Kitchen Canisters

About a year ago, I saw these wide-mouthed glass canisters at Pier 1. 

I really, really liked them, but I wasn't crazy about the jagged edges on the chalkboard bands.

Picky, picky, I know.

And I wasn't really in the mood to spend money on canisters that day anyways. 

So I filed them away in the back of my mind.

We've had these copper canisters in our kitchen since we received them a wedding present 7 years ago.

I loved them for quite a few years.

But as the years wore on and the canisters saw a lot of use, they got to look pretty gnarly.

They became tarnished, stained and showed every single fingerprint. 

In other words, they looked pretty beat up.

So finally I caved in and decided to replace them.

I remembered the ones I had seen at Pier 1 way back when. 

But I wanted to create my own version so that they were just my style.

I picked up three of these wide-mouthed glass canisters as Fred Meyer (Target and Walmart also carry them). 

I chose to buy two big ones and one medium sized one.

Then using my chalkboard contact paper (bought on ebay), 

I cut out 3 rectangles (with smooth edges!) and stuck them onto my new canisters.

I do a lot of baking and wanted big canisters to hold my sugar and flour.

I love that I can now see into the canisters and know when I am running low before its too late (I used to always run out of flour or sugar in the middle of making goodies! Arrrgghh - so frustrating!)

The small canister holds oatmeal, which I make the kids every morning for breakfast. So having it out and accessible makes things a little easier in the morning.

They look MUCH better than my old dirty looking copper ones. 

Super happy with my easy little project!

It really is the little things that make me smile.

 Linking up to:
The Stories of A to Z: Chalkboard Paint Party

Inspiration Files: Printed Roman Shade

I was browsing around on Better Homes and Gardens online today, looking for inspiring ideas, and I came across this fun idea...

A No-Sew Printed Roman Shade for the Kitchen

By the way, I love everything about this kitchen too. 

The yellow, the white, the open shelving, the sink...

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BHG provides a tutorial for making the roman shade yourself:

"To widen a Roman shade, cut lengths of striped fabric twice as wide as the desired trim width (ours are 8 inches), press in half the long way, then press the raw edges under 1/8 inch. Glue the pressed edges to the shade, one to the front and one to the back, overlapping slightly. Print letters one per page in your favorite font. For the silverware, check the Internet or clip art books for an image and enlarge it on a photocopier. Put the patterns under the shade and trace in pencil, then outline with black fabric marker and shade as needed. Hang shade and tack the trim to the window."

I'm not quite clear on how you "hang the shade and tack trim to the window" though. 

What does that mean!?

Unique Home Decor - At West End

I LOVE getting home decor catalogs in the mail.

I always do the happy dance when I open up our mailbox and see one has arrived.

My neighbors must think I'm nuts.

Not that I usually buy anything from the catalogs, I just love browsing through them (over and over), gathering inspiration and daydreaming.

The other day, I received a new catalog that I had not seen before.

It was a small catalog, filled with unique and rustic home decor items. 

The catalog is called At West End  

and here is a sampling of some of their awesome stuff...

Captain's Lantern

Fish "Towels" Rack

Sea Horses

 

Glass Bird Feeder

 Vine Fish

Aqua Glass Bottles

Whitewashed Driftwood Star

Their prices are pretty good too!
I'm so impressed with their stuff that I might actually order some of their cute things.

Oh, and shipping is only $5 on any size order - sweet!

No, I am not getting compensated in any way for this post, I just thought they had super cute stuff and wanted to share it.

 

Old Glory - Vintage Style

The day before the fourth of July, Jacob and I were digging around in the garage trying to find our flag when I spied his big box of wood scraps. 

I inadvertently abandoned our flag hunt and started pulling scraps of wood out of the box. 

I get distracted so easily!

I started piecing them together like a puzzle on the floor. 

I was inspired by THIS post on Knock-Off Wood.

Jacob knew I had my creative juices flowing, so he just rolled his eyes at me and went about his flag search. 

I know he was thinking I don't want her giving me another project! 

But I knew this would be a project I could conquer myself.

After I pieced all of the scraps together to form a big rectangle resembling a flag, I asked Jacob to show me how to use his compound miter saw. 

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of the process - I was too excited to get the project completed!

After a quick saw lesson, I cut all of my boards to fit perfectly together.  

Then I sanded and painted all of the boards. This process took me a full day because I had to wait for all of the paint to dry before I could sand the boards again to give it a distressed look. 

Note: I painted all of the boards BEFORE attaching them.

To paint the 13 stars in a perfect circle, I printed off a picture from the internet and traced it onto the boards. Then I used a white paint pen to color them in.

Jacob had to help me cut a big piece of plywood on the table saw for the backing. 

Then I used wood glue and little brad nails to attach the boards to the plywood.

Originally I had planned for this to decorate our front porch for Independence Day, but I liked how it turned out so much, that it now hangs in one of our hallways.

I smile every time I walk by it, knowing that I built it all by myself!

Linking up to:

Blue Cricket Design Show and Tell 

Trendy Treehouse Creative Share 

DIY Project Parade

E-A-T

One day while I was browsing online in Pottery Barn's clearance section, I came across this...

 

Super cute, right?

Those letters would look so good in my kitchen.

Well I didn't buy them. 

I knew I couldn't justify to my husband why I spent over $30 on some wood letters.

So I made my own.

I picked up some unfinished wood letters at our local craft store (Ben Franklin Crafts).

 

After I sanded them down to get rid of the rough patches, 

I slathered them with a coat of primer.

Then I painted on a layer of Benjamin Moore's Wedgewood Gray (my favorite color!).

I wanted the letters to be red with a hint of blue showing through.

This took some trial and error work.

I painted red right over the top and then tried to sand it to give it an aged look.

But the sander stripped it clear down to the original wood color and you couldn't even see the blue.

So I repainted it blue and then I read a great tip online...

If you want a paint color to show through after another color is applied, rub candle wax on the spots your want to show through.

So I found an old white candle in my cupboard and I rubbed it on the edges and sporadically on different parts of the letters.

Then I repainted the red over the top.

It worked so well that I didn't even have to use my sander. 

I was able to rub off some of the red with a paper towel!

I'm super happy with how they turned out. 

I like them even better than the Pottery Barn ones and they were about half the price (even on clearance)!

Linking up to:

Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself Friday

Funky Junk Interiors SNS #38

The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Chic on a Shoestring Flaunt it Friday

A Few of My Favorite Things - Favorite Things Friday