My Vintage Kitchen Makeover

I've been pondering ideas for re-doing my kitchen for a while now. I seem to repaint my kitchen every couple of years or so. Recently, I've been inspired by everything I see in the Flea Market Style Magazine and lots of things in blogland, so when I got a surprise three day weekend, I had a kitchen makeover project!

My cabinets were already painted white and had a sanded, antique look, which I love. The walls had been sponge painted shades of brown, several years ago. I liked it at the time, but wanted something different. I have been seeing all the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint buzz; but really $39.00 a quart, yes I said quart, is not in my budget. (I'll share how I created my own chalk style paint in another post!)

I managed to get one before picture, prior to everything coming off the walls!

My chalk-style paint went on really easy. It was the fastest I had ever painted my kitchen. It was really thick and I only used about a quart to paint all the walls. The best parts were that it matched my cabinets, I did not have to sand or distress the wall to achieve the same look as the cabinets, and I didn't have to purchase anything! The paint dried really fast and then came the fun part!

I used vintage family heirlooms, garage sale, flea market, and Goodwill finds, farm junk, as well as some gifts and free items to decorate the kitchen.

The wine bottles have been gifts from friends (who drank the wine) that know I love the vintage style labels and signs. I found the red pedestal at a estate sale, the softball stripped of its outer shell came from Canton, and the ice picks were my great-grandparents. The measuring cup and funnel also came from my great-grandparents and made great decor resting on the wine bottles. The "Dinner is served at the sound of the smoke alarm" sign was a wedding gift as was the big wooden spoon. The sign has been right a time or two and I was told that when I have kids, I will know what the wooden spoon is for! The shutter came out of a house that was torn down and I covered the bottle that holds the sunflower with old seeds. Each utensil hanging on the shutter came from my great-grandparents as well. I was told the hand-made chicken wire gadget was a egg whisk.

My canisters were a Christmas gift a few years ago, the yellow coffee pot was my dad's, the old jars came from my grandmother and mother-in-law, the blue bowl was my great-grandmothers, the sifter was Grandmama's as was the green tray leaning against the wall. I can remember eating many meals in the hay field off the green tray. When I was little, Grandmama would fix dinner and we would go eat in the hayfield where Granddaddy was cutting hay - good times. Some of the tins and signs have came from garage sales over the last few years.

Previously, I had a cheap wire utensil rack hanging on the wall and decided that an old rake would be much better suited for our house.

I never, ever, ever, ever, never thought I would have a lace curtain in my house, but now I do! The May Basket burlap sack was my previous curtain, but I was ready for something different. I had picked up the vintage lace at Goodwill a few weeks back. I didn't know what I would use it for; but felt like it called my name!

There was a garage sale across the street from work last week and a couple of us walked over to the sale. Nothing I was interested in was marked and when I picked up two metal sconces, my friends both said "the glass is missing." When the lady said 25 cents a piece, I said "sold". I hung them on the wall and the lace is draped through the holes!

When I took the wooden rectangle shelf off the wall, I realized there was a American Beauty Lettuce advertisement painted on the back and decided it was time for it to be displayed for a while.

A Happy Home Recipe always hung in Grandmama's kitchen and now it hangs in mine.

I took on my first upholstery project over the weekend as well. The only thing I bought specifically for my makeover was a few decorative tacks. I bought two packages for $1.29 each at Tractor Supply. For several years I have had a canvas style apron that I could never find the just right place to display. Low and behold, I decided that it would look great on one of our bar stools!

I'm really excited how my make over project came together. I feel as if our kitchen fits our personality better; its a collection of who we are and tells the story of where we came from at the same time.

My weekend

I got a surprise 3 day weekend and was excited to feel good on my days off!

My weekend consisted of:

 ~decorating my yard for fall and scaring the dogs with my huge scarecrow

~feeding lots of animals

~cleaning and organizing my storage building/workshop

~deciding to makeover my kitchen

~making my own chalk style paint

~ painting my kitchen

~redorating kitchen with items from garage sales, Goodwill, and vintage family heirlooms

~washing and folding lots of clothes

~a trip to town for groceries for us and the animals

~cooking several meals

~breaking out the award winning sweet potato recipe from the vault and making two yam pies

~baking an apple cobbler

~reupholstering a bar stool (my first upholstery project)

~and then I came down with the head cold :(

All in all it was a Great weekend! I can't wait to share more pics from all my projects this past weekend!

 We are hardly ever sick and now we have both had the virus followed by a cold in 2 weeks time - I hope we are getting the sickness out of the way for the year and this isn't a sign of what is to come this winter.

Now I'm ready for another long weekend to tackle some more home projects!

A Stinky Suitcase Makeover with Mod Podge & Burlap

I've been working on this suitcase for what seems like forever. After some mod podge, burlap, spray paint, and trim, it is finally finished...yee haaaa!

It started like this... old, ugly, and STINKY. This Samsonite Case was one of my Flea Market Finds from Canton Trades Days in July for $3.00. I was excited with my purchase, but then realized how bad the inside STANK, I mean give-you-a-headache-kind-of-stink. I began to wonder if I had wasted my $3.00. I googled ideas to get rid of the smell...I tried the baking soda trick - it didn't help. I tried Mother Nature's way with some good ol' sunshine and fresh air for a while - it still stank, but I was determined something must work. I brought the suitcase back in the house and started ripping out the lining. Yep, I ripped and tugged that old vinyl out and away went the smell into the trash can!!! Problem Solved! Now for the FUN part!

I spray painted the metal trim aqua blue, then mod podge the outside with various shades of blue and brown scrapbook paper. At some point I decided to glue in the chocolate burlap liner, then I added some vintage looking lace trim around the edges.

I finally decided just to paint the handle aqua blue - I wish I would have completed this step before I glued the paper, but I didn't. When I was painting the handle, I decided to use a doily as a template and spray paint the design onto the suitcase. I over did it a little and decided to cover up some of the spray paint with more paper. I did leave part of the painted pattern showing though. It just didn't need as much as I painted. That's the great thing about mod podge, if you don't like something, you can just layer over it with more paper!

My suitcase is ready, now I just need somewhere to go!

I will probably use this suitcase as some type of storage in our bathroom, since we never seem to go anywhere overnight! I am planning a makeover for our "big" bathroom and plan on using these same colors. I can see towels displayed in the suitcase or makeup and the such organized in it. Of course earings hang great from burlap, so who knows exactly were it will wind up! So what do you think?

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