Painting the Kitchen

I mentioned that our decor is somewhat Nordic inspired this holiday season. 

It prompted an impulsive urge to paint the living room on Monday of last week. 

I ran out of paint otherwise I would have started on the kitchen that day. 

A quick trip to Sherwin Williams on Saturday and I was back in the game. 

I haven't been wild about the yellowish walls with the white cabinets for a while.

Our new shelves on the yellow just were not quite right.

This photo sort of cinched it for me. The color had to go.

Gray is all the rage right now but it just looks green in my house and we didn't want a green kitchen. 

Nordic interiors are predominantly white to reflect what little winter light there is.  

That seems counter to what you might think but it fits in with the direction my house is headed. 

I keep adding more white all the time. 

This kitchen has always been dark. More light reflection will be appreciated especially if this winter is as dark and gloomy as last winter.

We opted for a tone on tone look to go with the cabinets.

The color is Natural Choice by Sherwin Williams. 

The cabinets are Dover White.

The long buffet wall is the one that bugged me the most.

It may be boring to some but now it feels just right. 

Before:

After:

I just love the black transferware and the black chandelier. 

The corner is cute with the white banister although that was the only corner that looked good yellow.

Before:

After:

It took almost all day. There was so much cutting out to do. 

This time I did the hard stuff first. 

I'd be fooling myself if I told you that this will stay this way and the kitchen will never be painted again. 

That is what I told myself after I painted last time. 

Haha.

It's taken almost a week to get this place decorated for Christmas. Why? 

Four trees, that's why. 

Katie 


Linking with,
Savvy Southern Style
A Stroll Thru Life
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Coastal Charm
Cedar Hill Farmhouse
French Country Cottage 

Ribbon In The Christmas Tree

In years past I've made the mistake of realizing that my tree needed some ribbon after I had finished decorating the tree. 

Believe me that is not an easy task. 

Last year I made the mistake of not buying enough ribbon.
Then I felt it needed the white so I added that. 
There was almost an ornament avalanche. 

This year I was going to do it right.

Hobby Lobby had this black and white checked ribbon. 
I bought it back around Halloween but realized that it would be perfect with my black and white Nordic inspired Christmas decor so I went back for more when it was on sale for 50% off. 

Twist and tuck the ribbon as you wind it around the tree. 

Our tree is a 7 ft. tree. It took 45 ft. of each kind of ribbon. 

I prefer to only drape it from right to left around the tree.  If you like it going both ways double the amount of ribbon. I held both types of ribbon together as I wound it around. 

Last year I found many picks on clearance at Hobby Lobby. 

I sprayed painted them with flat white spray paint and tucked them in the tree to get some flocking. 

Our collection of antique German glass ornaments finished it off.

The tree ended up being very nostalgic looking. 

It is filled with sentimental ornaments from when we were first married and with German glass ornaments from both sides of our families. 
Both sides of our family had old fashioned Santa Clauses.

Ours were brown and Bill's were red.
I love this! 

Bill's siblings all said they thought their German glass ornaments were creepy. 
The clown is a little creepy but I love him anyway.

Katie
Linking with,
Savvy Southern Style 

"Nailed It" Gingerbread House

Have you seen the "Nailed It" pins on Pinterest?

Well it happened to me.

I had visions! 

Visions, not of sugarplums, but visions of a darling gingerbread house.

Similar to the ones on this blog. 

Her Christmas displays are magical so spend some time poking around her site.

Anyway,

I knew that I wouldn't be able to pull off baking a gingerbread house and getting it to stay together, so a kit seemed like the best option.

The grocery store had one in the bakery department. 

How hard could it be? 

Since we wouldn't be eating ours, I used a glue gun to glue it together.

Perfect.

It even fixed the cracked gingerbread base and front.

I really should have called it a night because everything was going too perfectly but my vision kept calling out to me. 

Oh the icing. What a sticky, gloppy confection.

It was everywhere.

The roof went pretty well.

Then the hole in the bag kept getting plugged up.

Finally, I moved the rest of the icing to a Zip Lock baggie.

It started oozing out of tiny holes in the side of the baggie.

A gallon sized baggie was better but still not great.

 I added some water but it was too wet at this point.

It was like lake effect snow in Buffalo. 

It was late. I was tired. I didn't care anymore.

Pinterest had some hilarious "Nailed It" gingerbread pins. 

They made me laugh out loud at my own primitive attempt.

Decorating birthday cakes when the kids were little used to frustrate me. 

They always looked terrible. 

Cake or "House" decorating is just not my forte.

I can accept that.

How long do you suppose this will last before it goes in the trash?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 

May all your endeavors be successful.

Katie  
Linking with,
French Country Cottage   
A Stroll Thru Life  
Cedar Hill Farmhouse   
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia   
Savvy Southern Style

Warming Up White Bedding

All of our beds have white bedding.

Some of them have quilts folded at the end of the bed 

but they look a little summery.

That is fine for most of the year because our warm weather lasts a long time around here 

but it does get cold.
In fact our temps can dip down into the single digits. 
There is no below zero down here so generally our winter is mild and beautiful. 

I warm up the beds with comforters, throws

and blankets.
We've collected some great blankets over the years.

This vintage green one with hand embroidered pine trees is my favorite. Bill and I found it at a cute antique shop in Clifton, Texas. 

We have some cute needlepoint pillows that have been picked up here and there. 
I'll usually stitch up some plaid pillows to go with them.

I've started working on the beds for this winter. 
We've got new blankets to show you.
If our weather last week is any indication we'll need them.
Katie