Table Switcheroo

We bought our kitchen table about 9 years ago from Bassett.  It has been a great table!  When we purchased it we were only a family of 4.  So after we became a family of 5 and our 3rd child out grew the high chair we started bringing an extra chair to the table for meals.  We aren't able to fit another chair around the table since the legs are on the outside...uggghhh!

original kitchen table

Since we moved away from my family we NEVER host holidays so we really have no use for a formal dining room.  We have GRAND plans for our dining room.  We plan to turn that room into a game room complete with the pool table from Pottery Barn really soon when we hit the lottery!

So for now we thought why not try the dining room table in the kitchen.  It's bigger!  It has 6 chairs rather than 4!  And when we have our friends over there is more room for our games of Mexican Dominoes!

Dining room table moved to kitchen

Although the size was right...the finish wasn't. Our floors and cabinets are almost the same color.  Which is also the same color as both the kitchen & dining room tables.  So...I decided to paint the dining room table & chairs. 

I primed the table and 6 chairs...then they sat like that quite some time (ummm...I think it may have been like 9 months).  Seriously...I was so indecisive about whether to paint them white or black.  I scoured blogs, pinterest & other places for some inspiration.  I had success painting our bedroom furniture black.  You can see that transformation here.   But our counter tops are black as well as our bar stools & desk chair so I didn't want it to be too dark. Our kitchen is at the back of the house and only has sunlight in the early morning.  I finally talked myself into white & bought the paint about 4 months ago.  And I just started painting them a few weeks ago.  

painting in progress

 

And here is the completed project...

Dining table transformed

 

I recovered the chairs with a drop cloth. 

Original dining chair

Dining chair transformed

The drop cloth was a little lighter than I was hoping for and the chairs looked a little plain.  You can see the pillow I bought several months ago and used it as my inspiration for the chairs here.

Here are a few more pictures of the table transformation.

 I distressed the table & chairs to give it a more rustic look. 

 
I'm really loving the finished product.  Although it took me forever because I couldn't make a decision. Seriously I better gain more confidence & become more decisive so I can get moving on my list of projects!

I'm linking up to the following blogs:


Thrifty Decor Chick
Delightful Order
House of Hepworths
Home Stories A2Z
Evolution of Style

Organizing a Couple Kitchen Cabinets

I am extremely fortunate to have lots of cabinet space in our kitchen.  The downside to all that space is my lack of organization.  I tend to just throw the stuff I don't know what to do with in a cabinet.  And now I have several cabinets with lots of unused junk in them.  I will get to them eventually very soon! :)

I've been stalking researching pinterest & blogs for organizing ideas.  I have 2 cabinets for some food items we don't keep in the pantry.  I thought I'd start with those since they didn't seem too daunting.  Ahemmmmm....no it did not take me 2 hours to clean them out & reorganize.  I know it's a problem I suffer from...indecision.  I freeze up...but seriously does it matter in the grand scheme of things which shelf I put the syrup on?

Here is the cabinet I keep most of our baking supplies in before I cleaned it out.  Not terrible but lots opened bags & containers.  Several expired bags of nuts & coconut from recipes I made once. 

I threw away all the expired food.  And put the big containers of sugar & flour in the pantry closet.  I put the loose sprinkles, icing, cupcake papers, cookie cutters,etc. in clear plastic bins.  Unfortunately, these cabinets aren't very deep & I couldn't find any bins that fit front to back.  So these are not exactly space saving but at least it's organized.   I thought I'd put my glass cake stand in that empty spot but it didn't fit.  :(

Here is the after....

I used a small basket to corral some bags of nuts, baking soda & extracts.

Now I just have to take a bin out when I'm baking rather than rummaging through the cabinet looking for something. 

This food cabinet wasn't too bad.  It holds all the other items we need while cooking like oils, vinegars, etc.  I moved our spices out of this cabinet a while ago to a drawer which works much better for finding what I need. 

I just moved the drink items (crystal light, tea, hot chocolate) to the baking cabinet and the syrup & peanut butter to this one.  And now I have an entire top shelf empty.  Not sure what to store up there as I can't reach it without a step stool and I'm 5'7"!  Again it's a shallow cabinet so a lot of my serving dishes that I don't use often won't fit up there.

Well...that's 2 cabinets done.  Now to tackle the rest of them....and the pantry closet!  Have you organized something lately that makes your life just a little bit more simple?

I've linked up to: