My Kitchen Christmas Tree

There is nothing I love more than decorating my home for Christmas.  I truly am a Christmas freak.  Everyone in my family has figured out that my OCD is at it's greatest when it comes time to decorate the house and especially the Christmas Trees.  And Yes I said trees!  We have 3 up currently. If I didn't think my husband would have me committed I would put up even more.  The worst part is everything starts going up the day after Halloween.  The hubs though has forbidden me from putting up any outside decorations that early.  He said the neighbors don't need to know what a nut job I am.  Thanks Honey!  My favorite one of all of them, is the one that sits in my kitchen. It's my favorite little corner and I love that it's right next to me as I do all of my baking.

 

 I started doing this tree about 3 years ago.  I found a 5.5 ft. tall tree on clearance just before Christmas at Target for $25.00.  I couldn't resist and had to have it.  I originally wanted a flocked tree but those were quite a bit more and couldn't bring myself to spend the money.  Instead I opted for a few cheap cans of the flocking and did it myself.  It doesn't have quite the same look but I didn't really care it was close enough and a quarter of the cost.  I was just happy that it wasn't a stark green tree anymore. This tree sits by our patio door which I love because as I bake in the kitchen I can stare at it.  When I first started this tree I bought a bunch of ornaments from Sur La Table as it was close to Christmas so they were having a really good sale.  I then opted to make a few of the ornaments myself. 

 

This one was the easiest one of all to make.  I found these faux cupcakes at Hobby Lobby.  I believe they were $10.00 and came in a pack of 2.  I purchased some very small eye hooks placed them into the top and attached a hanger. They also have some cute faux strawberries that I plan to use to make some faux chocolate covered strawberry ornaments.

 

 

 

I stumbled upon a tutorial for cupcake ornaments.  These are just Styrofoam balls covered in modge podge, sprinkled with fake snow and then glued into a foil cupcake liner.  Make sure you don't use a paper liner or the glue will seep through and it won't hold up the same as the foil ones.  I then snipped off a berry stem from inserted it into the top with some bakers twine.  I made large and smaller ones.  These are great to give as gifts and are super cute. 

 

This is the most recent addition.  We picked him up at Pikes Market in Seattle while we there over Thanksgiving.  I make a point to pick up an ornament every where we go.  I love this because as we put the trees up every year we can look back on all of the great trips we have taken over the years.  I also make a point to pick up an ornament that signifies something new we have done that year.  This year I picked up Santa and his elves in a raft for our white water rafting trip we took over the summer. 

 

 

Here are a few that we picked up last year on a trip to Michigan.  We visited this little town that we love called Frankenmuth.  It just happens to be the home of Bronners which is the largest Christmas store I have ever seen.  The hubs says it's the mother ship to my people.  I can't lie I feel like a 5 year old in a candy store when I get in there.  My husband is originally from Michigan so I beg like crazy every time we go to visit Bronners.  Hopefully we will be making another trip there next summer.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by I will be sharing a lot of more of my Christmas decorations and baking real soon. 

 

Christine :)

.Linkd up at:
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2015/12/link-party-palooza-and-tekniq-camera-bag-giveaway.html
http://www.craft-o-maniac.com/2015/12/the-creative-collection-party-2.html
www.craftaholicsanonymous.net/friday-finds-link-party-12-4

An Unexpected Bathroom Remodel

Originally we had planned to hold off on remodeling the bathrooms until after the holidays as we have tackled several projects this year.  Then we discovered a leak in the wall behind the vanity which forced us into a bathroom remodel.  At first we were just going to remodel the vanity area but after seeing it finished we are so in love with it that within the next couple of weeks we are going to replace the shower tile and refinish the bathtub.

Below is a before and after from when I painted the walls in a blue / grey color and the cabinets in espresso.  This was a temporary fix until we could afford to fully remodel the space.

 

We decided to keep the espresso color when we ordered the new cabinetry.  The hubs designed the cabinet with a trash can pull out and more drawer space.  The medicine cabinet I saw on Pinterest and asked him to copy it. 

 

The countertop is a granite called Café Crème and the backsplash tile along with sink, faucet and light fixture all came from Lowes.  I love the way it looks far and am so excited to get the shower done.  The backsplash tile will extend through the shower along with some beautiful tumbled travertine tile.

Stay tuned for pictures on the completed bathroom.

Christine :)

 

Linkd at http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

http://www.worthingcourtblog.com/

http://www.thediyvillage.com

http://www.thepinjunkie.com/

 http://www.iheartnaptime.net/

 http://www.theidearoom

 

 

Guest Bathroom Update

We knew when we bought this home both of the bathrooms would need to be completed gutted.  We also knew it would be one of the last projects we would do as there are other rooms that need to be addressed first.  This was driving me nuts so I decided to at least give our guest bathroom a minor makeover.  When we bought the house all of the rooms were painted very odd colors the bathroom was no different.  It had sort of  pink shade of paint and matching tile.

 My husband had his heart set on the tile that looks like wood flooring.  I often refer to my husband as Mr. Tightwad but not in this case.  Even though I work in the construction industry and was able to take advantage of a lot of discounts it was still pretty expensive.  We decided to extend the tile into the bathroom since it's right off the main living area.  I knew eventually we would replace the cabinetry with espresso cabinets so I decided to try and paint the existing cabinets.  This way at least when guests come to visit they aren't looking at the old worn out walnut cabinets when they use that bathroom.  The hubs took all of the doors, hinges and drawers off.  We used a sanding sponge and lightly sanded everything down.  These cabinets are over 30 years old so the finish was pretty worn off already.  Thank goodness because I hate sanding.  While everything was drying I decided to paint the room as well.  It's primarily my son's bathroom who is currently in the teenage everything needs to be black or grey phase.  We found a compromise and went with a blue grey color.  I feel like just in changing the few things that we did it drastically changed the look of the bathroom and bought us some time until we are ready to completely gut it.

I love the way it all looks for now but I can't wait until we can completely update it.  We have a lot of great ideas for granite countertops and a really nice tile backsplash.  So stay tuned for more updates!

http://www.classyclutter.net/category/creative-collection/