Open Concept Living Room & Kitchen

As I mentioned last week, we bought at second home in Florida a little over a year ago.  My daughter is a highly nationally ranked tennis player and she has been training in Florida and playing many tournaments down here, so it made sense to buy a second home.

In this home we have an open concept living room and kitchen.  It's kinda cool.  I enjoy making breakfast in the morning and having the big screen television from the living room right there. 

We continued the blue and white color scheme throughout the majority of the house.  It really makes the house flow well.  I rigged the lamps to work off of Alexa  - which is awesome when I get home I just ask Alexa to turn on the lamps.

A dining room credenza acts as a television unit and is flanked by a glass bookcase and a large faux tree.  The area rug was an awesome find at Home Goods on my last trip down here in January.  Open and airy is the look we are going for - nothing too heavy looking.  

It actually gets quite chilly in this house, so a throw became a necessity.  This throw is a faux fur throw from Dennis Basso and gets used all the time.  The lamps are Home Goods finds as well.

There are two options for dining in the kitchen...either at the counter or at the kitchen table.  Even when it's just me and my daughter we seem to use both areas equally.

The kitchen is a nice size for a second home.  It's plenty large to work in on a daily basis.  I like that the counter stools don't have a back so they take up very little visual space.

Here is the view of the living room from the kitchen.  Open concept all the way!  The clock is a find from Target.

Hope you've enjoyed the tour of my Florida home living room and kitchen.  Can't wait to hear what you think.

-Judy

Spring in the Kitchen

It's been a rough week.  Last Tuesday we were scheduled to leave for  Phoenix and Colorado to visit the last two baseball stadiums and go to the Grand Canyon.  On Monday I got diagnosed with the flu (and yes, I did have a flu shot). The doctor put me on Tamiflu and antibiotics knowing we were leaving the next day for vacation.  When we got to the airport they cancelled our flight due to runway maintenance...seriously?? We spent the day at the airport trying to get on another flight, all the while I felt sicker and sicker.  After eight hours we threw in the towel and went home.  I then spent the next 48 hours sleeping.  It was the craziest thing.  Although I am feeling much better, I still don't have all of my energy back.  Imagine how bad it would have been without a flu shot.  

 The weather here is finally starting to become spring-like.  I thought I would add a bit of spring to my kitchen.  I found the pitcher at Home Goods and filled it with some faux flowers.  

Everything looks better on a tray.  This tray was bought at Pottery Barn a few years ago.  All I did was line it with wrapping paper to coordinate with my kitchen granite.  A basket filled with eggs and a few candles and voila...instant spring feeling.  Hopefully now that I am feeling better I can get back to some other projects.  

On a separate note, I 'd like to wish all those running in the Boston Marathon today good luck!  

-Judy

My Kitchen Has Been Featured

Here's some fun and exciting news...

My kitchen has been featured at SheKnows Home & Garden, an online magazine!  

I was so excited when a few weeks ago I received an email from SheKnows Home and Garden asking if they could feature my kitchen in their publication.  It's featured in an article entitled "Hey Blogger, Show Me Your Kitchen!"
I hope you will take a minute to stop by and check it out!

Hope you have a great weekend!

-Judy

No Fabric Waste DIY Table Runner

Yesterday I teased you with the extra fabric I had left over from my pillow project.

  Here's what I made with it:

A quick and easy table runner for my kitchen table.  

When I saw the left-over fabric sitting on the bed it immediately looked like a table runner to me.

All I did was fold over all four edges and sew a straight line around the entire piece of fabric.  Then I sewed trim on either end.  The trim was sitting in my stash of fabric just waiting for a project.

  My kitchen is adjacent to my family room and uses similar colors.  

The runner goes so well with the window treatments in the kitchen.

  I love the color and texture on the cherry wood table.

 I love that I didn't waste any of the fabric.

I can't wait to hear what you think of my new table runner.

-Judy

Temporary Wallpaper

I love wallpaper, but don't always want to make the long term commitment.  A few days ago I was searching the internet for temporary wallpaper for our finished basement.  I came across a very cool site that sold such wallpaper.  It was fairly expensive costing approximately $85 a double roll.  Not wanting to spend that much, I dismissed the idea and went on with my day.  The next day I was doing a quick run-through Home Goods when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  The sales people had filled a cart with mostly Christmas stuff that they would be putting on the shelves.  I saw these rolls of paper, that looked bigger than Christmas paper, so I went over to investigate. I couldn't believe it!  It was the very same temporary wallpaper I had spied on the internet, except Home Goods was selling it for only $19.99 a  double roll.  I bought all four rolls of a pattern I plan on using in the basement (the exact same pattern I was considering the day before).  I also bought one roll of a more neutral pattern, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it, but liking it enough to figure something out.

In my kitchen we have a "bar" area with a backsplash in need of a little something.  Originally I thought I would have an antique mirror installed.  But because of it's unique shape it was going to cost me thousands of dollars.  So instead it had just stayed painted for the last few years.  

This would be where I would wallpaper.  First thing I did was go through all of the papers and junk and either throw it out, file it, or just put it where it belonged.
 It was well overdo to clean up and organize this area.

This temporary wallpaper is applied very much like contact paper.  It's a bit more stable, but other than that it's very similar.  It's easier than regular wallpaper to hang because there is absolutely no mess.  I actually hung this paper dressed in nice clothing...not my normal project/paint clothes.

I started in the center and worked my way back to either side.

I used a square to keep all of my cuts perfectly even.

It went up super easy.  I used a level on the first piece and then just lined up each of the next pieces.

In no time at all it was done and it looked great.

Then I took a step back and realized that now that I wallpapered the backsplash area,
 I really needed to do the same on the archway wall.

Again, in no time I got it wallpapered.

It looks so much better.  I didn't even use up an entire roll 

so I'm sure I will cover something with the rest.

In the meantime, I have put together a quick mood board showing you the pattern of the temporary wallpaper I scored for the finished basement.  The basement is going to be undergoing some changes.  More about that later.

I can't wait to hear what you think of the new wallpaper 

(and how much improved the whole area looks now that I have cleaned up - Lol)

-Judy

How to Create a Coffee Bar

For so many people, starting their day off right means starting it with a wonderful cup of coffee.  That's my husband.  He loves his morning cup of java.  What could be more perfect than having a coffee bar in our own kitchen?  We have a little counter space between the refrigerator and wall oven.  

It's the perfect spot for a little coffee bar.

What do you need for a coffee bar?  Well...not that much.  If you love coffee, I'm sure you already have all of the elements you need to make your own coffee bar.  

You too can create this  - you just need a little counter space to dedicate to it. 

When we renovated our kitchen a few years ago, we made sure we did not have anything interrupting our beautiful backsplash...ie electrical outlets.  Instead we have electrical outlets under each of the upper cabinets.  It's great until you have an appliance with a cord that's too short to reach...in this case it's my husband's favorite single serving coffee maker.  No problem...I can fix that.

I needed something small, yet decorative,  to raise up the coffee maker so that the cord would reach the outlet.  I took a shoe box and cut off the lid.  Then I cut the box in half and slipped the two halves back together to form a smaller box.  I used tape to hold it all together.  

Then I covered the smaller box using my favorite leftover contact paper.  

I went to my favorite site, The Graphics Fairy, and printed out and decoupaged some coffee graphics onto the box.  I picked two different graphics and put one on the front and one on the top.

The top one is going to be mostly covered by the coffee maker, but I still liked it and wanted to use it.
Now the cord will reach the outlet!

I gathered my supplies - favorite coffee makers, coffee pods, ground coffee, sugar and creamer and anything else I could think of to create a coffee bar.

It's as simple as that.  

A coffee center with everything needed to make that perfect cup of coffee - all at our fingertips.
I hope you will make one in your home.

Can't wait to hear what you think!

-Judy

Freezer Paper Fabric Transfer Tutorial

A week or so ago I made a ruffled table runner out of a drop cloth.  

I knew that I wanted to transfer an image onto each end of the drop cloth.

There were many tutorials I found when I searched the internet.  After reading many, I followed a combination of the tutorials I found here and here. 

 It was my first attempt at transferring a graphic onto fabric.

I started by taking a plain piece of 8 1/2" x 11" copy paper and spraying it with spray adhesive.  We happened to have ordered pizza in on the night I did this project, so I used the box to protect my countertop.  I cut a piece of freezer paper and put the non-shiny side onto the now tacky copy paper. I smoothed the freezer paper onto the copy paper and then cut off the excess freezer paper.  I then put the freezer paper attached to the copy paper into my printer so that it printed on the shiny side.

I picked a graphic from The Graphics Fairy.  I went back and forth on which graphic to use.  I ultimately decided on something on the simple side to avoid too much smearing of the ink.  Make sure to print out your image in reverse.

Then I took my table runner and first sprayed hair spray on either end of the runner.  I decided to add three coats of hair spray for good measure.  Then I sprayed water on the section that I would be transferring the image.  

After I sprayed the runner with water, I placed my image onto the fabric.  

Then I used a spoon to rub the back of the paper to have the image transfer.  

Be careful not to move the paper to help avoid the ink smearing.

The first side did NOT come out the way I would have liked it.  It was a bit too light.  I think this was because I did not wet the fabric nearly enough (or maybe there wasn't enough hair spray).

I sprayed the other side much more, plus I made sure to really rub hard with the spoon.

A much better result.

Have you ever tried this method?  How did it work for you?

-Judy