 years old and under!  uhh, the kids that is.  We won't say how old us adults are)

My little baby girl in her bumbo on the beach.

Family shot!

My handsome little 4 year old.

And cute little bro - 2 years old

This is how you rest and relax, folks!  She is in a thrin!

Topped each night off with ice-cream - had to try each ice cream joint out!

Daddy and son exploring the waters.

My little sister and I with our baby girls

Beautiful, curious children

Savory Italian Chicken Flats

Time for supper last night, and I had nothing ready.  Time to pull out a container of chopped up chicken from the freezer and have a Kam's Kreation.  I actually remembered to write down measurements and ingredients in case it was a winner and according to my husband, it was and I need to share this one on the blog with ya'll!   (Why "Flats" you ask?  Cuz the term "pizza" is way overused, and hey, they're flat!  Can you think of something better?)

Stir together in large bowl:

2-3 cups chopped/shredded cooked chicken
1/4 cup mayonniase
1/4 cup salad dressing (miracle whip)
2 Tbls grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbls italian dressing
a few good shakes of Italian seasoning

Divide in half and spread over 2 whole wheat tortillas.
Slice 2-3 fresh tomatoes and lay on top.
Top each with a sprinkling of oregano.

Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 for around 12 minutes.  Cut like a pizza and chow down!

the destroyed waterfall dresser

I found these two interesting little pieces of furniture at a garage sale and soon realized they were part of an antique waterfall-style vanity and had once been connected by a middle piece and topped with a beautiful mirror.  They looked pretty rough.  So rough, that I caught my mom hauling them out to the burn pile and just about to light a match to them when I stopped her with a heart-stopping "MOTHER, WHAT ARE YOU DOOOOING?!"  Busted.  She gave me one of those looks and I knew she was picturing my place being featured on the next Horrid Hoarders show.  But, I proved her wrong, and I kind of think they cleaned up good! 

BEFORE - I ripped off that outer layer or veneer

AFTER - gave it a good sanding, painted it white and black.  I painted the original drawer pulls on the bottom, but found some round wood ones for the top that I thought suited the new style better.

Winners Announced!!

Tobin carefully pulls a name from the John Deere cap and the winner is........

Cilla Buck!! 

And the winner for the long time followers drawing is... EM!!  Congratulations Cilla and Em!  Em, please contact me with your mailing information so you can receive your greeting cards. Thanks for being Followers!!!

To my Faithful Followers and "THRIN"!!!

It was brought to my attention by a girl who calls me "Kams" that I'm being quite unfair to all of you who have NOT been closet readers! :)  And actually I was thinking about how unfair it was the other day while in the bathroom that I should have a drawing for the faithful followers, apart from the new ones.  Then I received an alert from lady-who-calls-me-Kams which confirmed the decision.  A drawing will take place in the next couple of days for you firsters (if I typed it, it's automatically a word) and you will also win greeting cards.  I would hold the drawing now, however my "name drawer" is at Grandma's house for the morning, getting spoiled rotten.

Which reminds me of a word that absolutely needs to be in the dictionary.  This is a Hayes original, and the word does not exist except for in the realms of my family and close friends.  Please get this word circulating so one day it can make it in to Websters.  The word is..... thrin.  What is a thrin???  Instead of giving you a definition of this beautiful much-need word, let me use it in a sentence or two.  "Sorry, I can't let the dog out, I'm in a thrin".  Or "She was in such a thrin, with the covers all pulled up around her chin and head buried in her pillow, that she just couldn't move to turn off the alarm clock."  Got the def yet?  An extremely, comfortable position.  Now go use that in a sentence today!

This dude's in a thrin!  Comment if you think you know who this is!

Attention - new follower drawing!

Become a follower, win some greeting cards!!  Next 5 names to join the follow list goes in a hat, and Tobin will draw a winner.  If you are of the male species, I promise the cards won't be feminine! :)  What?! Don't want to admit you're a Kammy's Korner reader?  Fine, nothing for you!