Upgraded Dry Erase Board

Just a quick post today. We didn't get as much done as we had hoped this weekend because J's dad hurt his back and wasn't able to come help us. Oh well, there is always next weekend.  We did manage to get the garage and sun room cleaned up.  They aren't perfect, but they're a lot better then what they were.

And I finally got a dry erase calendar for the kitchen.  I've been wanting to get one for quite sometime, but just never remembered when I was at the store.  So this last week I was determined to pick one up.  I was sick of writing our weekly menu on a piece of notebook paper and sticking it up on the fridge.  Yes I make out a weekly menu, it helps me determine what I need from the grocery store as well as saves us from the whole, "what do you want for dinner?", "I don't know, what do you want?" dilemma.
   

So I ran to Target, yes I love that store, and picked up a simple dry erase calendar.  It's even magnetic (can't wait to make some fun magnets for it). 

See nothing fancy, just a simple no fuss dry erase board.  They had nicer ones, but were a little expensive for my taste.  This one is 16x 20 (standard picture frame size) and was about $13.  I have been waiting for one to show up at the thrift store, but alas, I grew tired of waiting.

I then headed over to Hobby Lobby because open back frames were 50% off.  But even at 50% off, I would be paying around $30 for a frame.  And this was supposed to be a cheap project, under 20 bucks.  So up to the thrift store I went.  And low and behold there was a great 16x20 frame sitting there.  It was a pretty nice frame and had a professionally matted pig print in it (yes I still have the print, no I'm not sure if I'll use it).  And best of all, it was $6.99.  God I love the thrift store.  Normally I paint my frames I get from the thrift store, but not this one.  It's a really nice frame.

And here it is.  I love how simple (and cheap) this project was, but how useful it is.  I need to make some cute magnets to go with it and a DIY pen and eraser holder, but so far it's been really useful.  I can put our appointments, band gigs, art shows, etc up there as well as things that need to get done around the house (like patching the large hole that is in the wall were we took out the built in china hutch).  Simple, useful, cheap, the perfect DIY project.  

And I'm off to work on our next DIY project.  Well if I can drag myself away from the computer.  Between StumbleUpon and Pinterest, I'm having difficulties.  They are both so great for finding new ideas and projects to work on.  Well the first step is to admit you have a problem, right?!? :-)      

Kitchen Update

Phew, it's been a while since I last updated this (and my other blog).  But we've been busy with the kitchen since last time.

Here is what we have so far.

Not bad, right?  The upper cabinets are done (sort of, more on that later), the floor is finished, and the walls and ceiling are painted. Looks pretty good if you ask me.  And there is even a little pug admiring how nice everything looks.

Here's what is it looked like when we first bought the house.

I told you it was a big difference.  The cheap floor is gone, the cabinet is gone, the cabinets are stained darker, the walls are not blue, the doorway is larger, and the hole is gone.  It's looking good so far.

But there is plenty that still needs to be done.

For one, this!  The cabinets are the original built in place ones, so when we took down the one blocking the view from the kitchen to the living room, we were left with this.  We saved some of the original wood, so we will be able to patch and it, we just haven't gotten around to it yet.  I'm hoping that project is coming soon.

We would also like to get matching appliances.  The current refrigerator is a bit to big for the space and the stove is a bit to small for the space.  So we're looking at moving the fridge to the other wall (perfect triangle set up for the kitchen) and then getting a larger, gas, stove.  We discovered that there is already a gas line in the kitchen, so that saves us the hassle of having to have one installed, yay.  So if anyone in the Madison area is looking to buy some appliances, let me know, we have a fridge, stove, and dishwasher we're looking to get rid of.  ;-)

We also have a little bit of trim left to put up.  Crown molding as well as trim between the wood wall color.  As I said before our cabinets are the built in place kind, so they go all the way to the ceiling.  So I took down the trim meant for our plate collection (I know what will we do with all of our plates), and painted (and textured) the upper half to look like the walls.  You would never know that there is oak under the paint when looking at them.  So we're going to add half round between the two to make it look a little more finished.  I can't wait to do that, maybe this weekend.  And get that crown molding in.

And as you can see the bottom cabinets still need to be sanded and stained as well as the side of the upper cabinets.  But I am so much more happy with the kitchen now then I was when we first moved in.  I never hated the kitchen, but now it's becoming something I love.  And as soon as we get a gas stove, you won't be able to get me out of the kitchen.