The Kitchen: Light Teal with Cherries on the Side

I've shared Noah's room and the bathroom and now I'm finally ready to reveal my favorite room in the house thus far I think: the kitchen!

The kitchen needed a makeover desperately. It was green and if you like green I think it would be OK, but green really isn't a "me" color. I love teal and thought some shade of teal/turquoise/aqua would be lovely but I wasn't sure what direction to take it until I started doing a little surfing online and found this apron which became my inspiration for the kitchen.

(Funny, I don't even own this apron.... yet. It will have a special spot in my kitchen at some point!)


So we went with a light teal blue on the walls with red accents.


This kitchen has two built in components that I adore. One of them in a built in hutch that sits in the corner of the kitchen right near where we put our table. And the other is built in open cabinets that are above the sink. I'm not crazy about the counter tops but baby steps, right! 


Let's start off with some before pictures.......

So we painted the walls aqua chiffon......

I think it turned out beautiful!

Here's a view from the doorway of the kitchen. 

The open cabinets above the sink. LOVE them. And I love how great the red dishes a la' Target look on the bottom shelf and the teal Paula Dean cookware looks on the top shelf!  

A close up of the glasses becasue they are polky-dot! And you know how much I love polky-dots!! 

(Also from Target.)

Here's a close up of the "art" that is above the sink. I put the pot holders on little hooks which makes them decorative yet functional at the same time. I made the art in the middle. The cherries are buttons that I sewed on to white fabric with felt leaves "framed" in an embroidery hoop which I spray painted red. 

And here's a shot of the kitchen table with the hutch in the corner. 

And a close up of the art I made that hangs near the table. 

That's just a wooden plaque I decopauged with some red/teal polka dot paper and then I glued on an old fork, spoon, and knife which I had spray painted a light teal to match the walls. The word "enjoy" is just a vinyl wall decal. 

And the art in the middle of the hutch. 

That's just a dollar store plate and vase I spray painted and then mod podged an S on the plate and filled the vases with artificial flowers and tied a red ribbon around it. 

And now you have seen the kitchen!!

 I love cooking now because I just love being in there! 

Linking to:

I Heart Faces - Photojournalism

The theme at I Heart Faces this week is photo journalism. And while I haven't done an I Heart Faces challenge in awhile as soon as I read the theme the pictures from Noah competing in the wheelchair race at Special Olympics instantly sprang to mind. They tell the story of my amazing, brave little man burning rubber in his wheelchair.

(Click the photo to see it larger.) 

Go check out more photojournalism entries at I Heart Faces!

Quote of the Week: Great Love

"Where there is great love there are always little miracles."

 ~ Willa Cather

Our Bathroom

On Tuesday I shared with you pictures of Noah's new room and today I'll share pictures of the bathroom with you.

We knew the bathroom needed to be painted but we weren't sure what color. J kept suggesting orange as he did with every room. (Our entire house would be Clesmson orange and purple if I let J and Noah have their way!) We also needed a new shower curtain so we decided to base the paint color on the shower curtain.

My Mom and I went to Target where they have an excellent selection of shower curtains. In fact, I was quite overwhelmed. Naturally I'm drawn to teal, pink, and browns but with the kitchen already being light teal and our bedroom being brown and teal I didn't want to go overboard with brown and teal in the house. I narrowed it down to two shower curtains both of which had the same color scheme of a salmon orange, mustard yellow, forest green, brown, and dark teal. One of the shower curtains was striped and the other one was more whimsical and had funky trees and cute little owls. I decided to go with the whimsical shower curtain because of the cute little owls.

We decided to paint the bathroom the salmon orange color in the shower curtain. I took the actual shower curtain with us to Lowe's when we were buying paint and they color matched the paint to the shower curtain.  I call it Clemson orange on estrogen since it is a more feminine orange. LOL So J sort of got his orange bathroom after all.

Ok, on with the pictures. We'll start with a before shot....

And now after shots.......

  

I made that valance too. 

See the cute little owls and chimpmunks 

Baskets I spray painted to hold toiletries and what not.

Cute little owls I paper pieced using a pattern from Little Polka Dot.

A close up of the cute lil' owls

(Their names are Hoot and Who and no I didn't name them myself!)

My BFF sent me that adorable owl hand towel. 

As we were painting the bathroom, that orange was looking so bright and I didn't think I was going to love the finished result but now that the shower curtain, space saver, towels, and new light are in the bathroom it is definitely growing on me!

Wordless Wednesday: Enjoying his New Room

Noah is enjoying his new room!
(Click the link to see better/more pictures of his new Clemson themed room.)

Getting a book to read 

Chilling on his bean bag

Bouncing on his bed

Showing off his room to Nana and Grandaddy when they came for a visit.

For more Wordless Wednesday check out 5 Minutes for Moms, Special Exposure Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Special Needs, and Wordless Wednesday Headquarters.

Noah's New Room

So many of you have been patiently waiting to see pictures of the rooms in our new house. Finally, a few rooms are almost finished. I have just a small couple of projects left for a couple of these almost finished rooms and I now feel comfortable sharing photos of the "almost finished" rooms.

Let's start with Noah's room. Noah wanted a Clemson (a local college) room and we were more than happy to create a bedroom full of orange and purple for him.

Originally the walls in Noah's room were a beige-ish color but we painted them white. I kind of struggled just painting them white since the other rooms in the house were painted bright colors but I just couldn't see painting the walls Clemson orange or purple and I think with all the accents and furniture it brings enough color in to the white walls.

 (Click on the pictures to see them larger.)

This is the view of Noah's room from the doorway. There was already the one set of blinds in his room but they are an odd size so we have had trouble locating a set for the second window. That is still on my "to do" list for Noah's room. 

This is the view of Noah's room from the corner near the bed. 

Here's a close up of the valances I made for Noah's windows. I sewed these myself (and if you know me you know I don't really have the patience for sewing) so I'm super proud of them.

This is a close up of Noah's nightstand that I painted orange. He added a little decoration of his own by adding the small tiger paw sticker in the corner. That's a touch lamp sitting on the night stand so he can turn it off and on by himself. 

Autographed pictures (that were graciously sent to Noah by the Clemson athletic department during his Scoliosis surgery recovery) adorn one wall in frames that I painted orange and purple. (They don't look that straight in the picture but I promise they are straight!)

Noah's bookcase that I painted purple. 

Noah's football that was autographed by Dabo Swinney the football coach at Clemson (something else he received while in the hospital) sits on the top of his bookcase.

A close up of the "border" 

(These are really just vinyl wall decals that I arranged so that they sorta look like a wall paper border.)

Yep, I even decorated the trash can with the Clemson "C." 

Now you've had a tour of Noah's new room!

Click here to see some pics of Noah enjoying his new room. 

Quote of the Week: How we Lived

"Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey.

It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again.

What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.”

- Patrick Stewart

Scoliosis Surgery Follow Up

Today Noah had his three month follow up with the surgeon who did his Scoliosis surgery. It went super well! They did x-rays again (the first since the surgery) so that he could see the changes between now and before surgery. Before surgery Noah's curve was 96.3 degrees. Today it was..... (drum roll please!) 11.9 degrees! The doctor showed us the before and after x-rays and the difference was just SO amazing! He is very, very pleased with Noah's progress.

There have been a couple of instances in which Noah is having a little bit of pain. I was a smidge concerned but he assured me that it is normal and that Noah could have bouts of pain here and there for up to a year after the surgery. I have been giving him Tyenol when he has pain and the doctor said that was the right thing to do.

It was one of the best doctor's appointments we've had!

Home Sweet Home

Well, almost.....

We are now finally in our new home! There were some major "bumps" over the past week which includes finding out that tree roots had grown into the pipes and they had to be replaced and having electrical problems where only half the house had power but finally those problems are fixed and yesterday was problem free and I'm hoping and praying that things stay that way.

Noah's really enjoying the new house. I was worried about him adjusting after staying at his Grandparents for so long this summer but it turns out he wasn't the one I should have worried about adjusting - it's Miss Paisley who seems to be having problems adjusting although she did a lot better yesterday.

Noah seems to really enjoy having his own space and room again. Monday and Tuesday first thing when he got home from school, he wheeled towards his bedroom as if he was checking to see if it is still there. He also really enjoys sitting out on the front porch in the mornings while waiting for the bus.

We still have a ways to go as for as un-packing, organizing, and making this house look like a home. I know many of you are dying to see pictures of the inside and I'm dying to show you but please be patient. I want to share it with you once it looks more like a home and less like a house with stacks of boxes around!

First Day of School

Today was Noah's first day of school after a long, exhausting summer.  At his open house last week, we talked with his teachers and physical therapists and they assured us that if Noah seemed tired or uncomfortable and needed to get out of his wheelchair for a bit that it wouldn't be a problem so we felt fine with sending him for the whole day in his regular wheelchair. While the reclining wheelchair was a must this summer, I was very glad to see the Home Health people drive off with that big, bulky, hard to push wheelchair!

Noah was super excited for school when he woke up this morning and easily got dressed. I was excited for him as well but also a bit melancholy. Usually I'm ready for the break and excited by the time school starts in August but I think Noah's long surgery and recovery this summer brought us closer together and I found myself  teary eyed as the bus pulled off.

Noah had a great first day - a sign that is going to be a great school year! I leave you with a picture of my boy looking handsome and grown up while showing off his new Clemson (of course!) back pack.

Painting & Moving

We have been working hard (when scheduling allows) on painting our new house and aside from some minor touch ups and two rooms (living room and the creative studio/office) which we will do once we move in and Noah's in school, we are almost finished! I love the personality that paint has given the rooms and can't wait to see them finished with furniture and art on the walls and what not!

We'll begin moving furniture in tomorrow!! So hopefully sometime next week, I'll be updating this blog from my new house and I promise to have some pictures then too!!