Home Tour: The Kitchen

Two weeks ago I gave you a tour of our living room…Today, we will be touring our kitchen. Once again it’s not perfect, but it’s functional. There is so much that I want to do to our kitchen, but kitchen re-do’s are often so expensive.

The kitchen has a small dining area in it and it looks straight into the dining room. For some reason I didn't take pictures of the little dining area, so I'll have to post those soon. The table that is in the kitchen dining area was purchased by my honey at Goodwill before we got married. The living room, dining room, and kitchen are very open and flow together.

Here are photos of how the kitchen looks now:

 Isn’t that note from some of my kiddos at school just precious?I think this nook above the sink would be perfect for a shelf that could hold cookbooks, etc. I think this long space could be perfect for two barstools.

In the pictures I think it’s hard to tell what color the walls really are because the lighting varies so much in the pictures and in the room. The walls are a pretty dark gold-tan color…this same color is in the living room and the main hallway of the house.

Any big changes in the kitchen are pretty far off, because of the expense of kitchen renovations. Here are some changes that I’d like to someday make in the kitchen…some of them could happen semi soon while others are very, very far off:

• Paint the walls. I think the color is way too dark and too close to the color of the cabinets.
• Paint the cabinets. I’m aware that this is a pretty affordable change, but can I just admit that I’m not sure I’m up to that big of a project yet?
• Paint the kitchen table OR get rid of the table all together and add bar stools to the counter and some type of storage to the open space.
• Change the light fixture.
• Install hardware to cabinet doors and drawers.
• Install a shelf above the kitchen sink.
• Replace appliances for newer and more modern pieces.
• Put down ceramic tile.
• Install a backsplash. There are so many great options out there!
• Replace the current countertops…green countertops, really? When was that ever a good idea?

So, that's the kitchen and the second room on our home tour. 
Any cheap or quick tips you might have to update our kitchen? x

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all of my beautiful readers! I hope you're all enjoying a day off like I am. While today is a great day to spend time with friends and have a little cookout (or maybe work on some projects!), I think we must also take the day to remember those who intentionally put their lives in danger for our freedom, many who lost their lives in the fight for us all.

I cannot help but think about one particular soldier...my great grandaddy Lloyd. I had the privilege of knowing three of my great grandparents; two grandmothers and my grandaddy who I mentioned above. 

My grandaddy was drafted to fight in WWII. Unfortunately, he was drafted quite unfairly. He was the sole provider for his mother and her only living child, and this alone should've kept him from being drafted (it is this rule that the movie Saving Private Ryan is based off of). He was also on the older end of the drafting age limit and the father of four children. My grandma told me that he always believed that the drafting board of his county was jealous of his farming success and for this reason they sent him.

I only have one picture of my great grandaddy on my computer, but it is one of my favorites of him and my great grandma Pauline.This picture was taken many years after the war at their home (and my favorite place) in Telephone, TX.

Why are they laughing? Just check out the dog in the background...ha!

My grandaddy went on to receive two Purple Heart medal's during his time serving in WWII. He came home safely, raised his children, saw his grand kids and several of his great grand kids born. He unfortunately succumbed to Alzheimer's and pneumonia when I was younger.

I am eternally grateful to my great grandpa and every other soldier who has put their own life in danger for my freedom and safety. Take a moment to remember those who gave it all up for us.

Home is a Refuge

So I’m a little bit behind on watching Nate (my DVR got really full during the last few weeks of school), and I recently just watched the Oprah episode. I must admit that Oprah isn’t my favorite but I happened to really like her in this episode, and I loved to see the beautiful outdoors that are a part of her home.

But what I loved even more than her home was this framed quote that Nate gave to her. The quote is by Dr. Maya Angelou and it reads:

Isn’t that beautiful? I’m thinking I’ll frame this quote and put it somewhere in my home, I absolutely love it. 

Hubby and I are headed to Houston for my niece’s baptism. We’re looking forward to good Mexican food, relaxation time, and moments with sweet Cooper (our niece) and the rest of our family. What are you doing this weekend? x

Our Garden Progess

It has now been two and a half weeks since we started our little garden (you can see the first post about it here...unfortunately, blogger deleted my other post about the garden). About half of our plants were planted from seed and the other half started as already grown plants, but we were happy to see that our little seeds quickly caught up. Here's a view of what our garden is looking like today...

 Corn. These plants started as seeds.

Green bean plants. These babies started as seeds as well.

Lettuce. These started as seeds and are growing slowly but surely.

 Onion sprouts.

Potato sprouts. Since onions and potatoes are root vegetables, that have grown very slowly.

And here are a few comparative pictures to show how much some of our other plants have grown in the past few weeks...

 Tomato plant growth.

 Honeydew growth.

Overall garden growth..isn't so pretty now that it's green?

It's so much fun to walk outside each day and see what has changed. I swear that things really do just change over night. I seriously think that anyone can do this type of gardening. 

If you're interested, you can contact me at carlyhoneyandthemoon at gmail dot com. I'd love to guide you to the book and other sources that we used to create our garden!

Design ADD

I’m what you might call a hypochondriac. WebMD is my best friend and my hubby constantly has to remind me that just because I have a random bruise on my leg it doesn’t mean that I have thrombophlebitis (yes, that’s a real condition). However, there is one condition that I know I have, and that condition is Design ADD.

You might remember me mentioning that we’re redoing our dining room and while I’m so excited about that, I cannot help but move onto my living room before I’ve even touched the dining room. I’ve found that I do my best work whenever I am completely focused on one area, but it’s so hard when all of these ideas are swimming around in my mind.

So to make sure that I stay on track I once again created a mood board on OlioBoard. Here is what the mood board is looking like:

Here are the details:

• Wall Color -- I chose "Nautical Navy" by Valspar. I used my Valspar $5 off coupon. (More on this soon)
  
• Silhouette Art -- This is obviously a DIY project. I'm planning on doing a silhouette of me, Cody, and our two pups Molly and Moose.
• Yellow Frames -- The frames are for the silhouette art, but the frames will be oval shaped.  I've already found a great deal on frames from Walmart and I'm just waiting for them to arrive. Although the frames are black I am planning on giving them a nice coat of spray paint in a bright color...must likely yellow.
• Dining Table and Parsons Chairs -- These are items we already own. 
• Pendant Lamp -- We currently have your standard brass chandelier in our dining room..blech! I'm looking for something funky, sleek, and simple.
• White Curtains -- I want to go simple with just plain white curtains, I really think that they will help lighten up the room.
• Subway Art -- There is one long wall in our dining room, this is where the silhouette art will go. The other wall has a large window. And the last wall is very short and currently completely blank. I plan to either make some subway art or actually paint words onto the wall. These are the words that I'm thinking about using:

So now I just need to stay focused and get this dining room finished. My hubby and the puppies are out of the house, I've got my painting clothes on, and the DIY network is on the television in the background...it's time to get to work!

Psst -- My joke about 'Design ADD' is just that...a joke. I've made comments like this before and apparently offended others. It is a joke and it is never meant to offend. I am aware that ADD is a true problem.