A Kitchen Makeover Before and After

 After having our floors refinished in January, we decided to go ahead and put in new countertops.  We've lived with pink countertops for 20 years and they honestly didn't bother me too much because I'm the tightwad in the family.  They were here when we moved in back in 2001.  Rick's been wanting to do this for a while and I finally gave in.  After it was all finished, I told him he was right.   So, we proceeded to box up everything from the open shelves, items on the counters, and everything in the lower cabinets.  

On March 10th, before we started self isolating due to the virus, the guys arrived to install the new quartz countertops.  It was quite an ordeal to do considering the hutch top that sits on the counter.  They did a beautiful job and installed our new faucet and the farmhouse sink.  

I can't seem to get away from the pink!  See that stripe above the countertop where the backsplash was removed?  I have subway tile propped up there.  Once this self isolation is over we are having the tiles installed.  My daughter, Amber, and I took a class at Home Depot and walked away saying, "No way are we attempting that."  

The kitchen is now a light gray that I painted several months ago.  I made new kitchen curtains since we were "staying home" now and  I ordered my fabric online through an Etsy store.  Glad to help out fellow Etsy shop businesses!  

I love painting walls.  I know that's kind of weird, but with the white countertops I can now paint the walls whatever color I want.  Paint is a cheap way to decorate.

The kitchen is "Daisy" approved too!  

This was the before.

Can't wait to have farmily and friends over for dinner!

Happy New Year!

Looking back over the year, here are a few paintings that I completed in 2012:

(The second one is a collage of prints celebrating my favorite color, red).

In July we lost our long time companion of 12 years, Annie:

Overwhelmed with sadness, God blessed us with Grandma's dog, Lady, a few months before we lost Annie to cancer.

Lady's name is truly what it implies.  She is part Golden Retriever and part Collie, which makes her a Gollie.  Gollie's are so sweet and gentle and she makes very strange noises, which is common for this breed.  She has been quite the blessing!

This year we did some remodeling in the kitchen:

Painting these knotty pine cabinets, changing out the hardware, and addinging new light fixtures made a huge difference.

Today I will be taking it easy and watching a little of this before getting back to the drawing table:

If you've never seen this British series, it's available on Netflix.  I love it because it's very quirky.

I will also be putting up my feet in my old, fluffy pink slippers....

and having some of this...

Since everyone in blogland seems to be picking a word for 2013, I've decided that mine will be "Dream". 

Keep your dreams alive in 2013 and if you don't have any it's time to start.  Your God given talents are a good place to start.

Have a blessed and wonderful New Year!

How to Make a Pendant Light From an Old Rusty Egg Basket

Last night Rick decided to make our light fixture for over the kitchen sink.  We wanted to use one of grandma's rusty old wire egg baskets.  While walking around Lowe's a couple weeks ago for what seemed like hours we finally came up with what we would need to make our basket into a light. 

Items needed:

Mini Pendant Light Kit (only used the shortest rod in the pkg.)

White coated wire (because this is not going to be wired direct)

White Lamp Cord Switch

White Plug

 Vintage 60 Watt Light Bulb

 We took a few things back that we didn't need too....

I couldn't wait until morning to take a picture because I was so excited!  I think Rick was shocked that it was so easy and everything went smoothly.

Our cabinets do not go all the way to the ceiling so drilling a hole through the wood above the sink, rewiring the pendant light with the white wire, threading this wire through the hole above the sink and running it across the top of the cabinets over to another hole drilled through a cabinet and down to the outlet that hides behind that large scale on the counter, was all that was needed to get this thing of beauty up and turned on...wheww!  The egg basket is just hanging on the pendant and nothing is holding it in place. Amazingly the hole in the bottom of the basket was just the right size for the pendant light to fit through.

I'm rather curious to see how long that almost $10.00 bulb will last.  I've been wanting to try one but never had a lamp suitable for one.

See that little rectangular label on the front?  It's perfect for blocking the light from the huge bulb directly into my eyes while washing the dishes.  I had thought about painting that with chalk board paint and writing "eggs" on it.  Anyone got a better idea or should I just leave it's old rusy patina alone?

Lots of autumn artwork is available in prints through my Etsy store.  All blog readers get a 15% discount when you use the code BLOGREADER11 at checkout. 

"Autumn at the Village Inn"

Catherine Holman

New Cottage Kitchen Light Fixtures

I wanted to share the new ceiling light fixtures that Rick put up this week.  I apologize for the photo because the weather is very cloudy, but I just couldn't wait to share these with you. 

We bought these pendant light fixtures at Lowes this past weekend.  We Rick shortened them because our ceilings are not that high.  They aren't producing the amount of light that we are used to, but hopefully the new light that will be installed over the sink will help.  We may have to add some lighting over the cabinets so the top half of the kitchen doesn't look so dark.

I'm going to be sharing some of my older autumn folk art prints in my next posts to get you in the mood for that cooler fall weather.

"Hometown USA"

The scent of autumn rises into the air along with billows of smoke drifting from the chimney tops in the little village of Hawthorne. Leaves gently fall from trees forming a kaleidoscope of color on the rolling hills. Families dine in the local café after church and walk home in the cool evening air. Tillie, a local business owner has been dating Mr. Hankins, the Farmer’s Bank president, who was won over by her warm smile and kind heart. They plan to be wed at the village church and the reception is scheduled for the Hawthorne Inn, owned by LuAnn, Tillie’s best friend. The entire village is invited so Mr. Hankins might have to dig deep into his pockets for this event!

Catherine Holman

Living With Pink Kitchen Countertops

We inherited pink counter tops when we bought this house 12 years ago.  Upon moving in we painted the kitchen brown thinking it would make the counters look beige instead of pink.  It didn't work.  I painted the walls yellow recently and then everything in the kitchen looked so pastel it sort of made me a little ill.  Then the big decision came to paint the cabinets white.  I'm now tickled pink and will learn to live with these counter tops for a while longer. 

The problem is that the upper hutch area sits directly on top of the counter tops and even has a shelf built over the back splash.  I love the hutch area and don't want to replace my cabinets or tear them up trying to replace the counters.  I may in the future have someone resurface them for us.  They simple apply a finish over the top of the previous counters. 

Last week I made a curtain from pink, yellow, and red fabric to try to tie all these colors together and to create more storage below.  I need to make some curtains for the two windows in the kitchen too.

This little cubby was originally intended to store cookie sheets.  But, with a cat and two dogs roaming around and I'm not particularly fond of seeing my old cooking sheets exposed, they have now become wine storage. 

This is my favorite part of our kitchen.  These old stools, as explained to me by the previous owner of the house, were from an old ice cream parlor. 

I just love how the wood base between each stool has worn down where customers passed through to have a seat.  Look how those old seats (especially the one on the right) have worn thinner on one side where people have slid off the seats for so many years. 

I love to think of little children spinning on these stools while licking their dripping ice cream from their cones.  Who knows who might have sat here. 

Before I painted the cabinets white, these didn't show up as nicely because they blended in with the knotty pine. 

Hopefully this week Rick will be installing the new light fixtures including one he is making from one of Grandma Chickie's old egg baskets.

Stay tuned.....

Catherine Holman

Painting the Kitchen Cabinets Saga

It's been a very long process, but I'm about to see the finish line as I continue painting the kitchen cabinets.  Here are the stages I've gone through:

1.  Wash cabinets

2.  Sand lightly

3.  Fill holes

4.  Drill new holes for new hardware

5.  Wash again to make sure no saw dust remains

6.  Cover knot holes with knot hole sealer

7.  Caulk

8.  Apply one coat of sealer

9.  Apply two coats of paint

Rick picked up a second gallon of paint for me the other day and told the salesman that I would do a commerical for their Benjamin Moore Advance Satin paint because I love it that much.  Brush strokes level out and you are left with a very smooth finish.

I'm seriously in love with this paint! 

This cubby is for my new white microwave but is temporarily housing items from across the room.

Here the bottom cabinets were finished and I was about to tackle the top cabinets.  My husband loved the knotty pine cabinets and I liked them too, but they were in pretty bad shape.   He does admit that they look much better now.  See all those pesky knot holes I had to seal.  If you don't apply knot hole sealer they will bleed through the paint.  I know this from experience.

Everything from the top is now stored below. 

That black dishwasher is headed out as soon as I sell another large painting. 

I'm loving this new cottage look with the white paint.

The only thing left is to finish up painting the doors.

I'm lining drawers and shelves with the red and white check liner.

Only one more coat of paint on my doors tomorrow and then three days to dry before putting them back up.  With a 16 hour dry time between coats of paint,  it becomes a very long process.  Hopefully next week I can put everthing back and share the completed project with you. 

I hope to be back to painting on canvas again next week!

Catherine Holman